Body Position: Staying in-line with the bike…
Nov 20th, 2009 by Leo
Most people are secretly working against their bikes. There you have your two wheeler working hard to keep its contact patches on the ground, trying to give you enough lean angle and turning radius…and there you go working against it, making it work harder than it has to. The main way people inadvertently work against the bike is by not-being in-line with the bike in a turn (see figure B).
For some reason people (even those who are bad salsa dancers like me) all of a sudden swivel at the hip when they lean the bike over. What the bike would rather you do is Figure C., stay in-line with the bike, or better yet lean-IN to the turn (figure D). When you get out of line with the bike, B, you make it have to lean over farther than it would if you were sitting straight. (Likewise if you lean in to the turn, D, you can lean it over less.) But let’s just talk about staying in-line with the bike for now, C. Because in everyday riding, you won’t be so aggressive that you’re really getting your head down into the turn… And also, if you can’t stay straight on top of your bike, you’re already out of sync somewhere and it’s better to figure that out before doing anything more with your body position.
Chances are you don’t even realize you’re out of line with the bike. There are people who swear up and down that they’re straight, but they’re all crossed up on steep lean angles. So how can you tell if this applies to you? A little self-awareness goes a long way – and you’ll probably develop that the more you investigate your actual riding positions – but the two main ways people find this out is: someone tells you, or you get some pictures of you mid-turn. Better yet, strap your video camera onto the back seat and you can see for yourself what you do (it won’t make an interesting video to watch for anyone else, but it can show you what you normally do).
So how can you stay in line with the bike better? Find and use reference points on your body and bike… What kind of reference points? For me, if I can feel the tank around both elbows then I know I’m sitting straight. For your type of bike it might be something different. On a scooter there is no tank in front so I use the distance from my elbow to my side…when I’m sitting straight I can press both elbows against my side, but when I’m out of line one elbow is closer. Also I make a note of how far my elbows are from my knees… When I’m sitting straight I feel “square” and symmetrical.
So what you can do is: get in position while you’re going straight, find reference points for where your arms and feet lay, and then dip into turns without changing anything. If you’re actually doing it, and you’re sensitive enough, you can feel your weight shift on the pegs as you turn… The weight shifts to your right foot as you turn left, and vice versa.
Anyway – like most things this stuff is better learned by experience than talked about – but every now and then a tip from another rider can help fast foward one’s riding level… What do you do to teach yourself to stay in-line with the bike? Share the wealth in the comments section!
Leo! Sorry my newbie question. On japan police video I see pos B for slow U-turn and fast waves and pos D for others turns. I don’t see pos C in a turn. Am I wrong ? Thanks for You blog!
Hey Alex – that’s a good observation!
In the US, they even teach “B” for slow u-turns, they call it “counter-balancing.” And I think on larger bikes there would be no other way to make sharp turns slowly…
Unfortunately I think that’s the only time one would need to do this (yes i guess dirt riders do this too for similar reasons) – but it develops a bad habit for when you really need to turn quickly.
So I see a number of Japanese gymkhana riders do “B” – but…take a look at the *top* gymkhana riders (usually not the police), what do they do on similar courses? Even on slow tight turns?
Cheers!
Thanks for you answer! Hmm … Top gymkhana riders use pos C and pos D _AND_ maybe they don’t use rear brake for slow speed turns! They use _only_ front brake for sharp turns ! Is it true ?
I *think* they all use the rear brake for sharp turns… Rear brake + throttle at the same time through the whole turn. It slows the bike down without upsetting the balance – and for slow tight turns, keeping the rear brake on a little helps smooth out the throttle. This is pretty much a gymkhana technique, regular road riders don’t need to do this.
I don’t think anyone would use the front brake all through the turn – they pretty much let go of the front brake once they’re leaned over. But you can always lean the bike over while on the rear brake (not too hard though) without a problem…
So I think a big part of this is also moving around on your bike. Get your butt off of the seat. This helps shift your weight and put more pressure on the side you are turning on. The benefit is you are going to have to lean your bike over. At my last track day I spoke to a couple racers and had them follow me around. They were telling me what I am saying right now. Your legs are supposed to burn after a spirited ride. I made my adjustments and found myself working a lot easier with the bike. The next two days my legs were burning, but I had made more confident corners and dropped my lap times by a number of seconds.