Advice needed for a newbie

[Ayrton]

I don't see any point worrying about slowing down after you pass the sensor, you don't have enough room to slow down any reasonable amount just from engine braking. Just keep the bike in second, have a little look at your speed as you come out of the bend and then pin it as fast as you can then shut the throttle off just as you enter the speed sensor. A little extra speed on a 125 isn't going to make much of a difference on the hazard avoidance in my opinion.

Make sure you are counter steering (pushing on the side of the handlebars that you want to go) and not just turning the bars like you would at slow speeds.

[Tony Norton]

"Make sure you are counter steering (pushing on the side of the handlebars that you want to go) and not just turning the bars like you would at slow speeds".

I guess what you are saying is the same as my instructors "drop your left shoulder". I would call that laying it over a bit, but nowhere near my needing knee pads!

Tony

[ThunderGuts]

From what I remember, if you pick a "line" you can actually make the lean and swerving pretty modest. I don't really recall throwing the bike around much at all. Of course, the luxury of knowing exactly where everything is and that the "obstacles" are only 10" high is unique to the mod1 environment, but so is much of the mod1 anyway.
____________________
TG.

[Nobby the Bastard]

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

Hi Tony,

Sorry to hear you failed again mate.

The speed trap uses two lasers that are interrupted when your front wheel goes through and blocks the first beam. The speed trap knows the set distance between the two beams and records the amount of time from the first beam being blocked to the second beam being blocked.

Speed = Distance/ Time

Ironically, if you had just done DAS in the first instance the 650cc you'd be doing it on wouldn't struggle at all with speed and be much more stable on the hazard avoidance too.

Your only option now is to just fucking hoon it wide open in 2nd until you see yourself pass through the second set of cones, then you can come off the throttle.
____________________
PRESENT: 2018 BMW S1000XR SE Sport.
PAST: 2009 Kawasaki ER-6F. 2021 Zontes ZT-125U.

[Tony Norton]

Hi Scotsman,

I understand what you are saying, but the problem I had with DAS was that all the bikes that the schools had were seat height 800mm or thereabouts. I am only 5'9", with dis-proportionally short leg length. I now have an A1 (700mm) and an A2 (700mm) and have the confidence that. if needs be, I can get both feet flat on the deck. My instructor at the school I went to was very proud of his new SV650s. I dropped one of them twice inside half an hour. Luckily they had sufficient ironmongery added that neither they nor I came to any harm. I didn't take kindly to their throttle action either, which seemed to go from "tickover" to "break the speed limit" at the slightest touch. My Honda Rebel 500 is much smoother than that. I've opted to go A1 for starters, and then work my way up to A2.

You're quite right about wide open in second, I recorded 52kph on the emergency and 54kph on the dodge, but a careless right foot position resulted in clipping a cone. Game over.

I've booked a repeat Mod1 in January, but hope to get an earlier cancellation.

Cheers
Tony N

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[Aidan.S]

Im looking at some A2 sports bikes. And I looked at the R6, but obviously you cannot restrict such a bike, or at least i thought because my friend sent me an A2 legally restricted Yamaha R6. So now im confused. Can the Yamaha R6 (any model before 2010), be restricted down to be A2?

As well as can a CBR 600 1993 be restricted down to A2 as well?

You can leave any suggestions for some 600cc A2 restricted/complaint bikes. I am looking for a more sports orientated bike.

[Tony Norton]

Hi Aidan,

I think you would have been better off starting a new post on this subject. I certainly don't have the knowledge base to help you.

Tony N

[arry]

[BRUN]

sounds to me Tony like you have it sorted anyway, you clipped a cone, shit happens, sounds like if you did it again you would likely pass

on the speed trap, iirc, you do just nail the throttle, no overthinking it, just go for it, if you hesitate you might not get enough speed up

looked up my own figures for the mod1 i passed

Emergency stop
First attempt: 63 km/h

Avoidance Exercise / Controlled Stop
First attempt: 54 km/h

this was on an ER6 though

the hazard avoidance is counter steer one way then you can go back the other way straight away from what i remember, to get back to a similar line as when you approached it, again from what i can recall, its not hard to accidentally clip a cone so dont be hard on yourself with that

[Tony Norton]

Hi all you patient guys who have been following this tedious saga for over a year now,

I have good news! I know this won't rate very highly in the scheme of things, but as my friend (?) the Angry Scotsman might say "mony a mickle maks a muckle" , so I have chalked up my first "mickle", a pass in A1 Mod 1.

I originally had this booked for 12th Jan 23, but every day I have been looking for a cancellation and finally found a slot - today. Didn't tell any of the family or friends, just snuck off quietly and did it, with the right result. It was a lovely sunny morning here, the moment I got to the test site the heavens opened. The examiner, who had to fail me on my previous 2 attempts, talked me through it, on a wet site, with exactly the result I was hoping for.

It does, however, raise a question. Could I now do Mod 2 on my A2 bike. I would much prefer to do Mod 2 on a bike that can keep up with the traffic, but my guess is that the answer is going to be "No". If I am right I don't know now whether to chase the insurance company for cover on my Rebel and book another Mod 1 (A2 this time), or continue to take it one step at a time and do A1 Mod 2. I might have to do that anyway if the insurance people won't play ball.

Thanks for all the help you guys have been over the long year.

Will update as soon as I have more news.

Cheers
Tony N

[BRUN]

im not that familiar with the specifics of A1/A2 etc, but well done on sticking with it and passing !

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[jeffyjeff]

Right on, Tony. Congratulations. Best wishes to you as you continue in your endeavor.
____________________
History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC