Hand driving styles

**riffer** · 29th January 2004, 08:44

Originally Posted by MikeL

Like others here I often take both hands off when throttling back, but I sometimes wonder whether I could be done for some vague regulation in the Road Code about not having proper control of the bike. I recall reading a post on an American bike forum where a rider got ticketed for that reason. Anyone here heard of such a thing?

Makes you wonder what you would get if you attempted a "Christ" down Lambton Quay

**riffer** · 29th January 2004, 08:44

Apart from the blindingly obvius, which is you'd hit something and fall off.

**Motoracer** · 29th January 2004, 10:03

Originally Posted by Jackrat

Well a mate of mine once got done for standing on the seat waving has arms about.The cop was siting behind me in a plain car,I knew who he was but my fool mate found out the hard way.Man was that cop pissed off or what

I just remebered a funny story.

Couple of us (few mates and I) used to fool around on the bikes while riding by doing things like sitting on top of the fuel tank while haveing your legs dangle infront of the bike, try to stand up while the bike was going, try to mimic a super man by lying down on a bike with the legs resting on the passenger seat and chest on the fule tank etc...

Well one day I decided to be an idiot and I was doing the superman thing on the motorway going at a fair bit of speed for a while. then I slowed down and droped back to 100 (still looking like an idiot lying down on the bike). A van full of cops (in uniform) drove right next to me and they were all staring at me smileing away. 1 of them even pointed his finger at me. I must have passed these guys just before. It was the funniest moment I tell ya.

I just stuck behind that van until they took the off ramp cause didn't want my rego taken.

Now before people tell me things like "your gonna die" or make masturbation jokes, I don't do it anymore.

**kasper** · 29th January 2004, 10:25

Originally Posted by Andrew

heres an idea,
Riding with both hands on the handle bars except left hand is on right handle bar and vice versa. Anybody game to try it!

I did that 2 months after geting my licence.
I had just bought a new technics jacket and decided to open the left arm air zip, but I didn't want to slow down, so I held the throtle with my left hand and opend the air zip with my right hand. well you can imagine what hapened. My first trip to the hospital due to motorbikes.

Didn't stay long though, only 2 hours, and then I walked back to the bike with the mud guard over my shoulder. ended up riding the bike back with the mud guard atached to my key ring

**Racer X** · 30th January 2004, 22:14

Theres nothing wrong with riding with the left hand on throttle. I do it all the time cos its good to give the right hand a bit of a break. Try cornering like that for added excitement!

**Redstar** · 30th January 2004, 23:06

I am a quite conservative rider but when I was a member of the lesser spotted 50cc gang in 1974 when abba won the eurovision song contest and me mate had a gillera 50cc and another had a yamaha FS1E
and I had a honda ss50 i digress a bit well we used to stand on the seats it was fun to stand on your seat at 40klms / hr and wave your arms,
well now I still have this desire to stand on my seat. but sanity prevails
however i have really no problem with releaseing both arms and coasting the bike in a straight line. In fact its a good test of the front end trueness.
and it some time suprises me that many fear the outcomes of releasing the bars completely. but its what your comfortable with really and what you need to do at the time. you need to be confident to release either hand to extra signal your turning or stopping intentions should the need arise.
in days gone by indicators on bike were non existent and hand signals were part of a test. and personally under some conditions I dont rely on those little orange winks.
we need to practice using incremental hand signals left or right so the confidence to release either hand is an essential part of advanced riding tecnique according to me.(coldkiwi your comment?please)

**FROSTY:Me** · 10th June 2004, 23:19

waaay back when I were a lad I used to run michellen
a48 m49 combination on the XJ's I rode.
They were pretty good tyres in their day but did lose pressure.
You could tell when the front had lost 2 psi because the bike used to get a nasty little headshake at 50km/h when ya took ya hands off the bars.It was my test as I rode up the road from home-never needed fancy pressure gauges

**Kickaha** · 11th June 2004, 09:06

Originally Posted by onearmedbandit

Well its pretty fuckin obvious how many hands I ride with. And for all those that doubt a bike can be properly controlled with one hand, come for a ride with me. I'm no track demon, but can set and keep a rapid pace, all with one hand on the bars. (Got no choice really!)

Used to have a guy ride with the Ducati club down here who only had one arm,originally he had a Darmah then he went to a Paso and he certainly wasn't slow,I remember chasing him (Private road of course

) at speeds 200km+

And there's another who races a KTM or Husky trail bike with BEARs

**Posh Tourer :P** · 11th June 2004, 17:31

Hey theres enough posts for me to read already without you lot resurrecting old threads.....

**bros400** · 11th June 2004, 18:10

I ride one handed sometimes if the sun is in my eye's use the free hand to shade my eye's..

the rest of the time its two hands on the bar's.. . enough crazzy drivers out there, need to be able to stop as fast as i can.

Dan

**erik** · 13th June 2004, 08:08

One thing I was thinking about:

When you have to stop quickly and you're riding with one hand, how do you brace yourself to keep from sliding forwards?
With two hands, a lot of your weight goes on your arms when stopping, but with only one hand you'd only be pushing on one handlebar, making you turn. So I guess you couldn't put so much weight on your arms?

**Mongoose** · 13th June 2004, 09:00

Some of you guys seem to forget that the word *handlebars* derives from the word *Hand*, there could be a reason for this you think?

**wkid_one** · 13th June 2004, 10:06

Originally Posted by erik

One thing I was thinking about:

When you have to stop quickly and you're riding with one hand, how do you brace yourself to keep from sliding forwards?
With two hands, a lot of your weight goes on your arms when stopping, but with only one hand you'd only be pushing on one handlebar, making you turn. So I guess you couldn't put so much weight on your arms?

Use your legs and core strength my man......at least take SOME of the weight off your wrists.

**onearmedbandit** · 17th June 2004, 00:14

Originally Posted by erik

One thing I was thinking about:

When you have to stop quickly and you're riding with one hand, how do you brace yourself to keep from sliding forwards?
With two hands, a lot of your weight goes on your arms when stopping, but with only one hand you'd only be pushing on one handlebar, making you turn. So I guess you couldn't put so much weight on your arms?

If that was refering to me, well 7yrs of doing everything with one arm has built up my upper body strength. I'll get one thing straight now, I would not be riding a bike if I didn't believe I could control it properly. Braking hard, and I can onearm stoppie though I don't make a habit of it, is to me anyway no harder or difficult than with two arms. I have no probs with left or right turns, with the front picking up or the back breaking loose (at lowish speeds) out of corners. I've landed wheelies at open road speed limits crossed up and not a problem. I prefer to keep both wheels on the deck, but sometimes you just can't resist. I'm not saying its for everyone, but I've adapted to my circumstances.

Someone asked how I have my bike setup, heres a pic. Note the reverse clutch-lever, operated by my thumb. Believe me, clutching downshifts while blipping the throttle and grabbing a handful of brakes keeps you alert!!