How To Do Perfect U Turns Every time - MiniTip Mondays

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Performing perfect u turns is tricky. Performing perfect u turns every time you ride a bike is even trickier. When the variables increase your ability to react and control your bike quickly and efficiently changes everything. For adventure riding your skills have to be incredibly adaptable and allow you to do u turns on the side of an Italian hill or in the car park of Starbucks.

Hopefully this Minitip Monday lays those skills out in detail for you and makes riding a motorcycle a little easier and lot more fun.

[CaptainCaveman]

lots of folks like me been riding 30+ years and still just have basic skills mainly because I'm just do daily street riding and odd day out. if you don't practice a skill and put outside outside your comfort zone you will never learn.

I went to a car park yesterday to practice a u turn. I have never done a full lock u turn. Surprisingly I felt very true wobbly, foot on the ground a lot and my hands when tired from all the tensing up.

20mins and it started to come together but lots more practice needed.
Thanks!

[piggysister]

Many thanks for "if you muck it up it's no big deal"! U turns scare me unreasonably and the pressure to "get it right" is part of that.

[philread]

After almost 50 years of riding, I’m still committed to learning, developing, and polishing my riding skills and I search out videos like this one for that purpose. I’ve seen a number of these speedy hero cop type u-turn videos lately and I feel that I ‘should be able to’ do these too so I’ve become a little conflicted about the best way to do tight turns. But your video has reminded me that low speed and high speed turns have totally different approaches and skill sets, and that the slow u-turn not only has it’s place, but will work in far more circumstances. So in a way your video has kinda ‘given me permission’ to stick with how I wanna do it. So thank you. Even after riding for almost 50 years I still go to car parks to practice and refine these skills, but just as importantly I use every chance out on the road, to keep these skills as fresh as I can. Loved your precise and carefully worded video. Newbies listen up; this advice is worth gold!! Phil Akl NZ.

[JodyDillon]

A tip I learned when training for my license in France is in addition to two-finger clutch control, use the other two fingers as a counter control to the two outside fingers - this increases the tactile response and the amount of tight control you get over the clutch. I would also advise against use of the front brake in any sort of turning maneuver and use the rear brake only - at least at the start as for any non-experienced rider, use of the front brake during a slow turn is way more likely to do more harm than good.

[markgaston]

You made some great points and addressed all the key factors, it did seem very technical with your choice of words, maybe that is how the younger generations are wanting to hear explainations, however for me I've been riding motorized 2 wheel vehicles for about 50 years, and the reason I put that way is I started on a home built mini bike and progressed up with all different kinds of motorcycles, dirt, street, enduro, ect... I currently ride a HD Road King and a HD Sportster 1200 and the simple way I learned "slow speed" u-turns was practicing in a parking lot. Started with getting use to using the clutch with slight pressure on the rear brake, and the reason I choose the rear brake is that using the front one while going slow is more likely to #1 change the direction and degree of how far the handle bars are turn too quickly, which will cause the bike to fall over, #2, you even mentioned it in your video when you explain why you only use two fingers on the clutch, because out of fear you want to grab hold of something and if that "something" is the front brake the bike is going to fall over, so by keeping slight pressure on the rear brake allows you use the "friction zone" of the clutch to keep the bike moving. It's normally only when the bikes momentum is halted at slow speeds that you will drop the bike. So find a parking lot to practice in and start first by going in a straight line at what would be a fast walking speed 4 to 6 mph, do this by using the clutches "friction zone" and the rear brake, once you're comfortable with that use the painted car parking spaces to start practicing u-turns, most people can do a turn within 18 to 24 feet, which is approximately 2 car parking spaces without having to put a foot down, just continue to practice that a get comfortable turning the handle bars and leaning an you'll soon be able to make those turns tighter and tighter, and when you get really proficient at using the clutch and the frictions on you won't even have to use your back brake at all. Good luck to everyone and be safe and watch out for everybody because nobody's watching out for you when you are on your bike.

[DonUschi]

Very important skillset. Use of both brakes, body balance, stance, good clutch feeling will make the difference in tricky maneuvers or just ease handling everywhere. I remember a path where not had a 20-24° climb in Italy around Varese. Streets were a little over 2m wide and turns had a radius a hardly more than two meter and were falling to the inside. Stopping on a turn left without putting your weight to the outside so you could decide if you make that turn in one go or stop with the foot to the outside raised part of the corner... Felt just brilliant. A thing I trained which brought me there was doing figure 8 on parking lot from lock to lock. Around two half tennis balls distance ~ 3m between them.

[Ulfberht]

U-turns are absolutely fear-situations for beginners. Nice done!

[SkywagonJim]

I’m sold, you covered the procedure very clearly.

[WickedPissa]

The biggest thing for me is mindset. Being able to keep myself calm, control my emotions, and don’t freak out. I had a 12 year break from riding and am just getting back into it. It’s like learning to ride all over again.

[thebigbail]

Watching videos like this make me happy I made the progression from pedal bikes, to trail and dirt bikes, before moving to street.

[russelanderson]

A fine tutorial. There are always minor variations or techniques one can add to the tool box, but your offering here was quite good. I am of the opinion that there's nothing better than a few years of dirt bike riding to develop techniques that can cross over into a lifetime of safe street riding. If one is setting out to learn riding from the start, a smaller cc dual sport bike used regularly on the trails can yield excellent skills for managing maneuvers required for survival on the street. Thanks for your work here.

[acruz]

Excellent point at the 6-minute mark on 'counter weighing', I forgot this last summer and dumped the bike, such a crucial step and SOOOO important. Good job for mentioning it!

[j.justus]

This is just magnificent! Very well covered. I am going to try a few of the skills and build on what I already have. I am still a learner hough I have been riding for the 2 - 3 years. Thank you for a very well presented video, demonstrations and explanations. Keep it up.

[jy]

One of the best explanation ive watched. Good job

[omnivore]

Good job. Thank you. I’ve seen a lot of Jerry Palladino vids (all high grip maneuvers) and, while they’re valid and everyone should see them, yours gives a broader perspective.

[Marcus_from_OZ]

The one or two finger clutch has always worked for me, the same for the front brake, I'm a big fan of shortie levers.
It's easy enough to lock the front with one finger, still have control of the throttle and have a solid grip on the bar, even on a 750lb Harley.
Great vid BTW, subbed.

[rog_er.b]

very nice vid and explanations. I just figured in a nice course by last year. That by standing up, I was able to turn even slower and on also a smaller circle then by sitting on the bike. Of course, with no heavy load on the bike. Keep the nice work up. Cheers from Switzerland.

[deannahenry]

Your videos are always outstanding! They are clear, very easy to understand and the information makes sense to me. This video was no exception. I always look forward to Mini Tip Monday! Thank you!

[bucketlistbikers]

Lell’s advice from 2:50 I believe is critical. My experience is that smooth and continuous use of power all the way through the turn is a crucial skill.

[petehudson]

Well presented vid mate and one of the best on the subject. Every bike riding technique is easily understood on YT but seldom replayed accurately in real life so practice, practice and more practice. The only way to gain confidence and cement muscle memory. I think a perfectly executed U turn on a big GS is a sight to behold especially with an audience waiting for you to cock it up. 10 mins in a parking lot is all you need but performed regularly. Thanks for posting....