Body Positioning

Think of yourself running through the woods with a backpack 3/4 full of water with one strap, trying to zig zag around the trees. The first thing you are going to try to do is secure the darn thing to one place on your back because the sloshing around keeps running you wide, then you are going to try to make that secure place somewhere that may actually help you change directions. At this point you would probably find that you are hanging on to that single strap with your hand and are flinging it in the direction you want to turn, but it is starting to get you tired and oversteering you so you start to hang on to it more like a football/rugby ball. Now you find that bag of weight that used to really mess you up actually helps you and is not all that much extra work. Welcome to the next level.

Motorcycles wear their humans on the outside, but those humans are heavy (roughly 1/3 or more of the weight of the motorcycle) and have a way of messing everything up by moving around too much. In the opening paragraph on this page, the human is the backpack.

There is as many different ideal body positions as there are riders, and if you want to break it down even further, each of those riders has a different ideal position for different situations. The one constant truth is this: if your bike bounces when you shift body position, you are doing something wrong.

I have seen tons of Internet forum threads that start "lookee my minimal chicken strips!" then somebody pipes up that they only need to use the middle inch of a tire because the fast way is to keep the bike upright, then somebody chimes in with how none of that nonsense is for the street, the best way is to sit on the seat AND only use the middle of the tire. Often, a bunch of chat about knee dragging finds its way into the mix. Sometimes someone with a few trackdays will give advice about rolling down the inside shoulder and getting your head over the inside handlebar.There is some truth to each of these widely used points, but in my opinion, none are actually correct.To me, you have to use a cocktail of lean angle, body to the inside of the corner, line of sight, efficiency, smoothness, weight placement (fore/aft), control, aerodynamics, risk management, and a big dose of comfort.

I'll Start by addressing the usual comments and get into the good stuff at the end.

Style type comparison chart:

Sitting Centerline of the bike (0% off)= Sitting in center of bike, no weight hanging to inside of turn. It worked for Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini, why doesn't anyone do it anymore?

40% off = Basically, most people think of this as hanging off to where you are only gracing the seat with the presence of 1/2 of your buttocks (buttock?), if you really are doing it right it you basically have the zipper of your jacket or 1 piece in line with the inside of corner footpeg bracket of your bike. Many people just twist so that their hiney is hangin, but that doesn't do anything if your main bodyweight is still in line with the seat. Often twisters actually have more weight to the wrong side of the bike than they would if they just sat on the seat.

90% off = your poor seat does not get the company of your hiney at all. You are hanging on with your seat with your leg. You look silly, and you are committed.

Comment #1) Zero Chicken strips, front and rear tire. Yes, it is possible to use all of the rubber on the newest sport tires,and you don't even have to go all that fast to do it, all that it takes is corner speed, confidence, and proper riding technique.The drawback is that you are riding on less rubber than if you would be if the bike was more upright and therefore using a meatier part of the tire (closer to center).Also, you are closer to the limit of your cornering clearance (the available space between the road and hard parts of you and the bike). You have to be very delicate when riding at the very edge of your tire, any abruptness can cause a complete loss of traction. If you are sitting in the center of the seat you may not be able to just shift your weight to regain that little bit of traction you need to keep your bike shiny.

SCORE = 0% off:0, 40% off:1 90% off: N/A

 

Comment#2) Use center of tire, The super hang off, or, superpose. This defense is usually brought up by the fellowship of the chickenstips, a rogue group bound to the protection of the chickenstrip. The theory actually works, keep the bike in the meat of the tire by cantilevering the bodyweight as far to the inside of the turn as possible.The reason for hanging off is to keep your body weight low and to the inside of the turn. Why you say? well, if you take the center of mass and draw a centerline through it to the point of traction you will find that the line will be at a greater angle when you hang off. If you draw the same line but with the rider sitting on the seat you will find the bike will be leaned over further, making it use up more cornering clearance and riding closer to the edge of the tire.(Pictures will be attached when I find my crayons) BUT, there are a bunch of drawbacks to hanging too far off. 1) if you are hanging way off and low, you are using up room your bike may need for clearance (your body can unweight the wheels just like dragging hard parts of the bike) 2) Aerodynamically you are out in the breeze so wind can affect your bike control 3) you don't have a good connection with the bike so you could just hit a bump and fall off 4) It is harder to work the controls, especially working the pegs 5) If you are dragging your knee when you still have lots of clearance left, you may find it hard to use your knee as a lean gauge (the real reason you have knee sliders) because the road pushes your knee up 6-8 inches so you might have a hard time telling when you only have 1" left (Cue Dirty Harry: "Was that 5 inches? or six, do you feel lucky?Punk? Do Ya?" 6) If you hang way off you are more committed to the turn than if you were less so.

Score = 0% off:0, 90% off:0, 40% off: 1

Comment#3) No body position changes from centerline of the bike,sitting on seat (supposedly everything else is reckless) This one is a bit silly, but I can see the point. Basically, if you are using any energy at all optimizing your traction, you are purposely going too fast for the street. OK, in a law abiding world, sure, but then again, even most BMWs go over double any speed limit. As far as riding goes, If you are going down a road at the speed limit using active body positioning, you will be massively safer and better poised to take on any eventualities than if you are just a human bone sack on the seat. Also, if you do up the pace while imitating said bone sack, you are far more committed to your line than if you move around a little, you better make sure you have the clearance!

Score = 0% off:0, 90% off:N/A, 40% off: 1

Comment #4) Gotta drag Knee to go fast. Utter crap. One funny thing I see alot when people are dragging their knees, they spend so much time getting their position right before they enter the turn that they slow dramatically. Another thing is trying to drag knee in chicanes, talk about a speed killer! Lots of people put some level of importance on dragging knee and when they are riding they are concentrating on getting down and sometimes lose focus. Dragging knee is a tool, nothing more, and usually an overused one. If someone shows me a nice shiny hammer, I don't care about the diamond studded handle, I only care about how well it drives nails.

Score = 0% N/A ,90% off:0, 40% off: 1

Comment#5) The bit about having your head right over your inside handlebar does have a bunch of good things that go with it ( you will be basically doing the 40% off style, and will hopefully be parallel with your bike) But there are 2 big drawbacks that I see. One is mentioned below with reference to elbows, but the other is that if you basically have your head over your hand your chest is close to the tank. This is good for aerodynamics but if the feces interfaces with the rotary oscillator (trouble happens) you may find your tank pounding you in the chest. Once upon a time I had a front tuck (front tire sliding,trying to tuck under) situation at a good rate of speed, I rolled the gas on and leaned forward to regain traction (which it did) but just after the front gripped the rear came around and hooked into a highside. I basically had my chest in post recovery mode from the front tuck on the tank when the bike bounced up and I was tossed off the bike by the tank giving me no chance to recover it. I was tossed roughly 8 feet in the air (I broke 17 bones in that fall.)

So, a tally of the score leaves the 40% off as the big winner, mainly because it has less drawbacks while having the benefits of both of the other types.

I am a big fan ( and possibly the originator) of the statement "It is damn easy to criticize when you don't have a theory of your own." So I will criticize myself here for all the world to see. This is me on my R1 on the street, yeah,yeah, I've got plenty of light under the bike in this shot (although I have seen plenty of pictures of guys with their knees down at half that angle), but it really shows my body position at a crucial part of a turn.In this picture I am roughly 1/2 way into the entrance of a turn on the street. the apex of the turn is 30 yards/meters behind the photographer, about 50 yards from where I am in this pic.

I lower myself and slide my body over as I get closer to the apex, this gives me the advantage of a good sight line as well as a good nuetral, non committed, position that works well in a slide at the entrance. As I get closer to the apex I can see more of the corner so I can commit more. At that point I smoothly shift my body further to the inside, giving me the advantages that offers.Think of this action like closing a fist, you start out with your hand open at the beginning (entrance) and only have it fully tightened at the point you need all of its advantages (apex) then you return it back to open. If I am1/3 the way to the apex, I am 1/3 to where I am going to be in my apex position (40% off in my case) Also, if I find something amiss mid turn, I can still brake very hard from the entrance position. With some blending, you can maximize many things when riding a motorcycle.

My common theme is to use your body as a big damper so you need to stay loose on the bike and let it move around beneath you. I use the word damper because if the bike takes a big hit it can set off occillayions and wiggles and wobbles.If you add your bodyweight to those deviations you make the problems bigger (one of the reasons people label a bike "twitchy" is because they don't let the bike move and so if the taught chassis wants to let go with some energy the riders bodyweight adds to it.) If you let the bike move you around then the energy gets absorbed (dampened) so the bike can shrug off big hits quickly and without moving off line.

Another thing I want to point out is that the entire body should be involved in all aspects of riding a motorcycle. To me, you don't steer a motorcycle using your arms or be moving your weight around, it is a total package deal. In martial arts, with many types of punches the power comes from the rear foot and builds as it is directed through the body until it is delivered through the fist, the arm is just the delivery system. This is also true for handling a motorcycle.

Human component breakdown as follows:

Eyes. I have my head up (because it is the street and there may be a critter that wants in on the action, or some type of evil debris) And I am looking where I want to go.Notice that my neck is in line with my spine, this is important to keep fatigue away. You don't see many professional racers doing the flamingo neck, but you do sometimes see them wearing their helmets with the chinbar facing up at a funny angle, this is to raise the vision opening so that they can tuck in an look forward with their eyes rather than craning their neck.

Shoulders.Loosen up, don't tense up the shoulders.I usually just roll my shoulders down a touch to keep them out of the wind.Wind on your shoulders can affect your steering by steering for you.

Arms. It is important to keep your arms bent. This gives better control as well as you use the strength in your shoulders and arms instead of just your shoulders. Also, you get better feel for the bike with bent arms. Another reason to keep your arms bent is to give the bars some wiggle room.If you are stiff arming it and you hit a big bump you add your weight to the mess, and in the event of a near tankslapper you can just let the bars use the play to sort themselves out (a bike will always try to right itself, race watchers will tell you they see bikes go into tankslappers and toss off the rider but once the rider is off the bike settles down and goes straight.) From time to time you probably see a rider with his tush planted on the seat and leans his upper body and especially shoulders into the turn. This person is not using any power from their arms and does not know the concept of countersteering. There is a point where you are bending your arms too much (anything past 100 degrees for me). At that point you are more pulling longitudinally on the bar than countersteering as well as you are compromising strength. This does not apply to straight sections, there you pin your elbows to the tank and line up your forearms behind the bars for best aerodynamics.

Hands. Relax you hands. You do all sorts of weird things to the bike if you are holding on too tight.I don't even close my fingers around the bar, there is rarely a need to, just one quick shove per turn is all it takes. If you have to keep pressure on the bars though a turn you should check your damping setting (particularly compression) Use your back to hold you up,never your hands. When you are shifting from side to side, use your lower body, not your hands.You can ride at a pretty good pace with a broken wrist if you have decent form (been there,done that) A good way to check your form is to ride down a twisty road using just your thumb and index finger of your right hand (braking notwithstanding) and move all over the bike, hanging off, switching sides of the bike, etc. That practice really brings out any weakness in your form.Be careful when doing this!

Wrists. Try to keep your wrists straight. For the throttle, hold in the average of the range that you will be using (If you're at the track and you hold the throttle so your wrist is straight at 1/8 opening you will stress your wrist unnecessarily because your wrist will have to hold the throttle wide open for long periods of time and the throttle will be shut for short periods of time) Set your levers so that you have a straight wrist when you are in the position that you use them in (i.e.: when you use your brakes hard the bike is probably nose down and you are sitting somewhat upright so you would want them lower than if you set them up for when you are just using them lightly)

Butt/hips. I try to keep my hips, spine, neck in one straight line. If I have my booty 4 inches off the seat, my spine and neck are parallel to the seat be roughly 4 inches. I also try to keep my bum back in the seat far enough that I keep my back straight.

Leg/Knee Try this, get on your bike while it is on its kickstand, put your hands on your hips, and simulate a 40% hang off on the right, switch to the left, and repeat. If you are doing it right, you unweight your bum by using your legs and slide across the seat. Work on it until it is seamless. Then start leaning your body foreword until you find yourself moving around like you normally would in your riding position but completely without your arms. ( Your arms are there to work the controls, steer, pick your nose, NOT to hold your body up). When you are riding, anchor yourself to the bike by using your legs on the side of the bike/tank/kick plates/pegs. Use your legs to push down on the inside peg when turning, then transition to pushing on the outside peg once you are on your line to improve traction. If you find yourself in a drift, you can usually stop the drift by weighting the outside peg. So here we are talking about dragging knee, for some this is apparently the holy grail of sport motorcycling. If you are riding well, your knee may end up on the ground without you reaching for it, it shouldn't be a big deal. In order to use a knee skid properly as a tool you need to be consistent with where you place it. If you look at the pic above, you will notice that my toe slider and knee slider both touch when I only have a couple of inches of clearance left. I know that I have clearance when nothing touches, I have a couple of inches left when the knee touches, I have roughly another inch when my toe touches,then it is on the peg. As you can see, just touching it down doesn't mean anything if you are just reaching it down there to rough it up.

Feet.The most common comment is to use the balls of your feet. I use the spot 3/4" behind the balls of my feet, I find it gives me a better grip on the peg and it allows my ankle more movement.I also put my foot out to the end of the peg for more leverage. As with the hand lever, set up your levers to be able to use them without reaching out for them at a strange angle. DO NOT ride with your foot under your shifter, you will drag your toes very early and possibly unweight your bike if you get your armoured boot wedged between the ground and your shift lever (you ARE wearing armoured boots right?). Don't stick your heels out because it makes moving around properly more awkward, plus it makes more aero drag.

Weight distribution. I try to sit in the center fore/aft of the bike most of the time so I only have to move a wee bit forward to help with the front on turn entry, turn exit and I only have to move a wee bit rearwards for hard braking or when traction is hard to come by. I also try to stay centered fore/aft when hanging off to even out the chassis attitude of the bike when at the apex and give me best clearance and suspension performance. Unlike many, I don't set up before the turn and sit stationary through the turn. At the entrance to the turn I sit just off center and slightly forward to give a little more traction to the front tire. At this point I don't want to be too committed to my line, I want to see as far as possible, I want be able to push on my inside peg, I want to be in a solid position to handle a possible slide. Once I have used my inside peg and have myself on a line I like I weight the outside peg and move (this is where you have to move smoothly and only with your legs) to a position that is hanging off a bit further and lower, this gives me more traction at the point in the turn where I need it most. Just after the apex where I can speed up I get closer to the bike and I move slightly back to gain a little bit of traction for the rear tire (not so much to push the front or wheelie). As I move the bike upright and onto the center of the tire I move myself forward to keep the front on the ground. On the race track I don't mind being far more committed so I do pretty much all of the above, just from a lower position and hanging off a wee bit more.

Everyone does it differently, but if you watch roadracing you will notice that all of the top riders use variations of the above principles (though a few riders are noticeable exceptions).Next time you are gazing at a bike magazine dreaming of roadracing glory, do a checklist of what the riders are doing. One interesting thing is that the older style riders (even Rossi) sit in a more neutral position (much like mine above) while many of the newer school riders are using much more body lean and are more committed. I think much of that comes from the supertraction tires of today and traction control. Not long ago, bikes were always sliding (even streetbikes), these days we are granted traction for our streetbikes that grand prix riders of 10 years ago would have only dreamed of.