Donp2184

have a few noobie questions...are motorcycles like cars where you switch gears just before red lining it for the best acceleration? like 1st gear to 10thou rpm-then switch gears do the same 2nd, etc. i'd like to see how fast my bike can take off, any tip would be great, of course this would be done when there's absolutely no cars around and in a mile straight line, thanks.

p.s. - n at what rpm would u wanna take off from stillpoint in 1st gear?

xaxer

a lot of newer bikes have rev limiters in them, so red lining is not always an option.

I dont watch my tach really I just listen and shift.
but then I have a v-twin crusier not a sport bike

how high an rpm when you take off?

how well are you at riding wheelies?
and if its too high you might find yourself running behind your bike.

if you are new as you say I would just take off slow and try not to pop the clutch first.
if you want to learn to drag race or stunts I would find your local closed track and not on streets that way the car you didn't think was gonna make that left infront of you wont be there.
takes a tad longer to stop with only two tires than four ya know.

KingNothing

Maybe on your cruiser, but a sportbike stops way faster than a 4 wheel vehical. Its also the cause of a few problems...think a car riding close behind you and you have to stop as fast as you can and the car cant stop as fast as your bike.

xaxer

Yes as a rule an experienced biker can Stop faster than a car however it is not just about stopping ....
This is from http://www.msgroup.org/TIP031.html it comes down to the SKILL in which you can brake not just weight VS friction(2 tires on pavement vs 4) at 60 (thats not redlining either) you travel 88 feet in one second ,the following shows the advantage of covering your brakes and experience in reaction to a hazard



It takes most people about 4.5 seconds to read this sentence.

4.5 seconds is not a lot of time - but it could be the rest of your life. 4.5 seconds is also (not really a coincidence) about how long it SHOULD take you to stop your motorcycle after applying your brakes at 60 MPH!

Stopping a motorcycle as fast as possible requires that you master only a few fundamentals:

Alertness - No matter how fast your reflexes are or how skillful you are with your brakes, if you don't see the need to stop, you won't.

Reflexes - First you need time to recognize a threat and decide to react to it, then your fast reflexes take over and make the difference.

Skill - Under-utilizing your brakes is just as dangerous as over-doing it.


Let's get a feel for magnitudes.

It usually takes about .7 seconds to recognize a threat. A person with normal reflexes takes about .3 seconds to start braking from the moment he realizes he has to do so. Combined, that's about 1 full second from the time a threat presents itself to you and you begin to slow down.

At 60 MPH you travel 88 FEET in 1 second!

That it takes you about .7 seconds to recognize the threat is a mental reality. But it does not necessarily take .3 seconds to react to it. The simple practice of always covering your front brake can shave a full tenth of a second (1/3!!) of that time away. That's almost 9 FEET!

Assuming you have read the tips on braking methods earlier, you have a good idea about how to use those brakes. Now let me try to give you a sense of magnitude associated with the skill part of braking.

Traffic Engineers have some rules-of-thumb they developed over time. They, for example, have found that if the street surface is dry, the average person can safely decelerate an automobile at the rate of 15 feet per second per second (fpsps). That is, an average person can slow down at this rate without any real likelihood that they will lose control in the process.

If the surface is wet they assume a deceleration rate of 10 fpsps is safely attainable by almost anyone.

Let's assume a wet street surface and that you are moving at 60 MPH. At a 10 fps deceleration rate it will take you 8.8 seconds to stop after you begin applying your brakes. (A total of 9.8 seconds from the time the threat we earlier talked about presents itself.) The distance you would travel before coming to a complete stop is 475 feet.

If, however, the road is dry, it would take you only a total of 6.9 seconds to stop, (including the 1 second recognition/reaction delay.) and the distance traveled until you came to rest would be 346 feet.

Clearly the more effective your braking is, the less time it takes to stop, and the less distance traveled.

I think most of you know that your motorcycles can stop more quickly than can an automobile. Indeed, a professional motorcycle racer can obtain a 1g deceleration rate, or more, on his motorcycle. (1g deceleration is 32 fpsps.)

With practice, your braking skills should easily allow you to attain deceleration rates in excess of 20 fpsps. What would that mean in our example threat scenario?

It would mean that you could stop your motorcycle in a total of 5.4 seconds (including the 1 second delay.) and your total stopping distance would be only 281.5 feet!

By enhancing your braking skills with practice you can shave 64.5 feet and 1.5 seconds off 'normal' results. And you could shave off another nearly 9 feet just by covering your brakes. That brings the distance traveled before stopping down by about 73.5 feet.

73.5 feet is about four car-lengths!

The message is clear: You only hit that car if you don't quite stop in time. You might not hit it at all if you cover your brakes and practice your braking skills.

KingNothing

thats a great post...but I believe I was talking about the motorcyclist stopping to fast and the car rear-ending it. Not the other way around.

xaxer

yeah but don wanted as a newbie to take off at rocket speed from a stop light...I dont think he will have the car behind him problem, as much as the one he will run into making a left in front of him.... this and NOT taking off like a rocket from a red light might save his life or a month in Trama section of hospital

KingNothing

oh gotcha, my mistake. I forgot about the taking off portion of this thread and was focused on the breaking part. My appologies

IntruderGreg

Learn to ride safely first. Saw my first accident of the season already, there was no way this kid made it. Just enjoy the ride.

TheLaughingMan

I hear that. Three bikers died in this week alone here in Maine.

People really got learn showin off isn't everything. Shure, it's fun, but i garauntee you breaking your neck isn't.