Hi Any tips to help prevent or lessen this? After a bit of riding I'm finding my wrist aching so I'm trying to loosen my grip on the throttle as well as look at my sitting position
to tight grip on throttle will cause aches. the aim of the throttle is not to squeeze it to death , you tend to find newcomers to riding gripping the bars like there life depends on it, but over time you will relax the grip ever so slightly as you become more acustomed to counter steering. at the moment when your turning your using the bars to push and pull this causes you to grip the bars more tighter, heres a little tip ..... find a very quiet back road / cul-de-sac . start off in a nice straight line. now DO NOT turn the bars but gentley push down the left handle bar, then gentley push down the right side, notice how the bike turns just by pushing the bar down on one side. less effort and less grip to.. you should feel your gripping the bar less as your just pushing the bar down and not having to grip it tight to push it left and right. practice this pushing of the bars to turn. watches if you wear your watch on your right wrist slacken off the wrist band one or two clicks so its not tight on your wrist but a little looser to. when you have your gloves and jacket on they can compress the watch onto pressure points and cause some aching/pain to.
Sit straight up so that your balance doesn't rely on holding on to the bars tightly. You should be able to ride just by resting the palms of your hands on the bars leaving your fingers free to operate the brakes. The throttle can be rolled in the palm of your hand and also using a light grip with your 3rd/4th finger leaving your forefingers to use the brake. As said practice counter steering but only at about 25mph upwards in a straight line. At lower speeds the steering changes. You'll get it with practice.
It's slowly getting better. I struggle with what speeds to take turns at and I am cautious about accelerating whilst turning, this counter steering sounds great and yes i will practice it too. Right now i tend to take turning slowly but then accelerate out of it as soon as the bike is level. I try and get out practicing whenever I can and every day is getting better. By spring time i want to feel ok riding to do runs to the seaside which is about 50 miles from us What i am finding is that i am loving my bike more every day
In addition to previous posts about gripping lighter and learning to counter steer (pushing on the right bar to turn left) you will also need to look at your wrist position. If you start off holding the throttle with a straight wrist then you will find that your hand bends quite far back on full throttle. We often ride for long periods in that position , worse on a smaller engine where you run on WOT all the time, so get wrist strain. Try starting off with your throttle hand rolled further over the top round the front. When you then twist back it straightens the wrist rather than bends it back. Takes some conscious effort as it feels wrong to start with. You can also get throttle add-ons which use your wrist to assist and allows a more relaxdd grip.
That's great advice and is exactly what I was doing hence riding at pace puts my wrists in an unnatural position. I'm gonna try this on my ride home tonight
Just one other thing on an automatic there is a slight delay when applying throttle and actually getting a response at the wheel so in corners you need to apply it before you finish the corner and you'll find it helps you go round the corner instead of a delay/hesitation/wobble. on a quiet dry day find an industrial estate so that you won't be bothered too much with traffic and just practice a bit at speed on corners/roundabouts. Instead of opening the throttle and gradually increasing it to get the speed you want try opening it quite hard and then when you get to the speed you want roll it off until it holds that speed. It's an automatic thing lol It takes longer to explain it than actually do it lol
little tip from a motocross rider / field rider. when you go to grip the throttle have the back side of your hand near on a 90 degree angle , doing this means when your at max throttle your wrist is horizontal to the bar it feels un-natural at first but that feeling soon goes. yep a +1 on corners and leaving them, on a bike you have an instant hook up on the chain from the motor, but a scooter has to go through the belt pulling it tight again and slipping down into the rear pulley. just before you come out of corner lay the gas on fairly hard , then slightly roll the throttle forwards to maintain the speed . counter steering feels un-natural to at first, your so used to how a pushbike feels your expecting the scooter to be the same, but over that 25mph mark the wheels become like gyros, you only need a little presure on either left or right bar pushing it down towards the road surface and the bike will automaticly want to lean that way so much so you could lean the bike over with the pressure for a single finger pushing down on one side of the handle bars ( NOT RECOMENDED for novice riders at all ). seaside rides : do a test run , gear up and head out to one of the resorts you wish to visit or maybe just half way there, become accustomed to that road , a new road will be very different from roads you travel 24/7 , and its good for your learning to you can judge how long it would take you and dangers you may spot along the way , it also readys you for those longer trips .
Your welcome Kris thats what scooter shack is for sharing tips and advice to new riders and old schoolers alike . try these methods on industrial estates where theres less traffic around and your in a safe place to test them out.
