Riding Tips

What’s the proper way to ride a motorcycle? Ask a dozen riders and you’ll get a dozen answers. The thing about riding a motorcycle is there is no one proper way—there are lots of ways. And you never stop learning. Take what you hear or read or see or are taught, think about it, give it a go, and if it works, make it your own. Then share it with your friends.


LEARN TO THINK FOR YOURSELF- Keith Code

Say what you will about the guru, Keith Code wrote the book on high-performance motorcycle riding and it’s called A Twist of the Wrist. Twenty-three years after it was first published, it’s still tops on my list. I took Code’s California Superbike School twice in 1984 and ’85, and at first found his teaching style frustrating. Asked the best line through a corner, he turned the question back to me: "I don’t know. There are lots of correct lines. They change depending on what bike you’re riding, the condition of your tires, etc. What line do you think is correct?" What I thought was I’d better learn to think for myself.


KEEP YOUR CHEST ON THE TANK - Wes Cooley

The second time I took the California Superbike School, Wes Cooley was a guest instructor. I was impressed by how tidy he was on the bike—always tucked in behind the windscreen without any limbs sticking out in the breeze. Later, he told the class a funny story: "One day I came in from practice and my dad told me I needed to stay tucked in. I told him I had, so he tied a shoelace from my zipper to the ignition key. When I came back in after the next session, my leathers were unzipped to my waist." Keeping your chest on the tank not only improves your bike’s aerodynamics, it lowers the center of gravity and gives the front tire a better bite.


ALWAYS UPSHIFT AFTER MISSING A GEAR - Danny Coe

Back in the late ’80s, Danny Coe of Cycle magazine was a top AMA 250cc GP competitor and unofficial champion of the Moto-Journalist GPs. When during a GSX-R launch at Laguna Seca I mentioned I’d botched a downshift, he asked me what I did next. "Um, I downshifted again." Wrong: Coe insisted you should always shift up after missing a shift, to ensure you’re not a gear lower than you intended. Better to be out of the powerband than to have the rear tire hopping up and down, trying to pass the front.



LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING - Kevin Schwantz

Book of Duh, Chapter One, but Kevin Schwantz’s take is refreshing, especially for those of us whose height (or girth, or both) makes crawling under the paint difficult. Sure, the 1993 500cc world champion tucked in on the straights, but not as much as his rivals; he’d raise his head just enough to look over—or around—the windscreen. Like they taught you in Driver’s Ed, looking farther down the road gives you a big-picture view that effectively slows things down—an important consideration at triple-digit speeds.



LEARN HOW YOUR SUSPENSION WORKS - Eddie Lawson

When Eddie Lawson returned from the 500cc Grand Prix wars to ride a Vance & Hines Yamaha Superbike in the 1993 Daytona 200, he had to get a handle on an unfamiliar motorcycle without the benefit of prior testing. To do so, he spent his initial practice sessions exploring the full range of suspension and chassis adjustments before he even tried to go fast. The results were predictable: He won the race after an epic battle with Mr. Daytona, Scott Russell. And then went onto a modestly successful career in Indycar racing, where his methodical approach served him equally well.


STEER WITH THE REAR - Scott Russell

Once upon a time (1994), in a land far, far away (Malaysia), there was a press introduction for the then-new Kawasaki ZX-9R. It was hot—really hot—and the sketchy stock Bridge-stone tires gave me fits until I watched Scott Russell ride. Undaunted by the lack of traction (he’d experienced worse at the end of races), the reigning World Superbike champion set a blistering pace 4 seconds per lap quicker than the fastest journalist, and slewed sideways off the corners in complete control. How’d he do that? Simple: He weighted the inside footpeg to break the rear tire loose, then weighted the outside peg to get it to hook back up.