Читать книгу Proficient Motorcycling - David L. Hough - Страница 52

Remember Drifting Dan, who can’t seem to control balance of his big road burner by throwing his weight around on the bike? It worked fine with Dan’s little 250 that he rode years ago, but it doesn’t work with his heavier touring bike. Sure, body English can cause a bike to change direction. But the result you get from throwing your weight around depends to a great extent on the relationship of your weight to the weight of the bike. The heavier the bike, the more its inertial and gyroscopic stability. For instance, slam your knee into the tank on a contemporary 250 lightweight, and the bike will head off in a new direction. Slam your knee against the tank of an 1800cc tourer, and the bike may wobble once or twice and then straighten right back up on its original path. With the heavier machine, Dan needs to focus more on countersteering and less on body English.

The next time you are out riding, think about what you’re doing to control balance and direction. Are you sitting rock-solid in the saddle and just resting your boots on the pegs? Are you shifting your butt? Are you shifting weight from one foot peg to the other? In a turn, do you place more weight on the inside peg or the outside peg? Are you pushing on the grips or pulling on the grips? Are you pushing on the low grip or pulling? I’m not offering any correct answers here, just pointing out that part of becoming a proficient motorcyclist is figuring out what it takes to balance your machine and what it’s trying to tell you.