How To Save a Motorcyclist's Life with a Tennis Ball

 

 

 

Motorcycle Practice

I spent the weekend in an empty parking lot teaching two new motorcyclists how to be more confident on their motorcycles.

It was a fun day and the riders learned a lot about themselves and about their bikes.

Both riders had already taken and passed the MSF Rider Safety Course (which I highly recommend to ANY rider, regardless of years of experience, who hasn't yet taken it). And so how we mostly spent the morning was reviewing more of the same.

Even though the exercises are all slow-moving practice, each rider was wearing all safety gear, including helmet, with eye protection, gloves, riding jacket, and motorcycle boots.

Also, we made sure the area was free of any sand, loose gravel, oil left from parked cars, etc.

I brought with me six tennis balls that I had cut in half, to be used as markers for the following exercises.

I laid out the cut-in-half tennis balls in specific locations to mark the areas for our exercises. Nine parking spaces is all that we used for a variety of very basic exercises.

Each exercise starting off simply, only advancing when the rider was more comfortable with their bike.

 

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Exercise #1 was for the rider to become more familiar and comfortable with the controls under normal stopping conditions.

Using the nine spaces (10-lines), the first rider was positioned on the first line of the first space. Then they rode down to the 8th line (marked by tennis balls), getting up to only around 15-20 mph where they were to stop before reaching the end (at the 10th line) where I had positioned two more tennis balls.

To many seasoned riders, this may seem too simple - but keep in mind, new riders are still getting used to applying braking to the front and rear brake (squeezing, not grabbing), squeezing the clutch, closing the throttle, downshifting, all while keeping their heads and eyes up and straight, and after fully stopped, putting their feet down within a specific area, without panicking or skidding.

After each rider did this exercise a few times, it was clear that they were getting more familiar with their bikes, and more familiar with the controls. Each rider smiled as they stopped their motor-bikes more quickly, and with more precision.

 

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Exercise #2 helped them become better at sharp turns without stopping. I set-up the tennis ball markers at the very end of the nine spaces and each rider started at the first line, brought their bike up to around 15-20 mph, shifted into 2nd gear, and only began to brake as they came to the first marker - and without stopping, and ideally without putting their feet down for balance, they'd lean into a turn either left or right, using smooth clutch control and throttling as they completed the turn.

As both riders became smoother with this and more in control, we had some fun by having them continue and only turning (left or right) as indicated by me at the very last moment before the turn. Fun, and sometimes frustrating, each rider honed their hand-eye coordination with this exercise.

 

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Exercise #3 helped the riders with their lane changes and other turning while in traffic. Again using the (10) lines of the (9) spaces, I laid out the exercises with the tennis balls, marking the spaces so their where (2) lines between the tennis balls, so the rider would weave Left-Right-Left, keeping their eyes and head up, looking ahead, while maintaining and even speed (about 15-mph), and leaning appropriately to execute smooth, slow, turns.

After a while, I moved the tennis balls to allow only (1) line between markers, so the turns became Left-Right-Left-Right.

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Exercise #4 was a lot of fun where we only used (4) spaces back-to-back (creating an enclosed box). With a tennis ball in the center of the four spaces, the riders would slowly enter from one side, ride to the far-left of the "box", then carefully turn to the right without going outside of the border of the box, and then turning left to exit the box from the opposite side. Might sound easier than it actually is, but the exercise helps the riders plan-out slow turns, shift their body-weight, "feather" the clutch if needed, and avoiding "target-fixation", looking and turning their head in the direction they want to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We continued on with a few more variations of these exercises, all of which helped the riders in allowing them to experience quick and smooth handling of their bikes at slow speeds, which I believe is a big first-step in being more confident on their bikes.

And before we left the parking lot after a long day of fun, I had the riders do one more exercise that surprised them - and exercise that I learned a while back that helped me to better appreciate the weight and balance of my motorcycle.

 

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Exercise #5 Starting with each rider sitting on their motorcycles (engine off) they dismounted their bikes without putting the side-stand or center-stand down. Instead, they held onto their motorcycle as they slowly WALKED around their bikes - 360-degrees - from front fender to rear fender, and back again, holding on to whatever part of the motorcycle they needed to, to keep it from falling over.

It's not a difficult exercise, but it does require some finesse, and patience, and some paying attention to the leaning of the bike - easy to do when the bike is evenly balanced - much more difficult when the bike starts to lean.

And that's all there was to it. Just another way of having the new riders become more familiar and more confident in knowing their motorcycles.

 

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After a few hours of practice on the hot pavement of the parking lot, we celebrated our success with a cool ride on some fun back-roads.

 

Final thoughts: So, if I can offer a suggestion for ALL you riders out there reading this (newbies and seasoned riders), there's ALWAYS room for more learning on your motorcycle. If you're already comfortable and confident on your bike, how about setting-up some basic exercises like these for a newer rider who would benefit from some practice?

And try some of these exercises yourself - even after years of riding experience, you may be surprised with what you can learn from the basics.

And finally, if the new rider has hasn't yet taken a qualified Rider Safety Course, the full weekend-long course offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) will likely be one of the greatest investments of their riding career - insuring the rider of having the most fun, and gaining the most confidence in riding their motorcycles.

 

Will these motorcycle exercises be helpful to you?

Please leave a comment...

 

Ride on!

—Michael Murray
Owner | Rider | Enthiusiast

michael@motorcycletraveldvds.com

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