Mid-Life Rider

One of the popular misconceptions about the big K bikes (courtesy of testers who ride them for a day or two) is that they somehow don’t handle, or don’t handle as well as their obvious competitors.  Having put 24,000 miles on what many think is the best handling bike in the class, the mighty FJR, and over 6000 miles on my K1200 GT including time on the track, I can say without equivocation that those arguments don’t wash.

The truth is the K bikes fly, including the GT.  You just have to know what you’re doing.  The GT has more ground clearance than any bike in the class and provides fabulous stability at the front.  To that point, I am now convinced that the BMW Duolever front end is the safest choice bar none for the average rider.

So how to make that big dog hunt?  The pictures you see here come from the Advanced Street Skills program I teach through Puget Sound Safety (I am also a Lee Parks instructor). The focus on this program is good street lines (vs. race lines), road awareness, and body position (particularly in the most advanced group).

For those who notice the details, we teach more of a “pointing” body position vs. a “butt dragging” style.  The basic concept is . . .

• Reposition your body (including your foot). Get your center line inside the center line of the bike.  Depending on the bike you ride, get your body lower and your head in the general vicinity of the inside mirror.
• Locate your turn point.  Pick the place you’re going to tip the bike in.  Now stop looking at it.
• Locate your exit point.  This means turn your head (you can see that in every picture of me on the bike).  A very strong thought is to point your chin where you want to exit like you’re about to start a fight.  Get predatory and aggressive with where you want the bike to be.  This motion of pointing your chin will also get your head up which is good.
• Push on the outside grip to hold the bike up (now that your body is to the inside).  I think of this as “cocking the bike”.  If you saw me from behind before the tip in, the bike would actually be leaned OUTWARDS while my body was leaned inwards.
• At the turn point, release the outside grip and push on the inside grip.  Be light as you can on the outside grip (look at my left hand on the picture below of me going right).
• Roll on the throttle no later than the apex.
• Push the bike back up using the outside grip when as soon as you can.
• Return to neutral.

Look at the picture that follows.  From the back you can see that my trunk and hips have come out equally and my body is “down and in”.  The objective IS NOT to drag a knee as we think that’s a bad idea on the street, and most of the people taking this class aren’t turning those speeds or physically that limber.

For the line freaks, yes I could be lots closer to what looks like the apex (it’s actually further around to the left given my turn in point which was all the way over to the right side and back a bit).  But again, we’re not teaching people to use 100% of the road or even 100% of the lane they’re in.  Just more of it.  Notice again how hard I’m turning my head. And no, I’m not looking down.

For those really paying attention, you can see that my rear brake light is on.  Why is that?  In this case, I am on the throttle and the front brake at the same time.  On a non-BMW, this kind of trail braking would compress the front end making for quicker turn in.  That doesn’t happen on a beemer because of the Duolever.  So why do it?  If you’ve ridden a K bike you know that they’re very lean off a dead or light throttle.  To combat that, I’ve got throttle on but am holding the bike back on the brakes.  My fingers have much finer control than my wrist so in about 1/4 of a second I’ll come out of the brakes and add throttle WITHOUT THAT LEAN SURGE that would otherwise show up.

Just so you know that I can take a tight line . . .

Also note how light my left hand is and how relaxed my left arm is on the outside control. You can see here the point of being “down and in” as it puts my hands directly BEHIND the controls, not pushing down.  To do this, most riders will also want to move back in the saddle to create clearance between the groin and the tank.

Ride well!

Tags: K1200GT, PugetSoundSafety, AdvancedStreetSkillsProgram, LeeParks