Riding Tips - part 2 (cornering)

CORNERING - It can make or break your racing career. It's essential to develop from your natural skills that you acquire from just going out and riding every weekend. You can do this by merging the tips and advice people give you with the natural skills you may or may not already have. When you can do this effectively you will be on your way to going pro.




Tip 1 - WHERE TO LOOK

You may think i'm crazy, but trust me this really is important. If you keep your eyes focused on the line/rut you wish to take but in the middle (not at the start) of the turn as you approach the corner and then once you begin executing the turn move your eyes to the end of your chosen line.

I'll make it simpler for you if you did'nt quite get that first paragraph.

When aproaching a corner-

• look to the middle of it where your chosen line is

When your halfway round the corner-

• Look to the end of your line

Tip 2 - Body Position

As you approach a corner you should be standing in the attack position right up until you begin to turn. This helps because as you shift from standing to sitting at the very last moment all your weight is transferred into downforce to give you more initial grip in the first part of the corner.

The position you should transition into from standing is having your body nearer to the front of the bike leaning into the turn (if it's bermed) with your inward legs foot being off the peg facing the front wheel at an angle like in the picture above.

The technique for off camber turns with no berms is different. You still lean the bike slightly into the turn but you sit in a more upright position on the seat. Also it is wise to  ease the throttle on smoothly for off camber turns as quick jolts of throttle can cause the back to slide out a bit to much , meaning you will lose speed and a few valuable seconds of your lap time!

Tip 3 - ACCELERATION

If you are executing a turn on a bermed corner , you should begin with a slow-mid throttle at the beggining of the turn then gradually as you get further round the corner start to get on the gas more and more. You'll know you've done it right if you feel a kind of slingshot affect from a bermed corner . By slingshot I mean you should come out of the corner faster than when you went in.

That's all for now I'll update this post soon giving more detail and also get ready for Riding Tips - part 3!! (jumping)

And remember practice makes perfect! dont forget to tell your mates about this site if you like the riding tips!! thanks for your support.

Riding Tips - part 1 (bumps, whoops)

WHOOPS -
Love em' or hate em' whoops and bumps are always going to be a part of tracks and trails all round the world. Your enjoyment of whoops etc is determined by the technique you approach them with and ride through them. Which is why i'm here, to improve your techniques of riding which will in turn cause you to enjoy your rides alot more, even the nitty gritty bits!!



So lets start with something easy - GRIPPING THE TANK

As your in the attack position (standing , leaning foward etc) use your muscles from just above the knee down in both legs to tightly grip the tank on each side as you go over large bumps or whoops. Remember to hold on right til the end of the last whoop/bump.

The theory behind this technique is that just like your hands/arms and upper body stabilise the front end of your bike, the same can be done with the back by gripping/holding it with the bottom half of your body. This technique prevents the back end from bouncing all over the show which can possibly lead to falling off your bike, giving your mates the rights to a good laugh once yah get to the pub later on!

The next important trick to whoops is - SMOOTH/CONTROLLED THROTTLE

Basically you don't have to accelerate like a total nutcase over whoops as this will most likely cause you to overshoot the next bump and land front end first a few bumps down the track (which if the nutty riders that are reading this don't know IT IS A BAD THING!) .

So as you are going over whoops place most of your weight on the back of the bike and on the way down the first whoop give the bike a quick smooth burst of acceleration to compensate for the weight shift of the downward slope. If done right the bike should pull itself over the next bump and you should be in the perfect position to keep a smooth throttle position, and if needed give it a few quick bursts on a few of the bumps if you start to feel the front end dropping down.

WARNING - you will not be able to master this technique after trying it just once or a few times. It will take quite a bit of practice to fully master it.

Technique 3 - BODILY POSITION ON APPROACH AND THROUGH WHOOPS

As in all aspects of riding the position and weight distribution you place over your bike greatly affects the outcome of riding over whoops and bumps.

Generally the best way to ride over whoops is to place as much weight as you can on the back of the bike while still managing to keep an attack position of standing with your knees bent. If you can manage that your bike should stay alot more stable throughout all different types of whoops and bumps.


coming soon - Cornering Tips

Good Luck with succeeding in your riding, and remember the only way to get better is PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!

Interesting MX websites

First of all, let me tell you about myself.

I am currently a semi-professional motocross rider , and i'm willing to offer you some riding tips and handy information about riding and servicing your bike etc. And even list places to ride if you are a begginner to the sport.

So why not SUBSCRIBE to my posts and enjoy mud-bog-loads of need to know things about riding.




Anyway, getting to the point of this first blog a website worth visiting is                    NZ Dirt Biking News .

It's only in it's first stages of development but I can see that it has buckect-loads of potential.

Basically it's a site which takes info from alot of other sites with news and info and relays that information to one easy-to-use site!

ENJOY!