Better Riding Techniques – Left Foot Down Only, Please!

[JPaganel]

I utterly fail to see how there is any difference between one and two feet on the ground in terms of how fast you get in motion. Barring some sort of a disability, an average human is perfectly capable of raising both feet at once. The US MSF Basic Rider Course teaches putting both feet down, BTW.

I can see there being a difference between being in first gear or neutral.

Personally, I stop in first, but if the light is a long one and my clutch hand is getting tired, I might flip to neutral to give it a rest. When I do this, I usually wind up with right foot down and left on the gearshift ready to kick down to first. Left foot down is what happens when I am stopped on a hill so that I don't roll backwards.

[Burns]

Of course there is no way to say that the cop could have escaped this fate had he been poised for a drag race with death. 

What are the physics of the situation?

If he attempts to flee he's  got to accelerate from zero to however fast the truck is going plus some within the closure time left after after he sees the truck coming. 

Then he has to leap out into cross traffic giving those drivers no chance at all to avoid him.

No - the drag race strategy will be fatal more often than not.

If he saw the truck coming in time he could/should have dumped the bike and got his body out of harm's way.

I'd say the lesson here is that of my "situational awareness" observation, i.e. keep aware of what is behind/around/AND in front of you.

You get old habits by staying alive.

[Flynt]

I stop my FJ in the ready position every time...

Same for me.  I think the routine is the key and puts you into "manage the exceptions" mode when you need it (outside routine).  I think "ready" is the correct start for me as well, largely due to the habit forming on dirt bikes long ago.  A shorter guy like me also gets a bit too much pressure on the jewels trying to tippy-toe both sides.  The other benefit of stopping "ready" is the practice you get sticking the landings...  really refines your slow speed handling skills.  I'd also say a few of you out there are missing the part about keeping the bike balanced...  you should have minimal pressure on your fully down left foot, just keeping the bike at the balance point.

On to my safer riding tip...  minimize your use of counter-steering.  The practice pits physics against you and your bike, requiring you to push the bike off the arc of the turn to get it leaned over enough to stay on that arc...  you kind of grind your way through the turn when you counter steer.  Use the technique to flip the FJ back and forth like a supermoto...  but turn the bike with your body.

The advice I passed to George at the WCR was to "kiss your mirror" when turning.  This was passed to me by a group of racers I rode with when a much younger man.  These were knee draggers and I'm not one to be clear, but using the "kiss" as a visual to get you into proper position to turn a bike will make you see why they do it.  I'd say at least 1/2 of the riders I see on the streets are on the wrong side of their motorcycle when turning it.  You'll notice that is never the case for the racers.  There are a bunch of reasons for being inside the bike's arc when turning, but the biggest one is control...  you can brake, accelerate, change your line, and generally modulate the situation much better than if you are on or outside the arc, mostly due to CG being more aligned through the bike's center of mass. 

I've mentioned Reg Pridmore's CLASS before...  one of the things you get to try there is sitting on a "balance bike" where you can see the effect of weight shifting on the angle of the bike...  moving CG away from the center of mass for the bike.  If you don't have time to take CLASS, try this...  coast down a gentle hill in 2nd or 3rd and take your hands off the grips.  If you stand lightly on the pegs and move your torso slightly to the right, the bike will turn right.  Modulate the turn by how much you are inside the arc and you'll find clamping the tank with your knees helps.  If you can visualize using your knees to turn the bike, a little like snow skiing, you'll be on your way to some smoother, faster, and safer riding.

my $0.02 FWIW

Frank

[Burns]

The more I think about it the more I am certain that the "one foot up" idea is just wrong.

Have you EVER seen a drag-racer launch with one foot up?  Of course not.
Max control at zero mph is both feet down.


And the idea that you are going to outrun a rear-ender is ludicrous.

What you should be doing, instead of treating that signal like an NHRA Christmas Tree, is keep your eyes open for an escape route and be ready to take it - on foot - dump the bike and save your hide.

Of course that is just one old man's opinion.

[andyoutandabout]

When I learnt to ride on the BMF (british motorcycling federation) course, the wisdom was left foot down, hold bike with rear brake, then away
Or if you wanted to pause in neutral for a bit it was: left foot down, hold bike with rear brake. Transfer to right foot down, select neutral, return to left down, hold bike with rear brake. To select gear, it's swap support foot again, prod shifter and away.(what a performance)

So - mostly my habit has become left foot down, hold bike using rear brake staying in first gear, ready for the away.
However, because i'm really right hand dominant, sometimes I find I've stopped with the right foot down, no brake holding the bike.
I rarely do the left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot dance to wait in neutral, but it has been known and still looks rather comical.
Even more rarely would I plant both feet.

Surely as long as you don't drop it, then he stop is a success.

Andy

[andyb]

Have you EVER seen a drag-racer launch with one foot up?  Of course not.
Max control at zero mph is both feet down.

And the idea that you are going to outrun a rear-ender is ludicrous.

I've actually tried launching at the track with one foot up.  Doesn't work very well.  You want to be dead vertical so that you go perfectly straight, if the bike is going side to side at any point, you're taking a longer distance between the clocks than you should be.  That said, I was launching with my left foot up (makes it easier to hit the 1-2 shift... launching at 10k and shifting at 12k doesn't give you much time to get positioned).  But then, I also drag my toes until the clutch is totally out when I'm on the track, and I don't do that much on the street.

It's very easy to outrun a rearending.  Like everything else drag racing, it's all about reaction time.  If you see the car coming and their bumper never lowers, they aren't on the brakes.  Into gear, revs come up, and clutch gets let out until you know where the zone is.  Look left and right, figure the safest way to get out, and off you go.  I've done this on two occasions, and am glad I did.  Sure, you may get tboned... but you were definitely going to get rearended.  I'll trade my definite accident for a maybe accident any time.  But you'd never ever get your reaction time on if you weren't doing the most important thing.  You also need to remember that you don't have to haul ass in a straight line to avoid it.  Getting into the turn lane or just on the dotted line may be enough.

Paying attention.

[theLeopard]

my pops taught me that, when braking to a stop, you only drop one foot. 3point stance.
he said it's poor form to drop both.

but he rides choppers and I ride street bikes and depending on the duration of the light, hill gradient, and mood either of us may drop both feet while idling.

point being you cant use the foot brake properly if you don't have an available foot to use the brake.

[JPaganel]

I really don't see why this needs a hard and fast rule about it. If the circumstances warrant the use of rear brake (like on a hill) - use one foot. If they don't - who cares?


Seriously, does anyone have problems picking up two feet versus picking up one?

[Zwartie]

First of all, thanks to everyone for the responses. I encourage constructive feedback and discussion. That being said, I'm not a big fan of long-winded responses written in a condescending tone explaining on one hand how this topic has little-to-no bearing on motorcycle safety and then going into great lengths to counter each point. Again, I'm only pointing to one response in particular which oddly enough was not even a response to this thread, but the introduction.

Regarding The Ready Position, it absolutely has bearing on riding safely. Yes, it can be argued that it may not be as critical as some other points but it is the starting (and stopping) point. As with anything that requires some level of skill, starting off on the wrong foot (pun intended) often leads to continuing that activity incorrectly.

Here's a specific example:  A few weeks ago we were running an M2Exit course. This is the course for those riders that are upgrading from an M2 to full M licence and they have anywhere from 18 months to 5 years riding experience. One of our students with a few years' experience was riding a BMW GS1200 – one of those Long Way Round bikes. I would put him at about 5' 9" and as we ran our initial exercises he was doing the tippy-toe dance every time the bike came to a stop. We explained to him that the bike would be much more stable if he practiced stopping with is left foot down and used both brakes when coming to a stop. His first response was that the bike has linked brakes so he only needs to use the right hand lever for braking, even at slow speeds. That of course, is another topic unto itself. I hopped on his bike (with his permission) and as I am about the same height, demonstrated how stopping in The Ready Position is a better method for stopping and keeping the bike stable. After 3-4 hours of practice runs and a successful evaluation we could see that he made a noticeable improvement in his stability on the bike, specifically when stopped. He made a point of thanking us for the tip and said that his experienced riding buddy who he goes riding with all the time never once mentioned it to him.

One of the comments on this forum regarding this method is that the MSF teaches the method of putting both feet down at a stop. Finding that hard to believe as the CSC and MSF curriculum are quite similar, I thought I would ask around. I am a member of a Motorcycle Instructor group on LinkedIn which includes members from Canada, the US and other countries. The overwhelming response was that the Ready Position (left foot down, only) is taught by the MSF as well. It is also taught as the correct method for police, including the RCMP.

There was another comment regarding the way one would sit on a motorcycle when getting ready to launch at a drag strip. Sure, they have two feet down but then they also typically have an air shifter, 24" wide rear tire and a wheelie bar. I am not sure how that has any bearing on street riding. We've actually had a number of motorcycle drag racers come to take our Basic course (you don't need a motorcycle licence to race a motorcycle) and have had comments from our instructors how comical it is to watch someone who can run an 8-second quarter mile struggle with controlling the clutch on a 125cc bike on a parking lot. As someone else in this forum put so aptly, the track does not equal the street.

Devin Somers, one of my colleagues at Fanshawe put it this way (very concisely, I might add):
Ready position--left foot down, right foot on rear brake:
Brakes on to keep brake light on (slightly more visible).
Keeps bike from rolling.
Won't stop bike too much if "hit" from behind by a car, but will help if "tapped" from behind.
The point of having the rear brake on, vs. the front brake, is the right hand is ready to use throttle. Especially help if bike is on a hill, or grade.
One last thing--only bringing one foot to peg, instead of both, means less "balance" input to motorcycle--more stable.

Does this mean that you need to put your left foot down at every single stop, every single time? Of course not. I apologize if I misled anyone in that regard. Riding a motorcycle is a situational activity and what you need to do is always based on what the situation demands. We tell our students in the M2Exit program that if at any time an instruction that we give turns out at the last minute to be unsafe, do not follow the instruction but do what is safe. It's good advice for anyone riding a motorcycle at any time – always do what is safe. If you come to a stop and there's a huge pot hole where your left foot would go down, please put your right foot down. Or if the road is wet and it feels like your riding on ball bearings and you would feel more confident with both feet down, please put both feet down. That being said, be sure to use both brakes when coming to that final stop. Using the front brake only when the road surface is less than ideal (wet, slippery, uneven...) will eventually end up with you and your bike laying on the asphalt. At that point it doesn't matter which foot is on the ground.

Zwartie

[Flynt]

...then going into great lengths to counter each point.

... and with flawed or no data to support the arguments.  This stuff is easily filtered out however, so don't let it kill the discussion.

Please continue the thread (everyone included, don't mind the attacks) since I'm sure there is quite a bit of new ground to be covered...  giantkiller has just shared the proper way to ram a deer for example (although Ramos has a variation that was also effective).  

I'll share another simple one...  I keep one finger on the front brake lever at all times.  I think of the throttle and front brake as a combination control used to adjust speed and attitude of the bike...  roll off throttle, squeeze on brake, ease off brake, roll on throttle, etc.  It is a variation of left foot braking used in cars to make the transitions smoother between throttle and brake when "at speed".

This one does require one finger brakes, although you can do it with two fingers...  cramps my hand up pretty bad to have index and middle on the lever while holding throttle with ring and pinkie.  Your results may vary.

Frank

[andyb]

There was another comment regarding the way one would sit on a motorcycle when getting ready to launch at a drag strip. Sure, they have two feet down but then they also typically have an air shifter, 24" wide rear tire and a wheelie bar. I am not sure how that has any bearing on street riding. We've actually had a number of motorcycle drag racers come to take our Basic course (you don't need a motorcycle licence to race a motorcycle) and have had comments from our instructors how comical it is to watch someone who can run an 8-second quarter mile struggle with controlling the clutch on a 125cc bike on a parking lot. As someone else in this forum put so aptly, the track does not equal the street.

No, absolutely the track <> street.  The track is where clutch control is king, though.  The dragbike you are envisoning doesn't have a clutch in the standard sense, either.

But are we talking about usable street skills, or racing skills, or parking lot feet-up drills on a 125?  I don't lose points for simply stopping when I'm in a parking lot, and putting a foot down, so why practice it?  I don't take off from every stop like I'm on a dragstrip, so why practice clutch control?  I don't slide around with the tire spinning on the street, so why go dirt riding?  I don't get into emergency braking situations, so why practice braking on a deserted road?

Hell, I don't fall off every time I ride, but I wear my gear anyhow, y`know?

What the MSF (and other courses, I'd imagine) teach are undoubtedly a great starting point for a new rider.  Starting point <> ending point.  We're all working for getting even better, every time we ride... that's why we practice things!  

[Mike Ramos]

Greetings everyone,

Another interesting thread - rather than adding additional points to ponder, I would like to say that Frank's (Flynt) comments are correct.  Having had the opportunity to ride with him on numerous occasions, he is among the smoothest and SAFEST riders I have encountered.

Along with the gentlemen from OZ and the Englishman, a fellow from Oakdale and some of those who gather at the ECFR, all share the same common denominator: it is smooth and crisp riding.  Not all out speed but an enjoyable fast pace with a built in margin of error for any unforeseen [yet not unexpected] circumstance that may arise.

Re: stopping with the front brake - I have seen several riders at near stopping speed & to keep balance, turn the front wheel ''just a little'' with the front brake on and oops, over they go...

Ride safe,

Midget.

[JPaganel]

One of the comments on this forum regarding this method is that the MSF teaches the method of putting both feet down at a stop. Finding that hard to believe as the CSC and MSF curriculum are quite similar, I thought I would ask around. I am a member of a Motorcycle Instructor group on LinkedIn which includes members from Canada, the US and other countries. The overwhelming response was that the Ready Position (left foot down, only) is taught by the MSF as well. It is also taught as the correct method for police, including the RCMP.

When I took the MSF class a few years ago the question came up, and the instructor specifically stated to use both feet. Perhaps it was his personal position rather than official MSF one.

Brakes on to keep brake light on (slightly more visible).
Keeps bike from rolling.
Won't stop bike too much if "hit" from behind by a car, but will help if "tapped" from behind.
The point of having the rear brake on, vs. the front brake, is the right hand is ready to use throttle. Especially help if bike is on a hill, or grade.
One last thing--only bringing one foot to peg, instead of both, means less "balance" input to motorcycle--more stable.

I'm sorta dubious about the brake light, oblivious driver is oblivious. Certainly won't hurt, though. Then, I was with you until the last thing.

What is balance input? And how is picking up both feet less balanced than picking up one? I seriously can't make sense of this.

[Bones]

I remember one of our Aussie members who is a motorcycle cop, say they are trained to put their right foot down when stopping. There must be a reason why their trained that way, wether it harkers back to the days when lopsided british bikes ruled or not, I don't know, but honestly, left foot, right foot, both feet, does it really matter, I can use either way, but feel more comfortable using my left.

[rktmanfj]

When I took the MSF class a few years ago the question came up, and the instructor specifically stated to use both feet. Perhaps it was his personal position rather than official MSF one.

Maybe, but I also took one a few years ago, and they also had us using both feet, in gear.