one of our biggest goals as riders
is to operate the bike smoother think of it as being a drummer or a heavy equipment
operator where we're using our hands and our feet to synchronize precise movements
i'm going to show you some slow speed control techniques to help you be a smoother safer rider
welcome to MOTOTREK! i'm Dusty Wessels professional motorcycle instructor with
West38Moto. practicing slow maneuvers to understand and more importantly feel the
delicate input required will make you a smoother rider one of the things that will help us be a
smoother rider is to get comfortable with the front brake off-road it causes a lot of anxiety
here's something for you to practice be in first gear standing up on the motorcycle when you're
ready to stop put your weight back pull the clutch all the way in compress the front brake with one
or two fingers until you feel the wheel engage with the terrain squeeze the front brake until
you come to a complete stop and sit down so now we're going to throw in the rear brake using it
to assist the front brake and stopping stand up as you're rolling in first gear when you're ready
to stop put your weight back pull the clutch in compress the rear brake but don't skid the rear
wheel then using one or two fingers compress the front brake until you feel the front wheel
engage with the terrain compressing both brakes come to a complete stop and sit down remember
use your front brake as your primary stopping brake use your rear brake as an assist brake
now we want to practice smooth clutch control in order to do that we need to find an incline
to give us enough resistance so that we can work the clutch inside the friction zone
i'm going to sit on the bike with both my feet on the ground hands on the handlebars i'm only going
to use the clutch here and i'm going to focus on the friction zone inside the clutch the key here
is when you open the clutch up and the bike starts to move and it starts to roll up the incline
don't let the clutch out all the way hold it right there you're trying to achieve very
micro movements micro adjustments on the clutch to help you roll up and down this hill let's try it
you can see my hand is not on the throttle just the clutch very small movements as soon
as the bike starts to move leave the clutch right there don't pull it in don't let it all the way
out because you'll kill the bike what you'll hear is the engine about to die at a certain
point as you can see i'm on my tiptoes there it goes so now you know the point of okay that's as
far out as i can let the clutch to keep the bike still rolling while i get up this hill
now i want to roll back down this hill without using my brakes just using my clutch just small
micro movements on the clutch is controlling that rear wheel and controlling my speed start the bike
again try it again get as far as i can and i'll roll back down with the engine running this time
see you can hear just little micro adjustments on the clutch keeping the
bike stable not making it out of control if i pull it in too much i get out of control
if i let it go it dies okay now i'm going to add in the throttle the key here is delicate
inputs to the throttle using them both together same hill feet on the ground
don't want to hear a lot of input from your engine here you can hear that a little bit
and as soon as you start to move the goal here is keep that clutch out don't drop it all the way
don't get out of control don't pull it all the way in nice and easy just keep it right where it's at
i start to die a little bit add a little bit of throttle i can just
inch my way up this hill making micro adjustments to the clutch in the throttle
not a whole lot of noise from the engine not a whole lot of noise from the transition
get that bike to a certain point and then roll back down using the clutch in the throttle
nice and easy this is a little tougher you got to let off the throttle a little bit
let off the clutch a little bit it's a little bit in reverse this will really help you get good
control of your clutch and throttle and understand how they work in that symbiotic relationship
okay now we need to stabilize our body with the bike if the only points of contact we are using
are our feet on the pegs and our hands on the handlebars
we're putting a lot of undue pressure on the bars squeezing them too much
and not operating the controls delicately or smoothly squeeze the tank seat area with
your knees this allows you to be an active rider and a relaxed rider it also takes undue
pressure off the bars so that you can operate the controls more delicately and more smoothly
so now that i'm squeezing the tank seat area with my knees and i've got my body
stabilized with the bike i need to shift my weight to the outside when i'm turning
when i want to make a left turn i stick my right knee in the tank and shift my weight
when i make a right turn i put my left knee in the tank and shift my weight
okay now we're just going to do a big circle clutch all the way out in first gear the goal
here is to make this circle tighter and in order to do that we've got to operate the clutch we're
going to be in and out of the friction zone to see how big this circle is to start with
so now i'm going to pull the clutch in i want you to see how it what it does to the bike
and how it reacts i can hear the engine noise change a little bit ah you can see the bike's
starting to make a tighter circle you can see me moving slower i'm working the friction zone with
the micro adjustments right in and outside the midpoint nice and easy slow and smooth practice
this maneuver it'll make you much smoother at clutch control i just did that exercise using
only my clutch you may want to practice using just your clutch or your clutch and throttle together
mastering control of your clutch brake and throttle
and having proper body position will help you become a smoother and safer rider