DAS (A2) Training - Day 2 - I ended up riding bitch.

[NJD]

TL;DR = Just another update in regards to my progress on the DAS course, just a explanation of how the day went, might make for an interesting read.. nothing more than a little bit of a diary really.

back story..

Day 2:

So after four to five weeks between my last and first ever full day of training on a bigger bike today was my second half a day before my Module 1 next week. I arrived early to find out that my training was being done on a 1:1 basis, by the person who ran the company, I knew I had some impressing to do if I was to be allowed to sit the test after only a day and a half (after today) but didn't quite estimate how tough it would be.

We traveled literally meters when he pulled up next to me at the drop kerb leaving the building and straight away corrected my hand positing on the grips, turns out i'm the first person he's ever seen that rides holding the grips at the end near the bar end and at a slant, this was a counting theme throughout the day, a bad habit led on by several months on the road by myself with no one to point out errors and therefore somehow managed to feel comfortable like this.

After I managed to go the wrong way.. in my own area on roads I use all the time and in the wrong lane we arrived at the empty site where I had done my CBT, oh boy, back to basics.. had a chat about slow control and basically taught me multiple methods of slow control, "right hand of the bike" he said.. as my eyes open wide and scream panic, I went with it, simply using two fingers on the end of the barends etc, hopefully some refreshed control over my own bike in the long run.

Went back out on the roads and managed to make several mistakes, some of which was forgetting that Lane 1 was that and Lane 2 was that, mistakes on roundabout positing and so on, along with the continued theme of holding the grips on the ends, shuffling them along right up towards the bar in an attempt to ride in what looked like a more comfortable way.

Several stop go chats latter and almost at the end of our half a day we got onto the NSL, as we approached "overtake" in my ear, power on and went for it, up a gear, back on the power.. more.. more.. 60mph, stop chat.. and then on the last bit of NSL roads managed to get up to 70mph constant speed, finally!

And then rode to Redditch, god knows how I got there or what route I took, it was all a blur being given directions, all the way back home on NSL and alike on the back of the instructors bike, nothing had happened, that's just where they wanted to leave the bike I was on, also gave me some time to see how an instructor or owner of the company rode and how much faster he was thinking ahead than me etc, road positing etc.

Two males, two up, I rode bitch, god knows how it looked but I enjoyed it, weird ik, being on the back is no where as near scary as I thought, it was nice to be out and about on a bike but not in control and have someone else do all the work, even got a chance to take in the horses and scenery on the NSL as opposed to pooping my pants and staying in control of the bike at high speed.

So.. turns out after a day and a half I'd only need one further day towards the Module 2 providing I put it all together for the Module 1 and pass, was happy with the slow control stuff and said as long as I put the emergency stop and hazard together should be all good. Few more days and then it's back in for the test, couple of hours before hand on the CBT land to practice like I did earlier before the test and see how it goes.

https://s23.postimg.org/ejlwwxxxn/image_1.jpg

[Rogerborg]

Good stuff, I guess, smash in those tests.

Did he explain why he thought your grip was wrong, and what benefits there were to changing it?
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[NJD]

How i've been riding on my own.
https://s14.postimg.org/995vr4sdt/clutch1.jpg

And then attempted to get used to.
https://s9.postimg.org/bm8vuff1r/clutch2.jpg

Was explained that my method looks like i'm not in control at all and is crazy, basically just had a chat about how you're using all of the throttle and in control of the bike at all times by having your hands right up against the inside of the grips, needless to say throughout the day it looked like "i wasn't trying" to correct my errors when in reality a few hours isn't going to change several months of habits, annoying I couldn't get it "right", see if I can maintain that way on my own bike for the next few days.

God a telling off for hovering my hand over the clutch at all times as well (false of habbit on a 125 when you have to shift gears all the time) applying the rear brake slightly without realizing, ended up having to ride with my right foot not hovering over the pedal and to the right of it, all this going on at once I felt so out of it and like a penguin, far from my norm.

[twistybiscuit]

Useful read - thanks for posting. I'm hoping to start DAS soon so all this is good stuff for what to expect and what to keep in mind whilst riding my 125 in the mean time!

Good luck!

[NJD]

[Rogerborg]

[NJD]

[pig hog]

My IAM group's observers will tell you that rear brake is preferable when in slow moving traffic or for coming to a final stop from already slow speeds, as it's not so harsh as the front brake and will give a smoother stop.

For actual braking from speed, you really only need the front brake, though. As you roll off the throttle, weight will be transferred to the front of the bike and away from the rear. As you start to brake, this effect increases, giving more grip to the front tyre, so the most effective braking will progressive application of the front brake.

Braking with the rear only when weight is shifted to the front of the bike will only mean that it takes longer for you to stop and makes it easier to lock up the rear.

Seems pretty retarded to me, however, you do what you gotta do to pass!

EDIT: If you're only talking about scrubbing off a bit of speed, Bikesafe popo said that rear brake is better as it's less likely to destabalise the bike. I guess it depends on why you're braking and how much speed you need to lose.
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A2 Licence: 18/10/2013
A Licence: 01/12/2015
'13 Yamaha XJ6N '15 Daytona 675R / '16 MT-07 dead / '17 MT-07 / '18 MT-10

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[grr666]

I was picked up on hand position a couple of times during my DAS pre test riding around. Did as I was told,
acquired licence, can hold them however I like now. Job jobbed.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[NJD]

Usual commute and attempted to adjust grip position the entire ride both to and from for the sake of getting further than a few meters before being given an ear bashing about hand positioning next week, found it was easier with my left hand as it wasn't controlling the bike in any way and could shuffle it along the grip until I felt the inner end without issues, think I managed to get a comfortable position on the grip, no where as near as bad as before or at such an angle, although took it at my own pace as I didn't want to go down trying to control a bike in a way I didn't feel comfortable with.

Riding with the left hand on the grip at all times and then only using the clutch when required with four fingers felt alot nicer than having it hovering over all the time, probably applied the rear brake light without realizing as I've set it to come on and soon as the pedal is pressed, that and the fact that I have size 12 boots on a miniature bike with hardly any space, it's bound to happen

Was a little bit of a hairy moment attempting to filter past traffic on a road with a blind curve (for the oncoming cars), took it slowly and filtered past trying to keep it steady and find a gap to cut back in, probably made the mistake of blocking a junction but (a) i'm not on my test and there was other cars all along the junction and (b) I wouldn't be filtering on the test anyway.

General "progress" through traffic and cutting to the front when needed, there was an Audi that was stopped a fair bit back of the stop line so I decided to overtake him slowly on the inside (left - kerbside) instead of attempting to cut across and infront of traffic oncoming in the next lane, as he attempted to move forward when he saw me, arse, although I do ponder on what the "law" is on that situation, ie; overtaking or going past traffic on the left while filtering or at a stop light?

(And no I don't mean undercutting by overtaking on the left hand side in moving traffic, simply while in a que of traffic or filtering).

[Wednesday Biker]

I was pretty bad when I had a brush up lesson before the test.
The instructor pulled me up for a quite a few things.
It made me think I wasn't quite ready for the test but I needed to do it before the law changed regarding 125's.
I said i'll probably get back to you if I don't pass and wasn't confident.Think he expected to see me again but I managed to pass.

I think sometimes you can pull it out on the day and tbh I found the test less stressful than the lesson I had.

So a not so great lesson and a few mistakes isn't always that bad.On the test these mistakes tend to stick in your mind and stop you making them again.

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]