Review: Ride Like A Pro V

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I'm fairly new at riding a motorcycle. I got my first (1999 HD Sportster) about 2.5 years ago. I only had a few months before I sold it for my 2006 HD ElectraGlide Ultra. The Sportster was just a butt-breaker; I couldn't ride long before my backside couldn't take anymore.

My Wife Jan and I love the Ultra. The comfort can't be beat, and we love being able to talk to each other over the built-in intercom.

But the Ultra is BIG! At 850 pounds wet weight, you know you're moving some mass around. And if you've ever tipped one of these over, you know it's a struggle to get it vertical.

I had major problems with slow speed turns after dropping the bike in a parking lot trying to maneuver into a stall. Add 2 other drops for stupid reasons while going slow and I was paranoid of doing ANY turning at less than 10 mph.

Thank goodness a friend told me about Jerry Palladino's Ride Like A Pro (RLAP) series.

I've watched RLAP III and V so far so I can only comment on those.

In these DVDs, Jerry teaches techniques taught to Motorcycle police focusing on slow speed turns, weaves, and incident avoidance. While few of us will ever encounter situations where we'll have to maneuver through a figure 8, a 16 foot radius circle, or riding within the perimeter of a "cross" shape, it isn't difficult to picture real situations where these techniques would help.

The biggest difficulty in practicing the techniques involves finding a place to set up a "course," and then getting enough cones or other devices to define the course tracks. But you can still use a parking lot with painted parking rows and a little imagination to do just about every practice Jerry recommends.

There is one thing I find infuriating on these videos. Jerry, why on earth did you have to get those tiny women to ride those big bikes and show them riding better than me and most other men? When you see some small, 115 pound lady moving an Ultra around like a kid's tricycle, you get know embarrassment real well. I know he's doing it as a motivator, but I can self-motivate without the gender jibe. Oh well...

It may seem silly, but the most important thing I learned was using the friction zone and rear brake to control my speed. It wasn't something I learned before even though it was briefly touched on in the Motorcycle Safety Course I took. This is where you let the clutch out just enough to start to catch, but not all the way. You keep the throttle at about 1500-2000 RPM (Jerry recommends between 1000-1500 RPM, but the higher RPMs seem to work better for me.) You then control your speed by using light pressure on the rear brake and controlling how much you depress the clutch.

DO NOT TOUCH THE FRONT BREAK! I can't shout that loud enough. Using the front break in a slow speed turn is an almost guaranteed fall. Using the front break was a key contributor in my dropping my bike those 3 times so I quickly (and gladly!) adopted this lesson.

If you don't learn this friction zone technique, you'll never make it through the exercises in the DVD.

But the most difficult part is learning to trust yourself and the bike and LEAN into these slow speed turns. The folks on the DVD go so slow and lean so far that they almost continuously scrape their foot boards on the ground. THAT takes commitment, but it's the only way to consistently make these slow speed turns. I haven't gotten there yet, but I'm working on it!

Another thing they mention is that the left turning is much easier than the right turning. In right turning, you're actively pulling the handle bar to the right while you lean (this is NOT a push turn!) and the combination of lean, turn, and throttling just makes the whole thing more difficult. I found this to be true. Just keep practicing; you'll get it.

Personally, I recommend RLAP V over III. primarily due to production values. The video and sound are a LOT better in V than III. Also in RLAP V, Jerry includes some video of amateur riders undergoing instruction. This is something I really like in that it's nice knowing others screw it up just like me. However, Jerry doesn't do enough of these examples. If he ever does RLAP VI, I recommend that he includes more of the amateur video showing before and after so we can see how poorly they started, and how good they become.

As Jerry mentions, these are perishable skills: if you don't practice them regularly, you will loose them. So it's important once in a while to go out of your way, set some time aside, and at least run through the exercises. Also, it might be useful to do these exercise with a buddy. It doesn't hurt to have some help picking up the Ultra.

I haven't had many chances to practice the techniques since I can't seem to get any of my riding buds to commit to practice time when I can. Our schedules are such that when we get together, we ride.

But I use as many opportunities as I can to practice. If I'm on a clear side street, I'll slow down and practice the weave. In parking lots, I no longer choose the easy slots to enter; I look for the difficult ones and try to glide in without stopping and walking the bike into the slot. The left turns are still easier than the right turns, but thankfully my post office only has slots to the right as you enter the lot I have a post office box so I get to practice those every day. Also, if you've read my other posts on getting into my driveway, I have to use the friction zone technique with a right turn so I get to practice that every day, as well.

The DVD is a little pricey at $34.95 (without S&H) but it's still recommended. But don't ever loan it out. I'm still waiting to get mine back...

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Karl is an active network marketer who refuses to make cold calls. Check it out at http://www.KarlAuerbach.com. To read and take part in my blog discussion on MLM and Motorcycles (hey, I’m eclectic!), please visit us at http://KarlsMLMRazor.blogspot.com.