Proper Body Positioning
Ever felt like you have a tense, death-grip on the clip-ons, but weren’t sure how to cure it? The answer: proper body positioning. When a rider places all his weight on the hands and wrists, it becomes very difficult to remain neutral on the motorcycle, and often results in a straight-arm stance that feeds the rider’s movements directly into the chassis, which adversely affects handling.
Body positioning starts in the lower body. Don’t be afraid to move around on the motorcycle. Put the balls of your feet on the end of the footpegs, being careful not to let your toes hang too far over the edge, and use your legs to help transfer your weight from one side to the other. Rather than support your weight in a corner with your arms, use your outside leg to “hug” the gas tank. This will help keep your arms relaxed, and will result in much more fluid and controlled steering inputs.
Remember:
You will never develop the ability to feel the front end grip level if
you have a very tight grip on the bar with your hands.