Where can I go practice? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Where can I go practice?

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shakalaka said:
That sounds awesome! Where is this?
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Right across the street from my house in a residential neighbourhood, behind a church.

I meant it more as a general observation about school parking lots being good because they're empty on evenings and weekends, unlike malls. The rest was a comment on how lucky I was, which could change if more people find it!

You don't need a lot of space to practice basics. The key thing about practicing is to have targets. For braking, don't just ride along and stop. Pick targets. Pick a braking point and and end point. Pick a braking point and then just stop as quickly as you can. Practice turns and swerves using landmarks. Cones, tennis balls (cut in half), even the lines on the lot. Challenge yourself. Most often, you can practice in any parking lot for at least 5 to 10 minutes before anyone even thinks about telling you you're unwelcome.
 
There's a huge parking lot at Eastern and Coxwell where Learning Curves does its courses. There are markings on the pavement as well.

Just a question - Does insurance cover accidents on private property like parking lots?
 
shakalaka said:
Ooooh exhibition grounds sounds perfect! That place is huge! I just hope I don't get kicked out by security haha. Cherry beach also sounds promising, but I'm sure the lot will be full for a Sunday soccer games. It's gonna be 11C! :D
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I second the CNE grounds.

I practiced a lot there a couple of years ago and though there may be an event taking place on the weekend, there is a lot of parking space including entire lots that are cordoned off from traffic that you can slip into easily with a bike.

As for security, they never bothered me. Except once when I stopped to take a call and a security vehicle approached me. Thought "oops, this is it, i'm kicked out". Security guy stops and says "Are you ok? Just wanted to make sure you didn't need assistance". :)

Enjoy the Sunday weather and ride safe!
 
I ended up going to the Ontario Place parking lots and practiced for about 2hrs(0-100kph and 100-0 emergency braking, push steering obstacle avoidance, slow speed maneuvers, shifting, etc.) There was actually an M1 exit course going on at the parking lot adjacent to mine as well. There's also a cool curvy road that joins two parking lots and I ended up using that to practice some of my turns. I managed to scrape both pegs(the right was much harder) and finally got rid of my chicken strips :D

Then I went to the CNE grounds and there's even a turn there that has a red and white striped apex(from the Honda Indy circuit)! I got warm and fuzzy when I passed a group of around 30 bikers on the Lakeshore and they all waved to me :cool:
 
Last fall, I took my girlfriend to practice on my bike at the L&L Shoppers parking lot (there's a second parking lot on the East side away from the main lot). There were no cars but it was also 8pm on a Sunday night. Spent a few hours there and a dude saw us and came running over and gave her some tips and hung out with us for a good 30 mins.
 
There are 3 large parking lots in the Dundas and Lansdowne area. No Frills-Lansdowne south of Dundas, Nestle factory-Sterling north of Dundas and Loblaws-Dundas south of Bloor.
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