Webmaster posted on August 13, 2009 11:58
Following on from last month we’ll now talk about our second key point of the correct standing position, and this centers around our knees.
First off we want to position our knees in the junction of the seat, tank, and airbox as this will keep us centrally located on the motorcycle. We want to have our legs pretty much in a straight position with possibly just the slightest bend at our knees. Definitely don’t lock your knees straight though as this is a very easy way to damage this joint due to transferring the shock from bumps/jumps/holes directly into the knee joint. You want to utilize your knee joint as an extra shock absorber by being able to flex at those knees.
A major problem for some riders out there is that after being in the standing position for a while they start suffering from a serious “burn” in their quadriceps muscles. This is usually attributed to them actually not keeping their legs straight enough while in the standing position. It’s just like having those riders getting off their bikes, squatting down and holding that position without propping their arms on their legs for support. Try this and you’ll have a serious “burn” after just a very short period of time (30 seconds) where as if you were to stand upright you could hold that position for several hours before you experienced muscle fatigue.
While riding on rough and higher speed trails we like to squeeze our legs together so as to make the motorcycle more stable by “adding” our body weight to the overall mass of the machine. A “heavier” machine, which essentially has more forward momentum will track a lot straighter through sections of square-edged bumps and big whoops, while also having far less chance of deflection off obstacles found in the trail, like rocks, tree roots, and stumps.
In the tighter single track sections of trail we don’t focus as much on gripping with our knees seeing as the trail is generally a lot slower and not as rough and beat-up. Plus, seeing as we are taking advantage of the increased maneuverability of the motorcycle by being in the standing position we need to be able to “flick” the bike from side to side so this requires a looser grip especially when the lean angle increases around a turn.
The other big benefit of gripping the motorcycle with your knees is that you can then loosen that death grip of your hands that so many of us get into. Your leg muscles are far bigger and stronger than your arm muscles thus they will be able to perform this work with far less energy expenditure. Doing this will significantly decrease the fatigue of your forearm muscles but also hopefully totally eliminate the dreaded “arm pump” that a lot of riders experience. Gripping with your knees and relaxing your hand/forearm muscles is a good thing for you to reinforce to yourself, and focus on, if/when arm pump starts to kick in.