Motorbike turnaroundythingy

[Wedg1e]

Front brake on hard, rev it up, opposite lock and dump the clutch.Vroom, lots of smoke.
Did this every day on my Paneuropean. Honestly.

In Germany back in May, I was alongside my Ducati-mounted mate Rob at a light. He looked at me, I looked at him, he blipped the throttle, I blipped the throttle. We both knew it was on
First hint of amber I gave it a handful and dumped the clutch.
The road disappeared. I was looking at the sky. Not being any sort of wheelie expert I rolled off and the bike came crashing down like a skydiving elephant. My right foot came off the peg, the steering did a wave and a waggle and I was vaguely aware of a red blur as Rob stood the Ducati on its nose to avoid being landed on.
Somewhere behind me, Neal and Iain almost fell off, they were laughing so hard. Apparently it was a bit like being behind a horny stallion trying to mount a moving mare. Just with less grace and finesse. And much smaller balls.
We proceeded at a moderate pace to the next light. I looked at Rob. He looked at me. I gave a blip. He waved me on...

Technically I was in front when it all went wonky so it's official: a Pan European is faster off the line than a Ducati

 

[jordan1]

Reading a couple of these threads, I wonder why bikers get branded as idiots

 

[normspanners]

how about a piece of channel with 3 sets of casters mounted on plates welded at 90 deg to the top of the 'legs' of the upturned channel, so that the channel base is not very high off the ground.
Now with the centre casters off centre so that one end of the channel sits on the floor forming aramp as you roll the bikes rear wheel backwards onto the channel the weight of the bike pushes the channel 'overcentre' and it would drop onto the third caster at the end of the channel, the end of the channel could also be plated off to stop the rear tyre rolling off the end. This would then free the back of the bike allowing you to push it where you want but allowing you to control it with the front brake. You could turn the bike round by pushing the rear end by shoving the saddle with your hip.
Once in position you then pop it in gear and gently drive it off the channel, by holding the front brake the channel would be pushed backwards.

 

[normspanners]

Front brake on hard, rev it up, opposite lock and dump the clutch.Vroom, lots of smoke.
Did this every day on my Paneuropean. Honestly.

Used to do that with my crosser Probably not neighbour friendly though Give em summat to talk about though specially coming in after nights!!!

 

[Maddog]

At risk of stating the bleeding obvious, can't you just jump off and reverse the bike in? I do that here as my bike weighs 300Kg and is nearly as long as the drive is wide!

I can, but it's a bit of a pain and this site is all about fabricating things and thats what i like to do. So doing something that's not only enjoyable for me to do, but also useful is a bonus.

 

[Maddog]

It can. I just used the 'spin it around on the sidestand' method. If I can do it with my Hayabusa, you can do it with a SV.

I will have to learn the technique for that, i did have a go the other day, but the bike needs to bang centre on my drive as there's only a couple of inches either end.. I was doing ok until my mirror hit the wall!

 

[Maddog]

how about a piece of channel with 3 sets of casters mounted on plates welded at 90 deg to the top of the 'legs' of the upturned channel, so that the channel base is not very high off the ground.
Now with the centre casters off centre so that one end of the channel sits on the floor forming aramp as you roll the bikes rear wheel backwards onto the channel the weight of the bike pushes the channel 'overcentre' and it would drop onto the third caster at the end of the channel, the end of the channel could also be plated off to stop the rear tyre rolling off the end. This would then free the back of the bike allowing you to push it where you want but allowing you to control it with the front brake. You could turn the bike round by pushing the rear end by shoving the saddle with your hip.
Once in position you then pop it in gear and gently drive it off the channel, by holding the front brake the channel would be pushed backwards.

Thanks to you all, i like the idea above.. Sounds simple and most of all fairly cheap (I can get castors for free and im a tight ****)!

 

[nickk]

some ideas here from laurel & hardy -would love to see the techniques ha ha,i have a tricky access/entry our patio is uneven /gravel flagstones & a bikes length run up to a wooden ramp 2m long & rising 3' onto a footbridge over the brook,then a shallower ramp the other side, all exciting ,but on an xr1200 with a sleepy head & sticky out bits around the pegs/levers wearing boots with loops it all could end up in the drink if u know what i mean-what a carry on -must get it on video just in case.