An example of a rear-wheel-lock-caused highside crash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZWjwHgveY



It's generally more violent than a lowside crash, where the bike cleanly slides out from under you.

I've had lowsides too.... and rode away with no more than scrapes injury-wise.

zuluwhiskeycharlie,

Even if you don't use the throttle at all, you should be able to sit on the bike with it idling, put it into 1st gear and while you ever so slowly let the clutch go, it should begin to roll down your driveway. I mean, let that clutch go very, very, very slowly. Like as slow as the basement door opens in a horror movie. DID I MENTION TO LET IT GO VERY SLOWLY???

Anyway, as you let the clutch go little by little, you'll begin to feel it pulling the bike forward. If you let go a little bit too fast, the engine will die. If you let go just a little bit and hold it still, the bike won't move at all because the clutch hasn't "engaged" quite yet.

And like JOG said,
"It's OKAY to squeeze the clutch back in if you get uncomfortable." Once you let the clutch engage 20 or 50 or 2000 times, you really learn how far you can let it go without killing the engine. And as you learn where your particular clutch engages, then you can begin to give the Savage a little bit of gas as it "takes a hold" of 1st gear and let's you go smoothly out of the driveway and down the road a piece.  

Don't let the bike scare you. It has a good bit of low end torque and when you start to feel the clutch grab and the bike starts to move, it feels like when you let the clutch go completely it is going to take off like a rocket. It won't race off. 1st gear is geared pretty low and although the engine may sound like it is winding up you are moving about as fast as a 3 year old can run (unless you have a really fast kid!).

Once you fully release the clutch, let your throttle hand do the speeding up and slowing down, don't milk the clutch to repeatedly engage and disengage the clutch 'half way' to slow you down if you're hesitant.  Remember that unless you are in the process of changing gears or starting from a complete stop, a clutch (like many water valves) should be either fully "on" or "off".  Riding a clutch partially engaged for an extended period of time and slipping it over and over for extended periods of time is not good for it. On or Off. On or off.

I bet Cheapie has done it...or will one day soon  

stewmills wrote on 09/08/16 at 13:02:35:


--------------------------------------------

ZWC, that's a very good point stewmills just made. I most definitely was NOT suggesting you ride around for long periods of time with the clutch half engaged. That is a good way to shorten the life of your clutch. But I never really learned to drive a manual transmission car when I was younger so the first motorcycle I ever owned was really scary for me to operate. I had to learn a lot about how a clutch worked before my old Honda Nighthawk 250 would move more than a few feet.

Now, the smarter and more experienced guys here on the forum might disagree with me, but in my humble opinion, it's not going to hurt anything (or at least it won't cause serious damage to your bike) for you to sit on the bike with it running, put it in first gear, let the clutch out very slowly and try your best to learn how far you have to let that lever out before it begins to tug at the transmission and pull you forward.

Once you get to that point on the lever, pull it back in and try it again. Try that exercise 10 or 20 times until you can predict where the clutch grabs the gears (and therefore, it engages). But like stewmills said, just don't leave it half way engaged for more than a few seconds at a time or you'll start smelling something really awful.

Do you have anyone you know who already rides? I think a 60-second demonstration using a clutch would be invaluable for you. And please let us know how you're progressing.

RaleighGuy is on point.  You do have to spend the time to learn and feathering the clutch is just part of what you have to do to get used to the feel.  You're not going to kill your clutch for the short time you need to learn to ride, just don't make a habit of riding the clutch once you get stable in your riding skills.

+1 on the MSF Course. I learned a lot more there than I ever thought I would...and you get to learn wearing out their bikes and clutches, not yours  

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 09/09/16 at 07:38:04:


Got to wally world and buy two cheap bean bags. Tie one to each handlebar end. Now you can fall over and over into a nice, soft cushion and no one nor the bike gets hurt    (kidding...don't really do this)