How to improve your riding skills

My Contribution.... I belong to alot of forums, and have alot of experience, both years and miles. I'm by no means an expert, but I feel I've gotten pretty good at what I do.

I thought that this might be a good spot to share one of the tips I give to riders who are trying to improve their riding, so here goes:

EVERY ride should be spent working on technique. You should read and study all you can (I recommend Keith Codes' Twist of the wrist II).
When you get on the bike you should have ONE technique in mind that you need to work on - Looking through the corner, keeping your head up, body position, scanning with your eyes, relaxing your grip on the bars, smooth throttle control, etc, etc..
Work on that technique for that ride, and as many rides as it takes to make it second nature, then shift to another technique till it's second nature, etc..
No matter how long you've ridden and how confident you feel, know what your weakest point is and be working on it for the next ride. A ride that you're not working on is a wasted ride.

Sometimes riders get caught up trying to ride someone else's ride, or trying to work on 4 different things at once, then get frustrated by lack of improvement, when all they really need to do is work on ONE technique at a time and they will find overall improvement and understanding through that one at a time method, and eventually find huge gains overall without getting themselves in too deep and while feeling the success of getting better.

Think in your mind right now about what single technique you'll work on with that next ride, and make a habit of it...

Go and get professional instruction at a track school....that is my tip.

Steve

steveindenmark said:

Go and get professional instruction at a track school....that is my tip.

Steve

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Exactly, you may be practicing the wrong things. How do you know if you are doing it correct or not.

fz6nick said:

Exactly, you may be practicing the wrong things. How do you know if you are doing it correct or not.

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If you are using a reference like Twist of the Wrist II or Proficient Motorcycling and you understand the technique and why it's important, you wouldn't be practicing the wrong things. If you are practicing based on some advise from someone with no skill or a story about how they used to ride, you've probably not doing the right thing. For Instance - I've seen people tell new riders how they have to use thier body to lean the motorcycle and that's how to turn it, or that You shouldn't apply the throttle unless the bike is vertical. The same goes for never touching the front brake, etc.

fz6nick said:

How do you know if you are doing it correct or not.

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You can look for feedback from other skilled riders, and track schools are an excellent choice.. But for the average guy who isn't going to go to a trackday or spending the money on a school, or any rider who is serious about being as good as they can, this technique is valid.
Another thing about knowing if you're doing it correct? Paying attention to your own skills. If you feel an improvement in the skill, it's better than not making any.

I would rather a see a rider be working on this method of improvement than puttering around oblivious or trying to work on 4 things at once and getting nowhere.

I just realized that the section os labeled "Track Tips and riding techniques", so I see where you're coming from.. My advise was aimed at riders in general.

Welcome to the forum, PJ.

Thank you sir!

how do you know when you lean to much, and about fall? I cant figure that part out yet, please help..

brian-oki said:

how do you know when you lean to much, and about fall? I cant figure that part out yet, please help..

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It's a matter of feel..

You're close to us - you need to come over and ride sometime....

brian-oki said:

how do you know when you lean to much, and about fall? I cant figure that part out yet, please help..

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If you haven't fallen, you haven't leaned too far.

If you ride properly, you can scrape hard parts. If you don't, you can fall with the bike leaned over very little. There's no one answer to that question.

I have to say, I would say that instruction from a good instructor can't be replaced by reading, either on a forum or from a book. I'm a scientist and I love to read my way to a skill, but for motorcycling, I have found that nothing works like hands-on. Communicating a motor skill is very difficult, especially on a printed page, and translating reading to riding is not always smooth. An instructor can not only show as well as tell, but also observe your riding and habits and tailor instruction to what you need.

"I didn't know I was doing that" is common a common response to feedback.

There are two other things I would recommend:
-Have a cheap bike for the track that you don't mind crashing here and there. You can't learn without pushing your comfort zone a bit, and if you're afraid to do that because your bike is your daily ride and very pretty, you won't get as much from a track experience.
-Dirt is an amazing learning tool. A cheap dirt bike is one of the best investments I ever made in improving my riding skills. There's a reason King Kenny starts racing students out in the dirt on XR100s.

PJFZ1 said:

But for the average guy who isn't going to go to a trackday or spending the money on a school

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I've heard this general thought before, and all I can say is - what price safety?

I'm an average Jane, started riding at a late age, and have a normal job that has nothing to do with motorcycles. But I ride, and that means I put myself into a position to be killed every time I get on that bike and hit the street. We're dicing with two-ton metal bullets that don't always stay on their side of the lane; we're dealing with gravel, dirt, painted lines, diesel spills, coolant spills, deer, you name it. The street is dangerous, and I decided early on that I wanted to develop my skills as well as I can on the track and in the dirt, so that the first time I would feel a slide or meet something unexpected in a turn, it would be in a safe, controlled situation. That has saved my bacon on the street more times than I can count.

Good post PJ. You are so right about doing one thing at a time. Am only into my 7 months of riding, 6200miles or so, and I always practice something new. But before I do, I make sure my normal new things I've learned are second nature.
Great minds think alike...:rockon:

Thanks - The one thing at a time at a level of riding that's relaxed for you and not pushing, is much better and more effective than tying to learn and apply everything correctly at once. Most track instructors understand this and will only get you to work on one or two items at a time, and to do it at a very relaxed pace.

good advice on here! i would really like to acquire the skill to one day bring my knee down.

I'm coming from experience on the MX track but alot of things are similar.
I focus on one thing only during each session. Maybe it's setting up my cornering lines, my braking points, looking through the corner (that was a huge issue at first when dealing with ruts) and my body positioning.
Eventually, you won't need to "think" about these things as you will feel when you didn't do something right.
Best way is to experience, challenge yourself (not on the streets) and get good solid advice in person while riding.

:thumbup:thank you for that info. When i jump on the bike, i just jump on. Now i think that i will pick somethin gto work on when the season comes back around. I'm very new to motorcycle and this is my first bike. The first time i road any motorcycle was when i road it home.

GodSpeedLuc said:

i would really like to acquire the skill to one day bring my knee down.

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Knee-down is a symptom of riding correctly, not a cause.

It's also a symptom of being flexible, so take it with a good pile of salt. I've seen people who can get a knee down, but still don't know lines, don't know how to apply throttle and brake effectively, and aren't fast. The pictures look cool, though! ...Unless you know the track they're riding, and can see that they're sending postcards to the apex. Or unless they're tall enough to drag knee with the bike mostly vertical.

When you have all of the components down, knee dragging just happens. If you're focusing on dragging knee, you'll probably miss some key bits of fast.

The same techniques that make you fast on the track make you safe on the street - if you turn it down a notch or two on the street and leave some in reserve for the unexpected that happens out there.

Hey PJ thanks for posting! great advice!

and for those who don't know pjsparts.com yet... check em out! I`ve spent countless amounts of money on this site already, and everydody at PJ's is awesome to deal with! They even felt bad for me after one of my crash and offered me free shipping lol (true story).

PJ,
Good topic :rockon:.

While I agree that a track day or 1-on-1 instruction is best, I do think that books are better than "winging it". Here's a video shot at a track a few hours from where I live. I've been out there and know some of the guys with Ride Smart. At about 1:20 in this video, Ty Howard provides some good info on body position. He is focused on racing and the track, but the hip pivot applies to track and street.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxb5nRufuZ8"]YouTube - body positioning 2[/ame]