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end of the road alright here's my
options I could slow down and I could
u-turn that's not a lot of fun I could
stop get off the bike and wrestle it
around that sounds like way too much
work I can put on a side stand and try
to do a pivot I think the ground might
be too soft or I can use the momentum of
the bike and the lay of the land and let
that do the work for me so I'm gonna do
a slide and pivot so the slide and pivot
is just what it sounds like it's a
combination of using the rear brake to
slide the back end of the bike around
about 90 degrees and then you're using
the power in the clutch to pivot by
spinning the back tire to pivot the
other 90 degrees so you end up with a
180 degree turn when you do this you
turn the idea is to find the right
environment the places where you're
gonna find this most advantageous is
gonna be in slippery surfaces where the
bike already wants to slide if you're
making a u-turn to go up a hill so if
you're already going down the hill and
you need to u-turn to go back up the
hill again the bike is much more likely
to slide naturally and makes it easy or
if you have a very flat ground without
big ruts in it and you can get a nice
momentum in and get the bike spun around
when you choose to do a sliding pivot
you've got to make the decision before
you get to the point you actually need
it you've got to have enough momentum to
start the slide in a straight line and
then get the bike kicked out sideways so
during the approach you'll disengage the
power pull that clutch in and then
you've got to stop on that back brake
get it locked up so you're in an inline
straight slide then you kick the
handlebars left and right that'll kick
the bike out sideways and the bike will
start to slide out with a back end
trying to go beyond the front as the
back end slides around you need to steer
the front to continue going in that same
direction so almost like driving in the
snow if you're sliding sideways you
steer the direction you want to go you
carry that slide all the way into the 90
degree if the back end starts to go too
far if it gets in front of you you apply
just a little bit of front brake and
that controls the back slide so it
doesn't walk all the way around and you
don't have the back end slide out from
underneath you once you get that rear
brake
locked up and that bike starts to slide
sideways the bikes gonna want to start
to angle and slide out from underneath
you you need to move your body and stay
on top of the bike wallet sliding if you
stay vertical and the bike leans and
moves away from you it's gonna slide out
from you and you're gonna low side the
bike that's not such a big deal but it's
not what you're trying to do the worst
case scenario is that bike starts to
lean and you get nervous and you let go
of the rear brake if you do that you can
hook up traction and then it'll highside
you and catapult you off in front and
then the bike will come tumbling after
you and that's considered bad so once
you start this you're committed either
you slide the bike until it falls into
the ground or you do it until it's done
right but you cannot let off the brake
once you begin the rear brake slide once
you come to a 90 degree come to a
complete stop now it's time to do the
pivot we do this with power so once that
bike comes to a complete stop turn the
handlebars full lock in the direction
you want to go and then lean the
motorcycle in that direction if you're
not tall enough or strong enough to lean
the motorcycle you can't do this part of
the technique crank it over full walk
lean it the direction you want to go get
the revs up throw the clutch the back of
the bike begins to spin and it pivots
all the way around that front wheel make
sure you keep that handlebar full lock
once the bikes pointed in the new
direction pull the clutch back in to get
back and control the bike stand it up
and then ride off in the new direction
when you get very good at this the slide
in the pivot will be almost seamless you
won't see yourself come to a stop but
when you're first learning go ahead and
put a little pause in there don't expect
to get this right the first time you do
it if you're gonna try this technique
expect you're gonna drop your bike at
some point so take off the panniers make
sure you're not gonna damage things or
injure yourself but also make sure
you're in a soft ground or mud or
someplace where when the bike drops
you're not breaking things now if you
are a shorter rider I mentioned that if
you're short you've got to be able to
get that bike leaned over there are
still environments where you as a
shorter rider can really make use of
this and I mentioned one of the places
is going downhill and make it a u-turn
to go back up the hill and the reason
this works is that when you do the slide
turn the bikes gonna slide down the hill
you're gonna drop your foot on the high
side of the hill that means that you're
that much taller the bike is naturally
leaned over and you can do the slide and
you can do the pivot if you've got a
bike with abs and traction control
you're gonna need to make sure your abs
is turned off so you can get the brakes
slide and you need to turn off your
traction control so you get that back
wheel spinning for those of you that run
Auto clutches or ride dcts have no fear
you get to do this technique as well the
only difference is instead of adding
throttle and throwing a clutch you just
add throttle
if you really think you've got the slide
and pivot down good you can do it to the
right but know you're not gonna be able
to drop the inside foot and you cannot
let go of the rear brake this is a
technique that's really common in the
dirtbike world we do it all the time but
on a big heavy adventure bike it's not
as common this slide turn or the the
braking portion is a very easy technique
to use all the time but the pivot
requires things to be just right you
need to have flat ground you need to be
able to get slide on it and if you're
heavily loaded that's not gonna work
either because if you have the traction
the bikes just gonna launch in a new
direction this is the same reason why if
you can't get the bike leaned over if
you don't have the height or strength to
lean it and the bike is too vertical it
will also go off in a straight line so
it's a very unique technique for just
the right environment for just the right
riders
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