Advice: How to accelerate

It's one of the most pleasurable aspects of riding a bike – twisting the throttle. It really is one of the best feelings in life – the open road, a purring bike and a single action that instantly transforms the ride from a pedestrian cruise to a street surf. It’s the ultimate act of freedom (this side of a prison break). But just like the other aspects of riding covered in this series, good acceleration starts and finishes with your head.

They say the throttle goes both ways, but only one slaps a smile on your dial and produces goose bumps the length of your body. And it's the quality of your acceleration (or more so the thought process directly before and during it) that will dictate the safety, style and swiftness of your journey.

It’s hard to spot good throttle control in Australia these days. With the car masses dulled and lulled into the authorities’ blanket approach of ‘speeding kills’, you’re surrounded by a sea of drivers who have spent so much of their driving life dawdling around while glued to their speedos in fear of getting a ticket, that they’d probably get a nose bleed if they ever exceeded the limit. These motorists also (falsely) think they must be great drivers, as they’re never hassled by the police. But that’s not education, that’s just sedation. We’ve not become a nation of smarter drivers, just a land of behind-the-wheel passengers.

But motorcyclists are smarter than that – we have to be. We know that it’s inappropriate speed that’s the real problem. In cities, outside schools and hospitals, into decreasing-radius corners, in the wet, on gravel or mud – we know these can be fatal times to be going too fast. Unlike the average car dullard, the honing of our skills never rests or peaks.

But good acceleration isn’t just about going fast. It’s about going smart. Every different size of bike, no matter what its engine capacity and configuration, will have a sweet spot for normal riding. And that will be where the engine produces a meaty dollop of torque – a thick vein of grunt that makes throttle inputs instant and meaningful. Ride too low in the rev range and the bike will need a gear change to liven up. And that can be the difference between a smart, safe lane change and a caught-in-the-crossfire moment. Ride too high up the revs and the throttle will be too sensitive and cause the bike to hunt and jerk backwards and forwards, use more fuel and make you look and sound like a noisy clown. Not cool.

The rule of thumb is normal riding should be conducted at a point between 30 to 60 per cent of the available revs. But you’ll know (or learn) as well as anybody what’s the best for your bike.

Unless you’re trying to chase Marquez around a track, smooth and firm acceleration is the Holy Grail. Any harder and you’ll be testing the tyres and suspension more and worrying the brakes earlier. As the clutch is the mechanism for getting the stationary bike moving, its proper use dictates the smoothness of the take-off. The aim is to get the clutch fully out as soon as possible without kangarooing down the road. The harder you accelerate, the quicker you need the clutch to fully engage. That means a quicker release on the lever.

Using the 30-60 per cent rule, a clear line in the traffic will have you changing up through the gearbox to reach your cruising speed. Where further acceleration isn’t needed (on a clear freeway, for example), top gear’s the go even if the revs fall slightly under the 30 per cent minimum. It’s only as you start to bunch up in traffic that you’ll need to bring the revs back into the ‘torque zone’ to give yourself acceleration options should the need occur.

As with all bike skills, you need to use ’em before you lose ’em. My favourite in this area is the Traffic Light Challenge. It’s a less of an anti-social cousin to the Traffic Light GP, and can be done at every set of lights without attracting the interest of the local fuzz.

Arrive at the head of the queue, with the traffic lights on stop, and use this ‘down time’ from riding to analyse the scene in front of you. See how the traffic’s flowing and how many pedestrians are about – the kind of normal observations we should be making all the time as bikers. Then drop the bike into first and wait for the other traffic to start to halt as their lights change. You can normally see their lights go to red but you don’t use this to jump your lights, just to get ready for a smart take-off. This keeps your mind focused, as you become the most attentive motorist in that area.

Now, unlike the GP cousin, you’re ready to go, you know the lights are just about to change but the throttle’s fully shut – there’s absolutely no rise in revs at this point. Also, your demeanour is one of nonchalance, as you sit in a normal and relaxed manner on the bike – no ‘head down, bum up’ attitude here. As the lights flash to green, it’s all systems go, but you can’t rev the bike before letting the clutch out: you have to release the front brake, disengage the clutch and twist the throttle simultaneously. This keeps your clutch control and throttle balance working like perfect bedfellows and it has the added bonus of getting you well clear of the following traffic.

Change up at 60 per cent of maximum and knock it off at the posted speed limit. It’s a bit of fun that keeps you smarter than the average bear, out of harm’s way and flying under the revenue radar.

To show the use of torque, rather than outright power, for the best acceleration, a pro drag racer was on hand a while back at the launch (geddit?) of Kawasaki’s ZX-14R. The trick, with such a monstrous engine, is to launch low in the revs, with 3200rpm being deemed the ideal on the day. This gave the best elapsed times of the day and spelled less wheelies and more drive. Of course, being a professional tester, a couple of top-speed runs were ‘sacrificed’ for a trip up the strip on the back wheel. All in the name of research, mind you…

This article was originally published on September 12, 2018.