supermotard riding techniques from supermotocanada.com

**If you just ride your 'motard on the road then you can simply ride it like any other bike, but if you want to get the most out of your bike, or you want to go racing, then there are some basic techniques that are worth practising. 

The first one is just where to sit. Under heavy acceleration, especially on wet or slippery surfaces, you need to get as much weight over the rear wheel as possible. To do this sit as far back on your seat as possible. Obviously this means you're taking a lot of weight off the front of your bike, but as the front wheel has little to do while accelerating this isn't a problem. Going into a corner, on the other hand, is another matter entirely. Just before you hit the brakes, slide your body right up to the tank so that you've got as much weight going into the front tire's contact patch as possible. Yes, this can mean you're more likely to pull a 'rolling stoppie' into the corner but just as the front tire does very little under acceleration, the rear tire does very little under braking. This seating position should also be used on aggressive standing starts. 

Now we come to the best thing about riding a supermotard bike - sliding it into corners. If you ride a two-stroke 'motard you'll find this technique very difficult indeed, but on four-strokes it's actually pretty easy ... once you've got over the fear of sliding a bike around, anyway, as it goes against every road rider's idea of how to ride. The first thing you need to do is find a nice quiet road with little, if any, traffic that, preferably, has a side road for you to slide in to. Now, ride up to the corner and take the racing line into it. Hopefully this corner is a first or second gear turn. If it isn't take a line in to it that makes it one as you don't won't to be going too fast at this point. When you're happy with your racing line, again race up to this corner, but this time leave your braking until pretty late so that you're taking the turn in a racing manner.

As you approach the turn you want to be in at least one gear higher than you need. As you hit the brakes (both of them, not just the front) select the gear for the corner and then release the clutch lever - no going through each separate gear or blipping the throttle between changes ala road racing - and you should feel the rear start to slide controllably. 

You shouldn't need much rear brake as you want the wheel to continue to turn as it slides sideways. If you feel the rear wheel juddering (you'll instantly recognise the feeling if/when it happens) then you're in too low a gear for your entry speed - feather the clutch slightly and it will go away. And that's it. Overcome your fear of sliding, add a little practise and you too can look like Stephane Chambon. Hey, I said look, not be as quick as... 


There's one more thing to talk about now and that's how to stick your foot out while cornering. Yes, I know it seems stupid but there are a couple of things to remember if you do it. The first thing is not to dig your foot into the floor as you corner - your foot should be above the surface and only touch down if the bike slides. You also want to make absolutely certain that your foot is pointing the same way you're travelling, which is the same direction your front wheel is pointing. If you do have a slide you want

your foot to kick the bike up, but you also want your leg to only move in its natural plain of travel. If your foot's pointing slightly sideways then, if you're unlucky, your foot could grip the surface and twist in an unnatural direction that can end in anything from a sore ankle or knee to utterly shattering your leg. And because the break's caused by a sideways force you're not just looking at a bad break, but a spiral break which is the type of injury that almost cost multi World GP500 Champion Mick Doohan his leg. And don't forget to make sure your toes are hard against the engine casings when you put your foot back on the pegs as you don't want them digging into the tarmac if you loose control just after the apex or if you hit one of the conveniently placed tire/hay bale walls as this could also result in your foot being spun sideways with the same possible results as mentioned above.