RIDING TECHNIQUES: Being smooth

Being smooth

This month we are going to pull apart the mother of all general pieces of advice: "Whatever you do, just be smooth!" Ever heard that one? So, what the hell does "be smooth" actually mean?

The reality is that riders tend to confuse being smooth with being gentle. Even the "experts" giving the advice to "be smooth" tend to believe that it is something to do with the way you apply any individual force to the motorcycle ie. brakes, throttle, steering etc.

If you are gentle and progressive with this force then that is supposed to make you smooth. But, does it really? Sort of, but that's only part of the story...

The error here is to focus on only one of the control actions of riding the bike. No one says "he is smooth with the throttle" or "she's smooth with the brakes" but rather "they're really smooth riders".

Smoothness as a rider then relates not to one individual application of any force on the motorcycle, but rather the transition from one force to the next. Certainly there needs to be progressiveness in the feeding in and out of every force, but isn't this just part of the transition?

When the word "smooth" comes into a conversation between riders, it's inevitable that a superstar road racer's name will be mentioned to illustrate the point. A name that is commonly bandied around for this point is my favourite rider at the moment, Troy Corser. Troy really does make riding a Superbike at speed look so easy, that it makes you sick. Yet if you were to analyse what makes Troy so "smooth" you will find it is not so much what he does with any one of the controls, but rather his application of each skill in a constant flow of actions through any corner or series of corners. Troy may be smooth, but I can assure you he's not gentle!

Keith Code has defined "being smooth" as "a seamless transition from one riding action to the next" or "a seamless transition of force." Seamless meaning that, as an observer, you can't really tell where one action finishes and the next begins, or at the very least that the bike remains stable during the transition. So it's really just no gaps in your riding.

This means that when you're not braking, you're either accelerating or steering. When you're not steering, you're either accelerating or braking, and so on.

Riders can often confuse this by trying overlap forces, like braking into the corner after steering the bike, for example. Although this can sometimes feel smooth, it is more because of your gentleness on the controls rather than it being the correct thing to do. In doing so you are restricting your effectiveness with one or more of the actions of riding the bike, making it not such a good solution. The key is actually to get the transitions from one force to the next accurate and precise.

In previous AMT articles I have pointed out that riding a corner successfully requires you to follow a sequence of events. These events would include; setting the speed for the turn; looking into the turn; steering the motorcycle effectively; staying relaxed on the bike; accelerating progressively out of the turn. A sequence means one action following another. Being smooth simply relates to doing this so there is at no point in time a gap where you are not doing something in the sequence. It also relates to doing the correct thing at the correct time, with the correct amount of force.

Good luck with your riding.

Steve Brouggy is the owner of the

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