Very true. I dont think he has half a cheek off.
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Motorcycle Pictures... Post All Your Pics Here
- Thread starter JonKerr
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I guess I wasn't looking at his bum that close.
A buddy of mine is looking into selling his supermoto and buying an FZ6R. So we went out today and I let him ride Gretchen I rode the sumo. He was just riding slow, trying to get a feel for the bike.
Me trying to apply some of the techniques I learned at the SoCal Supermoto School.
Me back on my baby
Me trying to apply some of the techniques I learned at the SoCal Supermoto School.
Me back on my baby
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This guy only has one cheek off the seat...
sadly, he crashed later that day trying to do it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N3XbgPL2Qg&feature=BFa&list=SP467A2492C0B9CBFF
I'm with JK. At the level you're apparently riding at, you look pretty good! The only things I would add is that on the outside, it doesn't look like you're on the ball of your foot. It could just be the angle of photo, though. Both feet on the balls, weight the outside. It's amazing what that little bit will do for how tightly you're able to turn.From last weekend on a ride with JonKerr
Any critiques on my form?
Also, your inside knee is wanting to come out. This one is purely personal. I have a hard time not dropping my knee. It's supposed to just let you know when you're too low, but I feel it also helps lower the center of gravity, and it just feels natural to lower that knee.
When I'm in my tuck on a tight corner, all leaned over on the inside of the tank with a butt cheek off, weight on the outside peg - that inside knee just wants to come out and drag. Like I said, I fight it!
However, until I get leather pants, with a puck, I just keep imagining having my kneecap ripped off. As much as I want to stick that knee out, I fight the urge. Sometimes, I fail, lol.
I'm not known for pulling any punches. More photos would be helpful, but in that pic, that's all I really saw. If that's it, then that's saying a lot.
Congrats on getting to ride with JK, by the way. He's sort of our resident expert on form. If he says you look pretty good, you do. If he disagrees with anything I've written, go with what he says!
Everyone learns & progresses differently. But, for me, personally, I'm realizing that I shouldn't have focused so much on body positioning early on. And, i should have stayed glued to the seat until -after- I learned what it feels like to carve in a turn.
I learned the hanging off body positioning at first, and it ended up being counter productive, because I never learned how to really "feel" or understand how the dynamics of the tires and bike should be when cornering (carving).
Turning is a ratio. The faster you go, the more you want to lean. As you lean into the turn, you want to stay relaxed, shift your body weight so that the bike and the tires to do the work.
There is a unique feeling of how the bike is handling when you are riding on the edge of the tires. For me, this feeling was only be learned when I stopped hanging off the bike and started "listening" & feeling to what the bike was doing and gradually going faster into the turns.
Now that I have a better feel and understanding of the dynamics of cornering a bit, when I hang off now, I can actually feel and get why and how proper body positioning is beneficial.
Again, everyone learns differently. But that is just my experience...
I learned the hanging off body positioning at first, and it ended up being counter productive, because I never learned how to really "feel" or understand how the dynamics of the tires and bike should be when cornering (carving).
Turning is a ratio. The faster you go, the more you want to lean. As you lean into the turn, you want to stay relaxed, shift your body weight so that the bike and the tires to do the work.
There is a unique feeling of how the bike is handling when you are riding on the edge of the tires. For me, this feeling was only be learned when I stopped hanging off the bike and started "listening" & feeling to what the bike was doing and gradually going faster into the turns.
Now that I have a better feel and understanding of the dynamics of cornering a bit, when I hang off now, I can actually feel and get why and how proper body positioning is beneficial.
Again, everyone learns differently. But that is just my experience...
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Thanks for the comments. My foot wasn't on the ball as you noted. I will try to work on that. I tend to put both my feet a forward for easy braking/shifting and comfort during "every day/normal" riding so there is some muscle memory to unlearn. The knee wants to come out a little, but feels awkward for me to push it out more than what it is in the photo. I don't have leather pa
With being a new rider (less than a year), having highway tires (BT-023's), and not having leathers, I'm trying hard to not get ahead of myself. It's difficult to not go overboard for me though.
Right now, the biggest thing I want to work on is trying to stay relaxed while in the twisties. At times, I have to actively think about looking through the corner and keeping my hand off the brake because I go for the brake and pick a target to crash into when I get spooked.
With being a new rider (less than a year), having highway tires (BT-023's), and not having leathers, I'm trying hard to not get ahead of myself. It's difficult to not go overboard for me though.
Right now, the biggest thing I want to work on is trying to stay relaxed while in the twisties. At times, I have to actively think about looking through the corner and keeping my hand off the brake because I go for the brake and pick a target to crash into when I get spooked.
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If you're already covering the brake & picking a target crash route, then you are probably going too fast too soon.
Slow down.
My advice at this point is to just ride and don't over-think things. Forget all the advanced stuff. It's all kinda meaningless until you get the hang of basic riding and begin to feel comfortable with the dynamics of riding a motorcycle "up to speed."
Focus on the basics- ie keeping your eyes always looking to where you want to go, maintaining a safe speed, finding a comfortable ridimg position, practicing shifting at the right times, practicing good throttle control, practicing safe braking, relaxing your body, and above all listening to what the bike is telling you and using the controls accurately...
Pay particular attention to what you feel & observe the bike is doing and what your tires are doing in the turns.
Remember and review what you learned in MSF and sharpen those skills. Don't concern yourself about going fast or hanging off the bike etc. All that stuff just comfuses you more and is meaningless -until- you can properly read the bike's dynamics and get enough seat time to get truly comfortable riding and maneuvering in both fast, slow, and intermediate scenarios.
Just go with the flow and do what feels natural. Stay safe. And, as you improve and progress, -then- at that time start gradually adding in all the things like balls of feet on pegs, not using the rear brake in canyons, and leaning off the bike etc etc.
I'm learning that you really have to master the basics. Once you cross tht threshold you will begin adjusting your riding position automatically & naturally. And you will start riding with the balls of your feet. And it will start to feel right. There is definitely a learning progression that you have to go through. Don't rush it.
Stay safe & have fun & enjoy the process.
Slow down.
My advice at this point is to just ride and don't over-think things. Forget all the advanced stuff. It's all kinda meaningless until you get the hang of basic riding and begin to feel comfortable with the dynamics of riding a motorcycle "up to speed."
Focus on the basics- ie keeping your eyes always looking to where you want to go, maintaining a safe speed, finding a comfortable ridimg position, practicing shifting at the right times, practicing good throttle control, practicing safe braking, relaxing your body, and above all listening to what the bike is telling you and using the controls accurately...
Pay particular attention to what you feel & observe the bike is doing and what your tires are doing in the turns.
Remember and review what you learned in MSF and sharpen those skills. Don't concern yourself about going fast or hanging off the bike etc. All that stuff just comfuses you more and is meaningless -until- you can properly read the bike's dynamics and get enough seat time to get truly comfortable riding and maneuvering in both fast, slow, and intermediate scenarios.
Just go with the flow and do what feels natural. Stay safe. And, as you improve and progress, -then- at that time start gradually adding in all the things like balls of feet on pegs, not using the rear brake in canyons, and leaning off the bike etc etc.
I'm learning that you really have to master the basics. Once you cross tht threshold you will begin adjusting your riding position automatically & naturally. And you will start riding with the balls of your feet. And it will start to feel right. There is definitely a learning progression that you have to go through. Don't rush it.
Stay safe & have fun & enjoy the process.
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This only happens when I get spooked about something. I don't cover the brake, I just have the "instinct" to want to grab it when something bad happens.
It's not that I'm going to fast or not being careful enough...I try to ride too cautiously at times and don't fully commit because of it. This causes the "omg I'm going to crash" thought.
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Thanks for the props. I really don't think I'm any kind of an expert. I've just been lucky enough to have some really good friends as teachers and some amazing canyon roads and now track days to help me learn over the last 3 years. The photographers don't hurt much either.Congrats on getting to ride with JK, by the way. He's sort of our resident expert on form. If he says you look pretty good, you do. If he disagrees with anything I've written, go with what he says!
As for the advice for Eric, you guys are giving some good tips. One thing about keeping you upper body loose and free and allow the bike to do it's work, when you make sure that the arms are bent and you're looking through the turn, your upper body will naturally want to move to the inside of the bike. Let it. Once you're comfortable with that, start weighting the outside peg and putting pressure on the outside of the tank and moving the butt over an inch or two at a time. It's a progression. Again, I had a lot of help with the photographers to get a visual of it. Here's some pics of my progress.
My first time on 94 in January of 2010 (yes I'm armored up under the jeans.) Notice the arms are bent, looking through the turn, but the ass is on the seat, and I am riding on the balls of my feet.
Here this is a few months later and you can see my toe pointed down. I'm starting to weight the outside peg and shifting my butt over. I'm actually shifting my butt over too much at this point because you can see my upper body is not over as much. When I saw this I realized I'm riding too tight and and needed to loosen my arms more.
Jump again 4 months forward and you see I'm starting to shift the butt over, upper body is shifted over, but WAY too high. You can see the tension in my shoulders, and outside elbow is so high.
Jump ahead another 6 months and you can see how much lower my upper body is. everything is shifted farther to the inside. Outside arm is a little high still.
Another 6 months and it's more about small fine tuning. This was last October. My outside arm is properly resting on the tank (an happens to touch my knee too, kind of a good indicator for me while I'm out riding.)
And now just a few weeks ago, this is where I am now. Honestly losing a bunch of weight has helped a lot too. But these pics have been invaluable to me and I hope they help you guys too.
(Please don't think I'm being big headed in showing these pics. Just want to try and help.)
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Here's a couple of examples of how riding tight can completely change your form even one week later.
About a month ago I went up to Palomar. I hadn't been there in almost a year and it's a very intimidating road. So I was tight. You can see here how my upper body is all twisted and I'm holding my upper body too far to the middle of the bike. I was tight all day. I wasn't riding well and I knew it. When I saw the pics that night it just confirmed what I knew I was doing.
So a week later I went back. I was a little more comfortable with the road and rode a little more loosely. Still not great. But you can see the difference in the angle of my spine to the centerline of the bike.
About a month ago I went up to Palomar. I hadn't been there in almost a year and it's a very intimidating road. So I was tight. You can see here how my upper body is all twisted and I'm holding my upper body too far to the middle of the bike. I was tight all day. I wasn't riding well and I knew it. When I saw the pics that night it just confirmed what I knew I was doing.
So a week later I went back. I was a little more comfortable with the road and rode a little more loosely. Still not great. But you can see the difference in the angle of my spine to the centerline of the bike.
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So for my birthday yesterday I went for a little ride, of which I'll post up some video in the near future. But here's some pics of the rides I took Tuesday, and Wednesday.
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looks gret nasty... love your bikeSo for my birthday yesterday I went for a little ride, of which I'll post up some video in the near future. But here's some pics of the rides I took Tuesday, and Wednesday.
That's an awesome picture. It really draws the eyes. I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at, though. I'm guessing it's a Honda dirt bike?
Looks like a Honda Ruckus (scooter).
miketriebsch
New Member
Its a 49cc Ruckus. There fun little scooters. I kinda miss my zuma I had that somone wanted more than I did.
Went out for an early AM ride this morning to try and beat some of the heat with a friend. He's not doing too damn bad for 4 weeks off knee surgery.
But we were going pretty damn slow. So I had to get out in front of him a couple of times while we were doing laps and stretch her legs a little. :innocent:
The pic below shows exactly what a difference a banked turn can make. All the ones above, the turn is pretty much flat on that side. Maybe even just a bit off camber. (The other side heading the other direction is pretty heavily banked) So the knee gets to the ground with less lean angle, and you can't carry quite as much speed because you don't have the banking to hold the bike in the turn. Here, this turn is about half a mile down the road. The turn is actually pretty heavily banked. You can tell I have about the same, maybe even a bit more lean angle in this turn, same body position, and the knee is probably 4" off the ground, and I'm probably 5mph+ faster in a similar radius turn.
But we were going pretty damn slow. So I had to get out in front of him a couple of times while we were doing laps and stretch her legs a little.
:innocent:
The pic below shows exactly what a difference a banked turn can make. All the ones above, the turn is pretty much flat on that side. Maybe even just a bit off camber. (The other side heading the other direction is pretty heavily banked) So the knee gets to the ground with less lean angle, and you can't carry quite as much speed because you don't have the banking to hold the bike in the turn. Here, this turn is about half a mile down the road. The turn is actually pretty heavily banked. You can tell I have about the same, maybe even a bit more lean angle in this turn, same body position, and the knee is probably 4" off the ground, and I'm probably 5mph+ faster in a similar radius turn.