Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

I've been reflecting on what I learnt during the last year and thought it would be nice if others could post their experiences/insights as comments here.  It is always nice to see how people are progressing, and to be able to learn from others' experiences (good and bad).

True for beginners = False for old hands

This is another reason to get proper training, at the right level, from qualified trainers following a properly structured programme.  Some of the things you teach a beginner, and some of the rules a beginner must follow, are the opposite for experienced riders.  A case in point is ruts.

Ruts can be ridden

A few years ago I read, experienced and believed that ruts need to be crossed perpendicularly, and never ridden along.  During the skills challenge at Nelson's Creek I took a dive trying to ride along the parallel gumpoles, and avoided ruts like the plague.

This year I learned different.  I was amazed during Enduro races to see people deliberately slotting into the rut cut by the leaders, and following it.  Then on the Eastern Cape Tour, we rode on roads where long deep ruts had been ridden into the road during the recent rains.  At one point I dropped into a rut and was forced to apply the 'stand up, look ahead, and open up' rule that had been drilled into me during similar exercises on the dirtbike fundamentals courses.  And it worked!

You need to be able to balance at slow speed in order to do this.  Slow cones and slow riding between parallel gumpoles are the exercises you need to master.

Tweespoor Sand can be ridden slowly

When I first learned to ride sand, I believed that the only way was to have speed (between 40 and 60km/hr).  I would struggle if I got behind a slower rider.  Last month on the West Coast trip I found myself having to ride slowly behind some people.  By focussing on balancing, I was able to ride gently behind at very slow speed.

Later, when I had the opportunity to ride faster, I found that the bike was too eager to jump out of the rut and thus became wilder.  It was easier (and safer) just to ride slowly.

Sand requires knobblies

In my salad days I used all sorts of excuses to avoid fitting knobblies when riding sand:

• "My poor riding skill does not justify having fancy tyres", 
• "It's not the tyre, it's the rider", and
• "These dual-sport tyres have aggressive tread anyway"

This year, while helping people in Atlantis, I experienced how a bike on dual-sport tyres becomes a pig in sand.  Where a knobbly-tyred bike would jump upright when you blip the throttle, the dual-sport-tyred bike would just continue falling over.

I also witnessed Toren Wing battle to control a bike with the wrong tyres in sand.  To me it seems totally stupid for a novice to handicap themselves in a way that even experienced riders would not consider doing.

Suspension myths dispelled

1. The hardness of the suspension is controlled by the stiffness of the spring.  You cannot make the suspension harder by increasing the preload - all you are doing is reducing the sag - which means your tyres cannot track into depressions in the road properly.
2. The adjustable preload is intended for adjusting the sag when you load a pillion and/or panniers.  You are supposed to adjust it so that the bike stays level when the back is pulled down by cargo.  You are not making your suspension 'harder' when you increase the preload - you are just removing the sag (which you need to have the right amount of).
3. Damping should be as little as possible.  The damping should be set so that the back of the bike does not 'wallow' around corners, or oscillate when you go over a bump.  However, if you set the damping too high, the ride becomes hard, and the back ends up getting lower and lower when you go over corrugations.  Best to start with the lowest possible damping.
4. Soft terrain = hard suspension, hard terrain = soft suspension.  When riding in soft sand, you set the suspension harder because there is no need to absorb harsh bumps, and because you want the wheel to punch through the soft stuff.  On rocks, the suspension must soak up the harshness.
5. You can't just drop the forks to lower the bike.  A difference of just 3mm in the position of the forks in the triple-clamp can mean the difference between a stable, safe bike, and a wild tank-slapping bitch.  If you need to lower the bike more than can be provided by using a lower seat, get a suspension specialist and/or dealer to do it.

A dirtbike is good practice and good exercise

And fun.  Sometimes it feels like cheating when I go for a ride on the dirtbike - I have a huge amount of fun, my skills improve, and I get a full workout.

So, what did you learn this year?