Posts
45
Joined
1/28/2020
Location
AU
Edited Date/Time
3/7/2020 1:36am
Hey guys, recently built this sweet rut in my little paddock track on our property to gets some practice with ruts as I’ve never really been able to get them right. I usually just take the outside line on our local tracks and never really felt comfortable going in those deep ruts. But I’ve been having some trouble with the rut and it’s really bugging me because I just end up getting shot outside the rut or I tip the bike over. Any tips on hitting the ruts would be nice.
I ride a 19 125SX and I’m 15 years old, I’ve only had the 125 for a month.
I ride a 19 125SX and I’m 15 years old, I’ve only had the 125 for a month.
Don't be afraid to tip in.
I assumed the rut was in a turn given his description.
If that's right, get your braking done in the straight, and lean in and accelerate. If you back off, it straightens you up and out of the rut.
The Shop
Not sure what's available in your area but in the States there are some pretty good options.
It helps you learn how to control the bike with your legs, trust the lean of the bike, and helps you find the balance point which translates to riding ruts.
All the advice above is really good, plus you can never go wrong with a refresher course on fundamentals.
I might suggest a figure 8 turn track as well. This is another awesome way to learn how to corner and ride ruts.
Go ride badly rutted trails over and over...and learn the body english required to ride ruts fast while standing. I am not even talking about rutted turns.....just learning how to ride a rut and keep the bike tracking is a required skill. Once you get to the point that you can ride straight line ruts and trail ruts fast without even being nervous, you will find that corner ruts come much easier...and you will start to love them BUT YOU HAVE TO PUT IN THE WORK first.
Another trick I had on my practice track was to build "half ruts" What the heck is that you say. It is a short berm...that is nearly VERTICAL...that is only about 6-8" tall. It rides just like a rut, but is a LOT more forgiving if you high side. When you ride a short vert berm like this right...the technique is pretty much the same as riding a rut. It is just psychologically a lot easier to charge it and develop the required nervous system memory to internalize the skill....
Basically I make a small (height) berm with a long shallow slope on the backside, water and compact it, then cut the riding side with a shovel, to nearly vertical and ride it in. The shallow easy slope on the back side allows you ride out of it without high siding.
Also for the KTM drag the front brake through the turn. They like to try and climb out of the rut and this helps a lot. Don’t go crazy, you just need light pressure on the lever to drag it some. To much and you’ll lay it down. You can also get a ride engineering steering damper bracket and the showa steering damper as that helps a lot too.
Pit Row
Sometimes it’s easier to learn by seeing a picture. Having someone take pictures of you so that you can actually see what you’re doing and not what you think you’re doing goes a long way and you can compare to the pros.
https://instagram.com/rynoglobal?igshid=f27gpk2bn4i3
Power makes the bike stand up. Deceleration/braking makes the bike fall lower to the inside.
If you’re too low apply power to pick the bike up more vertical and drive further into the berm to the outside.
Deceleration/ braking makes the bike drop lower into the turn. People telling you to drag the brakes in turns are missing the point of WHY you (sometimes) need to do that. That’s a corrective manoeuvre to cure a high-side situation and stop you riding over the berm, not a ‘how to corner’ technique. Dragging brakes won’t help if you’re low-siding. It’ll only make it worse.
You use a combination of both to steer the motorcycle.
And in ruts try to lean WITH the bike. That enables you to also use body English EITHER way to lower, or raise the bike to follow the berm/rut. If you lean the bike and keep your body more vertical (which is fine in flat corners) then you can’t lean it any more if you need to.
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