Is there a tempo to keeping a light grip?

So I'm enjoying the day breaking in a new zx10 on my favorite road with about 80 curves in 8 miles. I just work it back and forth. Today I'm focusing on one thing; keeping a light grip on the grips.

I'm having trouble doing this during three things: hard acceleration, counter steering, and hard braking.

Is there a rhythm that you guys have with keeping a light grip on the clip ons, or do you have a light grip consistently, no matter the inputs to the bike?

If there are any tips or pointers, I'm all ears. This is much harder to coordinate than expected. I've found that when I tense my core and/or grip the tank with my legs more, it throws off my lines because I'm not relaxed and into the flow as much.

 

Grip the tank with your knees to hold on. Use your hands for inputing control only.

It's not necessary to squeeze the tank with both knees at the same time. If you can't be fluid with your knee to knee movements, how bad do you think that effects your death grip on the bars?

 

to me, a light grip means "only hold on as hard as u need to". it does not mean "never hold on tight". every time i make an input or move my body, my grip increases strength on one or both hands to handle that input. but once im done, my hands relax again as much as possible.

im a pretty good rock climber, so metering hand strength is a skill ive learned over the years. i can also hold on to things w/ a minimum input of strength. think about it this way - if you were hanging from a pull-up bar, do u really need to squeeze the pull-up bar? do u need to try to crush the bar. nah, u just gotta hook your fingers around it and have your fingers hold that shape. pulling on the bar for half a countersteer or for stopping yourself from sliding back under hard acceleration is the same. not squeezing saves a lot of energy, relaxes your arms/shoulders, and allows for finer inputs - which is the whole point of "light on the bars"

dont forget that half the inputs come from your palms. half of countersteering and weight on the bars during braking is all weight on the palms. u dont need to squeeze the bar at all for any of those. your forearms and fingers can be relatively relaxed then.

 

That's one of the best descriptions and instructions I've ever read regarding this. Well done and thank you.

 

Thank you so much for the input!!!

This is going to be a lot more difficult to attain than I originally thought. Not only breaking bad habits, but stregthening weaknesses.

I have never used the straddle weird machine thing at the gym because I thought it was for girls. But it looks like it was ME being a girl. Lol. I definitely need to start hitting that up.

I read sometime back that increasing forearm strength can be done by hanging from a pull up bar, and timing your hang time, then increasing it over time. I'll be doing that for sure. As well as training my core. Shit's weak and I didn't think it was this weak until now.

Again, can't thank you guys enough. I'll be working on this till it's effortless.

Thank you!!!

 

How upset is Toe gonna be when he comes in here to share his self gratification technique only to find out the thread is about riding a bike?

 

its pretty ez to max out the gains from hanging on a pull up bar. its just too large and too ez to hold onto to offer huge improvement for anyone looking for real grip strength. if u were a rock climber, id say go smaller (google hangboard). instead, u can add weight and/or do one-arm hangs.

core strength helps everything. that cant be recommended enough.

 

Gotcha. Some great points again! Thank you.

Going to start working on all of this tomorrow.

Lmao @ryoung57

 

I use that machine pretty frequently. My friend calls it the birthing station, haha!

I'll sit there and hold 80 pounds of resistance for 5-8 minutes. Can't think of anything better to help with gripping a tank.

 

I know it's impossible to establish one's riding abilities over the internet, so just wanted to show that I'm not a poser.

And I'm not saying I'm great, either. Far from it. That's why I'm here.

Just want to establish that I at least know how to ride. Perfecting it is gonna be the slow roll.

Birthing station!! That's great.

That's something along the lines I was thinking. Resistance, coupled with 30 second downs on the reps, coupled with major high reps, rinse and repeat.

I took a snapchat of some seriously bow legged lady in front of me in a line at a convenience store about a year ago. My friends and I laaaaaaughed so hard. God's got a great sense of humor because I'll be looking like she did every time I get off that freaking machine.

 

Great advice @stangmx13 !

While braking: you should have put your lower body in position for the following turn before braking so gripping the tank with both legs is not an option. Inner thigh of the outside leg against the tank and palms should do the job . Weight on palms is very critical because you want to keep your fingers light for brake feel.

Listen to Ken Hill's podcasts. He gives some great advice.

 

^^I concur and (Fixed)!

 

Well played! :lol:

 

What are we supposed to be looking at here?

 

a beautiful,filthy marchesini rim and an equally beautiful diablo supercorsa ?

 

Ok, I thought maybe:

 

Can't you tell lap times within .5 seconds by looking at a picture of a tire?

 

Yes, but lap times can't be determined as that tire has only ever seen the street.

 

Well, in this case, the goal is to determine if the fellow corners low.

 

You will retract or modify that statement when you hit the track.
I understand where you're coming from but, after taking a riding class on the track, your perspective will be irrevocably changed.