www.citybikerblog.com » riding tips

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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Great advice from a pro…

Leo — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:50:54 +0000

Ben Spies is a phenomenal rider, winning first place in World Superbike in his debut year (learning the tracks on his Xbox before race day). Now he’s off to MotoGP, but he already looks like one of the contenders to Rossi’s throne. Anyway, even if you’re not into the race scene, if you can handle the track talk – there’s some great advice here for improving as an every day rider…

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Great Ideas Yet to Be Invented

What is headshake?

Leo — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:30:03 +0000

Cars fish-tail under over-zealous acceleration. Motorcycles (mainly sporty ones) develop “head-shake.” With cars, loss of traction in the rear wheel (on rear wheel drive cars) causes the rear of the car to slide left, then right, then left again… It all starts with a slide in one direction, and the driver over corrects and sends it sliding in the other direction. With a motorcycle…head shake happens when the front wheel loses contact with the ground and regains contact with the wheel slightly out of alignment (to the direction it was going). You see it happen after a poorly executed wheelie – but it can happen under hard acceleration or after encountering bumps in the road: The wheel comes off the ground while the steering angle changes (usually by rider input) slightly, and when the wheel regains contact with the ground – you get the bars turn left and right while the wheel tries to regain its alignment…

Who’s susceptible? Basically if your bike can wheelie you can get headshake… So a 10hp scooter can get head shake, but (probably) not a Harley Softail.

Steering dampers (or stabilizers) are adjustable shock-type mechanisms designed to help alleviate head shake by making it more difficult to turn the bars quickly. For the most part they work (makes your bike less prone), but head shake can still occur.

So what can you do about it? Here’s what NOT to do: don’t grab onto the bars tightly. Easier said than done. Holding onto the bars tightly and having your weight on the bars can cause head-shake, but once it begins it can cause it to escalate. So rule #1 is to keep light on the bars. The second thing you shouldn’t do is use the front brake. This is easier. A little bit of rear brake or engine braking will help get the front end under control faster, but front brake will probably lead to a crash.

Other than that, keeping your bike under control after a bout of head-shake is all about fundamental riding skills: light on the bars, throttle control… Got any stories or tips for dealing with head shake? Share the wealth! Cheers!

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Riding Lesson Redux

Leo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:09:42 +0000

I posted a link to this before, but here’s a condensed version with a little less fluff… I love that they picked such a dinky looking car to learn the track. I wish they showed how Rossi would ride the track on a scooter too…that would be classic.

But on a more serious educational note, I think the video is watching just to reinforce 2,3 and 5! And although the tips are mainly for the track, ideas like ‘getting your braking done early’ and ‘easing off the brake as you reach your turn point’ (#3) is not just good for the track – it’s a smart practice for the street.

Anything that you particularly like about the video? Share it in the comments section. Cheers!

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Survival Skills: How long can you look away?

Leo — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:09:06 +0000

It’s happened to everyone at some point: you’re riding along when you see something interesting, the next thing you know the car ahead of you is at a dead stop and you’re grabbing a handful of brakes. Maybe you’re by an airport watching a plane take off while doing a fist pump ala Top Gun… Or maybe you’re looking away for a justifiable (not so Jersey Shore) reason: like looking over your shoulder at a car behind you while switching lanes…(something I usually do), or reading a street sign, or something… Now if you’ve ever been surprised by something after looking away, you know how quickly it all happens… You just looked away for a moment, and a moment later all hell breaks loose… Especially in NY!

Here’s why: at 30 mph, when you look away for just one second you’ve already traveled 44 feet! That’s three car lengths! And you’re still in first gear. At 50 mph you’re going 73 feet per second… At 100mph, you look away for a second and you’ve just traveled 146.6 feet!! That’s nearly half a football field – in one second!

So how long can you take your eyes off the road (ahead of you)…safely? The answer is, as long as you’re moving: less than a second. There are roads and traffic situations in which you can’t afford to look away at all…where looking away will mean you’ll have to rush to take in new information. But often times there’s enough predictability in traffic to steal a quick glance over your shoulder or at a street sign – but that’s all you have time for, a quick glance.

[You can do the math yourself "feet per second"= "speed in mph"/3600*5280]. There’s a reason why race bikes don’t have mirrors or gauges… at the speeds they travel there’s never a safe time to steal a glance at them.

It’s easy for riders with lots of miles in the seat to get complacent about stuff like this…and a good rider is relaxed and in control, so it’s easy to get a little too relaxed with your eyes off the road. But your safety depends on your ability to see what’s coming up, and even at low speeds there’s a lot of data that your eyes need to absorb and process…

Got any tips or stories? Share the wealth!

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Armchair track schools…

Leo — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:43:49 +0000

Once you’re done learning to connect the dots with Colin Edwards, you can watch a 15 minute track lesson with Rossi after the jump…

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Why people think you have to fall…

Leo — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:20:04 +0000

When you do it right, riding over ice or snow…(or dirt or oil) is easy. It’s actually so easy that first timers who have been trained properly rarely crash. But if you do it wrong, even just a little bit…a fall happens so suddenly that it’s impossible to react or do anything. Doing it right seems so easy and uneventful that it’s tempting to do different things (i.e., the wrong things). That’s why I think even experienced bikers sometimes crash over snow and ice.

So how can you learn about the bad things that happen when you do the wrong thing? Either you can use other people’s experiences and learn from it or you can experience it yourself. Unfortunately most people need to experience it for themselves…

So if you fall into that latter category, you probably will fall at some point riding over ice and snow… Hopefully it will be at a low speed on a road without much traffic. But you should know that in any given instance, you don’t HAVE-TO fall or crash or drop your bike because of ice or snow or oil. There is no stretch of road where a crash is inevitable…

So what do you need to do? You know the drill:

Look ahead and identify areas of traction: if you’re on clean pavement, keep a lookout for snow and ice. If you’re around snow and ice, keep your eyes peeled and focus on the areas with clean pavement.
Slow down and straighten up as you approach the slippery spot.
Approach the slippery spot at an angle that allows you to go straight while riding over it.
As you pass over the slippery spot, cruise straight over it (you can use only the slightest amount of rear-brake or throttle).
* If you do have to turn while over the ice, put your feet down and try to keep the bike as upright as possible, and go slow using the clutch and throttle.

Do those things and you will not crash. Fail to do 1-4 (over ice), and you probably will crash. It’s as simple as that.

By the way, watch out for the ice these days, especially around exit ramps and around park areas. Cheers!

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Traction traction traction…

Leo — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:13:08 +0000

The first three rules of real estate are location location location. The first three rules of winter riding (and competitive racing) are traction… Times 3. The thing is you really CAN ride on almost any surface… even one with as little traction as ice. And the liberating thing about riding on low traction surfaces is that once you get a sense of it, it makes all the mixed traction areas (patches of water or ice or gravel or steel road surfaces) more manageable because you know how much traction you have at your disposal, and you know the guidelines within which they are manageable.

A repost of a video I linked to last year

The most dangerous part of riding on a poor traction surface is when you’re going straight and you don’t know how much real traction is available. Are you going to fast? Too slow? Too close? The only way to be able to answer those questions are to test the traction on that surface.

The next step is being able to read how much traction a road surface will give you. So how much traction will that construction dirt give you? How about that patch of snow? Or the wet spot on the pavement?

How do you hone your traction-reading skills?

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Slippery when wet…

Leo — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:31:03 +0000

A popular YT clip for bikers and non-bikers alike. I like to call it a moment in schadenfreude…

It’s rain and wet leaves season over here in NY. Or maybe it’s just been a long day. If you’ve ever been in a fall on a slippery surface, you know how quickly it can happen, and how bewildering it can be… But in 20/20 hindsight, there are always ways to either avoid the crash or avoid the circumstances that led to the crash. So here are a few slippery road tips for the Fall riding season.

Tip #1 – Slow down. Duh. Obviously this guy on the video was a good enough rider and familiar enough with this bridge that he pushed his speed a bit. But in hindsight it was a bit too fast for the weather. He would have been fine (probably) if he were going just 5 mph slower.

Tip#2 – Keep it straight. A motorcycle is remarkably stable when it is in motion going straight. Don’t try to turn on slippery surfaces like manhole covers and steel plates. Turn only on clean looking asphalt. A good part of road riding is being able to judge road surface and traction…

Tip #3 – Keep it vertical (as much as you can). Even in a turn, a motorcycle in motion is remarkably stable as long as there isn’t too much lean angle. If the front or both wheels slide a bit, the lean angle increases but actually maintains the line you turned into.

Tip #4 – Keep loose on the bars. It’s natural as the road get slippery to tense up – but that’s the last thing you want to do. In a turn, front wheel slides, rear wheel slides, are both self correcting but only as long as you let the bars do what it wants to do (rather than fighting it). If the rear wheel slides to the right, the bars will automatically compensate by turning right, but only as long as you’re not fighting it. A death grip on the bars will turn a rear wheel slide into a crash.

Tip #5 – Gas it to neutral. Neutral is the best gear to be in when going straight over a slippery patch or ice or snow… But rather than pulling the clutch lever, it’s better to crack the throttle open just a little bit to keep the engine from pulling back. You can use the rear wheel and throttle to gauge the available traction… similar to what people do coming to a stop with the rear brake.

Got any other slippery road tips? Share the wealth, post them in the comments!

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