Dual Sport Motorcycle Skills - K-Turns

Many riding skills can be learned well in a parking lot, before they are needed on the trail. Information on such skills is to be found in Skills documents like this one. These articles present more detailed breakdowns of specific skills mentioned in the Challenges document, along with thoughts on how to teach yourself those skills. For more information on why / when this skill is required, see the Challenges post.

Remember to check the "Links: Riding Technique" section in the sidebar for more thoughts on how to handle your motorcycle off pavement. As I find pertinent links or they are sent to me, I will add them there.

Keep in mind that however definitive the text may come across, this is just some blog and I am just some guy. Neither of us knows all there is to know about riding motorcycles, and some or all of what we know may be dangerously wrong.

Last Update: 01/20/07

So, turning sideways on a steep slope was so confusing you gave it a miss, and now here you are pointing straight uphill, at a dead stop (this in itself is incredibly tricky on steeper hills). Let’s assume for simplicity that you managed to get off the bike, and both of you are standing up. Imagine you are on the left (facing uphill):

Hold the bars, supporting the side of the bike with your body. Make sure it is in gear. You are holding the front brake on, but being in gear (so the rear wheel won’t roll) is what’s really keeping it from sliding down hill. Turn the bars all the way toward you. Now, you ease in the clutch so the bike starts to back downhill. The rear tire should come toward you and the front tire should go away, since you turned the bars. The bike should only move a few inches before you start letting the clutch out and the engine stops the rear tire – and thus the bike – from gaining too much momentum.

It will be unfortunate, if the bike just slides straight downhill, rather than backing to the left, as it should. It will help if the bike is not leaning much. It will also help if you can ease off the front brake a bit to let the tire track rather than just slide straight downhill. Use your body to push the front end of the bike away from you, if you can. You eased in the clutch to get rolling; let the clutch out as soon as you have the bike moved a tiny bit! You do not want to gather momentum! Keep easing the bike through this backward downhill turn until it is basically sideways across the hill; now you are where you would have been if you had learned the turning sideways trick…

Regardless of how you get the bike sideways on the hill, the next step is to walk the front tire down the hill a bit more. Lock up the brakes and rock the bars back and forth. It will help if you lean the bike uphill a bit, and push down on the bars as you do this. As you rock the bars, turning the front wheel, it should slide downhill. Keep at it, slowly and carefully, until you are pointed downhill enough that you feel you can clamber back on and ride it down.

Try this first on mild slopes. If the slope is too shallow for you to get the front tire to walk once you are sideways, good. That was the right place to start. Now try a slightly steeper slope…

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