Slipping the clutch is an easy one for me. If you want to ease into a dock without feeling it thats what you do thats what I teach.

I understand and agree with the counter steering. I just camt make myself do it if I think about it. If I dont think about it and just roll I do it automatically. So that subconcious instinct is still there. It is something I CAN conciously do on a pedal bike because its so light I even at low speed I can lean it all the way over inches from the ground and stay going straight. Its weird to watch how the bars are turned when doing that.

Its just the turning from a stop and sometimes low speed turning. I think my ****est ****up not looking where I wanted to go.

 

I've seen duck walking to a stop end up with a bike on it's side more than once. At some point when you have both feet on the ground, you'll have to use the front brake to stop, and at walking speed, if the wheel is turned even a little to one side, the bike weight shifting forward pulls it to that side, and it doesn't take much angle on any 500+ lb bike to tip farther than you can hold it. Until you're really used to the weight and handling, it's actually better to do stops somewhat firmly, so you never get into that slow wobble. As you get used to it, eventually you'll be able to come to a complete stop before even putting your feet down. But even an experienced rider doesn't want to do that last second feet down front brake with a wheel turned wobble; at some point weight and inertia will overcome strength. You'll get it, just try avoiding that low speed wobble when stopping, it can get embarrassing fast.

 

Go down your street at low-ish speeds, say like 35 mph and when you take a turn, kind of "half think" to yourself, "okay, let me counter-steer to turn now". Only think to yourself, "push right, go right" and the same for left turns. Only think that, no more no less. Ingrain in now into your head. Do it for every turn while you're still in the learning stage. This is what worked for me, YMMV.


Oh another thing that worked for me too was to buy one of those cheap hand grip exercisers and use it often for your left hand. Helps with clutch control.

 

This is great advice.

 

This helped me a lot when I was starting out.

 

They taught me that right in the school andnwith that bike it felt sketchy due to the weight. LOL. Its what I have to work on. Just dont wsnt to drop it on my pipes. I have a full SE exhaust that I love. Dont wanna destroy them.

No need for grip exvercise. I may be married but I play guitar.

 

It's a Softail. It may be a lot of things, but top heavy ain't one of them.

If you are having serious issues like almost running into a parked car making a simple routine turn, and feel like the bike is top heavy or unwieldy, then that tells me you bought too much bike for your skill level.

Park the Softail until you learn how to ride. Think about this. Would you recommend a 16 year old use an eighteen wheeler to get a learner's permit?


Buy a Honda VLX 600 or something similar and cheap. It will be more forgiving and less intimidating while you learn to ride. You can buy them for a couple thousand. You can crash it and repair it for next to nothing. If you drop it, you can pick it up even if you are weak in the knees from being nervous or scared. Later on, you can sell it for about what you paid for it. Then you can start to learn to ride the Softail.

At least you didn't buy a CVO Limited for your first bike.

I may be coming off somewhat harsh, but the amount of dangerously incompetent riders I see on the road is steadily increasing, and in some cases cause me to have to take evasive maneuvers. I am still pissed about what happened to me in my old Corvette a couple of weeks ago.

 

I dont rrally care if you sound harsh or not. Its your opinion and we know what opinions are and since we are in America you are entitled to it and even entitled to share it. I dont have to agree with it. Id like to have thousands to just toss around. Id love to have a houae with a garagebso I could store a buncha spare bikes.

Now keep in mind before you read the rest of this Im not takong offense at anything you said. I wont ride a Jap bike as you say umtil I learn to ride. I found the Jap bike in the class harder to ride than the softail. Whioe my skill level is currently low it has been as I thought I mentioned(might not have) 2003 since Ive touched 2 wheels anhyjing and longer than that 2 wheels with a motor. I get the idea behind the lighter bike until building strength etc. Reality is you dont know me what my perceptions are on the bike or what I can and cant do. The turn from a stop is the only issue and its because partly the classes didnt actually really cover it except a passing mention. To you I may be wildly outnof control out there. Not the case. I can see how you may get that impression though its all good.

My perception is the bike is unstable at very low speeds not that its top heavy. I am not the only one who made that observation about MY particular bike NOT about softails. It could be a si.ple adjustment or change a previous owner made to get the bike to feel better for them. It doesnt take much to change the handling charaxteristics of a car and people do it all the time why wouldnt it be done to a bike to make it suit you better? I feel Harleys are the best there is but Im not enough of a fanboy to think that how they are setup from the factory is perfection and if one doesnt like it they should get a different bike.

So if there is amything adjustment wise to increase low speed stabiliry. Lower the front an inch or adjusting the preload on the rear shocks Im happy to give it a shot.

I would add 2 things. Ive done the turns on the bike after that ok. I dont have an issue with left turns. My issue was identified and that was not looking where I wantes to go. Big bike tiny bike same result. Looking is even more important on my street because its so damn narrow. And as I mentioned there is a huge campus not far away I plan to go to and just sit there for an hour or to putting that into automatic mode. Drilling it in. Making the muscle memory and the movements automatic. I know how long it takes to program myself.
Also the number of right turns done in the class was exaclty 2. And that was AFTER the evlauations were over for the state.

 

Practice, practice, practice. I was able to run around in the private community where I live, almost no cars, for as long as needed until I got comfortable. I also did a lot of practice in parking lots, tight turns, etc. For well over a year I could say I learned something every time I went for a ride. That hasn't stopped.

 

Had this happen to me more than once. Slowly coming to a stop with the handlebars turned, first reaction is to grab the front brake. Pulls you down like a magnet. There's no way to hold up a 904 lb Ultra once it gets over too far. That's why at 71 years old I decided to get a light bike.