Balance

[pindie]

Don't bother trying to balance cold. Get out and ride for at least 10mins and you'll find it easier. Once you can do this you can move on to garage balancing.

[stuessenhigh]

My teacher in Hong Kong had what I thought was a great way of helping with this. Start with the front wheel up against a wall and a brick under or half under the back tyre...ie to jam the bike against the wall. Now sit and eventually stand on the bike. Handlebars are straight. When you feel that you will fall to the right, try to turn right with the bars. When you feel that you will fall to the left ..try to turn left with the bars. Of course, you cant really turn because the bike is jammed against the wall,...but it teaches you that the force of falling can be counter-acted by the force of turning the bars. Not sure if that all makes sense...a video would be best of course.

[zippy]

Balance and Flying are quite similiar.

There is a knack to flying: The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

The knack to balance: See knack to flying.

[0007]

Hmmm, I seem to never miss the ground when I throw myself at it...

I like balancing just cuz it's cool but I found that there is a big difference between balancing static, and having the ability to come to a dead stop and balance anywhere

So what I mess around with is riding along slow and stopping momentarily, I keep it together with the bars pointed in the direction of travel for a second or so and then go again, I don't plan to stay there

I find this practice usefull in a section for when you have that unexpected Whoah! Moment and you need to collect yourself, kinda gets you away from feeling like you need to put your foot down

I don't find I often need to stop for an extended period cuz I can't hop anyway

[guys]

A good balance exercise is riding as slow as possible making circels to the left and the right, as tight as possible, controling your speed by the rear brake and throttle. Keep practicing until you can do that with the handlebars full lock left and right.

Practice the same but in a figure of 8.

To make it more interesting, try the same things on a slope.

To make balancing easyer when standing still, turn the handlebars full lock to the left or the right, and aply both brakes.

O yeah: really flat tyres make it much easyer ;-)

[ham2]

I must have read too much into the Ryan Young Video because I use my hands a lot. If you turn your bars keeping your collar bone in line (parallel) then you can pull up or push down on one side or the other to correct an imbalance, maybe I do this to compensate for a gammy knee? Sometimes I think I was born different? Cue Lady GaGa song...

Keep going, your enthusiasm will get you there,

Wayne

[zippy]

I do most of my sideways adjustments with my feet. On the Sherco I had I was able to balance in the garage, motor off, handlebars turn full lock and standing straight up and down with my hands at my sides. (not on the bars).

I have just switched to a GasGas and it balances a little differently so I am working up to being able to do that on the Gasser.

But with No Stop coming there is no point in knowing how to balance, just twist the throttle and go. (might as well switch to motox.........oh crap wrong thread, sorry went off on a bit of a tangent there. I am sure you will be kind and not be too mean about it. Oh sorry I seam to be rambling on now. Dang, getting old sucks. Well off to take a nap.)

[beta_trials]

The best thing i have discovered when it comes to balancing is to just get out and practice. When i cant get out and practice outside especially in the winter ill practice balancing in my garage. just by practicing balance for a hour a night or so it starts to get easier. When i got my girlfriend into trial i started teaching her how to balance off the start and it helped get her used to the bike and get a feel for how the bike can move very easily with very little movement.