Thanks William and Sora. I will definitely try the thrust thing another time (I'm not finished with vehicle mods), but for now I made a different (replacement) version with much, much lower center of gravity: bike_joust.tbm. It's a lot easier to balance while recovering from a turn, and you can turn more aggressively.

Also, in regards to camera starting far off: just press 6 if you are tori, and 7 if you are uke. That transports camera to you immediately.

Also, couple replays from new version: