Apologises to all you experienced riders. I have only ridden a few different bikes and I know a lot of the minimum achieveable turning circle is down to technique What sort of width of road would you expect to be able to do a U-Turn in? Doesn't seem so tight in the turn as the other few bikes I've ridden (ER5 etc)

The tightest rolling U turn I have done is in my driveway. It's about 8ft or a little over 2.5 meters wide. It was very tight though, I would'nt expect it to get much tighter without putting a foot down. This could be absolutley wrong, but it's just what I have experienced. Some of the more seasoned riders my be able to go tighter.

Not calling you a liar, but I have no idea how you turned in 8 ft.

When I do a slow U turn at full lock they are about 17 ft. If I could get it over to lean also the tightest is about 16 ft.

All I know is even on the narrowest roads it will always do the turn.

I'm no expert on this subject either. Sometimes I can do a beautiful U-turn in narrow space and then other times, I just flub it up.

But, I do know my Versys can do these manuevers much better than my F650Cs could.

Gee's you got me. Measured the driveway, 15.5 ft. Narrow portion is 8.5 ft. Glad I stated that it could be "absolutely wrong". My measurement estimation is all messed up. I've been selling myself short.

When I saw 8 feet I was about to give up motorcycling...!

I know the technique is to move your weight to the out side and keep the speed to 4/5 mph. I have trouble (on any bike!) doing this and tend to do very quick minor revs the motor to maintain the speed. Only seen one other person do it this way. Hard though on a slope or a high camber in the road.

Thinking about the the reason I have had trouble recently, it may be the adjustment of the rear brake, probably done at the 600 mile service. I need to push it down a long way to get any bite which can cause a minor panic with a kerb looming ! I was thinking of adjusting the lever upwards to gain more control overall as well as slow manoeuvring. I think I need some "give" in the brake lever but it seems all bottom end at the moment. I would welcome others views on this.

Gee's you got me. Measured the driveway, 15.5 ft. Narrow portion is 8.5 ft. Glad I stated that it could be "absolutely wrong". My measurement estimation is all messed up. I've been selling myself short.

Usually, its the other way around... :D

It seems that when I am just riding around town I can do full lock u turns with ease, but when I've ridden a long day and my brain and body are tired, my fine motor skills are lacking. What used to be easy is now something I have to struggle a bit with.

Regarding putting a foot out or down, I say, what is really so wrong with that? It actually helps me balance better with my leg out even though it does not touch the ground, and if I did touch my foot to the ground, is a shark going to come up and bite it off? I just think people make too big of a deal out of that for absolutely no real good reason.

I don't think that putting a foot down was mean't to hurt the feelings of those with a sensitive nature. I believe the reference was just to the travelling speed. Slow rolling, have to put a foot down in a Uey or fall down. But again, I could be absolutely wrong. I think the slower you go, the tighter you can turn. Add a foot and turn even tighter. I think that's what I mean't. Yep, that's what I mean't, but i'm not calling anyone overly sensitive. :D

What's weird is that I can do a U turn much faster (even though still slow) with my foot out rather than on the peg. Of course we're talking full lock turns.

Today I went out to a lot and did several turns full lock with ease. Then other days they are not as smooth. I have the CD "Ride Like a Pro" and CAN'T do turns the way it says. If I turn my head far in the opposite direction where I will be turning, my balance is gone. The thing you are NOT supposed to do, look at the ground, works wonderful for me. Go figure.

At,
That "Ride like a pro" thing only works if you're on a Harley!!!:D

Some days it seems nothing is in sync on a ride. Those are my short distance slow days!

Nice to know its not just me that has a bad day sometimes where I feel I cant do anything right.

Re Pro, Why Harley only? Is it to do with all that low down rear end weight ! I always thought Harleys and big Tourers would be harder to do a tight turn but I appear to be wrong having watched You-Tube.

Len

It was a joke about the Harleys. In Ride Like a Pro, they use many different bikes.

Do a search and you'll find there are MANY different techniques in doing U-turns, so find the one that works for you.

For me, I do everything wrong according to just about all techniques, but who cares, I can always do a U turn even on a narrow road for only two cars with a curb that allows no error. That is when I do it my way. When I get stupid and think I must do it "right", I screw up.

Maybe it's because I have so many bad habits, it throws me off to try to correct them. Maybe I have brain cells missing everyone else has. Till this day I can't figure it out, and I'll admit, deep down inside it bugs me why am I so different?