HOW SUPERMOTO IMPROVED MY RIDING – Coming from a sportsbike guy
I started riding from zero knowledge of 2 wheels and that’s not even discounting bicycles. Being brought up in a typical Chinese family, 2 wheels has always been a taboo but due to the sexiness of modern sportsbike I got lured into this neverending sink hole of money spending activity which I disgracefully branded it as a hobby. There was a few years of my early years (2008) when I started riding on road and practicing my keith code twist of the wrist while trying to negate the traffics being aware of everything so that it doesn’t trigger my SR (survival reaction). Clueless in riding and even more when it comes to sports riding.
I remember once my friend brought me to Sepang International Circuit for my first trackday. It was downright scary seeing the bikes passing by the main straight at the speed of light, various types of engine roaring in the paddock like some beasts waiting to charge into the gladiator arena, riders planting knees onto the tarmac. When I got inside, I realize it wasn’t that bad. The tracks were exceptionally wide, the bikes weren’t as fast as it seems. Corners were way larger than kuala klawang, surfaces even better than karak highway.
Fast forward 4 years into riding a ZX6R I soon realise I was going into 15 turns blindly, stuck in mid turn finding throttle opportunity, looking for the right race lines but I must say having a great bike helps me negate most of those unwanted accidents that may happen. Then, I was told by a veteran rider that I should go back to basic and ride a smaller bike like a 250cc or even a kapcai in a smaller track. That’s when I landed my eyes on this thrashy looking CRF250R Supermoto in a bike shop. It was ugly and no where near the beauty of the zx6r. It almost looks like one of those road side hookers that can do it all as long as the price is right. I took her in a heartbeat and took her to ELITE USJ for a spin just a few days after the purchase. The circuit was a direct opposite of SIC. The surface was crap, the turns were tight and narrow, there’s little to no run off, heck it even has a baby pool in the middle of a high speed turn. What was I even thinking?!??!?! I used to dine in a 5 star hotel and now a warung tepi jalan with totally bad and run down condition. I came back confused as ever but not until the next session. It felt original, the actual taste of what motorcycle should be. Unadulterated and wild, just like any road side hooker and also warung tepi jalan. It felt traditional and pure fun, the fun that I could only imagine myself getting into when I was at 6 years old riding a daun kelapa downhill with my neighbours and coming back with fragments and shards inside my undies. Not to mention my lacerated baby ball sack.
Yeah it was a lot of crap but how does it translate into better riding?
Fun Factor
In my most honest opinion, we only truly learn when we enjoyed ourselves. When we enjoy learning something it is always easier to apply it. That fun was long gone when I was chasing lap times aimlessly in the big ol circuit.
Fear Factor
Fear of dropping your bike and yourself on the circuit. As we don’t have much knowledge on how to get faster, why not go slower? And we always get reminded on riding at 80% capacity but bro, 80% of your capacity in SIC is still quite a high speed shit. Our ego does not allow us to do that, hence wasting a lot of time riding aimless is the key to your plateau in riding
With that 2 aside, riding skills that almost comes automatically when you ride a supermoto coming from an intermediate sportsbike rider.
Physical demands
It is quite physically demanding to ride a supermoto as you will be riding in a Kart track which is narrow and often than not, a lot of hairpins. Coupled with an insane torque from a supermoto. You are almost just a passenger to the bike that you are riding. Supermoto riding requires very sensitive and delicate added with a couple of powerful but firm movement throughout the circuit. There is no one riding style but having a basic is good to start off with. The so called long straight is only 200m and some even shorter. Heck that’s like SIC T1 braking zone!!! I almost can’t recall when I can actually take a full deep breathe when it comes to supermoto. Trust me; it will force you to be fit. My practice is that, I take supermoto as my form of cardio and HIIT training. It’s way more fun than in gym but less girls to look at. So it depends if you wanna train your motorcycle finesse or your sex finesse. I choose motorcycle.
Brad Binder said: IT’S THE BEST TRAINING TOOL I’VE EVER HAD. Practicing on a supermoto is as close as you can get to a motogp machine. It is quick, agile, and abrupt in turns and torque coming from these bikes on turn-exits. It is phenomenal. Not in his exact words but you get the point.
Body Position
As the weight of these machines is around 108kgs with 63hp between your crotch, body positioning become very vital. In my early sportsbike riding days, I always ensure I hang off properly, helmet to side mirror, crotch a fist away from tank, ball of feet onto pegs and so many more. Have we actually understood those movements involved or we just thought it’s a necessary SOP for better riding or was it for a better photo for the gram? Once I got onto a supermoto I soon realise that I’ve been doing all those unnecessarily. When we were riding in a large track like SIC, we have the luxury of adjusting our ass, foot and even strike a pose in T5 for our beloved trackside photographers to take our pix. Once we got that pix, we quickly tick on all those checklists of body position that we planned and what do we get? A sucky lap time.
The thing about supermoto is we do not have the luxury to do all those. The track is short and tight, it forces you into body position be it whether you are ready or not. You actually need to plan a few turns ahead. Moving around on a 108kg bike with a rider that weighs about ¾ part of the weight is like asking your wife to piggy back you for a stroll in a park. It causes instability and your bike will definitely bite you back (just ask your partner to piggy back you. That’s the exact same feeling you will get when you ask your bike to do the same). A huge transition of weight is happening from side to side and from front to back. That’s why when you execute those on a supermoto. It always has to be done seamlessly and fast. What I also learn on supermoto is that body weight does a lot to a bikes balance. You can either choose to sit way up in front of way behind. So all this minor movement around your bike contributes to a more balanced and rounded stability. At times when I realise I need to overtake someone in mid turn, my body position changes and it is very dynamic in that sense. During an out brake maneuver into a turn I find myself sitting quite forward as I needed the front to steer sharper and once I get a pass, I find myself sitting quite backwards to push more traction on the rear tire so I could accelerate harder. So much so that I found myself using the bikes acceleration force to help my body get back onto the saddle.
If you haven’t notice already, I did not specifically mention the exact body position needed. As most kart tracks are small, it’s almost unnecessary to hang off between chicanes. Yes it does help with ground clearance and ensures maximum contact patch which also will translate to traction. In supermoto, the bike benefits more in weight distribution to help change direction and since these bikes don’t go light speed; the traction can be demanded from a good set of supermoto tires such as the Metzeler Racetec SM which is sticky AF! Not asking ya’ll to forget what you already knows just practice those skills with awareness. Not just monkey see monkey do. Feel the necessity not for the sake.
Throttle Control
Supermoto has shitloads of torque. Well if you can’t imagine it, lemme put it into perspective for you. Imagine if you are on second gear on a 1000cc bike, instantly pull the throttle to about 50% in one fast motion. That pull that you experience is pretty much on EVERY single gear on a supermoto. Being a supermoto, it doesn’t usually come with traction control. Being in a Kart track, it always forces you to lean your bike lower than necessary. If you do not have a delicate wrist motion, you will soon see the sun then tarmac then sun again then grass, then tarmac again. The snappy throttle forces you to be delicate but not impossible to achieve. Like my friend once told me, would you casually climb onto a Ferrari and instantly floor the pedal just to see how fast it can go? Well we are certainly not Americans. Hence we don’t do that here. In supermoto we feed huge gas but the movement is very minute. It almost felt like you are trying to twist a wet towel to drain its water out. In a very short time you will outgrow this feeling and when you get back on your sportsbike, you will feel that the gearings aren’t that wild and your throttle control will improve significantly. In fact, you will ask for more acceleration from your sportsbike.
Braking Control
A supermoto is extremely light in nature and coupled with a 4 pot Beringer brakes. It can almost stop you in a heartbeat (a lil bit exaggeration but really just abit). When I was riding a sportsbike people always tell me to brake deeper and for what reason is to gain better lap times. What people don’t tell me is that having a better brake actually reduces my energy used to squeeze those levers. What people don’t tell me is that brakes could help you in weight distribution. As a sportsbike is quite heavy in comparison to a supermoto, a lot of those sensations is being absorbed by the bike but
really pronounced on a supermoto. A slight tap of brake and you could feel your bike diving forward. So from here it’s not just how hard you brake. It’s how well you could regulate your speed and weight distribution to ensure the front tire is planted on the tarmac. Trail braking is used in almost every turn in supermoto. In some turns I realise I’m braking and feeding the accelerator at the same time. Not just because I was greedy but I did not want to load the front with too much weight and wanted some balance on the rear so I could exit the turns with more grace and poise. Like a Victoria Secrets model on a runway.
Racing Lines
From what other non supermoto riders would tell you, Supermoto has a very snappy control all over. From twitchy front tire feeling, snappy throttle that can wheelie easily and also insanely powerful brakes that can “wekang” quite instantly. Whilst that may seem scary to most riders, it is not 100% accurate. What it actually translates to is, you could actually change direction easily as your bike is twitchy on handling and your engine is always on effective rev range. Despite a narrow kart track setup, you will be surprised on the options of lines available once you ride it. It almost seems like it’s up to your imagination to run whichever line and it still works. I’m not saying that sky is the limit. What I’m saying is that if you could effectively apply throttle in any lines and that would be the line for you. If you made a mistake mid turn, you could still get back into lines or change it to your benefit. The supermoto is that agile. When I get back on sports bike, SIC is like a sea worth of lines and possibilities. Being confined in a small kart track really teaches me to look for any possible lines there is.
