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Quick body position check…

CityBiker1 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:57:34 +0000

Body position is one of the hardest things to re-calibrate once you’ve been off the bike for a few days. This is especially true for sport bikes, race bikes, anything with clip-ons. Notice what Rossi does when he sits on a new bike… He gets down in a full tuck. You don’t see him in this position very often on the racetrack; only for a few quick moments on a long straight… but you see him do this almost every time he sits on a new bike that’s sitting on a rear stand. Notice how far back he is on the seat (all the way), where he rests his chin (on the ledge ahead of the gas cap), how his arms hang while resting on the bars (you can’t tell from this pic, but he’s holding the bars)… And notice how relaxed this position looks – then try it yourself. For Rossi this seems to be his baseline position: the one he starts with in feeling out the rest of the bike.

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Hanging off in the corners…done right.

CityBiker1 — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:31:15 +0000

[Posted this video before - but it's worth a second look!]

More and more, recently, I think it’s useful and important for riders to be able to get off the seat a bit in order to keep the bike more upright. Especially if you’re riding all year round over wet leaves and construction gravel on cold tires – keeping the bike as upright as possible is a good thing… Many disagree with that and think “hanging off” is just for advanced track riding – which is fine… But if you wanted to corner with greater stability, less lean angle, and more confidence, you’re going to need to check out these body positions.

And when it comes to things like body position many well-meaning expert sources teach it all wrong! What they SAY isn’t exactly what the experts DO. So for visual learners, nothing beats watching video of great motorcycle riding… Take a look at the video before reading the rest.

Here are some helpful tips on body position for corners (i.e., “hanging off”):

1. “Don’t hang off too much” is good advice… But more specifically you want to get your butt-crack at the edge of the seat (maybe that’s a bit TOO specific)…not more, not less. Going any further means you won’t be stable in your seat – and you’ll have to hold on with your arms – which is not good. And moving over less than that will make it difficult to lean down to the inside (#2).

2. Lean down to the inside of the bike. Hanging off isn’t about moving “over.” It’s really about rotating on the bike so that you’re seated at an angle to the bike, sideways, rather than straight up. I got this wrong for years – and they often teach it the wrong way in Advanced Rider Courses… They usually teach that you should simply move over to the inside of the turn, but that’s not quite right. Freeze the video around the 0:50 mark when the bike is pointed straight at the camera, and notice the position of the knees. The knee on the inside is LOWER relative to the bike (about mid-point on the fairing), and the knee on the outside is higher relative to the bike (at the top of the fairing). That means the inside leg (and arm) is more bent, and the outside leg is stretched out a bit more. It’s hard to see that at different camera angles – but this is often what separates ineffective “hanging off” to good body position.

By the way, it’s not just a Casey Stoner thing – this is how everyone goes fast on the racetrack these days… Check out Hiroshi Aoyama.

3. (in order to do #2) Put your weight (more) on the outside leg. If you practice your body position with the bike on a stand, when you lean left, your weight will probably have to be on the left. But when you’re moving at speed, the momentum allows you to put your weight on the OUTSIDE foot. You put your weight on the outside, and instead of leaning the bike over, you lean your body over – allowing you to lean the bike less.

4. Stay light on the bars. All the other rules of body position stay in effect, so you do NOT want to hold your hold up with your arms. And weighting the outer foot enables you to get down low on the inside leg, and keep the weight off your arms. There was a time when Casey Stoner lost the front a bit and lost control – until he let go of the bars…then the bike was able to regain its composure. You can’t do that if you’re holding yourself up with the bars.

5. Get in position way BEFORE you have to turn. Not right before the turn, or while you turn, but you get your butt in position WAY before the turn and lean in with your body as you countersteer. Or if you’re a real newbie (like I am), get in position while you’re still breaking – leaning the bike slightly the other way just to go straight – and then steer in…

When you’re doing this right you’ll be able to see/feel the impact your body position has on the lean angle of the bike. You want to work with that and learn how to let your body lean MORE, and your bike lean LESS. This way you can get around with scraping the center stand or foot pegs on the ground… while giving you a greater margin of safety… This can help you ride your Scooter or Supersport, anything with two wheels and a motor really. Lighter bikes and scooters benefit the most – a little hanging off into the corner can substitute for a good amount of the Bike’s lean angle…and that’s a great thing. Cheers!

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Why you can’t throttle to pass…

CityBiker1 — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:58:09 +0000

[Goofy Elvis vid]

In the old Elvis movies, race car drivers would just step on the gas a little further and win the race. Of course, in real life we know it doesn’t work that way… But we still carry some of this goofy line of thinking. ‘When you want to pass someone while in motion, you just need to crank the throttle open and pass them. Or…if need be, you can down shift, crank the throttle open and wheelie past them.’ A street rider once explained to me ‘with these crotch rockets you just have to point and shoot – find a direction you want to go, and pull the trigger.” I didn’t ride at the time, so I didn’t know one way or another, but it sounded good to me. But this is actually NOT the way to go fast, or ride safely, or pass anything at any speed…

The act of opening the throttle suddenly, or worse, downshifting and opening the throttle suddenly will unsettle your bike causing the rear to stiffen (because of the way the chain pulls the suspension when accelerating) and the front suspension to expand… So that for several moments afterward, the bike is too unstable to brake quickly and reliably (if something jumped in front of you) or change directions, or handle poor traction in case the rear wheel should slip. If you don’t believe me, try it someplace where there are not too many other vehicles near you (go from full throttle acceleration to hard braking – then try cruising to hard braking… the latter is a lot more productive). Not only that, this tactic probably won’t give you enough speed to pass even a Toyota Prius at highway speeds…

Then how are you supposed to pass? Whether you ride a 125 cc or a 1600 cc bike (or a minivan for that matter), the art of passing is the same: you use your momentum (speed = momentum), not acceleration or engine torque to pass. You accelerate gradually enough that you don’t have to worry about traction or braking and get around the other vehicle while cruising at a faster rate of speed. That means you have to be far enough behind the vehicle you want to pass to have room to speed up and gain momentum…that requires self control not to tail gait the vehicle going too slow. It also means you have to plan ahead… Instead of driving right up into the tail of the slower vehicle, you have to plan your pass way ahead of time, and time it just right so that you’re moving fast enough to get around the other vehicle, (cruising at least a good 5-10 mph faster).

So… do you get stuck behind other riders (who are going slower than you) on trackdays? Do you get stuck behind cars and trucks and have trouble getting around them safely? Do you get frustrated as other cars or riders whiz by along side you? Then go learn to keep a little distance from the slow vehicles and pass safely using your momentum instead of trying to pass by sheer power.

Got any more tips? Share the wealth in the comments section. Cheers!

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Highway riding…part 1

CityBiker1 — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:35:00 +0000

What’s your best advice for someone new to riding on the highway? When I started riding a bike, I had driven more than 200k miles in a car (I’d been driving long distances since I was 16), so highway riding didn’t seem daunting to me. In some ways, it’s safer and more predictable than local roads. But because the speeds are higher, it has its own dangers… So what’s the best advice you’ve heard? Post it in the comments section. Cheers!

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Least used motorcycle part…ever.

CityBiker1 — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:34:48 +0000

I don’t know when the last time was I heard someone use the horn button on a motorcycle. I have no idea what the horn sounds like on most bikes. And to be honest, if I had to find it quickly, I don’t know if I’d be able to find the horn button right away with my left thumb… But from what I hear this is a US biker thing – in the UK, you do hear the toot toot of bike horns making their way by inattentive car drivers. The reason I bring this up is – maybe we ought to bring back the horn…

So picture this, you’re driving to get a slice of pizza, down a two way street at a modest 30-40 mph and you notice a car at a stop sign to your right, looking to cut across you and make a left turn…

[As you can see, the art department is on strike today]

Only you can see inside that the guys is looking RIGHT, talking on the phone, getting ready to cut into your lane. What do you do?

a) Start yelling at the guy from inside your helmet

b) rev your engine so he can see you

c) cover your brakes and slow down

d) honk

The problem with revving your engine is that unless your exhaust is insanely loud and obnoxious – the revving is hard to pinpoint – it sounds like it could be coming from down the block or behind or on another street. Slowing down is a good idea, but he might still cut into your lane right in front of you forcing you to make an emergency stop – or run right into you… So honking AND slowing/covering the brakes – is really the BEST way to deal with the situation.

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And yet more snow…

CityBiker1 — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:46:31 +0000

It’s been years since we’ve had such regular snowfall in NY… Normally there are only a couple of days in the winter when it’s too slippery to ride, but this year we’ve had half a dozen. And with more snow scheduled for Friday on top of the icy slush that’s already out there, it might be good to warm up your Metrocards and leave the bike parked – depending on which borough you live in (Manhattan streets are pretty clear!) But if you absolutely have-to take your bike, there’s always a way. And the slow moving traffic around the city is a lot better than having to ride through icy parkways upstate… So here’s a repost from a YouTube biker to show you how to ride through the white stuff…

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Body position pointers…

CityBiker1 — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:08:34 +0000

For students of of the riding craft, here’s a quick lesson from motorcycle legend (or moto-madman) Randy Mamola. I saw this old pic on Motoblog, and thought it was something… Mamola is known today for taking pillions around the track for out of the seat rides on a Ducati MotoGP bike… His trademark was a fearless and aggressive riding style. And although he would soon high side this Cagiva out of the race, his rear wheel drifting shows us a few pointers about good body position in the corners…

First notice how stable he is in the saddle. He’s leaned off around the saddle in such a way that he’s still firmly seated – so that his weight in the turn pushes down the bike sideways.

Second, notice how this lets his arms stay relaxed – even as the rear slides out about a foot! A less stable position would force him to stiffen up his arms, but Randy is cool as a cucumber.

Third, notice his throttle control. Chop the throttle in a rear wheel power slide and the rear wheel will suddenly gain traction and throw you over the bars… that’s eventually what happens, but not in this corner. And for all you track wizards who think “pfft, I can do that!” Remember that this is a 500cc 2 stroke. And it seems, a poorly handling 500cc 2 stroke at the time… These are notorious for their peaky and brutal power delivery – so throttle control like this is really super human.

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Ever wonder how fast?

Leo — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:31:18 +0000

Ever wonder how fast the pros go? If you’re on the east coast you probably don’t get to ride Laguna Seca, but we do have an AMA track in southern Jersey, so check it out. Here’s a video from OTT I’ve been meaning to post, but it took me forever to find it again because it’s not on Youtube for some reason… It’s a look at the GPS data from a hot lap with Aaron Yates. If you’ve ever ridden Thunderbolt, you know that turn 1 can be taken faster than it looks at first – but I would have never thought 70mph! Now I don’t recommend you set your speedo at 70 try that turn yourself unless of course you’re Aaron Yates.

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Another school promo…

Leo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:21:58 +0000

There’s more than one good riding school out there, but these guys are among the best. I mean who else could get Valentino Rossi to come do a training video? And this promo is slick. Which is important…because attending a track school should not only be educational, but it should also feel like a dream come true.

If you’ve ever thought of taking a an advanced riding school or track school, I’d say do it. Even if you don’t plan to go to the track again. I took the CSS level one a while back and thought it was worth every penny (and I could definitely benefit from level 2)… But let me know what you think. Have you been to any riding schools? Worth it for a street rider or no?

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Riding Tips: braking “backwards”

Leo — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:59:07 +0000

Braking is difficult to improve. Most people develop an intuitive sense for straightening up and not locking the wheels, but still…even under a controlled setting, most of us would have trouble keeping up (or down) with the braking distance of a typical sedan with ABS. And because the act of braking is so time sensitive, most of it happens subconsciously. Advice like “don’t lock the rear brake” is good and true, but of little help when a real braking situation arises. Most people (including myself) get around this by planning ahead and making sure there aren’t any braking emergencies to worry about. This is what I recommended. But wouldn’t it be great to have a finely tuned braking ability? How can you improve skills that are…mostly subconscious?” It has to do with braking “backwards…”

Most people brake “backwards”… we start with a light touch on the brakes and as the stopping point gets closer we squeeze harder on the brakes. This is how most people drive cars, and this is how most people brake on motorcycles. We like it because it shifts your weight gradually forward as you progressively increase the braking…and normally there are no noticeable downsides to doing this… The problem is, because this “backwards” braking becomes deeply etched into your brain, and when an emergency braking situation comes up, this kind of braking won’t cut it. You will be too light on the brakes in the beginning, and too hard on the brakes as you near collision.

The better way is like this: once the bike is upright, you can brake fully with ONE squeeze (a constant level pressure on the lever) that will allow you to stop in the given distance. And instead of squeezing harder as you approach a stop, you can do the opposite and lighten your braking as your stopping point gets closer.

So here’s the drill: whereas most people see the stop light ahead and start with gradual braking, increasing as the light approaches; try this… Straighten up and squeeze enough of the brakes (not so abruptly as to upset the bike, but quickly) to allow you to come to a complete stop without squeezing any further on the brake. Instead of gradual braking, you can make a single braking input; and instead of gradually adding more braking, you can gradually lessen braking as you roll closer to your stopping point. If you do this properly, your braking won’t feel any more abrupt than backwards braking.

“What’s the point of this? It feel unnatural, and it’s more to think about, why not just brake the old way?” By learning to make just one braking input, your brain is relearning how to brake in an emergency. So that in an emergency braking situation, instead of wasting time gradually braking, you are letting the brakes work to their limit much sooner, shortening the braking distance. And instead of teaching your brain to focus on gradually increasing braking, you’re training your subconscious to focus on gradually easing off the brakes to keep the wheels from locking up. And by making this the way you brake at every single stop, you reinforce and recalibrate your brain’s ability to quickly do the math and calculate how much to squeeze the lever to stop the bike in time.

Have any more braking tips? Share the wealth in the comments section!

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