Learn to Ride Better with Jamie Robinson -- /RideApart

[MUSIC PLAYING] JAMIE ROBINSON: On this week's episode, we've got a bunch of inexperienced riders who want to get better. So we've brought them out to the track for a day of instruction. Welcome to RideApart. [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] JAMIE ROBINSON: Right then, guys. Inexperienced riders. Oh, yes. Basically, I'm not the best motorcycle rider in the world, trust me. But I have a lot of experience. And today I'm just going to try and give you some pointers that hopefully you can take to the road, take to the track next time you're on the bike yourself. And we hope that you're going to be a better rider. We're going to go over some points-- braking, cornering, body position. Just very basic points about riding a bike, but we're just going to break them down and make sure that you understand them. We've come here, Grange. It's a little carting track. It's very technical, but it's great because it's just corner after corner after corner, and it's really going to keep your concentration. And you're really going to get down into just concentrating on the finer points. On the street, you can't do that. You just can't go whizzing around a corner, because we don't know what's around the other side. So if you're going to try and gain experience, it's always good to get off the street, come somewhere like this. Even a supermarket carpark and learning just some basic stuff around a cone is better than doing it on the street and learning the hard way. It's taken me a long time. I still make mistakes and I've been riding since I was a kid. So it's not easy, but what we're going to try to do today is just break down some of the most basic points so that you guys can, like I said, go away and hopefully be better riders. Anyone up for it? Safety gear on? We're just going to take a few laps. We're going to go around the track. Don't go crazy, OK? I don't want any lap records out of anybody. Nobody knows where they're going. So I'm just going to go out on track, you're going to follow me, OK? Nice and steady. There's a lot of corners in this little twisty mile, so it's going to take you a few laps to even remember what comes next. [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] MARIE DELGADO: Oh, I know. JAMIE ROBINSON: That was pretty amazing, already? MARIE DELGADO: That was too bad. JAMIE ROBINSON: Are you OK? MARIE DELGADO: Yeah, I'm fine. JAMIE ROBINSON: You're OK? Oh, dear. First crash, damn it. [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] JAMIE ROBINSON: Right. Name? MARIE DELGADO: Marie Delgado. JAMIE ROBINSON: Age? MARIE DELGADO: 19. JAMIE ROBINSON: And where do you live? MARIE DELGADO: Los Angeles. JAMIE ROBINSON: How long have you been riding a motorcycle? MARIE DELGADO: Just eight months. JAMIE ROBINSON: First motorcycle? MARIE DELGADO: My Honda CM200. JAMIE ROBINSON: And at the moment, things like braking and cornering, how do you feel about it? MARIE DELGADO: I'm still inexperienced. I have a lot to learn. Riding vintage bikes leaves that doubt in my mind thinking oh, something could always go wrong. I'd love to be able to take turns faster and safer. And being able to know, OK, is this the right speed, and adjust. JAMIE ROBINSON: Now what we're going to do is, actually, you're just going to concentrate on one corner. Really break it down. We're going to pick this hairpin here-- your corner. This is Marie's corner, OK? So for Marie's corner, the hairpin, we're just going to be able to accelerate through the gears, get some speed up. And then we're going to decelerate, of course, for the corner. Going back down through the gears. Prepare yourself for a corner, make the corner, and accelerate out. Once you're able to do that around one corner, it's the same principles around every single corner. [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] JAMIE ROBINSON: Well done! The corner you crashed and you conquered it. Well done! MARIE DELGADO: Yeah, I feel a lot better. JAMIE ROBINSON: You do? MARIE DELGADO: Yeah. JAMIE ROBINSON: Oh, fantastic. And you were braking. You went from braking with four fingers there to two fingers. MARIE DELGADO: Yeah. JAMIE ROBINSON: How did that feel? MARIE DELGADO: It feels a lot better. I feel like I have more control of the bike. I feel a lot more comfortable taking the corners. JAMIE ROBINSON: OK, brilliant. Name? GARRETT KUBIAK: Garrett Kubiak. JAMIE ROBINSON: Age? GARRETT KUBIAK: 32. JAMIE ROBINSON: Where do you live? GARRETT KUBIAK: Los Angeles. JAMIE ROBINSON: Current motorcycle? GARRETT KUBIAK: 2011 Ducati 848EVO. JAMIE ROBINSON: How long have you been riding? GARRETT KUBIAK: Two years. JAMIE ROBINSON: First motorcycle? GARRETT KUBIAK: Was a Ducati 1198S. JAMIE ROBINSON: Right. Why? GARRETT KUBIAK: Because I could. JAMIE ROBINSON: And now with a bit of motorcycling experience, was that a wise choice? GARRETT KUBIAK: No, absolutely not. JAMIE ROBINSON: I'll use my zipper as an example. Straight down the middle of the motorcycle. That's pretty much where I would like my body position to be when I'm braking. So then everything that's coming through the bike when I'm braking is coming straight through me and I'm in complete control. But when I come to a corner, I'm going to change that. So just watch my zipper. Like literally half a butt cheek, and suddenly my weight is totally off to the side of the motorcycle. This extra weight-- I'm not the heaviest guy in the world-- but my extra weight is going to help this bike then turn, because I'm using my body weight to help the bike in the corner. So as soon as we get around that corner, then I'm going to have a left hand corner coming up. Well, my body position is totally wrong. I'm on totally the wrong side of the bike, so I've got to switch again and slide across. And then as soon as I'm here, the bike will then fall easier to this side. Are you with me? What we're going to try and demonstrate and what we're going to try and work on is one, being on the right line and two, looking ahead. And making it all flow, OK? [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] JAMIE ROBINSON: Those last two laps you made were absolutely perfect. So what you're doing there is you're slowing yourself down a little bit here in the middle of this corner to make that corner twice as fast and so much easier. SEAN MCDONALD: My name's Sean McDonald. JAMIE ROBINSON: Age? SEAN MCDONALD: 29. JAMIE ROBINSON: Where do you live? SEAN MCDONALD: Long Beach. JAMIE ROBINSON: How long have you been riding a motorcycle? SEAN MCDONALD: Seven years. JAMIE ROBINSON: Current motorcycle? SEAN MCDONALD: My current bike is a 2012 Honda NC700X. JAMIE ROBINSON: What's your worst fear about riding a motorcycle? SEAN MCDONALD: I commute a lot, so my worst fear is being in a turn, changing lanes, something like that, but on the freeway. But when someone cuts over, crosses a double yellow, does something unexpected and I have to really know how to react. Get the bike sorted, get it slow, but respond to those emergency situations. JAMIE ROBINSON: Everything on a motorcyclist is a lot through your hands. And it's all gentle controls-- opening the throttle and grabbing the brake are gentle controls. They're not on and off switches. Everything's through your hands. So your right hand especially does a lot of work-- it brakes and uses the throttle, so you've really got to be sensitive. I don't know how you guys are, like you said, you're inexperienced riders. But do you find that you grip the handlebars quite tight? GARRETT KUBIAK: Yeah. JAMIE ROBINSON: How about yourself? MARIE DELGADO: Yeah. JAMIE ROBINSON: How about you? SEAN MCDONALD: Yeah, at times. Absolutely. JAMIE ROBINSON: I'm hardly holding on. I'm barely holding on. It's because squeezing those handlebars only makes you more taut on the bike. You've got to be relaxed. You've got to be relaxed. Your upper body has to be relaxed on a motorcycle. You've got to have relaxed hands, relaxed fingers. Your blood has to flow back and forth. If you don't relax on the motorcycle, it's very, very difficult for you to feel comfortable with the controls. When you're on the motorcycle and you're sat down and your hands are there, the only time, really, that your hands try and get forced out of the handlebars is if you're under hard acceleration. When you're braking, it's straight away on the palm of your hand, so you can relax. Just try it. When you're out there, just be like, I can still do exactly everything that I was doing before, but relaxed. Relax your hands. Good job everybody, good job. Great day, everyone's done very, very well. So I'd like to piece all of this together. All of your hard work from today. This is the final, final time to go around the track piecing it all together. I want you to just be focusing on a few things. Braking-- just get your braking done before you get into the corner. And whatever the bike's doing, if it's moving around, don't throw it into the corner when it's doing that. You've got to try and be as smooth as possible. Look ahead, look up, try and get into your minds, where am I going? Where am I going? What's next? What's next? Get ahead of yourself. If you get ahead of yourself, then you're never going to find yourself in an awkward situation. [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] JAMIE ROBINSON: Dusty work, man. Good job. GARRETT KUBIAK: Awesome. JAMIE ROBINSON: Brilliant. Good job. Enjoy it? GARRETT KUBIAK: I did. JAMIE ROBINSON: Wow, leaps and bounds, man. Came on leaps and bounds. Good job. Enjoy it? SEAN MCDONALD: A lot, yeah. Much better. JAMIE ROBINSON: Brilliant. GARRETT KUBIAK: I think Marie gets the most improved award for sure. JAMIE ROBINSON: Only because she was on the deck in the first few minutes. [MOTORCYCLE ENGINE REVVING] -Ow. -Totally discover these marks on the [INAUDIBLE]. -Ow. I can't even sit on my [BLEEP] thing right now. -Hurts your bum? -Oh yeah.