The top three riding skills that you will never master on your motorcycle, yet you should always be trying to, are the focus of this episode of Rider Skills. Why should you care about trying to master a skill - if the premise is that you can never do it? To answer that we have Shawn Thomas, a BMW certified off-road and street riding instructor and a BMW ambassador in the US.
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Getting on and off your motorcycle seems simple enough, almost so simple that it could be discounted as a riding skill, yet getting on and off a motorcycle can be difficult in certain situations. For instance, if your bike is loaded, or you have a pillion, top box or roll bag. Maybe you ride a tall bike, or you find yourself on a hill facing up or sideways, or on uneven ground. How many times have you seen someone fall while dismounting or mounting their bike? Getting a better handle on this can make you a more confident rider, and for some tips and methods we talk with riding instructor Clinton Smout from SMART Adventures.
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Our focus in motorcycling is usually about getting more traction, and rightfully so. We want tires that have good grip, we weight our pegs, we slide our bodies forward or back on our bikes. But, sometimes having less traction may actually work to your advantage. And on this episode of Rider Skills we have Bill Dragoo from DART to tell us about times when less traction is our friend and how to get comfortable in the low traction zone.
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The mind is a powerful thing and when it’s working against you while riding your bike, then you may as well just get off and walk. Most riders have experienced what’s called choking, when you get confused, lose confidence, and find yourself riding like a beginner. Commonly what riders do when this happens is to stop riding or maybe just avoid those situations that make them feel uncomfortable. On this episode of our exclusive Rider Skills program, we have instructor Clinton Smout talking about how he helps riders who have had a dramatic experience overcome their mental blocks.
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If you’re going to ride in the mud with your adventure bike you’re going to need some specific skills for it. You’ll need to approach it differently than hard packed dirt and you really should be prepping your bike for it ahead of time. Mud riding is challenging, but the with the tips and tricks that professional rider and instructor, Chris Birch, shares with us on this episode of Rider Skills, you may just learn to love it.
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Being in control of your motorcycle builds your confidence and more importantly also makes you a safer rider, especially when things go pear shaped. Off-road riding instructor, Jimmy Lewis, teaches us how to skid the rear wheel of our bikes for steering. In learning this advanced maneuver we also learn how to control our bike in a slide on the road, and once you’ve mastered doing it on purpose, you’ll know what to do when it happens by surprise. It’s also a fun and useful move for making quick no stop turns on to tight trails.
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On this episode we learn techniques for turning our motorcycles around when we are stranded part way up a hill and the only way out of the predicament is down. Now, while this is not a hard core skill, learning the correct method of turning your bike around on a hill will help everywhere you ride and will also mitigate the fear associated with hills, be it a dirt path or a steep driveway.
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Setting up your bike’s controls is where Chris Birch begins, and with good reason. Because as you will hear in this episode, even your handlebar position changes the way your bike performs and makes the difference between a great handling bike and one that is a beast to hang on to. Chris Birch walks us through a basic setup that will not only help your ergonomics but also explains why you make the changes and how to tell what is right for you.
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Riding instructor, Jimmy Lewis, has some drills and methods that you can use to drastically increase your skill levels, and you won’t even need to start your bike. And we also catch up with Jeremy Kroeker and Elle West, who are being forced to drastically change their plans, despite all their planning for worst case scenarios. When and will they be able to continue their trip?
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The top 4 water crossing mistakes from an expert multi-certified motorcycle instructor, off-road rider and total motorcycle enthusiast. According to Clinton Smout, there are some common mistakes that are often repeated in photos and videos, repeated on local rides. Learn what the mistakes are, and how to avoid them, and you should have no trouble crossing water on your motorcycle.
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On this episode of Rider Skills we talk with Clinton Smout about how to tow a motorcycle and bump start your bike. And we also discuss a specially designed tow strap made just for motorcycles that may help solve the main challenges of towing.
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There are four riding positions that every adventure motorcyclist, really all motorcyclists, should know that are the foundation of all the riding you do. We talk with riding instructor, Clinton Smout, about what those positions are, and how and when to do them, on this episode of Rider Skills.
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Jimmy Lewis starts his classes off with balance training because he feels that all skills are built on that. It’s a foundation skill. You need to master balance before you start building other motorcycle riding skills. And once you have, all other skills become much easier and better balanced.
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Basic skills for riding motorcycles on gravel roads. Increase your confidence and safety with these few techniques. Rider Skills with Clinton Smout - S.M.A.R.T Adventure Programs.
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There are many advantages to standing on your pegs for slow speed maneuvering and most, if not all, instructors would tell you that standing on your pegs will dramatically improve your control over the motorcycle. On this week’s exclusive ARR Rider Skills, Clinton Smout from SMART Adventures talks about how to properly get up on your pegs, how to teach yourself to stand rather than sit when the going gets tough and why you should be getting up on your pegs.
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On this episode of ARR’s exclusive Rider Skills, instructor Walt Fulton from Streetmasters Motorcycle Workshops, walks us through maximum braking on a motorcycle. It’s easy to learn and just takes some practice. Mastering this will make you a better, safer rider and add another tool to your Rider Skills Tool Box™.
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If you spend much time riding unmaintained roads and trails in a forested area, then you are bound to find a tree laying across your track sometime. Riding a big adventure bike has some limitations for the average rider but by using a fairly simple method, you can ride over many of the trees you’ll encounter. On this episode of Adventure Rider Radio’s exclusive Rider Skills - Clinton Smout walks us through two methods, one for under six inch trees and one for over six inch trees, both fully doable with a little practice.
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Most rider courses will tell you that when you corner you scrub off all your speed before you enter the corner and then get off the brakes, because braking into the corner is something you don’t want to do. On this episode we talk to riding instructor, Clinton Smout about braking into the corner - trail braking - and we aren’t talking about going faster - we are talking about riding safer. And after that, if you ride anywhere that cell coverage is not reliable or maybe non-existent? - and who doesn’t, then you’ll be interested in this little device that allows you to send and receive messages, and even get rescued should the need arise.
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Jeremy Kroeker has put together a sequel to his book, Motorcycle Messengers, featuring motorcycle travel stories by many authors who’s names you’ve already heard on ARR and some that may be new to you. A variety of short stories, hours of inspiring reads, sure to put the bug under your seat and get you moving to plan your next adventure. And on this ARR Rider Skills segment Clinton Smout, instructor at and owner of SMART Adventures, teaches us some basic repetitive skills that you can do to enhance your off-road riding experience.
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Clinton Smout, motorcycle instructor, has tips for turning adventure bikes around in soft or low traction environments, that can be used both off-road and on-road, and for any motorcycle. He also shares some stories when lessons that have gone wrong turn out to be… well, hilarious. And two seasoned riders, Lisa and Simon Thomas tell us what they carry in their panniers.
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