Hanging Off

By Andy Ibbot
I have taken two pictures to compare the right with the 'could-be-improved'. The 'wrong' picture shows someone who is currently on their personal limit and they are not going to be able to go any faster because of a few simple mistakes. I'm glad to say that he did improve and now goes faster with more understanding than ever before. It's funny how a little knowledge can go such a long way!
Take a good look at these two pictures. What do you see? Both of the riders are of a similar pace. Both of the riders think that they are in control. One of the riders ended up in the gravel at the end of the day with a slightly bent ZX-9R.
What we have here is a common situation that I have seen at the Superbike Schools in the UK, in the US and Oz. It goes something like this: The further over I lean the bike the faster I will be going. If only it was that simple!
The fact of the matter is that, on a constant throttle, the further over you lean a bike the slower you are going to go.
As you are on the edge of the tyre you are on the smallest possible circumference so your gearing changes and the bike goes slower. The only way you can correct this is to get on the throttle. However, and here's the catch, you don't want to do that as the contact patch you're on is too small and you have the least amount of grip. Something of a catch 22 isn't it? Now take a look at the body position of the rider on the ZX-9R. Is he at one with the bike? Or, does he look like that virgin rookie pillion who is trying to sit up as the bike leans into the corner?
Look at his elbows and forearms. You see that one is bent more than the other. This is not the ideal upper body position that you want. In fact, it will interfere with his ability to get on the throttle smoothly as he exits the bend as his wrist is working against the twist grip and not with it. He will not be able to dial in the full amount of throttle either as he can't bend his wrist that far. Next time you're out on your bike try raising or straightening your elbows and see how hard it is to use the throttle. The rider's head position can also tell a tale. He is not looking far enough through the corner. This means that he can't plan ahead and is riding to reaction dealing with each section of track he sees as it occurs. This will also delay him getting on the gas early. In the worst case scenario he could be looking a few feet ahead and to him it feels like he's going at 100mph when in reality he's probably doing half that.
If you're not convinced ride along a 60mph on a straight piece of road. Look as far ahead as you can, how does it feel? Now look just in front of the mudguard while maintaining the same speed, feel faster? Look at your speedo and the chances are you would have involuntary back off and be going slower!
There is a distinct lack of ground clearance on the ZX-9R rider. Given that he is in the last three quarters of the corner he should really be more upright. It's highly likely that he touched down his pegs and even pipe while cornering. While that may look good down the pub in reality it means you have no more. No more clearance means no more speed and where's the fun in that?
So let's take a look at the second rider. Okay, so he's a Superbike School instructor but by the end of the second day at the schools Mr ZX-9R was also looking like this.
Let's take a look more closely. Look at his upper body position in relation to the bike. Parallel? Working at one with the machine? Notice how his upper body is low on the bike. This keeps the overall centre of gravity low (improving handling) but more importantly it allows him to rest his outside arm on the fuel tank. This, in turn, allows him to be more relaxed and keep input to the bars at a minimum. The inside arm is running parallel to the ground. This position allows him full control of the throttle. His head is turned and looking down the track/road for the next thing he has to deal with. He will be riding just as quick, if not quicker, than the ZX-9R rider but to him it will feel slower just because his eyes are receiving information sooner. The lean angle is nowhere near the same as ZX-9R man for the same or slightly faster speed. Heck, his knee is a good foot off the ground! This is good because he can get hard on the throttle sooner. The rear tyre is on a larger contact patch because he has less lean, therefore he has more grip. The more grip you have the more aggressive you can be with the throttle. Just think about how much abuse you can give a bike in a straight line compared to in a corner.