How To Develop Gymkhana Skills – Part 1
Aug 26th, 2008 by Leo
If you don’t know what motorcycle gykhana is, then check out the post a few days back (Motorcycle Gymkhana). A lot of you saw this and thought: [a] this is amazing, and [b] imagine how useful these skills are in real life! Unlike track skills like ‘getting your knee down’ the skills you learn from gymkhana events can be really practical riding around the city.
So how can I get started?
If you’re in Japan enroll in the HMS (Honda Motorcycle School) or a SRTT (Street Rider Technical Training) class. If you’re not in Japan, then you’re pretty much out of luck in terms of classes. Up until 2007 there was an American named Don Helle who lived in Japan for 15 years and taught an SRTT in Chicago. You can read about that here on a Sport Touring forum… But there are places where you can learn similar skills, the MSF Advanced Rider Course, or the Lee Parks school… Or there’s the do-it-yourself approach.
So for all you do it yourself-ers who want to improve your cone skills, buy a few orange cones from a sports store and head over to your nearest empty parking lot (might be hard to find depending on what city you live in). And start off with some figure-8’s. Here are some tips from a rider in Japan “Ni-Kito” posting on a Japanese foreigner’s message board. Ni-Kito has gone through the HMS and SRTT, and has some experience with these things. His advice to beginners:
- Lock your legs onto the bike; squeeze the tank with the length of your legs
- Relax your arms and keep your elbows in (so you’ll be able to give precise inputs to the bars)
- Sit forward in the seat, tilt your torso from the hips (into the turns)
- Steer with your hips (in a sense) by leaning into the turns [your body weight and position makes a big difference at these lower speeds]
- Put your sternum (neck bone area) in line with handlebar on the inside of the turn. Some schools tell you to “kiss the mirrors” to get your head where the mirror is. Here, you want to make sure it’s not just your head but your torso that’s in line with the inside grip.
- Turn you head and look into the turn (so obvious, but we forget)
- Turn shoulders into the turn also
- Lots of rear brake in turns
- Fully release brake when rolling on hard
- “Let the bike do it’s natural steering. You just turn with the bike.” Once in a turn the bike will naturally follow the arc of the turn – don’t fight it. When you get on the throttle the bike will want to stand up… This tells us something about how to use the throttle.
- Try to negotiate the course faster without excessive lean
- Be smooth with all your inputs especially the throttle and brake
The most fundamental skill, according Ni-Kito, and from what we can deduce just watching the videos is the ability to do figure-8’s well. Notice the use of throttle and body position…you can’t see the brake light, but judging from the speed around the turn the rear brake is dragged all through the turn and only comes completely off on the straight.
So there you have it. Your first lesson (and mine) on the road to amazing low and medium speed motorcycle skills.
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- Time Waster: “DMV Road Test” (not the real road test)
- Riding Tips: Finding the Right Position
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thank’s a lot
it is what i need.