Welcome to MOTOTREK! I'm Dusty Wessels - professional motorcycle instructor for West38
Moto. today we're going to talk about the dreaded sand! some love it some hate it we're going to
talk about the different depths of sand from surface sand to 10 and 12 inches plus we're also
going to talk about cornering in sand but first we'd like to thank The Ridge for sponsoring this
video i've been carrying a wallet in my front pocket since i was 16 years old thank you ridge
wallets for designing an awesome rugged tough wallet it's the slimmest wallet i've ever had in
my front pocket the ridge wallet is RFID-blocking and comes with a lifetime warranty i like using
the strap to hold my cash but it comes with a clip too thanks to the ridge for sponsoring this video
when riding in the sand you want to stand up so you can move your body around and be an active
rider and influence the pegs to help direct the bike you want your body position as neutral as
possible only put your weight back to get traction to the rear wheel or help lighten up the front
don't have too much body weight forward on the motorcycle because the front wheel is going to
dig deeper into the sand this might cause your front wheel to wobble and you could start to lose
control if you're new to riding sand and or you're apprehensive about riding sand and you come across
some deep sand a human reaction for us or what we go back to is sitting down
now i wouldn't suggest you sit down for a lot of reasons the biggest reason is it's just going to
make you more tired and you're going to be worn out faster so if you're going to sit down on
the bike in the sand and paddle put your feet on the ground here's how you do it stick your
foot as far forward on the ground as you can and pick it up when it gets to your foot peg
do not stick your foot far forward and go all the way back you risk injury to your ankle or
your lower leg if it catches underneath your pannier also when you're sitting
go slower don't go too fast as soon as the sand gets to a depth that you feel you can go faster
pick your feet up put them on the pegs stand up and right away you're going to have much
more control on a 500 plus pound motorcycle standing than you would if you were sitting
relax sand is hard to ride for just about everybody. the key to relaxing your body is
to relax your mind first. the more relaxed your brain is the easier riding sand is going to be
fight the urge to grip the bars the bike's going to be moving around a lot more than normal more
than it is in a higher traction environment keep your grip on the bars just tight enough
so you can direct the bike where you want it to go steering is different when riding in the
sand you're not using as much influence on the handlebars to steer in the sand as you would
in a higher traction environment it's your feet on the pegs and a little bit of push
pull on the handlebars that's going to direct this bike it's like a dance we're pushing on the pegs
in the direction we want to go to keep the bike as straight as possible if you want to correct
to the left push on the left foot peg if you want to correct to the right push on the right foot peg
maintaining momentum is the biggest key to riding sand
we've all heard pin it and just lean back yeah sometimes especially on a 500 plus pound bike
that doesn't work all the time because you'll have obstacles or turns
the key is maintaining consistent momentum to keep the front wheel from digging too far into
the sand. the best way to maintain momentum riding in the sand is to shift a gear up
which drops the RPM and reduces the wheel spin. in deep sand at high RMPs avoid the
tendency of slipping your clutch doing this can fry your clutch and won't help you gain momentum
let's talk about the different depths of sand. so here i have just surface sand on a hard pack
dirt road. don't change a whole lot here. yeah - you might get a little front wheel wobble
if you get into the middle or if you get on the side where there's a little deeper sand but here
just be flowing with the bike be relaxed all the balance techniques nice and easy momentum control
to learn how to corner at speed on surface sand watch our cornering at speed video
so in a little bit deeper sand about four to six inches the front wheel is going to move a lot more
this is where we start to feel the wobble that's caused by the front wheel digging into the sand
the tendency is to grab the bars and try and steer try not to do that loosen up a little bit have
enough of a grip so you can still direct the bike remember now your steering goes to your feet on
the pegs you want to go to the right push on the right you want to go to the left push on the left
this right here is all about corrections so instead of steering like you would in
a higher traction environment think of it as directing the bike you're going to use
your feet on the foot pegs to make corrections you're also going to use the bars just a bit
additionally blipping the throttle in deep sand
is another way to effectively steer the motorcycle so steering with the throttle
you're gonna push that front wheel up out of the sand by giving throttle input
in four to six inches of sand the biggest thing I'm worried about in the corner,
the thing that i make sure i pay attention to the most, is i know that that front wheel is going to
get some wobble i know it's going to dig in but unlike deep sand it's not going to dig in too hard
so what i don't want to do is dump the throttle completely. keep your momentum consistent. enter
the corner with your body position neutral as soon as you get into the corner and start to feel the
front wheel digging into the deeper parts of the sand that's when you may make an adjustment with
your body move your weight outside move it back a little bit to get more traction on the rear wheel
but that's when you add throttle steer with the rear right through that corner
so now we're in 10 to 12 inches plus of sand.
this is the depth of sand that gets everybody's attention especially mine.
i like to slow down here a bit i might even downshift a gear - here's why... because in
four to six inches of sand i can go just about as fast as i want because i'm getting less impact to
the front wheel as soon as i get in deeper sand i'm already getting more impact to the front wheel
but at a higher speed if i get a couple of really big jars from the front wheel that could toss
me right over the front edge and that risk is something i'm not willing to take so i slowed
down a bit but just enough to still keep my front wheel out of that deep sand as much as possible
knowing that i might have to make some pretty big corrections with the handlebars in that deep sand
so when you're riding and you hit 10 to 12 inches plus of deep sand and you get
into the corner this is the place where that sand gremlin is going to reach up
and grab your front wheel and shake those bars all over the place. so you need to slow down here.
slow down just enough until you really start to feel the shake. the problem with going too fast
here is if you're going too fast you start getting that wobble and you can't correct
okay so when you slow down and you start feeling that wobble keep your momentum add your momentum
back and to get out of the sand to get out of that corner this is where you "steer with
the rear". you've got to add the throttle in once you've felt the depth once you've
got control that wobble hit the throttle steer with the rear get out of that corner
so what do i mean by Steering with the Rear? it's breaking traction with the rear wheel
adding throttle if you want to know how to do that watch our Breaking Traction video
tire choice does matter if you're riding in deep sand i choose a bit knobbier tire. a slightly
lower tire pressure also improves handling in deep sand. drop your tire pressure incrementally to
find out what works for you so here are five things to remember when riding in the sand
stand up relax keep your body position neutral only move it back if you need more traction to the
rear wheel or you need to lighten up the front be an active engaged rider with your feet on the pegs
and most importantly maintain your momentum with consistent and constant throttle control