Pay attention: Good words from Keith Code on controlling your bike

February 12th, 2008 · No Comments

I have yet to go to Keith Code’s famous California Superbike School but I have read his books. A Twist of the Wrist 2: The Basics of High-Performance Motorcycle Riding is a classic and should be read by anyone serious about staying alive on his or her bike. Here’s a clip from his website about controlling your bike.

Good throttle Control crops up in just about every lesson and is based on the fundamentals of motorcycle design. "It should be your intention every time you lean the motorcycle to use smooth throttle through the corner," Code says. A bike’s suspension is designed to work best under moderate acceleration, according to Code.

Under braking and with a trailing throttle the weight of the bike tends towards the front and loads the front tyre so that it’s more likely to lose traction in a corner. The tyre has to work harder and the suspension becomes compressed and can’t deal with bumps well. Under hard acceleration the bike’ weight tends towards the back, making it more likely to slide because it can’t cope with the power, or the suspension won’t work over bumps because it’s compressed. Hard acceleration can also make the front drift wide because it goes light.

In between, with moderate acceleration, the suspension performs best. Bumps are absorbed better because the suspension can move freely and the tyres are loaded for most grip. Good throttle control is when the bike is kept at this optimum attitude, which is achieved by gently rolling on the throttle through the corner. Sounds easy, but there are many obstacles and, according to Code, most of them are in the mind.

SURVIVAL REACTIONS are the involuntary adjustments your body makes in situations that it feels are dangerous. "The body isn’t smart," says Code. "It’s only interested in right now." Survival reactions are bad. They make you brake too hard, turn in too early, tense up, get tunnel vision, chop the throttle and do a host of other things that interfere with good riding. With practice and skill they can be defeated.

ATTENTION Code believes you only have a certain amount of attention to share between the various tasks of riding a motorcycle. There are certain "high interest items" when going through a corner that is likely to trigger the survival reactions if you feel they get out of control. These are:

Speed- are you going too fast?
Lean angle- are you leant over too far, far enough?
Traction- are the tyres going to grip?
Road surface:gravel, diesel, bumps?
Directions: are you going the right way?

If all your attention is focused on one aspect of riding, probably due to a survival reaction, then you won’t be able to ride well. Keith calls this "being busy."

Here’s my version of Keith’s concept of $10 of attention . . .

You’re on a motorcycle heading into a corner at about Warp 9. You need to get hard on the brakes, set your body, and get yourself through the corner as fast as possible. As the corner continues rushing at you, a thought pops into your head. “I wonder when I should hit the brakes?” Bam. You’ve just spent $1 worth of attention.

Hard on the heals of that thought comes another. “I wonder who’s behind me?” Bam. You just spent another $1 worth of attention. As you hit the brakes and start to shift your weight, you think to yourself, “Gee, this saddle is kind of slippery.” Bam. Another $1 worth or attention. Maybe $2.

Four dollars worth of attention out of an available $10—the idea being that attention is finite and how we spend our $10 worth of it matters—and you’ve gone no faster. In fact, if you’re racing, you’re probably just put yourself at a competitive disadvantage to the bloke—who was behind you and now probably isn’t—who’s focused on one thing and one thing only: getting through that turn and getting back on the gas as soon and as hard as possible.

If you’re just out riding, the issue is less about staying ahead of the guy behind you (or it should be), and more about staying safe. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the penalty for inattention is high. The person spending all his or her attention on the right things is going to win every time. On the track, that means podiums. On the street, that means making it home for dinner.