First mistakes or how to properly sit on a motorcycle

2023 Author: Katelyn Chandter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 13:08

First mistakes or how to properly sit on a motorcycle. In order to achieve some results you need a coach, but … some mistakes can be removed by yourself. Let's take a sports bike as a basis. Photo of how to properly sit on a motorcycle. Another motorcycle season is coming to an end. What did he bring us? The joy of motorcycle movement, meeting friends, shooting through the city, training on the track, victories, losses, annoying falls, broken equipment. Someone thought that some annoying and sometimes offensive misunderstandings would not affect him, but they did … Someone thought that falling was painful and found confirmation of this.

Now let's go back to our world. Throughout the season, people came up to us with questions or we noticed some problems with the motorcyclists who went to the track. In fact, the questions and problems are very similar and you can work on the errors yourself. Of course, in order to achieve some results on the track, you need a coach, but … some mistakes can be removed by yourself. I want to make a reservation right away that we all ride different motorcycles, but we will take a sports bike as a basis. Let's get started!

Landing on a motorcycle

We omit the moment when a motorcyclist climbs on a motorcycle and gets off it, this is the knowledge that everyone gets through experience. That is, the first falls happen at this very moment.

Body location. There is such a thing on a motorcycle, a false tank. This is the place where we pour gasoline into the neck. What does it give us? When sitting on a motorcycle, the body should be pressed against the tank as much as possible and the knees should be very tight around it.

It is with the help of knee compression that we hold on and do not fall off the motorcycle when accelerating and driving. But most importantly, there will be no impact on the tank during braking. Men will appreciate this advice! This landing element is very important as it places the center of gravity in the middle of the motorcycle, which means the bike will behave stably while riding.

There is another little secret, a detail that helps you ride your motorcycle efficiently. Usually, a motorcyclist sits on a motorcycle seat, but if they rise a little on the footpegs and lift their heel, then this will give us a huge number of advantages.

The first plus. Tilting the motorcycle from side to side is much faster, which means that the time spent on maneuvering is reduced.

The second plus

Rising on the footpegs, you can load the front wheel more, that is, at the moment of acceleration, it will not come off the ground and acceleration can be done with great acceleration. The question of lifting the motorcycle onto the rear wheel will most likely be discussed later, but this method is not suitable for effective acceleration. As soon as the front wheel comes off and starts to go into the air, acceleration stops immediately.

Plus the third

The rider's body weight when sitting in the saddle is located there. That is, the center of gravity of the motorcycle-rider system rises. In the world of motors, they try to lower the center of gravity. This is very easy to achieve on a motorcycle. It is enough to stand up on the footrests. In this case, body weight is located precisely at these two points. It is in this “comfortable” position that you need to train to ride or at least try to do it in more dangerous moments or when driving aggressively.

Have you ever watched motocross? Crossmen do not ride while sitting on a motorcycle, only in corners. The reason for this is only that they lower the center of gravity of the motorcycle and by moving the body back and forth, affect the behavior of the motorcycle, depending on road conditions. On a road bike, the behavior should be similar. Standing up on the pegs during rough maneuvers and on uneven roads, we stabilize the bike and allow the suspension to work out the road surface efficiently. I had one example, at the beginning of the season I crossed the rails diagonally. I chose the optimal angle, but did not take into account one point, the rail was quite high and behind it … an opening 15 centimeters wide! It was into it that the front wheel drove, the bike began to fall on its side. At that moment, I prepared for the ejection and stood up on the footrests, added gas to push the spindle away from me. At that moment, I felt that despite the position of the motorcycle, which was almost parallel to the ground, it began to straighten its trajectory. I just didn't do anything and kept the motorcycle on constant gas, standing. After 50 meters of drifts, overtaking the rear wheel and sausage from side to side, the motorcycle stabilized and drove off. The conclusion is that the lower the center of gravity, the easier it is for the motorcycle to get out of completely hopeless situations, the main thing is not to interfere with it.

Hands. NEVER CLICK ON THE STEERING WHEEL

This, in the first place, will not give you ANYTHING. Secondly, it will only interfere with driving. By clinging to the wheel, you destabilize the bike. Firstly, the center of gravity shifts closer to the front wheel and when passing bumps, the motorcycle cannot work out bumps, you interfere with the suspension with your weight. Secondly, it makes it difficult to maneuver when cornering or simply when changing trajectories. Moreover, at high speeds and when the motorcycle is low enough, it can cause a fall. The front wheel will simply lose contact … and hello, dear. You should sit on the motorcycle so that at any time you can freely remove your hands from the steering wheel and remain in the same position.

The position of the hands and fingers

A person driving a motorcycle usually has two hands. The left hand controls the motorcycle and the clutch, the right hand controls the gas and front brake. For effective acceleration and braking, you need your hands to be in the correct position. How the left hand is located is not so important, it is important only when accelerating and shifting gears and only in the case when the clutch is used when shifting. My opinion is that you need to press the clutch foot with your fingertips. I don’t know how correct it is, it’s just that I feel the lever better.

The focus should be on the right hand. The position in which the whole hand holds the gas and only when braking the fingers touch the brake, we will consider it not correct for several reasons.

Firstly, in case of unexpected braking, we waste a lot of time moving our fingers to the brake foot, instead of immediately pressing the lever. At first glance, this is half a second, but in fact, these are saving tens of meters of stopping distance, which we do not use.

Secondly, when driving on an uneven road, you will not be able to keep the gas stably and on bumps the gas will twitch all the time, that is, the hand will either close or open it and there is a chance that the bike will simply leave on some big hump without you. or throw it forward. How much horsepower do you think will be released on a 200 horsepower motorcycle if the handle is unscrewed by 5 mm, and if by 1 centimeter? Many! This problem will be solved by a stop - a brake lever, like a stop for a finger or fingers.

I prefer to keep only my middle finger on the brake lever. You can hold both the index and middle fingers,

but it is not convenient for me to re-gas when shifting gears down. This method allows you to brake quickly and without wasting time, as well as control the throttle stick.

Relaxation when moving

Relaxation is very important when moving. A tense person cannot react as quickly as possible to a traffic situation. This is not possible for physiological reasons. In order to do some kind of action, first you need to relax the muscles, and then strain the necessary ones. From constant tension, the muscles can become fixed and it will simply be impossible to press the brake, for example. I think many people often had a situation, after a long ride, getting off the saddle, pulling a leg to the ground, it turned out that it simply does not hold not only the weight of the motorcycle, but also the motorcyclist himself. I have dropped the bike like this once, and a couple of times I have almost dropped it. The same situation is with the governing bodies. You need to be relaxed! There are several control points by which you can control your body. As soon as the body relaxes, the movement immediately appears smooth and the trajectories become more correct. And the motorcycle is less nervous.

Elbows and shoulders

Keep your shoulders down, not up.

You also need to control the tension in the lower back. Now about the elbows. On the elbows, you can immediately see whether the rider is tense or not. As soon as the elbows are apart, it means everything is wrong. While riding, you need to periodically pay attention to the fact that your elbows are pressed against the tank at all times, regardless of the inclination of the motorcycle. Moreover, I sometimes shake my elbows a little to make sure they are relaxed.

* I would like to point out that the pictures show elements that are worth paying attention to. For example, the position of the fifth point above the seat should be a few centimeters higher, and unfortunately they will not be seen in the image, therefore the body positions are a little exaggerated and you should not ride that way, but you need to train it!