This motorcycle accident attorney concludes a week of blogging dedicated to the Motorcycle Skill Test Practice Guide from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.  The past two days have been dedicated to making turns, and today will be no different.  Exercise six involves making sharp turns with your motorcycle without stopping.

Exercise Six: Making Sharp Turns on Your Motorcycle Without Stopping

The object of this exercise is to help you make sharp turns in all different situations.  This way you’ll be able to pull out of parking spaces or driveways as well as turn into a driveway or onto a narrow street.  If you practice this exercise correctly, hopefully you will not get into a motorcycle crash by messing up a turn.

Practice Exercise Directions

Start out on your motorcycle by riding straight across the parking lot, accelerating to 10 mph.  Just before reaching the “Begin Turning” markers, slow down by using both brakes.  Now, release both brakes, turn the handlebars, lean the motorcycle slightly in the direction of then turn and look in the direction that you want to turn.  Use a controlled clutch release and throttle as  you make a sharp turn.  Practice finishing your turn inside line “A” without touching it.

Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Tips

  • Use both brakes to slow down before turning.
  • Keep both your head and eyes up, looking through turns.
  • Turn your handlebars and lean the motorcycle in the direction of the turn.
  • Use a smooth clutch release and throttle as you exit your turn.

Common Problems & Recommended Corrections

  1. If you’re turning too short or too long, keep your head and eyes up and look through turns.
  2. Should your motorcycle stall out, use the clutch and throttle smoothly to maintain the necessary power to your rear wheel.
  3. If your motorcycle begins to fall into the turn, again keep your eyes up and look through the turn.  You want to keep just enough momentum after braking to carry you through the turn.
  4. Traveling too fast to make a turn?  Slow down to a more manageable speed with both brakes before turning.

Check out the rest of this blog series:

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