hi,

I'm real new to riding, have like 800 street miles under my belt but learned to ride on a 100 and a 250 in the dirt. Ride an 03 sixxer.

Anyway, I have been gripping the grips hard while riding, especially when hitting bumps... reading more on these forums I'm hearing people say 'dont grip hard on the handlebars - instead grip the tank with your knees'...

So really, should I just be comfortable holding the handlebars at all times? even going fast e.g. cruising @ 95??

What about bumps though? when hitting unavoidable bumps and potholes, shouldn't I be loosening up my ass and gripping hard on the grips? Or even in this case I should be lose on the grips and hard on the knees? I could swear when hitting bumps I should stay loose around my ass, but I'm really not sure... i've even seen other riding stand up completely when going over bumps.... should I ever be doing this??

thanks for any advice

its all what is comfortable to you

hey I'm kinda new to but I think you should keep your arms relax not gripping hard and grip tank when you want more control or riding in high winds that helps alot even when going 100+ you feel the differents

Always relax your upper body the more you grip those bars the harder it its going to be to control the bike..If you see a bump that you think is going to hurt, stand up or just get off the seat a little..your balls will thank you..

Always relax your upper body the more you grip those bars the harder it its going to be to control the bike..If you see a bump that you think is going to hurt, stand up or just get off the seat a little..your balls will thank you..

Its not really that it would be harder to control, but it COULD be. By pushing and grabbing firmly on the clip-ons your torqueing them which would cause some stress on the front end. The whole press and roll doesnt mean you really need to press hard. I am much more comfortable gripping the tank, while I hold lightly on the clip ons.

You could actually hit a bump using only one hand and still be fine. It's all about confidence, relax your grip and elbows and use them as a secondary shock absorber.

IMO riding dirt is night and day from street... in dirt you throw the bike around. on the street you have to work the bike around, not throw. bc if you dont it will throw you. gripping the grips hard will cause your arms and hands to get tired fast. you need to become comfortable to loosen your grip and use your lower body to reduce fatigue. take a few 2-4hr rides and you will figure it out real fast

Yeah, use your legs to grip the tank and your back to hold you up. Do not hold yourself up with your arms+wrists. This will cause problems because all that weight on the handlebars can make it harder to maneuver well. That being said, just having a firm grip on the bars (arms relaxed, but firm grip) probably wouldn't hurt anything if its comfortable to you. I find that after some spirited riding I naturally grip the handlebars fairly hard myself, so its not that big a deal, just keep your arms relaxed and do not put all your weight on your hands/wrists/arms/whatever.

You do not use the bars to hang on. Your hands only go there because that's where the controls are.
Relax your grip and let the bike do what its supposed to, whether you're riding over a bump, in a corner, or both.
Holding the bars tight is like arguing with the feedback you are getting out of the bike.

I have found that if I concentrate on keeping my back straight, it will reduce stress on your wrists, and your grip will be more relaxed and control is natural.

Don't grip the handle bars too tight.

For a bump, hole, etc... Grip with your knees and raise your ass off the seat. This way it will not buck you off the bike. Of course since you are doing this you want to add a little more grip to the bars.

Other then that...just RELAX! You are grippin it to death because you are nervous. I did the same thing. My hands heart like HELL after I was done riding because i gripped it so hard. Get used to using your ENTIRE body to be stable on the bike...so you aren't just using your hands to grip the hell out of the bars....

A loose ass sounds like a personal problem>>>Ha HA..Nah you never want to put a death grip on the bars and try avoiding potholes instead of going through them and its ok to stand up over a big bump i do ....

You'd be surprised how upright your bike can remain despite the bumps on the road even if you don't use your hands.

So there's really no reason to grip the bars hard. Your bike ain't going to wobble violently and lay down on you if you hit a bump..... at least not if you're going 40+mph.

The US should really have mandatory rider courses. Most of the guys on here are right!

In Oz they drill it into you not to grip a road bike hard with your hands/arms. In fact if you dont show improvement of being relaxed (upper body) you dont pass. I.e you cant get your license

Main reason, if you hit a bump hard enough with a ridged upper body and arms, any moving your body does translates straight to the bars. This means the bump starts to steer you, you then steer the bike or worse, steer and accelerate into oncoming traffic. Imagine hitting a bump, getting thrown sideways, this turns your bars and you start to steer!

Even race schools will teach you this. There is no reason to have a death grip.

At first, you should grip the bike with your legs, balls of feet on the pegs. You can also get tank pads which will grip your pants better. You have more control and strength to control the bike as when your a noob, you dont have the required muscles built up yet.

As your legs get stronger, you start to grip more with your feet which automatically weights the pegs. I would say 50-70% of people dont get to this stage and might not get any faster. Thats fine, if they did they would do a school, read books and be naturally interested. It takes a certain mentality and drive- Not everyone wants to or has the ability. We would all be rossi if that was the case.

Lastly, bikes run a fair bit of castor(steering geometry). This means you dont need to put effort into the steering to go straight, only to correct slight deviations to go down a road. You only need to touch the bars to control the bike. I.e accelerate, steer, brake. If you sit in the middle and let go of the bike, the castor and gyroscopic forces hold your bike upright and it will go straight.

This is one reason I prefer to run a lot of castor, once I set my angle, bumps dont require much effort as the rake angle is doing the work. I find it less fatiguing on bumpy roads and requires less focus on steering/angle corrections. I use the pegs and muscle it down into the corners or to transition from side to side. This is currently what I prefer. It might change and is personal preference. Race bikes run on grippy surfaces, use sticky tyres and can afford to drop triple clamps (resulting in reduce trail) for quicker steering at high speed. Street bikes cant afford that compromise/grip, how often do you have a 200 klm flip flop?

Dirt bike riding is totally different.

Excellent explanation. :cheers

One more thing. Get a cue from horse racing. Those little guys don't hold on to that big fast horse with their hands. They use their legs.

thanks ya'll... i have matured a lot as a rider in my first season... i'm gripping the bike with my legs naturally now and mostly ride with one hand... i also raise my ass slightly over most unavoidable bumps......

my one question is, do you guys try to keep your back straight? when i do that, it feels like i'm too far forward.... but is it good for your posture / long term comfort you think???

IMO riding dirt is night and day from street... in dirt you throw the bike around. on the street you have to work the bike around, not throw. bc if you dont it will throw you. gripping the grips hard will cause your arms and hands to get tired fast. you need to become comfortable to loosen your grip and use your lower body to reduce fatigue. take a few 2-4hr rides and you will figure it out real fast
I have to say riding dirt all those years(37) has saved my ass many times for some quick manuvering there are some simmilairites

thanks ya'll... i have matured a lot as a rider in my first season... i'm gripping the bike with my legs naturally now and mostly ride with one hand... i also raise my ass slightly over most unavoidable bumps......

my one question is, do you guys try to keep your back straight? when i do that, it feels like i'm too far forward.... but is it good for your posture / long term comfort you think???

I never ride with my back straight.... because I bend my arms and naturally my back just wants to arch.

I think having your overall body be as relaxed as possible is the best way to battle fatigue for casual rides. I don't even really grip the tank with my knees unless I'm braking.

just remember, the harder you grip the throttle, the more touchy it is, a small bump can easily jerk your hand, and just a little is enough to send you off the road on a sportbike... just relax, you dont need to grip either hard, you arent going upside down or anything...but grip the tank when your riding hard (which you shouldnt do being new anyway!)

You could actually hit a bump using only one hand and still be fine. It's all about confidence, relax your grip and elbows and use them as a secondary shock absorber.

I've actually ran over a blown tractor trailer tire on the highway. with both feet of the pegs and one handed. the bike got wobblie but straightened right out. i find that relaxing and always looking where u want to go. not looking at what u want to dodge. helps out tremendous.

This is a post from a different forum. He was my instructor.....

You should be loose on the bars, no bar input after the bike is turned. You should be able to rest your outside arm over the tank and point your inside elbow down.

To demonstrate at the superbike school, I used to go through a turn with my left hand in the air, knee on the ground and wiggling my right elbow so the student could see there was no input... sometimes while looking back at him, that usually helped seal the deal on that lesson http://www.allstoneallthetime.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif