I went from a Softail to a Road King touring bike about 15 months ago. I am now very comfortable on the King in all situations excepting that I'm still working on my U-Turns. I've been practicing at some quiet intersections, and I can easily do U-turns on three lane roads. Two-lane roads (two lanes each way, turning from the inner lane as California requires) are still a challenge. I was wondering if any others around here have issues with tight U-turns and have any suggestions. Yes, I've practiced in parking lots, but my favorite practice is doing it on quiet intersections so that I can really see how well I'm doing. All thoughts welcome. I am not a bad rider but I'll be the first to admit that I'm still improving. I did pass the California DMV test to get my endorsement and this test is generally regarded as being pretty challenging. Anyway, as I said, all thoughts welcome. Anyone else here find these turns challenging?

 

The rear brake is your friend. Use the rear while slipping the clutch and giving it throttle. Makes slow manuvers a lot easier.

 

Agreed. That's pretty much what I'm doing; in fact my mantra to myself is "get your ****d***** hand off that front brake" while I'm doing the turn, while feathering the clutch and throttle. Got to remember that a) the bike doesn't want to go down while it's moving; and b) hitting the front brake during a turn will put you down instantly (ask me how I know).

 

I'm not an expert by any means, but what helped me was getting over the anxiety of dumping the bike. Once you get past that and once you get the clutch, throttle and rear brake synced up, it's really not that difficult. I know I have it down when I can do a u-turn on a two-lane road with no shoulders. Looking where you want the bike to go is key!

 

Pretty much what the guys above said, practice and confidence will get you there.

 

setup your own Ride Like a Pro basic course, some orange cones or tennis *****, anything to mark the boundaries. You can always add to the course but the pic below is the fundamental stuff. Drag the rear brake, keep the RPM's up around 2200-2500 and control everything with the clutch. Jerry Palladiono puts out a video every week, watch his stuff and learn

 

a lot of it is mental. i've noticed that if you have a 500' area to make a u-turn, you can do it in 20. but if you have a 20' area, it takes 25'.

 

Um shift your weight opposite of the direction of where you are going. Meaning if you U-turn left like most, shift your body to the right and turn your head and look at the direction of where your want to go while your peripheral visions scans for objects and random crap.

 

Been riding so long, it's second nature to me now.
I have an intersection at the end of my road that's almost a uturn to get out of.
Slip the clutch, and as soon as I start the turn, I turn my head all the way back, looking over my shoulder to where I want to go.
Then the bike will go where I'm looking. Never look down, just keep your eyes where you want the bike to go, it will follow.
Try not to overthink it, the more you do it, the easier it will be.
I don't bother using the rear brake on a uturn, that's just more to think about IMO.
I can easily turn around on a 2 lane road with no shoulders.

 

1st couple of rides I did 2 up with my wife on my Ultra Classic were challenging. Kept trying to get back near the Superstition Mountains & ended up on dead end roads & had to do U-turns on small residential streets. Rather unnerving but after a year & a half they are almost effortless. One office I worked out of for about a month I had to do a U-turn everyday to head home so that was good practice. Cannot say I've tried the rear brake thing, I'll give that a try. I remember on another forum somebody mentioned after awhile you'll appreciate the weight of the bike & you wont be 'fighting' it any longer. I think I'm there now.