Mich Lin!

[sam]

Mich Lin,

I have a question about foot position, I'm confused about riding on the balls of my feet or on the shank? I always was told to ride on the balls of my feet on moto

I dabble in bike trials and ride Sport level, some Expert bike trials riders mentioned that I should stop riding on the balls of my feet and more on the shank for stability. Should I adapt this style of foot position for moto?

I understand that going up ledges you need to be on the balls, not to catch the toes and doing large drops for more absortion of shock.

sam

[trial_master]

Whats moto? street bikes?

Ryan

[cleanasawhistle]

Ride on your balls but fall on your a*** - a simple formula but one well worth remembering.

[sam]

mototrials/biketrials!

Feet position on motorcycle foot pegs?

I certainly feel more in control when rear wheel hopping while standing on the shank portion of my feet. My rear brake control is more efficient when rear wheel hopping.

This may seem like a stupid question but I had some friends at a event set up my bars and levers, made all the difference in the world, improved my riding greatly!

Edited January 25, 2006 by Sam

[sam]

Another question!

Should a person practice hopping on a motorcycle with the engine off?

sam

[sting32]

Sam,

I am NOT a Master class rider, I ride Sr Expert/Intermediate. But I think you will find Benifit from practicing balancing and hopping in any fashion you wish, but it seems to me, that balance is 99.9997% of being successful at anything to do with trials. And I find balancing a dead engine bike far more challenging than a running one, especially when you try and just balance without running the bike. I guess Im saying 'why not?' about practicing hopping with engine off.

Oh and about your feet position, If you would buy a DVD or 2 from TrialsTV.com I think you might notice that the feet position pretty much is like you expressed, as in no hard and fast rule, but you do "move around" on the pegs as you ride. I find that most of the time, my foot position depends Not just majority, but sometimes solely on being able to apply the rear brake the way I want to or need to.

The above being said you do know that people are experimenting with footpeg placement, I see Lewissport in usa is selling different off-set variants of footpegs.

[mich lin]

What a great question! Would have to say like sting that there is no right or wrong, ball or arch.

Consider this, I've done a lot of testing of both positions and at my peak riding ability I would use ball for one situation and arch for the other. The bike is more nimble when you are on your toes! You are taller on the bike which gives you greater leverage or what's called "moment" on the bike. So when the bike needs to be nimble you ride on your toes. That's usally up hill with good visabiltiy of the obstacles your riding over.

Now going downhill when you need greater stabiltiy I'd return to the arch position which also gave greater rear brake access. Sections where there is deep water that you cannot see the submerged rocks I'd also return to the arch, which slows down the speed that the bike reacts. Which gives you a slower handling bike and more time if you hit a hidden rock to correct.

Overall when you want a quick handling bike, go to your toes. When you want a slow and stable platform, go to your arch. One last factor, knees out, faster handling bike, knees into the bibe, slower handling bike. So with my changed foot position I'd also jump between a knees in or knees out stance.

Now all this knees in, knees out, ball or arch can really mess you up if your not training ALL the time. How you learn something best is take all your practice time and concentrate on ONE thing for as long as it takes to master it.

When you get it down pat without having to ever think about it anymore. Go to the next technique and concentrate on it until you master that. I believe you can master one technique at a time only.

I was also been testing footpeg positions before I stopped riding a few months ago!