People avoid properly adjusting their bike. I’m not talking about getting on a motorbike and making sure you can see through the mirrors or dialling in the needed ‘clicks’ to get the brake lever closer to your powerful yet stubby digits. I’m referring to ergonomics.
Prototype bikes, such as MotoGP bikes or Dakar Rally bikes, put so much importance into ergonomics, the actual body of the bike are moulded to the preferred shape of each rider. Teams of designers, constructors, engineers, and artists, along with the riders, work hours at getting it right, from sculpting clay models to resorting to anything available to them. Proper ergonomics and user interface means comfort, energy conservation, tact, speed (both total and reactionary), and also safety.
Carlos Morante, a legend and master of motorcycle suspension, said “the most dynamic, flexible, and adjustable element on a motorbike is the rider”. Most proper riding techniques, from the most basic to the most advanced, talk about improving the rider. Noobs, posers, and pros alike, sooner or later also look at improving the bike itself. It is very few who actually take a look at the in-between element, the heart of the user interface, of adjusting the bike’s ergonomics.
The overwhelming joy of getting a new bike makes you want to not ‘waste’ a second adjusting and to just get on with twisting the throttle. My personal experience had me eat dirt, bruise toes, arms, and ego, learning the hard way to invest the obligatory time in adapting the bike.
A semi-pro motocross rider friend of mine was being offered a new enduro bike, barely a year after having bought the top of the line model enhanced to championship-winning standard. The rear shock alone was worth more than either of the first two bikes I owned. I was in the right place at the right time to take this bike off his hands.
I was not a beginner enduro rider by any means. In fact, I was very conscientious of following and practicing the growing trend of trials riding (standing) technique in enduro.
I figured ‘the bike was already setup’, and proceeded to ‘bin it’ no less than 10 times on various outings. I blamed everything and everyone under the sun, from my friend, to the engineers who’d designed the bike, to the suspension experts, to tire manufacturers. I went as far as threatening to sell the bike, which was thwarted by my wife’s reminding me that she ‘overcame’ changing bikes and so I should ‘man-up’.
My friend’s training being in motocross, makes his technique and posture on the bike very different from mine. Though a motocross bike and an enduro bike are quite similar in appearance, the setups are different.
I started with handlebar height; (hands and feet) lever height and distance; changing handgrips’ diameter; triple clamp height (positive/negative) front/rear geometry; getting static and dynamic SAG set, changing suspension preload, rebound, and compression (detailing high and low-speed on shock); tire pressure and type, meaning I changed to my preferred tires; moved starter and kill switches; changed the foot pegs; added StegPegz…
Adjusted ergonomics.
Though it was the exact same bike, it may as well have been a completely different bike altogether. Since then, not a single fall was caused by a dissonant user interface with the bike. All dirt taste-testing have been due to my desires not coordinating with my abilities.
All professional riders know this. When enduro riders travel overseas, they travel with their own suspension, their own handlebars, tires, and anything they can fit in the luggage. Basically, they bring the entire bike, minus the chassis, swing arm, engine, etc. – which is provided for them by the factory team. On road pros are no different when it comes to getting the bike ‘just right’.
It’s odd that we naturally personalize the user interface of our phones and computers, adjust the ergonomics of our cars, contemplate the organization of our cutlery drawer, assure the comfort of our underwear, yet in none of these cases is our physical safety as great of a factor as on a motorbike.
I’ve had to rethink things, not only questioning the extent to which I’ve ‘setup’ my bikes, but also questioning the impressions I’ve had of bikes I’ve tested, without having properly set them up first.
Writer:
Peter ‘Safety Bear’ Bokor