Slow speed drills and figure 8's for training!

1721 Views 27 Replies 12 Participants Last post by bweighmaster, 6 mo ago

Misti

Discussion Starter · 7 mo ago

I had the pleasure of riding some mini bikes this weekend to practice slow speed drills, figure 8's and tight circles. We use a small TTR at the California Superbike School sometimes as well to teach similar exercises. Besides body position, what other things do these kind of drills help you improve? How many of you incorporate this kind of training with your own racing/riding program? (screen shot from a video)

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Ray'ssporty1200

· #9 · 7 mo ago

I do this about every 5 weeks or so at a nice large pkg lot for a school. I find it very enjoyable
doing the offset cone weave, brake n' swerve and U-turns. doing the brake 'n swerve I'll get up
to 40-50 mph and drop speed very quickly and so a swerve, there will be times when u just don't
have the option to just slow an stop. knowing these skills will definitely saye ur bacon.

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Ray'ssporty1200

· #10 · 7 mo ago

Heartbroken said:
When I look at your picture in the opening post, all I can think of is "nope". Getting most of the way off the bike while it's moving just doesn't make sense to me. Sort of like jumping out of a perfectly functioning airplane while it's flying along. Maybe I'm just old. I do spend time practicing figure 8s and circles and u-turns and quick stops in a parking lot, just to build the muscle memory and skills, but aside from shifting my weight and experimenting with different lean angles, my rear stays planted in the seat.
Which brings to mind something I've thought about when practicing. I found that I have a tendency to keep my torso upright when leaning the bike into turns, which means Bike has to do more of the leaning. It takes some thinking to shift my torso over to counter balance so Bike stays more upright and has more lean angle in reserve.
Does anyone else struggle with that? I'm thinking it might be because I spent a lot of time on horseback when I was young, and it was just natural to pivot at the hips and stay upright when the horse was moving around.

Well, I keep my butt in the saddle too, but doing offset curves I will have my butt as much to the
left of center of saddle when doing a tight R ight turn and of course most of my butt on right side
of saddle when doing a tight Left turn, called counter weighting maybe a little drag on rear brake
but mostly staying in the friction zone, throttle around 2000 and not forgetting to take half a dozen
rings around the place to breaze out the clutch.

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Ray'ssporty1200

· #11 · 7 mo ago

Porky said:
I can do fig 8's and circles all day and not drag my knee (Thank GOD as both knees are 'Bone on bone!) 🤣

Sam

Soundz like u need a couple of grease fittings to avoid bone on bone, yikes that's gotta be painfull.

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Ray'ssporty1200

· #12 · 7 mo ago

Critter said:
Are you using you r knee as a side stand?

My riding group goes out at least once a month and practice slow drills in and industrial area. Full empty roads we can put all kinds of courses on withou bothering anyone

Man I'd love to be in a group like yours!, It is also a lot safer than doing this all alone.

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