Position in seat?

[crazyhorse]

Don't worry about where you sit on the seat. Its more of being comfortable.

At the moment you are concentrating on your arse, not letting what comes naturally occur. You should be concentratiing on the road and your riding style.

Relax and have fun

[Sentox]

... and Sentox, if not, why not? A man needs to take meticulous care of his machinery to ensure it's in perfect working order.

Precisely. No good leaving it unattended until some girl wants to ride on it and suddenly something isn't working right.

Although sadly I'm a learner, so I'm not allowed to let girls ride on it

[Crisis management]

I do begin to wonder if we aren't at risk of over thinking this riding bikes bit........ really, a thread about where your arse goes?




Bike riding is really simple, you sit on it, ride around as much as you want grinning your head off, when you've had enough you stop and do something else. YMMV

[sinfull]

I feel like a right genius now. And I was feeling so satisfied with my exuberant polishing efforts too

I spose your seat really looks good after the shine ya gave that too ?

Give willy a call at speed tech in hamilton for some stomp, if he dont have a kit for the hyo he has blanks ya can cut to shape !

But to be honest with ya here, if your sliding forward under brakes (a learner and on a bike which has well documented suspension issues) your pushing the boundaries !
Do a search on here (or google) for "the Pace" , well worth the read and if you can learn to ride at "the pace" chances are you will enjoy your ride far more ! Not to mention come out of your learner experienced unscathed !

[Okey Dokey]

Hi sentox; I'm the one who suggested tank gripping in your thread about downhill cornering. I hope all this "thinking" about stuff doesn't overwhelm you on the road!

But here is another thought, anyway. Do you have your feet resting on the footpegs by your arch, or on the balls of your feet. If you use the arch, it may assist you to stay away from sliding toward the tank, or make it easier to grip with your legs.

With all the advice you are receiving, maybe just try out one change at a time. Time in the saddle will help you find what is most comfortable and best for you. Good luck! I have been riding for years and still learning. I don't think I will ever feel I have totally 'mastered" it. But that is probably a healthy attitude to have.

[Katman]

But to be honest with ya here, if your sliding forward under brakes (a learner and on a bike which has well documented suspension issues) your pushing the boundaries !
Do a search on here (or google) for "the Pace" , well worth the read and if you can learn to ride at "the pace" chances are you will enjoy your ride far more ! Not to mention come out of your learner experienced unscathed !

There's your answer right there.

[R-Soul]

I do begin to wonder if we aren't at risk of over thinking this riding bikes bit........ really, a thread about where your arse goes?

Bike riding is really simple, you sit on it, ride around as much as you want grinning your head off, when you've had enough you stop and do something else. YMMV

No such thing as "over thinking". Thats why we ride bikes at all, and dont walk.
Ill tell you what- you go hide your headin the sand and continue to stagnate in your riding, while we think on it and learn better techniques and feel more confident with better control.

Every sport is about technique - from surfing to athletics- to deny this is like saying that water does not flow downhill. If you dont want to better your technique, thats fine, but why criticise others?

[R-Soul]

The current advice I'm following is to leave a couple of inches between the tank and my crotch. From a static perspective, it is more comfortable and balanced than jamming my butt against the back of the seat, or pressing up against the tank...

The problem is that despite my best efforts to grip the tank with my knees, I just simply can't stop myself from sliding forward under heavy braking (especially on a bumpy surface) unless I put weight on the bars, which is obviously bad.

So do I just need to practice more, or adjust my seating position?

(Yes, I'm asking for advice on where to put my crotch. Restrain yourselves )

My bike also has a seat that angles quite steeply into the tank - sliding forward is a matter of course.
There are a few immediate things that you can do to help.
One (as mentioned by renegade master) is to get tank grips - called stompgrip (also others available - called Cobra or something?). they are silicon/rubber grip pads that stick to teh side of your tank.

Another (MOST IMPORTANTLY) is to use this technique in the corners: When approaching the corner, open up your inside hip (not leg) to the corner side - i.e. move your inside hip backwards relative to your outside hip- and move your bum to the edge of the seat so that you are still sitting on it (no further- hanging it off is bad as it will cause you to hang on your bars and tension your arms), so that you are facing at a bit of an angle into the corner. In this position, when you lean into the corner, your back should be straight and not twisted to "kiss the mirrors".

You keep your outside leg against the tank, and sit slightly back in the seat. This is so that the front of your outside leg does not have to move outwardly to the corner before moving inwardly again when you move your bum sideways- this destabilises things.

With your hip opened up, the feeling is surprisingly balanced and natural, and allows your back to support you in a natural, straight backed position and allows you to get low and to the side of the tank easily and comfortably. The feeling of slidingdonwn and sore nuts is less serious (perhaps because your hips are now at an angle to the seat/tank, so it leaves a gap for your cojones).

Also, when changing corners from one side to another, you FIRST move the outer leg into and against the tank, and then the other side out. This means you always have a leg against the tank to help stabilise your body relative to the bike. If both legs are off the tank, this destabilses your body relativbe to the bike, and is easier to destabilse the bike. I don't claim to be an expert, but I have read a lot and reserached on riding techniques. And I have tried it out and it makes s huge difference to stability and confidence in the corner. This is also stuff I saw from California Superbike School and other lecture videos on youtube.

[Katman]

Every sport is about technique - from surfing to athletics- to deny this is like saying that water does not flow downhill. If you dont want to better your technique, thats fine, but why criticise others?

And there is a very real danger in looking upon riding motorcycles on the road as a 'sport'.

[bogan]

And there is a very real danger in looking upon riding motorcycles on the road as a 'sport'.

riding is more of a game I reckon, like frogger, gotta use the road without being squashed by the cars and trucks, pity theres no re-spawns in real life

[Crisis management]

Ill tell you what- you go hide your headin the sand and continue to stagnate in your riding, while we think on it and learn better techniques and feel more confident with better control.

My point, vaque and well disguised that it was, was that as a person starting out on bikes I wonder how much you gain from talking about where your arse sits on the bike as against going for a ride.
I agree that the likes of Code provides valuable tools but I don't think they are aimed at beginners, learners should study the basic techniques then apply them, seat time (IMHO) is one of the best ways of learning.

As with all these posts, it's just my opinion, take from it what you will.

[Sentox]

My point, vaque and well disguised that it was, was that as a person starting out on bikes I wonder how much you gain from talking about where your arse sits on the bike as against going for a ride.

My policy thus far has always been both. I don't expect to learn by osmosis, but I'm a technical sort of person, and from the beginning I've always worked to try and learn as much as I can mentally to apply when I'm riding. YMMV.

@R Sole: Thanks a lot for the advice, especially about swapping sides. Going to order some stomp grip too, hopefully that will help.

[Crisis management]

My policy thus far has always been both. I don't expect to learn by osmosis, but I'm a technical sort of person, and from the beginning I've always worked to try and learn as much as I can mentally to apply when I'm riding. YMMV.

Sounds sensible, enjoy!

If you really want to learn how to ride a road bike tho, sell the one you have and buy a road legal trail bike and ride in the dirt.

[R-Soul]

My point, vaque and well disguised that it was, was that as a person starting out on bikes I wonder how much you gain from talking about where your arse sits on the bike as against going for a ride.
I agree that the likes of Code provides valuable tools but I don't think they are aimed at beginners, learners should study the basic techniques then apply them, seat time (IMHO) is one of the best ways of learning.

As with all these posts, it's just my opinion, take from it what you will.

Sure I agree that there is nothing like saddle time- else we would all just sit around and talk about it...

For me it just makes sense to know what you should be doing, instead of learning bad habits from the start. Rather ingrain good habits from the start so that you dont have to unlearn them later. But the only way that you can know if they are good or bad habits is by learning from others experience, or finding out by trial and error - not my cup of tea, considering error could mean death.

[CookMySock]

I agree that the likes of Code provides valuable tools but I don't think they are aimed at beginners, learners should study the basic techniques then apply them, seat time (IMHO) is one of the best ways of learning.

There is little or no point developing our own riding style from scratch and then embedding it into habit over a year or two, when we can simply nick someone elses' more experienced one and go away and rehearse it.

Steve