Advice: Speaking with your bike

Bike talk

What do you have to do to your motorcycle in the next split second to get the exact result you want? Assuming you are a median rider... meaning you're not riding at world championship level and you're not just starting out... do you do something different to those riders at either end of the spectrum? Does a Honda RC211V demand different input than a 250 Virago? When you grab the brake lever on your bike, does it slow down? If you were riding either of the two bikes mentioned above, and you grab the brake lever, would they slow down? What is the difference in what you do?

Your control inputs are your communication with the motorcycle. Every time you pull the brake on, or roll the throttle on, you are giving instructions to your motorcycle as to what you want it to do. You pull the brake on, telling the motorcycle you want it to decrease speed, and in response it slows down. You roll the throttle on, telling it you want to add speed, and in response the speed increases. You are in a sense 'speaking' to your bike. Regardless of what that bike may be. The question is... what language does your bike speak? And how does that differ from the other bikes you could be riding?

If you, Valentino Rossi and a learner on a 250 Virago were all approaching the same corner at the same time, what would you do differently (to get your vastly different results from that turn) and do you face different issues, or do you have the same concerns? If you answered that you would have different issues and/or that you would have to do something different... then guess again...

As you approach a corner, one of the main things that will be vying for your attention is if your speed is okay for the turn - regardless of what that speed may be. The very same issue is also dealt with corner after corner by Valentino Rossi and the learner on the 250 cruiser. You all have a sense of what speed is 'okay' and part of your job at that point is to get the speed correct. I dare say that Rossi would be somewhat quicker than you through the turn, and the learner somewhat slower. If that is true, you could also theorise that you would all have an idea of where you want to enter the turn from. They might be three completely different places, but there is a location (or turn entry point) that you feel is right for you, and the other two riders in our scenario also have an ideal location. And so on and so on with every other control action.

The fact is that all three of you do more similarly than you do different. Your use of the controls (brakes, clutch, throttle, steering etc) has to be in pretty much the same sequence and in roughly the same manner. Most riders look at the vast chasm between the result of their riding and those at each end of the spectrum and imagine that somehow there must be something vastly different that they are doing. Not true. We all do the same things. We all have the same issues to deal with, we all must follow the same control sequence and those controls all do the same thing. The difference is in the effectiveness and intensity level of each control action. In other words, all motorcycles speak the same language, but they all have a different accent if you like. They may phrase things slightly differently. They may have different emphasis on different syllables. It's still the same language, but they speak slightly differently. Get it?

Good luck with your riding.

Steve Brouggy is the owner of the

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