Granted it’s not a widespread challenge riders face, but if and when you are, then any information becomes very relevant indeed. The man in this next video wants to graduate to giant sandstone pothole rim riding, but sensibly has opted to start with something smaller. Key learnings: 1 Keep the throttle on2 Look ahead3 Grip the tank with your knees4 ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 06 May 2011
Failure to mount a motorcycle properly can lead to poor forward vision and throttle control, and it’s a growing problem among predominantly slender, female new riders. Deterred by the complexity of explaining this key task adequately, magazines and instructors have shied away from it for years. So we’re incredibly thankful to American training outfit Motorcycle Riding Concepts who’ve managed to ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 06 May 2011
We’d all rather ride than wash our bikes, right? Now, with the simple expedient of learning a few simple additional skills you need no longer choose between the two. Ideally not practiced on a bike with a gaping air intake right in the water’s way, but then evidently that doesn’t matter much either. NB – there’s some irrelevant stunt riding ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 10 September 2010
There's a mountain of good riding advice out there, and no magic fix to compete with tens of thousands of miles of practice. But sometimes one simple rule-of-thumb that's easy to remember can save your bacon more reliably than that stack of ride-better books you can't remember reading. These are ours. Tell us yours. Look further ahead (Ali) Don't hold ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 13 August 2010
Knowing precisely which square inch of tarmac your front wheel is going to be on in 20 or 30 metres' time isn't often required if you're riding within your limits and the road's. As long as you're within the white lines on one side and the verge on the other, happy days, right? But it isn't just racers seeking to ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 13 August 2010
If you’ve got a favourite road you ride again and again, don’t kid yourself you’re necessarily becoming a better and better rider – however much quicker and quicker you ride it. It takes nerve more than skill to keep going faster, lean more, brake later. The the supreme skill is being able to judge how much of each is appropriate ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 30 July 2010
People would have you believe unfaired bikes without clip-ons have a cruising speed limit of 80mph. Not so. It just takes a bit more than sitting there like a pudding. Try reaching down and holding the top of the fork leg with your left hand. You only need a hand on the throttle to maintain the cruise and make gentle ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 22 July 2010
From the moment you start paying attention to your riding, people are quick to offer the central principle of ‘reading the road’ - to follow it with your eyes as far ahead as possible. Next you start learning about vanishing points and the importance of reading those – which is to say reading the road to see where its two ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 16 July 2010
You can waste a whole lot of time and anxiety (not to mention hero-blobs or even fairing panels) chasing the knee-down dream. It really is strictly for posers on the road, and no more a guide to riding skill than flies on your helmet. However, it’s better to set the matter to one side looking like you HAVE done it ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 11 June 2010
Ride a cruiser for the first time and you’re in for a rapid period of acclimatisation. The different weight distribution, steering geometry, riding position and ground clearance have some profound implications on how you should ride them if you’re to a) enjoy it and b) survive it. 1) You can use the back brake againCruisers’ raked-out forks and low-carried weight ...
- Riding & Events
- Riding Skills
- 11 June 2010
