How we sit on a motorcycle can make dramatic changes to how the bike behaves.
So stick around, because we're going to be talking about how to have great
cornering posture for the street and the track.
Hi I'm Dave with Canyon Chasers dot net.
Today, we're going to be talking about one of my favorite subjects; posture.
How we sit on a motorcycle can really enhance how we interact with that
motorcycle, and don't worry the fundamentals of what we're going to be
talking about today work no matter what kind of bike you're on. From a cruiser, to
a tour bike, to a scooter. But first a key point. The more a motorcycle leans, the
more traction is being used for cornering. So one of the great things we
can do with our bodies, is use our weight to reduce how much that bike is leaning,
thereby reducing risk. Why do racers hang so far off the bike? Well, the reason you
hear most often is so that they can reduce lean angle and go faster. But
there is another reason that is rarely brought up. One of the key reasons why
professional riders sit on the motorcycle the way they do, is not only
to reduce lean angle, but to also enhance how well they can see through a corner.
And we would argue that, for us mere mortalsm enhancing our visibility through
a corner is more important than reducing lean angle. For the street, or for the
track. For a cruiser or a super bike, the fundamentals are effectively the same.
But on the street, we travel at lower speeds, and since we don't necessarily
want to draw undue attention to ourselves on a Sunday street ride, street
posture is less extreme. But since most of us start riding on the street before
we go to the track, we're gonna' cover street posture first. Because correct
street posture will translate directly to correct track posture.
so how do we make this happen? Well, you've most likely heard, or you had
your buddy tell you, that you need to get your butt out of the seat. And that's
true... to a point. The problem with this advice is that it focuses our attention
on the wrong part of the body, and if it's done incorrectly, it can actually
compromise how well we can see through the corner.
Let me explain.
If one of the key things we're trying to do with posture is to
enhance our ability to see through a corner, then we want to think with our
chest and shoulders. Slightly rotating our
shoulders, or pointing our zipper through the corner, can really enhance
our ability to see where we're going. Now if we go back to the butt and we just
slide our butt off the seat, like a lot of riders tend to do, it actually takes
our shoulders and points them away from where we're trying to go. It actually
makes it harder for us to look through the turn. And then finally, our bum is
actually really close to center mass on the motorcycle. Where we put our bum
actually has very little impact on reducing lean angle of the motorcycle,
compared to where we put our head and our shoulders. The average human head
weighs about five kilos. The average motorcycle helmet weighs just under two
kilos. So, let's use a four kilo bowling ball as an illustration, with the basic
understanding, that your head and helmet weighs just a bit less than double what
our bowling ball weighs. Everyone meet William.
-Look at the size of that boy's heed
- When we hold William close to our center mass, he doesn't have much of an
effect. he's pretty easy to manage.
- I'm not kidding that's like an orange on a toothpick
- But if we hold William out and away the farther away he gets from
center of mass the harder he is to manage and the bigger impact he actually has.
- You're give the boy a complex. - Well that's a huge noggin.
- How that relates to our posture is
that while yes, where we put our bum on the motorcycle does make a difference,
where we put our head and chest and shoulders makes a far bigger difference
relative to the rest of the motorcycle.
- William! Move your head!
- When we see riders that are focused
on where their butt is, they'll slide their butt out of the seat, but in order
to stay connected to the bike, they'll tend to hold onto the handlebars tighter.
Which causes their head and chest to stay on top of the bike. Twisted away
from the direction of travel. Most will even start counter weighting the bike,
which causes the bike to actually lean more. That's a lot of work for a negative
impact. We want to reduce lean angle, as well as enhance our ability to see
through the corner. So if we focus on where we place our head and chest, less
effort will result in more gains.
- Head! Move!
- For Street riding it's unnecessary to hang way off the bike, but little
adjustments can make a big difference. So, when you're riding along, start by
sliding back in the seat, to leave a little bit of room between your pelvis
and the gas tank. Slide your inside foot back, so that the ball of your foot is on
the foot peg, or imagine you're holding onto the foot peg with your toes. Slide
your outside foot forward, until the heel of your boot catches on the peg.
This helps rotate our hips towards, or into the turn. It also connects our
outside leg to the bike, making it easier to hang on with our legs. Also, our inside
foot is less likely to drag, and we can put more weight on that inside foot peg
to help the bike turn. Now, simply put all of your weight on your
inside sit bone. The easiest way to get all of our weight on that inside sit
bone is to lean our head and chest to the inside of the bike. Plus, if we've
allowed our hips to rotate, it makes it much easier to point the zipper through
the corner enhancing our visibility through the turn. How much you move your upper
body depends on how much you want to reduce lean angle, and how much you want
to enhance your visibility. A lot of this depends on your speed, and the radius of
the corner. The quicker you're going, the more you should be moving your body. So,
if you need to move more, drop your inside shoulder. Straighten your outside
arm. Open your chest to the corner, and lean towards where you want to go.
Remember to keep your head and eyes up. You are going to be leaning so you'll
need to look up even more to keep your eyes up and out. Because we are focused
on our head and chest, even a little bit of movement can make a big improvement,
to not only reduce lean angle, but also enhance our ability to see through the
corner. You can get a sense if you're doing this correctly if you start to see
chicken strips on your tire again. But don't think of these as chicken strips
so much as your "margin for error" because, remember, the objective here is to reduce
the bikes lean angle.
It's the exact same technique as the street, only we need to
do more of it. Because we're going really fast, we need to really get off the bik,e
to really reduce lean angle. Again, slide back in the seat to make room, but you
may need to slide back more than you do on the street.
Slide your inside foot back; toes on the peg. And your outside foot goes forward.
You'll notice that your knee really gets locked into those scallops on the tank,
really enhancing your security on the bike. There's a lot of ways to think
about what needs to happen next. We're gonna mention the ones that we've found
seemed to help riders the most. Make that upper or outer arm a straight line. Drape
your upper outer arm across the tank. Make a straight line through the lower
clip-on to your elbow. Point your inside elbow at the ground. Put your chin above
your wrist. Kiss your inside mirror (or where it would be). Put your upper ribs on
the lower side of the gas tank. Find one of these that works for you, one that
helps you find a physical reference that you can return to and be consistent. Now,
you're likely going to notice that in order to do this, your bum has to be
moving around on the seat. If you're doing it correctly, you're gonna find one
cheek out of the seat and one cheek still in the seat. We still want to avoid
taking our entire butt out of the seat because that disconnects us from the
motorcycle, and we still want to maintain that connection. Particularly if we
encounter a bump mid corner. You'll also notice that your inside leg, your knee,
has come out and away from the bike to help support the weight of your upper
body, and is now in the correct position to potentially drag your knee. But what
about your hands? Instead of holding on to the inside grip like this. Hold on to
it like this; the way you would turn a doorknob. All you have to do is rotate
your wrist. Less effort and more precision. Plus, with all that weight on
your inside leg, and your outside leg locked into the tank, it should be a lot
easier to be light on your hands. Try to let go with your hands and maintain the
same position. This helps us stay light on the controls. Still holding on too
tight? think about engaging your core or pressing down on the foot pegs with your
feet. If you do it right you should notice the weight on your arms and hands
just melting away. In either case for the street or the
track we want to keep our spine straight. Not twisted or curved. If you're
struggling keeping your spine straight, you probably just need to slide back in
the seat a little further, to make more room. If you're doing everything right,
when you get those track day photographs, you're gonna feel just like Valentino
Rossi, or Andrea Dovizioso, or Jorge Lorenzo... Look at that outside foot. Their
spine is straight, leading with their head. Small changes can make a big
difference. Good posture will help you stay light on
the controls, help you see better through a corner, help the motorcycle change
direction, and help reduce lean angle. All of which works to reduce risk. For me,
personally, I really enjoy working on posture, and it's something I find myself
playing with almost every time I ride my motorcycle. We've added a link in the
description to some great resources, including "Sport Riding Techniques." This
wonderful resource covers these tips and many others in great detail. We've also
provided links to some credible riding schools where you can work on these
skills with a qualified riding coach. If you have anything you'd like to add, or
you have any questions, be sure to leave a comment below. We read every comment
and try to respond to as many as we can. Be sure to click like and subscribe and
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video. Be sure to check out CanyonChasers dot net or our YouTube channel for more
great content. Thanks so much for watching and ride well.
- Head! Move!