teach’stricks “Move ya body” to control your bike By Chris “Teach” McNeil #198724 WE’VE SPENT A
fair amount of time talking over some of the finer aspects of motorcycle manipu- lation via the con- trols—gas, clutch and brake we’ve yet
to really touch on the X factor in all of this bike control talk: body input. Learning how and when to use your
body are two more important keys to improving your riding ability; but before we get into those techniques, I want to touch on one specific aspect of not using your body, or at least all of it—your grip on the handlebars. It is important to keep an adequate grip on the bars so that you can effectively control the bike, but squeezing too hard and keeping your hands or arms flexed is not the way you want to be riding. We often do this subcon- sciously, with the result not only increased fatigue in your forearms and diminished fine motor control, but it also drastically reduces the motorcycle chassis’ ability to handle the irregulari- ties of the road. I challenge you con- centrate on relaxing your grip on the bars the next time you’re riding. It makes a difference and allows the bike to work beheath you a bit more in the event of a pothole or sand in the road. Increasing your core body strength will help you achieve this goal of reduced grip on the bars while still maintaining your balance on the motorcycle, making for a more enjoy- able ride. Seeing the effects of changing body
position on a motorcycle is much eas- ier at the upper echelon of the sport because the riders understand how much impact different movements can have on the handling of the motorcy- cle, and subsequently they are prone to being very active on the machine.
56 BMW OWNERS NEWS October 2015
Hanging off the bike, the iconic racing posi- tion, is perhaps the most obvious visual that comes to mind when thinking about chang- ing body position on a motorcycle. There are clear reasons for this, primarily to reduce the lean angle at a given speed and maintain a better contact patch, and it is universally accepted that this is the best way to get around a racetrack. Certainly the world’s fastest racers aren’t
sitting comfortably straight up in the saddle while they are competing. Although it is not necessary to hang off to go fast and the turn can be accomplished with a rigid seating position, staying loose and using your body to counter balance the bike is clearly the superior method for attaining greater con- trol and in this example, speed. Let’s take a look at a few simple ways to improve your own riding. When you are riding slowly in a parking
lot or just turning around, those tight figure eight turns we talked about in past issues are easier when you lean to the outside of the turn. Your body weight helps to counter balance the weight of the bike wanting to fall toward the inside of the turn, giving you a slightly wider balance point when turning. Again, staying loose and moving your body is not necessary, and the turn can be accom- plished with a rigid seating position in-line with the angle of the bike, but it becomes more difficult when you aren’t relaxed and working with the motorcycle. A good way to test your ability to stay
loose and counter balance the bike is to try and turn left and right, back and forth, lock to lock while maintaining your forward progress in a straight line. Your bike should dip and lean left and right as you move down the parking lot, but your body posi- tion should stay loose and almost vertical as the bike moves underneath you. Two more easy ways to use your body
position can be found in acceleration and braking. You really want to try and take the weight off of your hands so that you can more easily make fine adjustments to the
controls as you maneuver the bike. Think about how much harder it is to raise one or two fingers if you are hanging from a chin-up bar versus standing on the ground and just hold- ing the bar. During acceleration, lean your torso forward almost simultaneously as you twist the throttle, even slighter sooner. Tight- ening up your abdominal muscles and leaning into the acceleration helps you stay balanced on the bike, and you’re not “sitting in the back seat” with minimal throttle control and no real way to get to the brakes. As you back off the acceleration, let your
body fall back, always staying balanced on the bike. Braking is the same concept, except you lean back and stiffen your arms and back, being careful not to tighten up and lock your arms. Like your legs when standing, your arms can help the suspension soak up large or unex- pected bumps. A helpful tip on most bikes is to scoot back all the way to the rear of the seat and squeeze the gas tank with your knees. You’d be surprised how much it helps you stay to the rear of the bike and keep the weight off of your hands. This is especially important during hard breaking when you need to keep the rear wheel down. Applying these techniques in the dirt is no
different, but you must keep in mind that the more common standing position forces you to be even more pronounced with your body lean forward and backward. Squeezing the bike with your legs and knees makes a huge differ- ence in control and allows you to really use your core strength to keep a relaxed grip. Even the best riders have to constantly tell them- selves to squeeze the bike with their legs and relax their arms. As before, it is important to keep both your arms and knees bent. Not only will this help keep your balance steady over bumpy terrain, it will improve your maneuver- ability and control of the motorcycle and increase your endurance as well. Serious off-road riding requires a little more
than just basic skills to navigate obstacles, and body position once again plays a huge role. Even something as innocuous as a branch hanging into the trail can pose a problem if
discovery
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