stability | MotoSKILLS from Survival Skills

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

46. Six Tips for riding in strong winds

Modern riders benefit from weather apps with real-time wind forecasts, even GPS alerts, and which make planning safer and more precise. But the physics involved in the interaction of motorcycle and windy weather hasn’t. And there’s nothing that modern electronic aids can do either, when the bike’s hit by a sudden gust from the side. Rider knowledge and skill is still the only way to go.

Six Tips for riding in strong winds

Most years, Britain is battered by winter storms, and even in the autumn we’re increasingly being affected by the decayed remains of Atlantic hurricanes that still produce strong gales. Even in mid-summer, a thunderstorms can generate surprisingly strong, if localised winds. And of course it’s always windier on the coast or high in the hills. So what are my Survival Skills tips and the best way to deal with strong winds? As always, the first stage is to plan ahead. Before anything else, watch the forecast. That might seem obvious but what looks like nice morning weather out of the window can change in a couple of hours to a gale-wracked afternoon and it might be a good idea to travel another day. Maybe we can take the car or the train. But what if we have to ride? Here are some handy Survival Skills tips for riding in strong winds.

REMOVE LUGGAGE IF POSSIBLE – don’t forget that luggage on the rear of the machine acts as a ruddy great sail – top boxes can really destabilise a bike in strong winds. A magnetic tank bag can be blow clean off the tank too – don’t ask me how I know (I always tether a tank bag to the keyring fob with a carabiner now). If it’s possibly to take any bags and boxes off, do so. Baggy clothing and rucksacks aren’t a great idea either. If there are cinch straps on sleeves or legs, tighten them up. And if we’re going to carry a passenger, get them to sit as close up as possible so there’s no big gap between rider and pillion.

PLAN THE ROUTE – defore setting off, do some route planning. Try to find roads that are not so exposed. A roads are generally more sheltered than motorways. Roads in the lee of hills will be less windy than roads along the top. It may be possible to plan the route so that on exposed roads the strongest winds are behind us, rather than from the side. And we may need to change route mid-ride. Many years ago on a despatching job to Northampton, a windy Chrismas eve morning turned into a full gale by mid-afternoon. The M1 was a real struggle – I recall a furniture lorry being blown up onto two wheels as I passed it. Rather than attempt the M25, I came back through central London. It turned out the newly-opened Dartford bridge was closed anyway. By the time I was back out on the M20 and heading home in Kent, the wind had dropped.

SPOT THE PROBLEM AREAS – once on the move, do a bit of amateur weather forecasting. The strongest winds often blow around squall lines and thunderstorms, so spotting a tall, dark cloud with a tell tale-rain shadow beneath it should ring alarm bells. Look ahead and figure out where the wind will catch us:

exposed roads, particularly motorways

high bridges

open roads

coastal areas

roads across mountains and along mountain valleys

gaps between buildings and hedges

as trucks pass

below high rises in cities

etc etc – I’ll leave it to you to think of other examples.

WORK OUT WHICH WAY THE BIKE WILL BE BLOWN – usually it’s in the direction the wind is blowing, but there are three exceptions:

passing trucks – if the wind’s coming from the far side, we’re suddenly sheltered and we’re actually sucked in towards the truck, then as we get level with the cab, we’ll be suddenly blown away again

halfway down hills – there’s usually a back eddy where the wind suddenly reverses direction. The M20 halfway down Wrotham Hill is notorious for this

alongside high rise building – the building deflects the wind so it blows in the opposite direction at groundlevel is in the opposite direction, so we can be hit by winds which change direction through 180 degrees in a few metres in city centres

Other problems? Look out for fallen branches and general vegetable detritus blown from trees. Wheelie bins get blown into the road. Fences may come down. I’ve even seen a shed collapse into the road.

STRATEGIES TO SURVIVE – so if we know when and where we’re likely to be blown of course, we can at least prepare:

ride on the side of the lane which gives us the most room to be blown sideways

keep well away from high-sided vehicles, and give a good clearance to those coming the other way – they’ll be pushing the wind in front of them

don’t try to hang onto the bars – instead, keep the shoulders, elbows and wrists as loose as possible but locking the knees against the tank and brace our back. That way when we’re blown around on top of the bike, we won’t take the handlebars with us, and it’s much easier to steer a reasonably straight course

be ready to steer into the wind

remember counter-steering – if the bike is being blown TO the left, we need to steer INTO the wind by pushing on the RIGHT handlebar end.

Strong, sidewinds are knackering. I had to ride 200 miles due south across the Mohave Desert with a 50 mph wind coming from the west. Absolutely NO cover from the wind. My arms, shoulders, and back burned by the end of that ride. The only way I made it was by hanging my backside off the side of the bike facing the wind. Try it, and you’ll find it helps the bike to steer into the wind. And that means a little less effort in holding a constant degree of steering into the wind.

I can’t emphasise how important it is not to ride with stiff arms. If we’re hanging on for dear life, every time our upper body gets buffeted, we feed that straight into the steering and we make all the wobbles and weaves much worse. Keep elbows loose but the wider we hold the bars, the more leverage we have to steer into the wind and the less ‘push’ we have to make which means it’s less tiring.

DO WE SLOW DOWN – there’s often a suggestion that if we slow down, we feel less ‘blown about’. Well, that may be true into a headwind but if the wind comes from the side, we might feel less buffeting on our chest. But the sideways component of the wind remains exactly the same, plus we lose the benefit of how straightline stability increases with speed. There’s a trade-off where too fast becomes a problem because we get blown off the road quicker than we can deal with it but it’s certainly possible to ride too slowly in wind – the clue is we’re wobbling all over the place.

Some bikes are better at handling wind than others. Part of the problem is the design of the front wheel. Harleys with solid disc wheels have a bit of a reputation for being unstable in crosswinds, and so did the 80’s Hondas with the ‘Banana Comstars’ – I had an XBR500 and this was an absolute pig in high winds – I could feel the wind blowing the front wheel around and trying to yank the bars out of my hands.

I can’t claim riding in strong winds is fun. If we have to ride – as I had to on that journey back from Northampton – we can’t stop the bike being blown sideways, but like most things, there are strategies for dealing with the problem. It’s hard work, but with a bit of thought and forward planning it need not be quite so scary.

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

44. Carrying a pillion passenger – Question and Answer

Riding two-up fundamentally changes the dynamics of the motorcycle — weight distribution, braking, acceleration, cornering, and balance. If we’ve never carried one, it’s very easy to underestimate how much a passenger affects the ride. Electronic aids such as ABS, traction control, and semi-active suspension help, but they do not replace smooth throttle control, progressive braking, and careful cornering. Getting on and off a bike and knowing how to sit and hold on are far from intuitive to a new passenger. Modern aids such as Bluetooth intercoms can improve things, doing away with the need for shoulder taps, but cannot replace clear instructions before getting on, or practice. Plan rides conservatively, allow extra distance for braking, and give rider and passenger time to build confidence before attempting long trips or high-speed manoeuvres.

Carrying a pillion passenger – Question and Answer

It’s an experience – and an experiment – that nearly every rider will go through at one time or another, but the first time we put someone on the back of our machine, we’ll should realise we’re actually taking on a very serious responsibility. Suddenly, someone else’s life is in our hands. Yet it’s surprising just how few riders do think it through. We’ll have state of the art riding kits, but a battered old abandoned helmet that won’t fit is dug out of the garage then handed to the passenger. We’ve got all the protective kit, yet the passenger has to make do with whatever they can find in the cupboard. There’s absolutely no excuse for this. If you haven’t got proper riding kit for the passenger, they shouldn’t be on the back of our bike. And if you’re reading this as a potential passenger, if your pilot won’t take your riding kit seriously, how do you think he or she is likely to treat riding with you on the back? Having heard Brittany Morrow’s story about her recovery after falling from the back of a bike after going for a spin with a guy she barely knew, it made me think again about carrying a passenger, and I’m not exactly a big risk-taker.

Question I’ve been riding a couple of years and I reckon it’s time to take a passenger. What should I look out for?

Answer First thing is to find out whether your passenger has been on the back of a bike before. Then ensure that the passenger is properly dressed for the job, knows how to sit and hold on, and knows some ground rules.

Q OK, so what should my passenger wear?

A Assuming you are properly dressed, they need the same gear as you’d wear! Passengers are commonly given an old lid that’s been kicking around at the back of the garage, but really they should have their own helmet. If you are using a borrowed helmet it MUST fit! Make sure they know how to do the helmet up and CHECK! I’ve seen people stuff the strap up the side of the helmet or have the strap so ridiculously loose it’d pull off over their chin – give assistance if required. Then make sure they understand how to take care of it.

Next up is a pair of decent gloves, sturdy boots, and proper trousers & jacket – even for a short ride, these are a must. Don’t EVER give anyone (Scotsmen included) a lift if they are wearing a skirt! If wearing lace-up boots, make sure laces are tucked away. Scarves too – you may laugh, but my brother nearly strangled a friend when a long scarf caught in the chain.

Q What do I need to show my passenger before we go?

A Make sure the passenger knows where to put their feet! It may seem another stupid tip but I once spent several hours removing melted boot from the silencers on my CX500 after a passenger rested her feet on them, after I’d forgotten to fold down the footpegs!

Explain that they have to hold on, and show them where and how. They can hold onto the rider (preferable for novices) or onto the grab rail. Don’t assume they know. They may try to hold onto the bodywork or the rear light lens – I’ve seen it happen.

Q So how should they sit on the bike?

A Facing forwards, astride the seat, feet on the footpegs. That’s the answer to the DVSA test question. But they should aim to sit reasonably close to the rider to prevent wind getting between rider and passenger, and shouldn’t lean back on a top box, unless it’s specifically designed for the purpose – on a Harley or Goldwing. The mounts aren’t strong enough, nor is the subframe designed to take the weight of a passenger leaning on it. They’ll break.

Q So is it best to hold onto the rider or the grab rail?

A It depends on the the pillion’s preference and experience, and the type of bike. Whichever they choose, it is important they feel relaxed and comfortable, and vital that they do hold onto something on at all times.

If the passenger is confident enough, and the bike has a decent grab rail, then holding that is my preferred option. It detaches the passenger from the rider which may be less confidence inspiring, but it allows a more rigid and stable position for the passenger to deal with both acceleration and braking. The passenger also has more room, and with a better view past the rider, is more likely to be ready for braking, accelerating or cornering.

But if they have never been on a bike before, my preference is for them to hold on to the rider, around the waist of the rider. However, it may not be that easy to grip a riding suit if the rider accelerates, and under braking the rider will be supporting the passenger’s body weight. It also has the drawback, depending on the bike, that they may not be able to see what is about to happen as they will be close to the rider.

Better yet, the rider can wear a ‘body belt’ with a pair of handles. The belt may not be elegant but it’s confidence-inspiring for the novice passenger under acceleration, and helps ensure they move with the rider during cornering, and gives them some way of bracing themselves against braking too. Gripping tight with the thighs can help and gives you some feedback from the pillion.

Some people recommend what I’ve heard called the “brace” position, with one hand on the grab rail and the other bracing in front either on the tank or the seat. I’ve not tried this personally, so I’ll leave it up to you to try.

If there’s one position to be avoided it’s advising the passenger to rest both hands on the back of the tank. There’s absolutely nothing to stop the rider falling backwards under acceleration, and this is exactly what happened to Brittany Morrow. Look her up on internet. I’ve worked with her on the New Zealand Shiny Side Up rider safety initiative and she’s a brave and inspiring woman.

Q Anything else before we set off?

A Explain that on acceleration they will tend to fall backwards, and under braking will slide forwards. Tell them that the bike does lean over, so they are not taken by surprise. You’d be amazed how many new passengers have never thought about that. Explain that in a corner, the rider will balance the bike, and all they need to do is relax and stay in line with the rider – and specifically warn them not to sit upright in a bend – most novice passengers do, so be ready for that. To help the passenger to feel more connected with the rider, tell him/her to look into the turn. All this might sound like a recipe to scare them, but it’s a damn sight scarier for a new passenger when the bikes starts moving and they don’t know what to expect.

Next, tell them how to get on. It may be possible to mount from the left simply by swinging the right leg over the seat but if there’s luggage on the bike or the passenger isn’t very tall, then they will have to mount the bike as if they were riding a horse – they will need to put their left foot on the left peg and stand on it, before swinging their right leg up and over the seat. They can place a hand on your shoulder for support but brace yourself in anticipation. It’s easier if the bike is upright and not on the side stand, but watch out for their weight rocking the bike from side to side – a heavy rider can exert quite a surprising force. Make sure they get on and off only when you tell them to. They should wait till you are ready, seated with your feet firmly braced, and ready for them. And yes, I have had a passenger try to climb on before I did.

When coming to a stop at a junction or lights, ensure the passenger knows they should not put their feet down – the rider will balance the bike when stopped – or to let go – if the lights change, you will need to accelerate away again. And tell them not to fidget around, particularly at slow speed.

Although it’s important not to distract the rider unnecessarily, some signals can help if you don’t have comms between rider and passenger. A thumbs-up can be used to show the rider the passenger is ready to move off. If they want you to stop or slow down, suggest a tap on the shoulder. But they shouldn’t make signals to other road users.

And double-check the passenger is comfortable and secure before pulling away.

Q What about stopping again?

A Remember to slow progressively, which means rolling off the throttle gently, then braking equally gently. Use both brakes, not just the front. In fact, you can use more rear brake than normal because of the extra weight gives the rear tyre more grip. More rear brake also helps keep the front forks from diving – the bike will ‘squat’ and stop more level which makes it easer for you to keep your footing. Remember, you have that extra weight to deal with, so smooth stops are essential.

With the rear brake in action, you’re going to have to put your left foot down. If you’re not used to that, some prior practice would be a good idea, or you’ll end up releasing the rear brake and making a sudden grab at the front to stop.

Coming to a stop, Make sure you stop upright, not leaned over, because if you come to a half leaning the bike even slightly, the extra weight whilst stopped can cause you to drop the bike. Look carefully where you are going to put your feet – is the camber too steep or is the surface covered in wet leaves? Been there, dropped it! And don’t try to ride at walking pace if you don’t have to. Every little wobble will cause the passenger to move around, and it makes it difficult to hold a straight line.

Once stopped, don’t be afraid to put both feet down. And finally, at the end of the ride make sure the passenger understands they sit still until you have the bike securely balanced – they should only dismount again when you tell them.

Q What problems might I come across?

A By far and away the most dangerous issue is losing the passenger off the back. My brother dumped me on the road behind the bike giving it a handful to impress his mates, just as I turned round to wave goodbye. It’s not unknown for riders to lose control as the passenger makes a despairing grab for them.

Not far behind is the sudden hard stop that has the passenger losing grip on the grab rail and sliding into the rider’s back. Suddenly you’re having to support not only your own bodyweight but that if the passenger too. Losing control is common. If the passenger is nutting you, you’re braking too hard.

The answer to both of those is gentle braking and acceleration!

The most common issue is caused by the passenger sitting bolt-upright mid-corner. The bike will try to straighten on, and you’ll have to lean over even further to get round the corner. So warn the passenger first, then take corners slowly so that you can lean in progressively and get round with no more than a moderate lean angle. Don’t bang the bike straight over on its side – what seems perfectly natural to you can seem positively suicidal to a novice pillion.

Alternatively, the passenger tries to help by leaning further – this tightens the bike’s line mid-turn, forcing a steering correction. In my experience, it’s usually other riders who don’t passenger much who fall for this one. Tell ’em to stop being so helpful and to sit still!

Q How should I change my riding?

A Simple – take everything with more care, but particularly when changing speed and overtaking. Practice smooth use of the controls and plenty of forward planning to avoid having to jam the brakes on or swerve suddenly. Pretend you have an egg balanced on the tank.

Two-up, you can’t brake as hard as you can solo, nor can you use anything like the same amount of throttle without losing the passenger off the back. What feels to you like perfectly moderate acceleration can be extremely frightening to a novice, so take it nice and easy. Hanging on with your feet in the rider’s armpits does not inspire pillion confidence. That’s a factor to remember when planning an overtake – if you aren’t sure, don’t go. And if you are filtering, don’t forget your passenger’s knees are probably the widest part of the bike.

The change in geometry of the bike will change the way the machine corners. The bike will be slower to change direction and you will need to work harder to get it turned. At low speed it’s tricky to keep the bike balanced. Some bikes are more badly affected than others – my old GS500E was almost unrideable two-up, but the XJ6 deals with a passenger well.

Give passengers time to get confident in your riding AND their ability to hang on.

Q How does braking differ with a passenger?

A If you’ve been taught to avoid the brakes and rely on throttle sense, you’re about to discover another weakness of this approach to riding – the extra weight of a passenger renders engine braking less effective so practice slowing and stopping with the brakes work, so you can use them smoothly.

As I already mentioned, the extra weight at the rear allows for more rear brake to be applied and you should aim to brake more gently than when riding solo to ensure the passenger can cope with the deceleration forces.

Ultimately, give yourself more time and space for everything, including when following other vehicles.

Q Anything I should adjust on my bike?

A Use common sense. If you are just taking someone a mile or two up the road, then the only thing I would check are the mirrors aren’t giving a good view of the road surface. But if you are setting off for the south of France then there are a bunch of things to check and adjust.

Tyre pressures – check the handbook but on many machines the rear tyre pressure should be increased.
Suspension – check the handbook but normally you will have to adjust preload and perhaps damping to cope with the extra weight
Chain tension – it might be worth checking the chain has not become too tight with a passenger and luggage aboard
Headlamp aim – if the back has sagged under the weight, the lights are now doing a good job of hitting the treetops – sort them out before it gets dark

Q OK, read and done all that, now I reckon we’re ready for the south of France

A Then make sure you both get a bit of practice in before you attempt a long trip. In particular, do some slow speed and braking practice before you mix it with traffic. You’ll find the bike handles very differently and you don’t want to discover that just as you approach the lights. It will also give your passenger time to get used to riding on the back. Having a comfortable, confident passenger will make the ride a lot more fun for both of you.

And don’t try to ride too far on the first few days – you’ll both be tiring more quickly riding two-up, but a passenger who doesn’t normally go on the bike will be knackered.

Q Ooo errrr – I took someone out on the back for the first time and I didn’t like it one little bit

A It just takes getting used to! Going at speed is generally no problem, but getting the hang of slow control, steering, accelerating and stopping is totally different with someone on the back. Keep practicing!

Q My arms ached after taking a pillion

A Your passenger might be nervous, but so are you! Relax and ease up those tense muscles.

Q Do I need a big bike to carry a passenger?

A Not exactly, if the videos from India are anything to go by, but you need a bike which is built for a passenger. There are several large capacity machines with such ridiculous pillion accommodation that I wouldn’t even try to carry one.

An obvious problem is the physical size of the machine. Tiny bikes will struggle to seat two large riders. Then there’s the seat – even large capacity machines can have a passenger seat the size of a pocket handkerchief, and then I wouldn’t bother. Another problem is the position of the footpegs, which can be at knee-crippling heights.

Rather less obvious is how the steering geometry copes with the extra weight at the rear. I was very surprised to discover my old GS500E wasn’t at all happy two-up. A big tourer like a Goldwing, a Harley Glide or BMW RT will be designed to carry two people from the ground up, have huge seats, comfy footpegs, and the suspension and steering geometry designed for the job. Plus the large lazy engines will haul the extra weight without even noticing it.

Sports tourers are usually perfectly competent two up tools, with reasonable accommodation for the passenger and a reasonable compromise in the way of bike set up, and only the occasional need to drop a gear to regain lost acceleration. A quick tweak of suspension and tyre pressures should be all that’s needed to set the bike up.

But generally speaking sports bikes aren’t great. Yes, I know you see people on the back of them all the time, but they usually look like a frog trying to hang onto a broomstick. They aren’t very comfortable, and the extra weight perched high up on the back of a relatively small, relatively light bike compromises the quick steering and finely tuned suspension. As the rider, you can compensate but it isn’t always much fun.

Q My mate can pull wheelies with his girlfriend on the back

A So what? With a passenger, you are responsible not only for yourself, but for him/her too. Your pillion is putting a lot of trust in you. Don’t abuse that trust by scaring the living s@#t out of them. Keep the riding smooth and you will both enjoy it. Don’t show off!

Q Where can I get a training course covering these point?

A Drop Survival Skills a line. I can run a short two-hour ‘Basics’ course covering these very points.

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

43. Which Foot? The Hendon Shuffle – Question and Answer

This article first appeared way back when I was still a basic instructor, and involves a simple question which ends up with a complicated answer; which foot to put down to hold the bike up at a standstill. The “Hendon Shuffle” is still a topic of discussion in some advanced courses. The core message — that the primary purpose of putting a foot down is bike stability rather than strict adherence to a specific foot — is timeless. The modern trend to ever-heavier bikes — particularly the bike adventure and touring models which are often ridden two-up, make this seemingly-simple topic even more important.

Which Foot? The Hendon Shuffle – Question and Answer

Although this is another tip written a long time ago (I note that I updated it in 2007), it’s still an active topic for conversation – I had a trainee out the other day who is retaking his RoSPA test and told me that the local examiner “likes to see the Hendon Shuffle”. Yet as you’ll see in the answer to the first question, there’s been no consistency in how putting our feet down has been taught over the years. And in each case, one very important point gets overlooked – we put our feet down primarily to support the bike at a standstill. Everything else is a secondary decision.

Question When I did my DAS I was told that I should always stop in the Safety Position – that is with the left leg down and the right foot on the rear brake. But I was told by an IAM observer that I should stop with the right foot down and the left foot ready to change gear. Which is correct?

Answer A good question. The Safety Position has been taught by generations of CSM trained CBT/DAS instructors whose approach is that anything other than left foot down is 100% wrong. To my knowledge, some IAM groups encourage a right foot down approach and some IAM observers are equally vehement about this. Just to complete the confusion, the old DSA’s ‘Motorcycling Manual’ used to say (page 64):

“with the clutch lever still pulled in

use your left foot to move the gear lever selector to neutral

release the clutch lever

place both feet on the ground”

So who is right? Well, the only answer must be “none of them”! There are certain circumstances when each of the three methods have value.

Q I’ve heard about something called the Hendon Shuffle. What is it?

A Well, it’s not a North London card sharping technique. It’s something taught to trainees at the Hendon Police school which involves a foot-swapping procedure allowing the rider to find neutral at a standstill – right foot down, left foot up, change gear, left foot down, right foot up to cover brake to get out of gear. Of course if you ride an old British bike, you’ll have to reverse all that!

The same foot-swapping procedure is needed to get back into gear. The theory is that we are always covering a brake all the time you are stationary. It’s something many experienced riders dispense with. It’s time-consuming, it’s debatable whether it’s ever ‘necessary’ and in certain circumstances where we may need to move of smartly (for example, we realise the car behind isn’t stopping) potentially dangerous.

Q So what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

A Assuming a standard left foot gear change, right foot brake…

Left leg down:

hill starts are much easier using the back brake

allows the use of the rear brake for improved stability and slow speed control, for instance when coming to a standstill or filtering at walking pace where we might have to stop suddenly, or descending a steep hill

allows us to show a brake light, improving visibility to traffic behind

we have to do the ‘Hendon Shuffle’ to get out of gear and back in to gear

Right leg down

w can get in and out of gear easily

we can gently hold the front brake for the visibility effect of the brake light

we can’t use the back brake so have to rely on the front brake only when coming to a halt, reducing stability and control when the bike is least stable

hill starts are more difficult using the front brake

Q I never need to put the right/left foot down

A The most important thing is to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages in each individual situation we find ourselves and definitely not to get anal about one or the other.

I don’t believe that putting the left foot down should not become a rule – yes, holding the bike on the rear brake is useful on a slope but it’s often pointless on the flat, and there are other occasions when the left foot down is equally pointless – for instance when waiting at a pelican crossing – we know the lights are going to change in a couple of seconds so there is no point in worrying about changing in and out of gear, we can select 1st gear as we roll to a halt and just hold it on the clutch.

Q I was told that keeping my right foot up on the rear brake was safer if hit from behind when stopped

A Does it seem likely that the rear brake of a motorcycle will stop a few tonnes of car in its tracks, even if it’s only a gentle tap? No. Even if we do manage to keep a foot on the rear brake, the bike will be shunted forward. And then, speaking from personal experience, both feet go down to try to keep it upright. The biggest plus is that the brake light is on, which will hopefully prevent a car hitting the bike from behind but the best defence is to keep a good lookout in the mirrors and to be ready to move forward in an emergency.

Q This is a silly discussion – I want to make sure the bike doesn’t fall over, not mess around with brakes and gears

A To a great extent I agree. What both arguments tend to overlook is the reason we put a foot down in the first place – it’s there to support the weight of the bike. All other advantages and disadvantages are irrelevant if the bike is now lying on top of us. Many times we would be better advised to put the right foot down to support the bike. For example, when the camber works against us, we may be struggling to reach the ground when turning left at a junction here in the UK. Of course on the continent or in the USA the camber would work in the opposite direction so at a right turn next to the kerb, we might have to put the left foot down to support the bike. Where the surface is poor or oily I will put down which ever foot looks like it has the better grip. Sometimes you simply need maximum stability when stationary. On that slippery surface I might need both feet down. And if it’s a windy day, or I’m carrying a passenger or riding a heavily loaded bike, I would probably have both feet on the ground too.

And just occasionally, we know we’re going to be sat waiting for a long time. Perhaps we know the lights sequence or we’re at roadworks. Now, if we’re out of gear, it gives our clutch hand a rest, but I’d probably put both feet down. I might even put the bike on the side stand!

So I do whatever makes sense to me at the time. Incidentally, despite what you might have been taught at the time, you will not fail the DSA test for not using the Safety Position – the examiner is far more interested in the way you manage your gear changes and braking, and the overall control, then the precise nature of which foot you put down.

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

38. Staying upright on icy roads

This article remains fundamentally sound. The core message — avoid ice if at all possible; if you cannot, prioritise stability, smoothness, and planning — is still exactly right, and the last update which mentioned less-predictable winter weather continues to be a factor.

That said, a few areas benefit from clarification or modest updating, mainly around modern tyres, electronics, and rider aids, and one or two points where rider folklore still needs firmly nailing down. Many modern motorcycles are fitted with ABS, traction control and sophisticated engine management, and while these systems can reduce the consequences of rider error, they do not change the basic physics of ice. ABS may prevent an immediate front-wheel lock, but it cannot shorten stopping distances on ice and may actually destabilise the bike if it intervenes abruptly. Traction control reacts only once slip has already occurred, and on ice a sideways slip may be unrecoverable. Likewise, modern tyres offer excellent wet-road performance but still provide virtually no usable grip on ice, regardless of compound or tread pattern. Riders should regard electronic aids as a last line of defence, not a licence to continue riding in conditions where grip is fundamentally unavailable.

Staying upright on icy roads

This is another article which has needed a bit of a rewrite, because global warming seems to have spun off some seriously cold winters with snow and ice hanging around for months even in the south east of England. However, just as I wrote when I first put this tip together, the best solution to dealing with ice is to try to avoid it in the first place! I have a ‘bad weather’ clause in my training courses so it’s usually possible two or three days out to get early warning of approaching bad weather – the weather forecasts have improved significantly in the last decade or so. Failing that, take a look out of the window and have a look at car windscreens and the lawn. If it looks grim, take the car, the bus or leave the ride for another day. I was a ‘real biker’ for many years and learned the hard way that two-wheelers and ice don’t mix.

The best advice for riding on icy roads is “don’t”. But if there’s no choice, then do a bit of thinking ahead. Although it can stay frozen all day, it’s usually freezing mornings after a clear night that are likely to be the biggest issue, although the roads can freeze again if cloud clears after dark.

Plan the route to take roads that are more likely to have been treated. Back lanes are far less likely to have seen a gritting truck than main roads, and residential roads roads are more likely to be icy than motorways. Where cars have been running over the road, heat from the tyres will usually melt the ice in the wheel tracks, but if all the surface is icy, the least-polished and grippiest bit of the road is generally in the middle of the lane. A good indicator of a slippery bit of road is that it is shiny.

Remember too, that built-up areas are nearly always significantly warmer than country roads and just because the roads in town have been clear, that’s no guarantee there will be no ice on rural roads. Even if the road appears clear, there may be colder frost hollows or exposed areas where it isn’t – this is the ‘microclimate’ effect talked about in the police handbook, ‘Motorcycle Roadcraft’.

We should also look for ice in shaded patches, behind buildings and under trees, even behind parked high-hided vehicles. If water can pool, such as in dips in the road and at bottoms of hills, we should keep our eyes open. Watch out for run-off from springs and fields – a good clue is an anti-skid surface! Car washes in towns can overspill and burst water mains nearly always accompany really cold weather. Be cautious on bridges – they cool from both sides – and metal access covers can be icy when the road surface is still just damp.

One particularly unpleasant riding condition is ‘black ice’. It’s hard to spot because it looks like a wet road but is actually a sheet of ice. The only clue is that it looks ‘wetter’ than usual, if that makes sense. It usually follows a late evening shower and clearing skies and a frost. Years ago, returning from a blood run at 4am on a January morning, I was passing through the town centre thinking it would be warmer than the country lane route home, when I hit a patch. Fortunately I was upright at the time, because what I thought was a missed gear turned out to be wheelspin. If I’d been accelerating coming out of the corner, I’d have been on my ear. As it was, I was able to roll off the ice and back onto some grippy tarmac.

So if we suspect ice, aim to get any braking and gear changing done upright, and get the bike upright before getting back on the throttle. Make brake, throttle and clutch movements slow and smooth. Keep speeds down so as to reduce steering input and lean angle. Posture is important and we need to try to keep weight off the handlebars. This isn’t easy on a sportsbike but sit forward on the seat, grip the tank with the knees, brace the back and keep shoulders, elbows and wrists loose.

If the bike does twitch, don’t try to fight it. There’s a reasonable chance the bike will regain grip but trying to fight the wobble just makes things worse in my experience. If we do hit ice, the most important thing is NOT to touch the brakes. It’s an incredibly strong instinct to overcome, but touch the front on a non-ABS bike and we’ll be on our ear before we know what’s happened. The rear brake will probably lock the back wheel, but we may be able to save the slide if we’re upright. Even with ABS the bike will be destabilised. I’ve been told to “steer into a slide”, but on the couple of times I’ve hit ice mid-corner, I’ve crashed so quickly I’ve had no time even to think about it.

Which gear should we ride in? The old advice was to ride in a higher gear than normal, but I suspect it works best on old bikes. It applies to 1960’s Bonnies and BMWs with low-revving, slow-revving engines. It’s entirely debatable if it should be applied to modern high-revving, fast-spinning bikes. If we ride in an artificially high gear to keep the revs low, we’ll be using more throttle than usual for the speed. Some years back on my GSX-R750, I was in too high a gear when I hit a slippery surface and the rear wheel lost traction. The bigger-than-usual throttle opening caused the engine to rev, that spun up the rear wheel, the rear back end stepped out sideways and I just avoided a high-side… at about 10mph! Counter-intuitively, a lower gear would have needed less throttle to drive the bike forward at the same speed, and so the wheelspin would have been less violent. And even if you have traction control, it’ll kick in and you’ll almost certainly shut the throttle. If you are riding an older machine that’s not so equipped, then the answer is to make your own traction control – drag the rear brake lightly right through the manoeuvre until the machine is upright again. It’s crude but it stops wheelspin… and it works. I’m not saying ride everywhere in first gear but take any advice to ride in a “higher gear than normal” with a pinch of salt if you’re not riding a Royal Enfield.

Take it easy out there, and stay shiny side up!

Staying upright on icy roads

Take it easy out there, and stay shiny side up!

Staying upright on icy roads

Take it easy out there, and stay shiny side up!

Staying upright on icy roads

Take it easy out there, and stay shiny side up!

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

36. Aquaplaning – what it is and how to deal with it

Not much to say about this other than to add that tyre condition matters more than tyre type; worn centre grooves, squared-off profiles and under-inflation all seem to be factors associated with increased aquaplaning risk. far more than most riders realise whilst electronic aids Electronic aids such cannot restore grip when a tyre is floating on water. If you do detect the “light, floaty bars” don’t attempt to counter the movement aggressively; that’s a common instinctive error and will just destabilise the bike.

Aquaplaning – what it is and how to deal with it

When I originally wrote this tip almost twenty years ago, my main worry was winter weather. But in the last few years, torrential rain and standing water on summer roads has become just as common and it can be a real hazard. I don’t mean just ploughing into standing water and having the bike stop almost dead, or even finding that the puddle is actually a pothole, but the problem of aquaplaning. So this article explains “what is aquaplaning, how likely is it to happen, how do we recognise it’s happening and what do we do about it?”

Let’s start by explaining what aquaplaning is. I think the term has probably been borrowed from ship design. A ship has to push water aside in front of it, and when that vessel’s speed is sufficiently high, the water cannot get out of the way fast enough. So the vessel tends to rises up and ulimately ‘rides’ on the wave it’s created. That’s the basic principle behind high speed ferries.

Tyres do pretty much the same. When water is sufficiently deep and speed sufficiently high, the tyre cannot displace the water to the side quickly enough. A wave builds up ahead of the tyre’s contact patch and with just a bit more speed and the tyre rides up and ‘floats’ on its own bow wave. And that means it’s lost contact with the road surface, and the tyre has no braking or steering grip!

Here’s the good news. Whilst aquaplaning is quite common when driving a car – the barrel-shaped profile of a car tyre has a broad contact patch that pushes water ahead of it – a motorcycle tyre is U or V-shaped and the relatively long, thin contact patch cuts more effectively through standing water, much like a ship’s bow.

In my experience, aquaplaning is pretty rare on two wheels compared with four. In fact, if we do much motorway driving in wet weather, aquaplaning is quite common. But I can count the times it’s happened on a bike on one hand.

The danger seems to be a road surface just awash with standing water, where we we wouldn’t normally think twice about riding through it at a modest speed. It happened once near Brands Hatch, where the road is wide and flat – it’s an old concrete surface underneath the tarmac skim and so there’s no camber to clear the water, so there was standing water over a considerable length of road. The speed limit is only 40, so it seems that it’s the distance the standing water stretches that matters, rather than flat-out speed. I had a similar incident in the Ardennes in Belgium on a brand-new road that was ‘super-elevated’ – that is, cambered so that the entire road ‘banks’ for each corner. This seemed to trap the rain from a thunderstorm so that rather than flowing OFF the surface, it acted more like a channel of the water.

Hitting a short stretch of deep water doesn’t seem to create the right circumstances for aquaplaning. I suspect this is because the resistance of the water creates a sudden deceleration so there’s no chance for that wave to build. The impact will try to wrench the steering out of our grip, but it’s not aquaplaning. And, let’s face it, if we see a big puddle, it’d be a good idea to avoid it when possible, or slow down when we can’t as we’ve no idea what’s under it.

So watch out for shallow sheets of water, particularly after a thunderstorm or prolonged heavy rain. Look out for places where run-off from a field or an overflowing drain flows into the road. Motorways and dual carriageways are bad because two lane roads like A roads and country lanes normally have a crown that drains water to either side, but the carriageways on a dual carriageway are usually flat, Watch out too for standing water in truck wheel tracks. At speed, and with spray flying around, we may well not see the problem until the last second. So try to keep a good gap, and don’t go excessively quickly.

In my experience, the warning sign that the bike is aquaplaning is that it keeps going in a straight line, but the bars go light and floaty-feeling. They may even move from side to side. It’s a bit like riding on ice, but with one important difference – on ice, the first warning is often wheelspin but when aquaplaning, the rear wheel continues to drive the bike forward, presumably because the rear is often following in the trough cut by the front tyre. It’s front tyre grip that’s compromised.

If we suspect we might be aquaplaning, the best answer seems to be, as is often the case, to keep a relaxed grip on the bars – hanging on for dear life always makes things worse. Lock onto the tank with the knees to keep the weight off the bars and do nothing harsh or sudden. Once again, in my experience, if we simply roll off the throttle gently, the reduction in speed plus the extra loading at the front gets the front tyre to cut back down through the water to regain grip. But don’t apply the front brake – if it’s floating, it could lock. If it’s necessary to brake, use the rear gently. Don’t try to steer until there’s feedback through the bars telling you that the front tyre is back in contact with the road surface.

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

35. Nine simple techniques to master Slow Control on a motorcycle

Articles which focus on the biomechanical inputs we make to ride motorcycles should not be subject to fashion or doctrine, but to physics. So there is very little that needs to be said about that aspect of the article, but in the last quarter century the trend has been towards motorcycles that are both more powerful, heavier and taller. Nothing there helps at walking pace. Nor does a too-abrupt ride-by-wire throttle.

What about new technology? I found using the rear brake essential to slow turns on a Honda equipped with DCT transmission and one new technology is throttle assist that add revs when the engine is about to stall and smooths abrupt throttle changes to keep the bike moving when the rider’s inputs are inconsistent. I’d say there’s a risk that it can give riders the impression that they are in control when, in reality, the electronics are compensating.

I neglected to mentioned linked brakes, where rear brake input introduces a small amount of front brake. It doesn’t negate the advice, but it does reinforce the need to discover how a new machine performs before discovering a difference mid-manoeuvre. Arguably, slow-speed control now demands more precision, not less. The techniques below are therefore not old-fashioned basics; they are core survival skills for today’s bikes, traffic and road conditions.

Nine simple techniques to master Slow Control on a motorcycle

If there is one area of bike control that really shows up our weaknesses, it’s slow speed control. We can fudge most things but slow riding topples a lot of riders. Look at the number of bikes around with bent levers, scrapes on the fairings and dinged silencers. It’s not only novice riders who trip up at slow speed. Many experienced riders have problems when they encounter hairpin bends, yet it’s the slow riding technique taught on basic training that’s needed. It’s not just the fear of looking like a complete prat when we topple off in the carpark in front of our mates that should worry us. We can save ourselves some much-needed £’s in repairs and resprays by using the correct techniques. And far from least of our concerns is that a low speed crash leaves us in a highly vulnerable state when other vehicles are around. So here are some Survival Skills tips, based on my practical Confidence: BUILDER post-test training course, that are easy to learn, simple to work with, and will sharpen up your own slow riding very quickly indeed. One safety warning – work on the skills in a nice, quiet and low-risk environment – an empty car park is ideal.

POSTURE: This is where it all starts because a poor riding position compromises everything else.

Firstly, get into the habit of keeping fingers OFF the front brake – it’s often easier said than done for experienced riders, but the first instinct when things start to go wrong is to grab the front brake. That stops the bike dead, which causes it to topple over if we happen to be mid-turn.

Next, don’t dangle feet either. I see that a lot, usually from less-confident riders, but it also seems to have become a fashion thing to ride around feet trailing on the ground. With our feet off the pegs, we no longer use our knees to lock ourselves onto the bike. There’s also a risk of stubbing a toe. At best that’ll give your ankle a painful wrench or even break it, at worst it can tip you off. Feet up, at ALL times when moving.

With feet on the pegs, make sure they’re in the right place, and that’s with the arch of the foot on the peg itself. If we have the ball of the foot on the pegs, we can’t reach the rear brake, which is absolutely vital to slow control. So position the left foot over the rear brake lever. It’s this failure to cover the rear brake that leads to riders using the front brake on slow control – and the sudden grab-and-topple when things go a bit wrong. Keep checking and re-checking the foot’s still covering the brake.

Then, with feet up and in the right place, sit forward towards the tank. We don’t need squeeze up tight, just close enough so we can brace our knees against the tank. It’s the legs that stabilise our lower body, then we can brace our back muscles to stabilise the torso. This ‘Brace Position’ allows us to keep shoulders, elbows and wrists loose, and keep our weight off the bars. Leaning on the bars destroys slow speed control. The lower the bars, the more difficult this is. Riding a sports bike at slow speed needs extra effort on the part of the rider.

To make accurate tight turns, we need to look along our path, and that means turning our head to look as far through the turn as we can. Being in the ‘Brace Position’ with loose shoulders helps the neck stay loose which makes it easier to look round. What we don’t want to do is look down at the road surface ahead of the front wheel. We may be worried about bumps and potholes, but if they’re already under the wheel, it’s too late. We need to pick up problems BEFORE we are about to ride over them and that means keeping the head turned.

SLOW RIDING IN A STRAIGHT LINE: Start with the absolute basics, because if we get this right, everything else gets a lot easier.

That means slipping the clutch. It is possible to ride a bike with a smooth engine slowly with no clutch at all – I can do it with my XJ6 easily. So why slip the clutch? Because if I rely on throttle control without slipping the clutch, I have to keep the throttle absolutely smooth. A slight tweak either way will change the bike’s speed and balance. What often happens is that we hit a bump, the throttle is twisted open, the bike surges forward, the rider shuts the throttle and simultaneously grabs the front brake. Down we go in a heap.

We spend a lot of time on basic training practicing slipping the clutch, but riders get out of the habit, so here’s a reminder and some ways to practice. Start by riding away from a standstill in a straight line but don’t let the clutch all the way out – keep it in the ‘friction zone’ as it’s sometimes called. How do we know we’re slipping it correctly? Two things. Firstly the bike will keep moving and won’t slow down – if it does, the clutch is too far in. Secondly we should be able to ‘blip’ the throttle without the bike surging forward – if it does, the clutch is too far out.

Get that mastered, then introduce the rear brake. Ride away in a straight line, keep the clutch slipping but after ten metres or so, gently press on the rear brake to slow the bike to a stop. Then repeat. Keep practicing until the stops are as smooth as the starts. And give yourself a mental slap if you fingers are on the front brake, because we’re going to need to keep fingers off the front brake as soon as we start turning. This exercise develops your rear brake control. Work at it till it’s automatic.

THE NEED FOR SPEED: Motorcycles are full of paradoxes. Here’s another. To make tight turns, riding more slowly is NOT the answer. The bike needs to LEAN and it’s MUCH EASIER to lean over when the motorcycle has forward motion – ride too slowly and it just wants to topple over. So let’s find the minimum speed that delivers stability. Ride off in a straight line, get the speed up to about 20 mph, then progressively roll off the throttle. Initially, the bike will feel good and stable, and will easily go in a straight line. Although all bikes are different, above 10 mph, the bike’s reasonably well-balanced. But as the speed drops and falls to single figures, it will become increasingly reluctant to go straight ahead, and you’ll find you need to ‘force’ it straight. Eventually, the bike starts to wander however hard you try to ride it straight. Note the speed where the bike loses stability. And keep fingers off the front brake.

START UPRIGHT, STOP UPRIGHT: It is possible to start from a standstill with the front wheel turned to full lock, and some trainers do teach this technique. But because the back wheel is pushing the bike in a different direction to where the front wheel is pointed, the bike tries to topple over. A rider with a reasonable sense of what’s happening can compensate by immediately getting the bike to lean as it moves but for someone with developing skills, it can upset the apple cart.

So there’s a much easier way. Begin ANY slow manoeuvre by getting the bike rolling in a straight line, get briskly to that minimum speed where the bike is stable, and ONLY THEN start turning. If you are having trouble starting the turn, don’t forget that even at brisk walking pace counter-steering actually initiates the lean. Only a tiny nudge is needed but it gets the bike leaning. And when we want to stop again, get the bike upright, ensure the bars are straight THEN apply the rear brake to stop (remember – toes on the rear brake, fingers off the front brake). Stopping upright means the bike is balanced. If we try to stop mid-turn, the machine will be leaning over, and that’s when we lose balance and end up in a heap.

KNOW WHERE YOU’RE TURNING: We’re always told to look “as far around the corner as possible” but where? What I do is look INSIDE the point that I’m aiming the bike for. That is, if there’s a kerb on the outside of the turn, I don’t look at the kerb but the road surface a metre inside it. The more we want to avoid something, the more it pulls our eyes towards it – if there’s parked car on the outside of a right-turn at a junction, that’s the last place I want to look. Find somewhere more positive. For example, rather than look at the car, I’d look at the centre line in the road, and use that as a ‘reference point’ to turn around. Anything distinctive on the road will do. A cats-eye, a discoloured patch of tarmac, a leaf or even a blob of chewing gum. Anything that keeps our eyes from looking at where we don’t want to go! And keep fingers off the front brake.

TURNING IN A FIGURE 8: The best exercise to develop slow turns is a nice big Figure 8. We practice turning in both directions, we practice changing direction, and if we’re to keep it reasonably accurate, we have to look right round. A common mistake by practicing riders (and some trainers too) is trying to ride too slowly (see above) and to try to turn too tight initially. That makes the exercise difficult, so we perform badly, which saps (rather than builds) confidence. Instead, start big and wide with plenty of speed. Focus on keeping throttle and clutch control smooth with the bars turned, and using the rear brake (NOT the throttle) to control speed. And keep fingers clear of the front brake. Get that head turned, and try to look one quarter of a turn ahead – 90 degrees. Try to find ‘reference points’ as just mentioned. You can use your own cones, but car park paint markings will do. Start by using the LENGTH of two cars as your goal for each circle. As control improves, steadily tighten the Figure 8 by LEANING, not by slowing down. It’s confidence with the lean that makes for tighter turns. Many riders try to ride the Figure 8 progressively slower as they tighten it, and of course that just means the bike stops balancing.

COUNTERWEIGHTING: Pull up and take a break. With the bike upright, turn the bars full lock to the left. Notice how the throttle and and clutch actually get more difficult to hold – the throttle’s stretched away at arm’s length and the clutch is tucked up in your stomach. That makes full-lock control awkward. Now, pop the bike on the side stand and put your feet on the pegs. You’ll have to ‘sit up straight’ to avoid falling off the bike. Notice anything about your grip on the bars? With your body the ‘wrong’ way for the corner, the angle of your arms and wrists just got a bit easier.

Now, here’s an extra wrinkle that I teach on my Confidence: BUILDER, Survival: URBAN and Basics: SLOW RIDING courses. Twist your backside slightly so your body and shoulders face slightly into the turn. You’ll find the first effect of this is to push the ‘uphill’ knee into the tank, bracing the body against the slope of the seat. The second effect is that because your shoulders are now more nearly parallel with the bars, your arms are at a much more natural angle, and the clutch and throttle are easier to operate. And last but not least, because your shoulders are angled, so is your head. In fact, you’re already looking into the turn. Just an easy extra twist of the neck and we’re looking that 90 degrees ahead. This is a REALLY useful tip for more mature riders who aren’t as flexible as they used to be!

COUNTERWEIGHTING ON A FIGURE 8: Go back to the Figure 8 exercise but now try to introduce this counterweighting (where we sit up on the bike and lean the ‘wrong’ way) together with the body twist. The easiest way to do this is to make sure there’s a short straight stretch between the two loops. Now see what happens when you tip the bike over further whilst keeping speed up (for balance) whilst counterweighting. You’ll find the bike turns tighter. And this is the counterintuitive key to slow control – speed gives the machine dynamic balance, lean angle gets it turning tighter… and leaning the ‘wrong’ way makes it lean more at the same speed.

TIGHT TURNS ON A SLOPE: Now halfway through the Figure 8, as your clutch and throttle control improved, you probably forgot the rear brake. When getting trainees to perform this exercise I have to remind them about every thirty seconds to keep their toes on the lever. But it’s our speed control. Why might we need speed control? What happens if the ground slopes – as the road does when making a U-turn over the top of the camber? The bike tries to pick up speed. So the answer is to drag the rear brake as soon as the bike turns over the top of the hill, before it angles down the slope where it would otherwise pick up speed. And as we turn uphill again, simply ease off the brake.

SLOW RIDING ERRORS: If you’re having trouble with slow riding, here’s a quick reminder of the common errors. Check you’re not making any of them:

Feet – dangling off the pegs
Toes – up on the pegs, nowhere near the rear brake
Knees – waving in the breeze so the body is unsupported and moving around, causing the bike to wobble
Fingers – covering the front brake, ready to make a sudden grab if the bike wobbles
Stiff elbows – the bike won’t steer
Neck / head / eyes – not looking where to go but under the front wheel
Too slow – the bike won’t turn at all
Not slipping the clutch – all the speed control is dependent on the throttle and if you shut it, the bike will stop dead and topple over
Leaning in – pushes the bike upright and an upright bike wants to go straight on

SUMMING UP: That’s enough for one riding article but this collection of techniques and tips works on any bike of any size. Work on the exercises, develop the skills and you’ll have everything you need for negotiating everything from standard DVSA bike test U-turn and slalom, for the slow skills needed to pass the IAM riding test, to negotiating mini-roundabouts on your daily commute, and right up to negotiating mountain hairpins on holiday. Master them before needing them on the road. Or do you want to discover you haven’t got the slow riding skills two-up on a loaded bike turning into a narrow, back-on-itself, downhill corner or junction?

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

31. Posture – the key to smoother riding

Good posture remains the foundation of smooth, controlled riding — even with the increasingly-sophisticated electronics appearing on modern machines. Whilst electronics can help manage the bike, that does not replace the rider’s requirement to control the machine dynamically. In addition, posture affects vision and scanning: a stable, flexible upper body allows the head and eyes to move freely, enabling riders to gather information beyond the immediate front tyre, anticipate hazards, and react smoothly. Adjustable bars, pegs, and seats on some bikes allow do allow riders to fine-tune their riding position, balancing stability, feedback, and comfort but whether practicing slow-speed manoeuvres or riding the bike on the road, the principles of the Brace Position remain as relevant today as they ever were.

Posture – the key to smoother riding

In some ways, this article should have been number one, because our posture is hugely important to good control. Without good posture, so many riding tasks become tougher than they need to be, from slow control to emergency stops to cornering at speed. However, it doesn’t mean that every article written about posture is correct. For example, had anyone read this particular article on a website covering riding skills (the article seems to have disappeared recently) they might be forgiven for thinking they were doing it all wrong.

“Body Position – as many people will realise as they gain confidence and move around on the bike, the way you sit on your bike has a direct affect on the way the bike handles. Unfortunately many people never learn the correct way to sit. Sit close to the tank with your “groin” pressed against it! Lean forward and lie across the tank with your head behind the screen. Do not lean on the tank but allow your stomach muscles to support you so that if you take your hands off the bars you are still in the same position. You should try this when stationary to get a feel for it – just let go of the bars and let your stomach muscles do the work.”

Eh? How does anyone ‘sit close to the tank’ and ‘lie across the tank with your head behind the screen’ at the same time?

The only explanation I could come up with was that the writer – who’d apparently picked up this advice on a training course – had got thorougly confused. I would advice riders to sit forward on the seat (although not so close that “your groin is pressed against it” for improved slow control on tight turns. And getting tucked in behind the screen is something I’d do riding down a straight on the track. But both together? One buddy tried it on a Goldwing and pointed out:

“I could barely see over the dash, my elbows were behind my back and my wrists twisted at an awkward angle.”

So there’s a third issue – bikes and their riders aren’t all the same size and shape.

In short it was one of the worst pieces I’ve seen for a long time, and it’s no great loss that it’s vanished from the virtual library of bad advice.

About the only thing I agreed on is that posture IS important, so let’s try to understand how. Above anything else, we need to find a position that’s both stable and comfortable, that allows us to operate all the controls and see where we are going.

So let’s start with stability. We need to find a position where our legs support the upper body. Why is that, you might be wondering? It’s our arms and hands that do most of the work in controlling the bike.

The reason is that we need to be in what I call the ‘Brace Position’ to make effective inputs, whether we’re braking, steering or accelerating. And we need this Brace Position because our inputs make the motorcycle change speed and direction beneath us. Unless we’re connected to the bike, the bike may move without us when we want to stay connected – it’s not impossible to fall off the back of a bike when accelerating too rapidly. And conversely, there are time we want to move independently of the machine and unless we are braced effectively, it’s hard to do so – the technique of counterweighting on slow turns relies on us being able to shift our bodyweight one way as the bike leans the other. In particular, the brace position locks us in place to counter-steer effectively.

So the Brace Position starts at the footpegs. There’s always a debate about whether to ride with the arch of the foot (which means we can use the foot controls without moving them) or the ball of the foot (which lets us take more weight via our legs) on the pegs, but we’ll leave that to one side for the moment. Conventional footpegs are more or less under the hips precisely so we can take some of our weight through them – and that means we are not taking all our weight through our backside, although on a bike with forward foot controls that’s not possible.

But even on a Harley, so long as there is a there is tank over the engine – or a dummy tank like Honda’s NC series – there is another important connection point with the machine – our knees. Even without conventional footpegs, the knees provide the lower body stability that we’ll need in a moment. It’s also useful to lock the knees against the tank on a bumpy surface – that allows us to use our thighs as ‘active suspension’. Rather like a jockey’s legs working in harmony with a galloping horse, the forks and rear shock can move beneath us in partial isolation over big irregularities such as speed bumps, keeping the machine a little more stable as well as giving us a smoother ride on top.

Once our knees are gripping the tank, we can brace the muscles in our lower back, NOT the stomach muscles as that article suggested – if they are tightened, it’s probably a sign we’re tense. With the lower back stiffened, we can keep the upper half of the torso flexible. This is vital because it ensures we can maintain looseness in our shoulders, elbows and wrists. This is the third key element of the Brace Position, because it prevents us leaning on the bars because they are set low – as on a sports bike – or hanging on to them if they are more upright.

This need to avoid leaning on or hanging onto the handlebars and staying loose is not intuitive at all.

Leaning on the handlebars creates problems steering at speed – one arm MUST move forward and the other MUST move backwards if the bars are to turn, and the bars MUST turn if we’re to steer. Many sportsbike riders are amazed at how nimble their ‘slow-steering’ machines suddenly become when they start using the Brace Position on corners. Leaning on the bars also kills fine control stone dead on slow control too.

But leaning on the bars or hanging on too hard also tends to cause wobbles in a straight line. Common sense would suggest that we would need to actively point the bike in a straight line all the times by constantly correcting the steering. In fact, once rolling a motorcycle has dynamic balance – mass always wants to move in a straight line unless some force is applied to make it change direction and this applies to a motorcycle too. Additionally, the steering is designed to be self-centering and to correct itself if deflected by a bump. But riders detect wobbles or steering instability and believe that must hold on ever-tighter. In fact, it’s the rider’s own body movements, swaying around on the bike because they are not braced, which get fed into the bars and create the problem in the first place. When I talk about this issue on my Survival Skills advanced rider training course, I often get a blank or even disbelieving looks, which usually vanish when I perform a hands-off riding demo.

We also need to keep the elbows bent – here’s why:

a bent elbow acts as a shock absorber (just like bent knees) and allows the steering to shake. The moment we 'lock' the steering by leaning on the bars, we feed any bumps and shakes the bike generates straight back into the steering making matters ten times worse

a bent elbow allows us to steer using the leverage from the arms. If our elbows are locked, we are steering from the shoulders and back which is crude and tiring

Keeping elbows flexible is a problem with sports bike riders who lean on the bars with locked elbows, but in contrast, we can often spot novice riders on small bikes who are virtually sitting on the pillion seat. With their arms stretched straight out in front of them, the end result is similar – it’s difficult to turn the bars. Don’t forget that the wrists also need to be loose.

If we don’t have some ‘give’ in our arms, we also lose feedback from the front tyre under braking or when steering on a slippery surface. It’s a loose connection from shoulders to the bars that allows fine control over the steering. My tip to trainees is to remember the bars work like the tiller of a boat – they are for steering and not for hanging on to.

Here’s another poor piece of advice which you have possibly heard:

“Keep your forearms level with the ground”.

The rationale is that it puts the rider in the most ergonomically efficient position to turn the handlebars by moving them forwards and backwards. Think about that for a moment. The effort needed to achieve a level forearm depends on the height of the bars in relationship to our elbows. The taller the rider and the lower the bars, the more that rider will have to lean forward in a racing crouch to achieve that ‘flat arm’ shape, and that in turn will push the rider’s backside rearwards and change the position of the knees. It’s actually the need to position our knees and keep the upper half of the body flexible that pretty much fixes our elbow angle. The precise angle of the forearms is not so important as the fact our elbows ARE bent.

Of course, riders are all different sizes and shapes so there’s rarely going to be a perfect position for everyone on a single machine, but most bikes do have an envelope within which there is room to move around and find the position that suits each of us. Whilst many machines make it fairly obvious roughly where we should sit by means of cutouts on the tank and seat contours or humps, our precise position will depend on how we fit the machine. Unfortunately, few have any adjustability built-in, so it’s our bodies that have to adjust.

Do we ever change the ideal Brace Position? I’ll certainly adopt it for the short periods where I prioritise control, but at other times I’ll tend to prioritise comfort – that could be more of a crouched position for riding into a headwind on a motorways where my main aim is not pin-point control but minimizing fatigue.

Remember, it’s what we want to achieve that matters so it’s important not to look for any sort of ‘fixed in stone’ position but instead to understand why locking on with the knees to keep shoulders, elbows and wrists loose is important when fine work is needed. Once we understand that, we can usually find a working compromise which maximises comfort AND control.

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

26. Cornering Problems 3 – Five tips to understanding cornering dynamics

Were I re-writing this article today, I would still emphasise that on real roads, with uneven surfaces, limited visibility, and the very real possibility of needing to find a new line mid-corner, finishing deceleration early and rebalancing the suspension before steering remains the most reliable way to maximise grip, reduce workload, and free up the rider’s full attention to staying on the road, no matter what issues the corner throws up unexpectedly.

What has changed is the current fad for trail braking. Unfortunately braking into a corner leaves the rider entirely vulnerable to abrupt changes in surface grip, something that has actually deteriorated dramatically since the piece was written. If a rider loses traction braking in a straight line, it’s no big deal even on a non-ABS bike so long as the rider recognises what’s happening, and releases then reapplies the brakes. The bike remains upright.

When braking while leaned over, the front tyre is already using grip to generate lateral force (cornering). Adding braking demands longitudinal grip at the same time. If available grip suddenly drops thanks to a polished surface, stone chips or a pothole, and if the front tyre can no longer satisfy both demands, something has to give — and it is usually cornering force first. If we’re lucky, the result is a slide. If we’re not, the tyre lets go. Basic ABS can do little about this since it only modulates the braking force, not the lateral force. The role of cornering ABS is also poorly understood. Since trail braking depends on reducing speed to tighten the line, if the braking force is reduced to preserve traction, the bike will continue to roll into the corner more rapidly than the rider planned for, and that added speed means a wider radius turn. The result is that the bike stays upright but “drifts wide”. In short, when cornering ABS intervenes mid-corner, it prioritises preventing a fall, not holding trajectory.

Cornering Problems 3 – Five tips to understanding cornering dynamics

Why do riders get themselves in a muddle on corners? In my experience as a rider coach offering Survival Skills post-test rider training, much of the problem lies in the lack of training in cornering at basic level. One of the key issues is a lack of understanding of just important it is to get a motorcycle ‘set up’ well in advance of a corner, particularly when a new rider has a car driving background. Powered two wheelers simply don’t work the same way. Whilst the dynamics of cornering are the unique and fun part of riding a bike, they are also the source of many scary moments and crashes.

The key to getting cornering dynamics right is to arrive at the point where we need to steer with the bike settled on the suspension. This means that we need to be travelling at the right speed in the right gear with the brakes released, and with the the suspension balanced thanks to a slight rearward weight transfer that’s effected by a gentle application of throttle.

Forget any articles you may have read about how ‘bikes turn faster on the brakes’. It’s mostly a misunderstanding about what’s happening.

Here’s the first point to understand – as any powered two wheeler slows, it will automatically turn along a progressively tighter line just so long as the lean angle stays the same. So if we brake into a corner, the bike will spriral into the corner more quickly.

But here’s the second. If we go into a corner on the brakes, it affects the steering geometry. Whilst they may look outwardly the same, race bikes and road bikes are set up rather differently. Race bikes – or even a road bike set up for the track – are usually set up to turn on the brakes. The steering head angle is likely to be different, and compared with a road bike where the suspension is designed to absorb bumps, the suspension on a race bike will be very stiff. Track tyres are also a different profile and construction. stiffer. If we brake into a bend on a road bike, with its relatively soft front forks and tyres, the compression of the front end will make the machine sit up in the corner and try to go straight on. If you don’t believe me, try applying the front brake mid-corner and see what happens. Better yet, don’t try it and just trust me when I say it’ll sit up. That’s the force we must resist if we turn in to a corner on the brakes. Rather than working with us, the bike is working against us.

We CAN compensate by adding extra steering input, but that pushes us closer to the limit of grip – see the previous article. And in fact, a bike with a standard road set up on road tyres will handle most sweetly with the forks unloaded by a little throttle.

Of course, we need to slow down approaching a bend so the steering dynamics impose a simple rule – we need to get OFF the brakes and back ON the throttle before we begin to change direction.

Sounds easy? Yet we all get it wrong on occasion, so here are five cornering issues we need to think about.

Suspension dynamics – to soak up bumps, the front suspension on a road bike is fairly soft but when decelerating (either with a closed throttle or with the brakes) the forks compress. This compromises their ability to soak up the bumps. If we hit bumps in a straight line, this is uncomfortable but relatively relatively unimportant in terms of machine stability unless we are really hard on the front brake, but the bumps will cause the tyre to compress and rebound, which compromises front end grip – it’s why the ABS sometimes kicks in when braking hard on a bumpy road. But as soon as we are leaned over, there is a real downside to hitting bumps. Not only does the front tyre lose traction if the suspension’s not moving freely, but the more we’re leaning, the greater the tendency for the bumps to try to ‘kick’ the front end sideways. Even with ABS, we’ll know all about it if we hit a series of ‘stutter bumps’ with the forks compressed midway through a bend. The track is relatively smooth. The road isn’t.

Steering dynamics – if we’ve finished decelerating (either with a closed throttle or with the brakes) and we’re gently back on the power, then the front forks extend again, Now the vast majority of road bikes set up for the road will steer with minimal input from the rider. If we carry brakes INTO the corner, we have to compensate by adding extra steering input which pushes us closer to the limits of stability.

KISS and ‘keep things simple, stupid’ – even when road riders try to avoid braking into the first part of the corner, a common fault is leaving everything a little too late. So we’re arriving at the bend and trying to get OFF the brakes, ON the throttle AND steer all at the same moment. Not surprisingly, the timing often goes awry, and the rider enters the corner still playing catch-up. Starting just a few metres earlier, then performing each task in succession – off the brakes THEN on the throttle THEN steer – we only have to perform one task at a time. We’re far more likely to complete each stage and turn in to the corner back on the power.

A change of mental focus – where do we look on the approach to a bend? Most people will say “at the road ahead” but in fact we’ll be looking DOWN at the surface and OUT from the corner towards the point we might run out of road – it’s a natural tendency to look where we DON’T want to go. If you don’t believe me, analyse your own riding. You might be surprised but it’s really not at all instinctive to look around the bend and away from danger. So we should make it a lot easier by ensuring we’re comfortable with our approach speed good and early. A planned approach to a corner that sorts our deceleration – and thus our speed – in plenty of time is what frees up our ability to lift our view and look up and around the corner. Why does this work? If we are happy to get back on the throttle, we MUST be sure we will make it round the bend. We’re often told we SHOULD look further ahead. This is HOW. It’s almost impossible to open the throttle when we’re worried we’re going to run out of road.

Margins for error – last but not least, we simply must have some space to deal with misjudgements. We are performing a complex mental calculation every time we approach a corner – we have to judge the radius of the bend, work out the speed and lean angle that will match that corner, assess where we need to steer to follow the bend… and we can only achieve that if we correctly estimate how much we need to slow down. It’s easy to misjudge both our initial braking force and the corner entry speed. By AIMING to get our deceleration finished early, we leave ourselves some extra space in case we find we need to lose a little MORE speed.

All this and more is part of the Survival Skills advanced rider training ‘Performance’ courses, focusing on better cornering skills. If you’re serious about understanding how your brain functions as well as how your machine performs underneath you, why not check them out?

January 22, 2026February 1, 2026

25. Cornering Problems 2 – Cornering lines, stability and the ‘Point and Squirt’ technique

What’s changed since this was first written? Motorcycles have gained sophisticated electronic aids, but the roads have become less predictable. Stability control, ABS and traction control can soften the consequences of poorly timed inputs, but they do not change the underlying physics of cornering, nor do they improve vision or judgement. The real advantage of delaying turn-in and reducing time spent leaned over is not ‘progress’ but retaining options. Modern UK roads are rapidly disintegrating. and actually show the benefits of this ‘late apex line’ (as it’s now often called) even more than when I first wrote this; later commitment allows better vision before turning, slower approach means less lean, quicker steering means reduced time at lean and an earlier return to drive out of the corner. Modern riding aids do not eliminate the problems the roads themselves put in our path, and my demolition of the simplistic “upright = stable” mantra is still justified, as is the fact that it’s our inputs which keep the bike in a metastable condition, and the critique of the maximum-radius line is still necessary, since it’s still repeated uncritically in some advanced riding circles and the explanation that riders simply use that extra radius to go faster — rather than to increase margin — is a textbook description of risk compensation applied to cornering. “Point and Squirt” as a road strategy remains valid.

Cornering Problems 2 – Cornering lines, stability and the ‘Point and Squirt’ technique

You may have heard this statement:

“A motorcycle is most stable when it is upright and travelling in a straight line at a constant speed.”

You’ll find this in quite a lot of writing on advanced riding. Unfortunately, it’s not quite correct. A motorcycle is most stable when it is lying on its side. That’s not a great deal of use to us if we’re hoping to ride it.

So I’ll make an alternative statement for you to ponder:

“If we’re not actually crashing, the bike must STILL be stable – crashing is the definition of UNstable.”

All of our bike control skills achieve just two results:

changes of speed
changes of direction

So have a think about this too:

“If we don’t make steering inputs the bike will ultimately become unstable and it will fall over.”

In essence, as soon as we’re moving, the machine is generating is a different kind of stability which is sometimes called ‘meta-stability’, and by feeding in steering inputs we’re constantly maintaining a meta-stable state.

So what we’re actually interested in is not ‘stability’ per se, but understanding how stability is affected by the INPUTS we make to the machine change speed or direction, where we sit within the LIMITS of stability at any one moment, and whether our inputs (or even lack of inputs) in terms of changing speed and direction are pushing the machine towards those limits. Specifically we need to know if we are about to create an unstable state, because that’s when we are going to crash.

So let’s think about limits of stability. It’s determined by two things

how much input force we apply through the controls

tyre grip against the road surface – even the best tyres offer zero grip if the road surface can’t deliver its half of the bargain

Let’s start with the input forces. There’s applying a braking force (either via the brakes or a closed throttle) and there is a driving force (from opening the throttle), and usually forgotten is that steering also applies a force (which makes the bike change lean angle).

So what pushes us towards the limits of stability? Most of us will usually think of the consequences of an excess of force combined with insufficient grip. Big handfuls of brake or throttle risk tyre lock-ups (or triggering ABS) or wheelspin (or triggering traction control). Big lean angles risk sliding tyres. And these limits are ‘mix-and-match’ too. If we are braking or accelerating, we compromise our ability to lean the bike, and if we are leaning, we compromise our ability to brake or accelerate. This is the basis of the advice to keep braking or throttle use away from corners. If we’re upright, we can brake or accelerate as hard as the tyres’ limits. But once leant over, some of the grip is being used to maintain our curved path, and so we have reduced grip to brake or accelerate. This is the basis of what’s known as the ‘traction pie’, where we ‘slice up’ grip.

Less obviously, instability can be result from the rate of change of one of those forces. we can destabilise the bike by braking too hard (and pulling a stoppie) or accelerating too hard (and pulling a wheelie). Ultimately we could loop the bike. But we can also destabilise the bike if the rate of change of direction is too high – we can generate a big wobble or weave. Bumps or gusts of wind are external forces and can also destabilise the machine. To reduce the rate of change we just back off the input and reduce the force being applied.

So having said all that, if the machine is upright and with only just enough power being applied via the rear wheel to keep it moving at constant speed, then what we have are the biggest RESERVES of stability.

So how could we try to stay away from the limit of grip in a corner?

A common suggestion is to maximise the radius of the turn, instead of simply staying in the middle of the lane all the way round, which is – more or less – the approach taught on basic training. So on a right-hander, we’d start by kerb, cross the width of our lane to come close to the centre line mid-corner, then drift out again so by the time we leave the corner, we’re back over kerb. This way we fit the maximum radius line compared with the ‘middle of the lane’ line. In theory, we are “working our tyres less hard”. That very advantage is mentioned in an early 2000s BikeSafe video from West Midlands police which I have in my collection.

But let’s think about that a little harder.

That’s only true if we keep our speed the same. Let’s think about cornering physics. If we accelerate at the same lean angle, we’ll spiral out onto a wide line. If we slow down at the same lean angle, we’ll spiral inwards. Corner grip – and thus stability – isn’t just lean angle OR speed. It’s a combination of both – angular momentum.

When we corner, we almost all develop a ‘comfort lean angle’ where rider and bike are at their happiest. Now, a moment’s thought should tell us that if we adopt our comfort lean angle at the same time as we follow the maximum radius line, then the wider line does NOT reduce the need for tyre grip at all because we’ll be riding the corner faster. So we’ve not actually increased our tyre grip margins at all because we’ve increased our angular momentum. We actually need to reduce our lean angle (and angular momentum) to increase our margins and to “work our tyres less hard” as claimed in the video.

But in reality, wide cornering lines are nearly always used to carry more speed at our comfort lean angle. A clue to that is its other name – the racing line.

There are other problems. Compared with the middle-of-the-lane line, the maximum radius line starts earlier and finishes later. Or to put it another way, we’re leaned over for longer. When we’re leaned over, our ability to brake or accelerate is compromised. And that means on the way into the corner, we can’t brake as late. On the way out of the bend, we cannot get on the gas as early.

You might have noticed that many bends in the UK are blind – that is, we cannot see our way out of the bend from the point where we start turning. Taking a line that commits us to an early turn-in makes it even more difficult to see through the corner, which means it becomes more difficult to assess it. And if we do get the line wrong, committing ourselves onto this maximim radius line commits us to a wide exit line. If the bend goes on just a bit longer than we expected when we committed to the maximum radius line, there’s a risk we’ll run out of room on the way out of the corner. And that’s the main reason I only ever use the maximum radius line when I have 100% vision, right through the corner and out the other side.

So… if the maximum radius line is a potentially risky one, what are the alternatives?

Ever since CBT was introduced in 1990, basic training has taught riders to follow a middle-of-the-lane line, or even keep a little to the left of centre. It may be ‘basic’ but it keeps us away from the extreme edges of the road. It has some pluses:

it keeps us away from the centre line on right-handers (and gives us a slightly better view ahead)

it keeps us away from the nearside on left-handers (and gives us a slightly better view ahead)

it keeps the bike upright slightly later on the way into the bend (we can brake closer to the corner if we need to)

it gets the bike upright slightly earlier on the way out of the bend (we can get on the gas sooner if we need to)

Whilst we trade off a bit of mid-corner speed at our comfort lean angle, because we’re reduced our angular momentum, we actually need a bit less grip, even though the lean angle is the same as on the wider line. And this bonus tyre grip is useful in case we need to brake or swerve to avoid an unseen hazard.

A second option is to push this ‘follow the bend’ line out closer to the edge of the lane. Not so close we’re at risk of meeting an oncoming vehicle on a left-hander, but far enough towards the centre line that we get a little more view still. Likewise on a right-hander, a line closer to the verge would also improve our view ahead.

But remember I said that if the machine is upright and with only just enough power being applied via the rear wheel to keep it moving at constant speed, then what we have are the biggest RESERVES of stability?

What if we mix and match these ideas? How about this – what if we use that ‘follow the bend line’ shifted to the outside of the corner around the first part of the bend, then use a quick steering input to straighten out the final part of the corner and get the benefits of the maximum radius line when we can see where the bend goes?

What are the benefits? By avoiding turning in on the maximum radius line initially, we do deeper into the corner and stay upright longer before we change direction. Mid-corner, we’ve trade off the sweeping line’s mid-corner speed which gives more reserves of grip, which in turn allow a more positive steering input to change change direction more rapidly at the delayed ‘turn-in’ point which happens only when we can see where we’re going next. The more positive steering input gets the bike turned faster, and pointed where we want to go sooner, which means we can open out the final part of the bend on that maximum radius line. Finally we get the machine upright sooner, which means we’re back on the power earlier.

This is the technique I’ve been teaching ever since I launched my Survival Skills advanced cornering courses, and I call it the ‘Point and Squirt’ line because what we effectively do is ‘point’ the bike first, THEN ‘squirt’ the power on to drive the bike clear of the corner.

It’s slower INTO the corner, but gives us a better view THROUGH the bend before we start to turn, and that means we’re more likely to spot mid-corner obstructions like a parked vehicle, a pothole or a fuel spill, as well as identify a double-apex corner before we’re committed. The wider line means we can keep away from extreme left or right positions in the lane and we can build in a bigger clearance to entrances to our left and oncoming vehicles to our right. The lower speed at the point where we steer to open out the corner means we’ve more reserves of grip. And whatever speed we lose INTO the bend we more than recover on the way OUT. In a short sentence, managing corners to keep both the time and the distance where the bike is learnt over as short as possible is a good thing, not bad.

Despite the explanations, this line still comes under fire, with critics saying:

“it’s slower” – yes, it’s slower mid-corner – is that such a bad thing – but we’re upright sooner and faster out, which fits with the well-known ‘slow in, fast out’ advice. But we’re also upright a little longer into the corner which allows us to decelerate slightly later, and because we’re upright much sooner, we regain speed whilst the rider on the maximum radius line is still leaned over. Yes, that rider will catch us MID-corner, but we’ll leave them behind on the way out of the bend.

“it needs more grip because you’re steering harder” – a misunderstanding of the angular momentum issue. The reduced mid-corner speed more than compensates for the more positive input needed to make the quicker change of direction.

“it’s less fun” – well, if having your head removed by a passing truck is fun, carry on. If I want big mid-corner lean angles, I’ll go to the track where I’m unlikely to have to take evasive action halfway around. The only real difficulty is that we have to get used to a late, postive steering input. If we’ve used to turning in early on a sweeping line, it can take some adapting to.

“if it’s so good why doesn’t everyone teach it” – as it happens, Andy Ibbott, the former racer writing as the UK director of the California Superbike School, featured exactly this approach in an MCN article some years ago, so there are other rider coaches who recognise the advantages.