This exhibition of superb control is what I've always believed every motorcyclist should be taught. I'm not saying we'd all be as good as this rider, but I'm fed up with people who climb astride a heavy, clunky, unwieldy bike, that can do insanely high speeds, but have no idea how to maneuver it at low speeds or ease it through a constricted, convoluted course. The latter skills are vital to safety on the road, but very few schools teach them, and very few riders bother to learn them.
I hope this video gives at least some riders the desire to learn this sort of thing.
Peter
10 comments:
How in the hell do you even learn that course? :)
Definitely an impressive exhibition of handling, though!
commenter one pegged it, but that won't prevent me from posting a minor variant on his thought. In the US you can actually start to learn those skills in rider courses by the motorcycle safety foundation. You'll be an instructor before you get to half what that person did, but basic rider has some slow speed maneuvering. As the owner of a 92 goldwing (vheavy, capable of insane speed) I want to know where you PRACTICE. I have only so much time and money I can throw at courses and when class is done the local Boeing parking lot the class is held in becomes "secured" again. My middle class suburban neighbors look at me funny as I ease my 800lb wing into a circle that blocks local access. And what we saw in the video isn't just learning, it's man months of practice. -BoydK425
It is a competition, sort of like autocross for bikes- don not think we do it in this country, leastwise i have never seen it mentioned.
I don't think it would even be possible to do that course an any kind of speed on the typical "slow heavy" bike that is revered here in the US. (I wouldn't want to name names, but it is best described as "heavy, slow, unreliable, and handles funny. What's not to love?)
Actually it would be possible, but it would be an insane amount of work wrestling the bike back and forth at rotation speed higher than its harmonic frequency wants to allow.
A decent handling bike would help of course, but the rider shown shows a very high level of skill. I consider myself a pretty good rider, but I couldn't do that course at the speed shown.
Looks like a 250 single, based on the exhaust system. So a pretty light, nimble bike.
Still, pretty awesome talents.
Amazing skill, without question.
Yep, that guy is DEFINITELY good :-) That is a Japanese version of auto(moto)cross since they can't run on most streets and their parking lots aren't big enough to have full out courses. And in Japan, if you have a driver's license you are considered a professional driver, so you BETTER know how to handle your machine!
The handling alone is remarkable, but it is also an accomplishment to remember a route that long.
Jim
For comparison, some of our boys on big heavy bikes aren't too shabby, either!
2008 GLPMTS Police Motorcycle Skills Competition
Looks like parcoeur (sp?) for motorcycles. As Dirk said, how does he know where to go and when to loop the loop? I'd need a bigger course to get my bike through there, but yes, it looks like fun. Maybe the local autocross folks could open their courses to bikes.
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