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Riding
not driving your motorcycle
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Riding your motorcycle is a reactive actively. This means
you do not sit passively on the saddle like a sack of potatoes!
(as you do in your car) One ’drives’ a car but ’rides’ a motorbike.
This deliberate change of verb is no accident.
Essentially, for every force/action that the bike subjects
your body to you have an equal and opposite reaction.
Accelerating For example when accelerating quickly. The motorbike
jumps forward leaving your body ’behind’. A beginner rider
just hangs on for dear life onto the handlebars - an experienced
biker has an equal and opposite reaction by leaning forward.
This does two things i.e. it keeps the arms free and relaxed
and keeps weight on the front wheel. Physiologically the benefit
is that the biker is in control and not the wild beast somewhere
in the engine, again creating a better rider. |
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Braking. The reverse happens under heavy braking. The motorcycle
slows down while your body wants to continue over the handlebars.
A beginner pushes against the handlebars in a desperate attempt
to stay on - an experienced rider has an equal and opposite reaction
by leaning back slightly and griping the bike with the inner thighs.
This does three things i.e. keeps the arms free and relaxed, prevents
excessive downward force onto the front wheel which in turn allows
the braking action of the back wheel to be more effective.
Cornering is another example. As the motorbike leans over onto the
left you tip your head to the right - as the bike leans onto the
right you tip your head to the left. All this ’head tipping’ results
in your eyes (and brain) seeing a horizon that is horizontal and
not sticking up at a 45° angle. The advantages are obvious!
Once these three examples have been mastered you learn to allow
your body to be reactive at all times in other situations e.g. zipping
over speed bumps, avoiding potholes and maintaining maximum tyre
traction on bad surfaces.
In short, its about riding - not driving!
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