Riding a Supermoto Style Motorcycle
Riding a Supermoto style motorcycle is different, and some people, mostly with road riding experience seem to have problems controlling the bike, therefore we explain. Supermoto is a unique form of racing and as such needs a unique riding style. Those who come from a motocross background normally do well on the dirt but not on the Tarmac, while road riders are good on the track but not on dirt. It's those who learn to blend the two styles who are more successful.You can forget the knee-down technique. It makes you hang off too far and put too much unwanted pressure on the handlebars. As for leg-out, you have a choice. In some turns (the shower ones) having the foot out helps to balance the bike and move weight to the front to help the front tire be more planted, remember this is basically an off-road bike with huge suspension travel so the more we can control the extent of the travel the better.In other faster turns you can leave your foot on the footpeg as motocross boots are bloody heavy to hold out in front of you all the time!
You can play around with these different positions in various types of corners to see which technique works for you. The other main point is your butt. There should be movement forwards and backwards as you enter and exit turns. When you approach a turn, move forward; as you exit, move back into the seat's natural dip.
Again this helps to control the suspension travel. As for hanging you butts off the seat, forget it. Keep it right in the middle of the seat, all the time, with the exception of the off-road sections. That's another story.
colrob43
Backing it in to a corner is a ideal way to wash off speed and to square off a corner thus enabling more corner speed on exit. This does not work on all corners but can help on hairpins and faster corners. The idea is to drop down the gears say from 5th to 2nd just before the corner, those without slipper clutches need to "hack" the clutch to allow the rear end to slightly lock up and step out. Gentle use of the back brake can help. Too much though and you lock up the back wheel and stall. Ironically the faster the corner, the easier it is to back it in. Slide the bike into the corner then take your inside foot off the peg just as you reach the apex of the corner. As soon as you are past the apex, feet up and back on the throttle. Suffice to say you are either on the brake or on the throtte, no drifting in between. Easier said than done but lots of fun practising.
I have found (taught) that moving your bum to the opposite side of the seat when cornering also helps. This means you are weighting the outside of the bike during a corner while allowing the bike to lean deeper into the corner.
SuperMoto racing can be more technical than road racing as it teaches you to use your weight more to your advantage. Lessons learnt during SuperMoto can definately help your Road Racing abilities. Just look at the Superbikes and GP riders now compared to 5-10 years ago. Most of them all back it in slightly when entering corners. Some more so than others.