Skill set?

[D3ALN]

What skills should I be practicing? I haven't really acquired any yet all I do is twist the throttle back and go. I have heard of one finger on clutch and so on? What shall I learn. I want to get faster and be able to go over jumps.

[unstuck]

If you want to be a really good mx rider hang out with some really good mx riders.Personaly i gave up trying jumps and stuff years ago,still do some pretty hard out trail riding though.Im just a point and shoot kind of guy really, a lot of stuff just comes from experience so just ride as much as you can, whenever you can.:yes:

[yod]

oh please :facepalm:
http://rlv.zcache.com/dont_feed_the_troll_shirt-p235722820960128995qtdg_400.jpg

[Reckless]

oh please :facepalm:
http://rlv.zcache.com/dont_feed_the_troll_shirt-p235722820960128995qtdg_400.jpg

May be a troll question to a bloody road biker but we actually practice bike skills every time we ride! :facepalm:

D3aln all you need to know is on a DVD, Dirt Wise by Shane Watts!

Buy it, download the torrent or what ever??

IF you practice and nail what he teaches as automatic you'll be awesome!!
Then work on your air LOL!!! BTW he does cover jumping to!

[D3ALN]

cheers for that. Im off to the video store.

[D3ALN]

No ones heard of it locally anyone have a copy?

[Reckless]

yep me pm me your address!!
I"ll do anything for a cuddle with your girlfriend! She nice??? LOL!!!

hahaha Joking!! I'll go to the PO next week and post it! its not a DVD just the vid file you have to watch it on your computer unless you have some way of plugging it into your TV though.

[Crisis management]

As Reckless says, the Shane Watts video is good but I got a lot more out of coaching...... I haven't used Broxy but they seem to be highly recommended...

http://www.broxy.co.nz/

I haven't checked when / where the coaching is in your neighbourhood but he's in Taupo reasonably frequently and that's only an hour from Napier.

[AllanB]

Burnouts. Chicks dig em! :woohoo:

[DEATH_INC.]

The best thing to practice for off road is riding position. Where and how you sit/stand keeps you on the bike.

[Jay GTI]

find a nice big paddock or open area, put two cones down a good distance apart, then to figure 8s between them. Concentrate on:

Body position when braking standing up, i.e. moving your body back and down, elbows up etc.

Practice dropping from standing position to seated position for the corner entry.

Sitting on the outside edge of the seat with weight on outer footpeg and other leg out for coutner balance for the corner.

Body position and control when cornering standing up.

Skidding rear into corner and steering from the rear.

Power sliding out of corner.

Spend a couple of hours doing that and you'll be way less of a point and squirt merchant...

[Reckless]

As Reckless says, the Shane Watts video is good but I got a lot more out of coaching...... I haven't used Broxy but they seem to be highly recommended...

http://www.broxy.co.nz/

I haven't checked when / where the coaching is in your neighbourhood but he's in Taupo reasonably frequently and that's only an hour from Napier.

I haven't done one a Roundtuit thing that my riding is sadly missing! Good suggestion!


The best thing to practice for off road is riding position. Where and how you sit/stand keeps you on the bike.


find a nice big paddock or open area, put two cones down a good distance apart, then to figure 8s between them. Concentrate on:

Body position when braking standing up, i.e. moving your body back and down, elbows up etc.

Practice dropping from standing position to seated position for the corner entry.

Sitting on the outside edge of the seat with weight on outer footpeg and other leg out for coutner balance for the corner.

Body position and control when cornering standing up.

Skidding rear into corner and steering from the rear.

Power sliding out of corner.

Spend a couple of hours doing that and you'll be way less of a point and squirt merchant...

Shane Watts goes into this in quite some depth!
All in the DVD that's siting on my desk ready to be posted Tuesday!
Enjoy D3ALN.

[CHOPPA]

Watch videos, copy the pros. Video yourself until you have it sorted. Easy ;)

[Jay GTI]

Shane Watts goes into this in quite some depth!
All in the DVD that's siting on my desk ready to be posted Tuesday!
Enjoy D3ALN.

Good to know Shane is passing on what I taught him... cough, cough...

[Taz]

What skills should I be practicing? I haven't really acquired any yet all I do is twist the throttle back and go. I have heard of one finger on clutch and so on? What shall I learn. I want to get faster and be able to go over jumps.

You really sure you're ready for that 450?

[D3ALN]

Been riding an rmz 450 all yesterday and was having a lot of fun and found I didnt have to feed the throttle as much.

[morg_nz]

Been riding an rmz 450 all yesterday and was having a lot of fun and found I didnt have to feed the throttle as much.

i was majorly surprised how easy my new crf450 was to ride, especially after the 125. the thing about the 4 stroke is that it has exactly as much power as you twist the throttle, no surprises, so i found it incredibly easy to ride - didnt get it past third lol, even on the flat, the thing was just drifting sideways as i fed the power on!

[fastoyz]

dont bother with coaching or videos the best thing is to just go out and ride, go to woodhill or somewhere where you can spend the whole day on the bike just riding, weighting the outside peg or keeping your elbows up is not going to help if your starting out and prob are struggling to stay in a straight line anyway

[Blagger]

I found these pretty good, as well as free

http://www.schnygg.com/enduro/teknik/

[Jay GTI]

dont bother with coaching or videos the best thing is to just go out and ride, go to woodhill or somewhere where you can spend the whole day on the bike just riding, weighting the outside peg or keeping your elbows up is not going to help if your starting out and prob are struggling to stay in a straight line anyway

Sorry, couldn't disagree more, this is where the bad habits are picked up and once they are ingrained, they are very hard to unlearn. I speak from experience. Start out doing things right (how hard is it to keep your elbows up?) and it will pay dividends later.

[Crisis management]

Been riding an rmz 450 all yesterday and was having a lot of fun and found I didnt have to feed the throttle as much.

I'm with Taz on the move to a 450, that sounds like a huge step in capacity and power when you are still learning to ride, my advice would be to get the learning done on a small bike, the WR is an easy bike to learn on and will keep up with the bigger bikes well. However, having been young once, I understand the need to have the biggest toy in the shop...good luck!


dont bother with coaching or videos the best thing is to just go out and ride,

While there is nothing like on bike time, I learnt a huge amount in 4 hours of coaching so, sorry, I have to disagree with your suggestion.

[mfordy]

+1 on this. My son picked up some bad habits pretty early on and are proving pretty hard to break. He's paying the price with some spectacular offs and inconsistent results. Coaching is really helping to keep him SAFE.
I can highly recommend Broxy and I see he's heading your way on the 30th May.
He's not cheap but worth it IMO.
www.broxy.co.nz (http://www.broxy.co.nz)


Sorry, couldn't disagree more, this is where the bad habits are picked up and once they are ingrained, they are very hard to unlearn. I speak from experience. Start out doing things right (how hard is it to keep your elbows up?) and it will pay dividends later.

[Shorty_925]

Been riding an rmz 450 all yesterday and was having a lot of fun and found I didnt have to feed the throttle as much.

Where did you go riding sunday? You been out valley rd lately?

[D3ALN]

Valley road is rubbish I wont be back there a farm out at tutira top local rider that my mate knows and we were allowed on his track Im unsure of the guys name lol.

[Shorty_925]

Valley road is rubbish I wont be back there

Whats rubbish about it? At least its a place to ride if you dont know anyone with land.

[D3ALN]

just a mess. I prefer being able to go through rivers and stuff when bored of track.

[buffstar]

Back braking!!! Use it heaps until you dont even have to think about it any more, practice locking it up heaps and getting used to being able to direct the bike where you want it to go - almost all of my big offs have been due to panicking and grabbing the front brake. :crybaby:
Standing up as much as you can and holding on with your knees and ankles - using your whole body to direct the bike rather than just the handlebars.

Just MHO of course but yeh back braking will totally save your ass :yes:

The more you ride the better you get - coaching is def a really good option if you have the coin. We are heading off to a Broxy coaching day next weekend - if you do a group day this can help with the cost.

Good Luck - have fun

[D3ALN]

Back braking!!! Use it heaps until you dont even have to think about it any more, practice locking it up heaps and getting used to being able to direct the bike where you want it to go - almost all of my big offs have been due to panicking and grabbing the front brake. :crybaby:
Standing up as much as you can and holding on with your knees and ankles - using your whole body to direct the bike rather than just the handlebars.

Just MHO of course but yeh back braking will totally save your ass :yes:

The more you ride the better you get - coaching is def a really good option if you have the coin. We are heading off to a Broxy coaching day next weekend - if you do a group day this can help with the cost.

Good Luck - have fun
cheers I have never even used the back brake

[kezzafish]

cheers I have never even used the back brake

jeepers... get a 450... that'll sort it. They don't even have rear brakes, deemed unnecessary by Chad Reed apparently

[Taz]

cheers I have never even used the back brake

You've never what!! :facepalm:

[Blagger]

cheers I have never even used the back brake

+1 on the back braking - pick a big open area with gravel or grass preferably (it doesn't wear ya tyre down as quick) then speed up and practise locking up the rear by just pushing the foot brake down as much as possible. Feel it snaking around and following where you steer the handlebars.

Back brakes are really good for slowing ya down on a steep downhill - chuck it in second, stand up and hang yer arse just off the seat as far back as ya arms will go then coast it using only the back brake.

Also stand up as much as possible!

I'm gonna get larger footpegs next cos I stand up so much that my boots are starting to shred on these squitty little stock footpegs

Have at it..

[L Rider]

jeepers... get a 450... that'll sort it. They don't even have rear brakes, deemed unnecessary by Chad Reed apparently

In mx correct use of the front brake is more effective. My boy has had some mx coaching and he has gone from the good old slam on the rear brake & slide (bad habit to have) to effective use of the front brake with a bit of back sometimes and he has got alot faster & is alot more in control.

[kezzafish]

sometimes i steer to the left