Re: A Little Rain

[Marco S Hyman <marc@xxxxxxxxx>]

 > I'm not sure what's making your brakes shudder...possibly overheating, check

That's what I first thought, but it happens when cool, too.

 > As to the 13% grade and 15mph turn....try 1st gear.   You need to keep the
 > revs up on these tight ones too.  Oilhead's big advantage on extreme twisties
 > is their engine braking.  You have to really have good throttle control and it
 > makes a lot of racket, but it's the best way down the hill by far.   Brakes
 > are barely needed.   The best Alpine riders rarely show a brake light.

Obviously I'm not one of the "best Alpine riders" :-)   I find that the
twisties on the R1150RT are best for me at about 5000 RPM.   Part of the
reason is that throttle control is easier at that range.  At low RPMs
the throttle starts acting like an on/off switch making it hard to
be smooth.

When you come out of a turn at 50 or so and then immediatly come upon a
tight hairpin brakes are the only choice.  Yeah, if I knew the road I
wouldn't have come out of the turn at 50 or so.   But I did, so had to
get hard on the binders while downshifting for the next turn.   There
were not wide turns, panic stops, adrenaline rushes, or anything like
that, just an annoying, very minor shuddering that detracted from the
pleasure of the ride.

The bike is in waranty for another 20-30 days. I'll have the shop look
at it.

// marc

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