Skills You Need For Safe Motorcycle Riding

Naturally, to be able to ride a motorcycle, you need to know how to do it. But it shouldn’t stop there. You need to have the important skills to ensure a safe ride.

Most motorcycle skills tests are conducted on courses at the DMV. You must pass the knowledge exam first before having your skills test. To pass this, you need to know and understand the motorcycle’s controls and equipment such as gear shift, brakes, throttle, ignition, clutch, and more.

Here are some of the motorcycle skills you need to master to assure a safe ride.

Quick Stop or Braking

Emergency or quick stop is something that you really need to master to avoid collision especially during emergency situation. Thus, take as much time as you can to practice.

How to do it?

• In a big, empty parking lot, practice braking by starting from low speed. At 15 mph, gradually squeeze the front brake lever until you feel the front tire on the verge of locking up or the rear tire lifting off the ground. Once you can confidently achieve maximum braking force at 15 mph, move up to 20 and so on until you can reliably employ at any road speed.
• Pick a predetermined stopping point ahead and then apply both brakes simultaneously along with clutch lever. Stop as quickly and safely as possible without skidding.
• Squeeze, not grab, the controls quickly. Eventually, you will notice that there is much more “brake” available as you squeeze.
• Keep the motorcycle straight and upright in order to use the full amount of the tire contact patch.
• Since your body will be forced forward due to the stopping, keep your knees into tank/grip tank with knees.

Steering

It’s a fact that you can achieve your motorcycle license without really push steering to the fullest. In a parking lot (most training courses in North America are done in this manner) you can actually achieve usual bicycle steering inputs without truly doing a push steer. This is a maneuver you will use all the time and understand to be a proficient and safe motorcycle rider. Keep in mind that precisely controlling your motorcycle’s steering is important in proficient riding.

How to do it?

• Again, in a big empty parking lot, ride around it in a lazy circle. Practice pushing on either bar and see what happens.Try this and complete an imaginary slalom or similar.
• Accelerate in a straight line to at least mid/high 2nd gear or higher. As you approach the spot you pick, push to swerve around it.
• Remember to push forward like you would do to a door. There is no pulling.
• Familiarize yourself with the pressure, speed and input necessary to make your bike turn like you want it to.

Shifting Gears
Whether you are a veteran or new in the world of motorcycles, your goal should be smoothness in shifting gear.

How to do it?

• To try clutchless upshift, sneak your left foot under the shift lever while accelerating and apply a little upwards pressure.
• Don’t pull in the clutch. Instead, hold that upwards pressure with your foot. Then quickly close the throttle gradually. The gear should slip home, at which point you should get back on the gas.
• Practice until you are doing to smoothly.

Lane Splitting

This maneuver could be dangerous if you don’t apply the necessary skill correctly. Ensure a safe ride by practicing the move even more.

How to do it?

• Find a long red light in town where cars tend to back up in two lanes or more. Then approach it just after it turns red.
• Carefully pick your way to the front of the queue. Calculate the time you have before reaching the red light. If there is enough time, then squarely plant yourself in front of one of the lines of cars.
• Once that feels natural, work your way up to more difficult splitting settings.
• Don’t rush things. This is a difficult skill to learn and one that can be dangerous should you make a mistake.

Sources:

https://rideapart.com/articles/best-ways-to-improve-your-motorcycle-riding-skills

http://motoress.com/ride/rider/five-essential-motorcycle-riding-skills/