Safety related question!

[Guest fcaprilia]

Setup: Just went through first two days of intense advanced motorcycle training (4 day course).  The class is all about slow speed control and maneuvering on the bikes.  All of us are “experienced” riders in the class and only to recognize that we are not that good and had a LOT to learn. After two days of 10 hours per day riding, weaving through different courses and cones etc., using 15year old Kawasaki police bikes, I realized that everyone one of us made a lot of mistakes at slow speeds. Every single one of us in tight spots and turns opened up the throttle (intentionally and unintentionally).  The only saving/compensating grace was having a clutch or else we would have had a few incidents.

Question for the DCT riders: (I own a DCT and will be practicing these maneuvers in a parking lot).  Since our bikes don’t have a manual clutch, do you know if Honda has built in safety mechanisms that either reduce the effect of throttle or disengage the throttle when rear and front breaks are engaged beyond a certain level from a safety perspective? In a panic/emergency stop for example, it is possible for some riders to engage front and rear brakes and potentially still have the throttle opened too.  It is easy to overcome this in a manual bike by simultaneously pulling in the clutch.  Your insight is welcome and would be interested in understanding your riding technique for slow speed control.  Thanks.

[Monk]

I don't have one, but have you ever done a panic stop all the way to stopping, in a straight line yet...On your bike?

I would think you might get an idea if you could do a blow a turn or not........... I'd like to hear a good answer to your question as well.

[BrianF]

Question for the DCT riders: (I own a DCT and will be practicing these maneuvers in a parking lot). Since our bikes don't have a manual clutch, do you know if Honda has built in safety mechanisms that either reduce the effect of throttle or disengage the throttle when rear and front breaks are engaged beyond a certain level from a safety perspective? In a panic/emergency stop for example, it is possible for some riders to engage front and rear brakes and potentially still have the throttle opened too. It is easy to overcome this in a manual bike by simultaneously pulling in the clutch. Your insight is welcome and would be interested in understanding your riding technique for slow speed control. Thanks.

This is a great question to which I've been wondering the answer since before I bought my DCT. An easy comparison would be to find the same magazine's braking distance numbers for each variant. I can't find my issue of Cycle World where they did the Death Valley sport touring comparison, that would have the DCT numbers. Their standard road test was 126ft from 60, MotorCycleNews did 117.4 feet from 60, but never did a full test of the DCT. I've spent the last hour looking online and can't seem to find the DCT info. Maybe someone can help us out. However, in all the professional reviews, I've yet to read or see one mention of this. So much for "professional." It was one of the first questions I had about the DCT, as I own a paddle-shift car as well.

That being said, in the approximately 10 practice panic stops and half-dozen real panic stops I've done, I would say there is certainly some pull from the clutch. It doesn't disengage entirely, but there's also going to be a discrepancy based on the bike's weight vs. the standard model. I haven't tried holding the throttle open and simultaneously braking...next time I ride I'll give it a try. Now for those braking numbers...