Even after thirty years riding, every spring I do a little practice to knock the rust off that left hand and get that smooth take-off back. Skills are finite, and need constant exercise to maintain, and northern winters are hell on my riding abilities. Hope the snow, salt, and gravel is gone soon. Ride safe all.
A couple of cars ago, a spring broke in my car's clutch plate requiring replacement of its >300,000 mile clutch. After removal, the clutch plate still had some usable wear. Growing up with manual transmissions and having the engineer's ability to visualize what was happening inside mechanical systems, I was always very careful to prevent undue wear to clutches. NOT slipping the clutch (except from moving from a stop) was an important part of caring for a vehicle's power train. Motorcycle wet clutches don't wear the same as automotive clutches, but even if you are causing some wear by using the "Friction Zone," it is a vital part of riding and the sacrifice is absolutely necessary. Actually, for the do-it-your-selfer, replacing a worn clutch is easy and cheap. Waaaay easier and cheaper than an automotive clutch. For me, learning about and controlling the "Friction Zone" was perhaps the most important thing for me to know for riding a motorcycle (next to stopping, of course).
Don't forget about the many (mostly European) bikes out there with a dry single plate clutch like a car or truck. I slip the clutch as little as possible.
At the start of the season, I ride alone a few times and practice where I can. Turns, braking, avoidance to get back into riding shape and then I'll put my wife or my daughter on the back.
My motorcycle does not have a manual clutch. (it’s a DCT) I have trouble in tight spaces. Is applying some rear brake while maneuvering a bad practice?
Here's an idea of learning the frichtion zone that is much simpler. Learn how to drive a stick in a car or pickup. This way you don't also have to pay attention to the other attributes of a motorcycle, balance is probably the biggest thing to have to pay attention to. First get the use of the clutch, then move on to putting it to work on a motorcycle. Personally, I learned to use a clutch and double clutch just before I starting riding a bike with a clutch so the move to a different vehicle was already inate.
Here’s the problem with that. Nobody drives a vehicle with manual transmission anymore and the dealerships don’t have them in their parking lots anymore. There is no easier way to learn than to just get on a bike and practice.
@@thanosetsitty1896 There are brand new vehicles being sold today with standard transmissions. Trouble is, almost no one knows how to drive one so they want to get on a motorcycle and learn to use a clutch while also trying to learn all of the other things. These classes try to teach these people to do U turns and they don't even know how to ride forwards.
I went to the friction zone I’ll wait no not really I only have a 2020 Honda super cub and although you do have shift gears, the friction zone isn’t really a thing for this motorcycle
How's this for a recommendation for someone to learn to use a clutch "friction zone". Find an old pickup and drive it around in a field till you're comfortable with it. Then go out on the pavement and put it to practice.
… so is riding without critical skills that are not acquired just by “seat time.” Kevin Morris is not the only RU-vid motorcycle trainer that practices in parking lots. If these guys say road skills are perishable, it’s their experience talking and that’s good enough for me.
Question 1: Are MC clutches wet by design, to allow for friction zone use? Or are they wet for some other reason? Question 2: What is the reason for dragging the brake on the back wheel? I know it is for a control reason but how does that work?
Q.1: Not sure what else the wet clutch would be designed for besides reduced wear. Q.2: Some have described the combination of penetration into the "friction zone" and light application of the rear brake similar to a rubber band as if the net reaction is stability. To get more into the weeds of detail....My observation after hours of parking lot practice is that riding at slow speed requires positive and negative acceleration. Penetration into the friction zone gets you neutral-to-positive (forward) acceleration while light rear brake pressure provides neutral-to-negative (decelerating) acceleration. Overall, "Neutral" acceleration is that "just right" spot where you have already accelerated to an appropriate speed and are either 1) penetrating just far enough into the friction zone to maintain speed and complete the maneuver you're attempting or 2) over-penetrating into the friction zone AND applying just enough rear brake to compensate and ensure a net "zero" acceleration (positive and negative acceleration are equal). In either case, with all other variables (slope of the surface, turn angle) the same, you're completing the same maneuver. The more meaningful practice you do, the better you should get with the clutch, the less you will need the rear brake.
When you’re looking to do a slow speed maneuver, what’s the difference between doing it with the clutch in the friction zone, or alternatively, fully releasing the clutch lever and letting the engine run at idle RPMs (no added gas throttle use)? I can see that with the latter case, the bike may want to run a little bit faster, but you can control that with the rear brake pedal - which is something you should do anyway when doing slow speed maneuvers (turns).
There's a lot less chance of stalling the motorcycle if you're using the friction zone, plus a lot more control over your engine revs and wheel speed. Although it's good practice in most situations, to a certain extent, the most obvious reasons will be bike specific. For example, on a small bike, there isn't enough torque to fully release the clutch at low speeds without stalling the engine, whilst some big super sports bikes are so highly geared that, if you don't stall you'll be seriously lugging the engine if you don't use the clutch during low speed maneuvers.
You need to be able to finesse the power delivery to the rear wheel during low speed exercises, and you cannot finesse a throttle from idle. Running at idle and using the rear brake to control your speed also creates a high risk of stalling the bike - and this WILL happen - and down she goes if your bars are even slightly turned. Cheers. 👍🇦🇺
