Need help learning to stand up!!

[HydroDog]

Put on a seat from a 2007 bike. After 5 miles of riding you will stand up.

[Troy F collins]

I think when you develop your craft and become a faster rider you do tend to become a "stander" because its a lot easier to tidy up speed when you absorb it with help of your leg travel.....short turns no problem too..just a bit of rear brake..a quick sit down.. power out and go.....

But throw in multiple tighter sets of turns and things need to be done differently....you need to rely on the front and in these instances you have to have your weight on it...MY problem is not sitting down enough !!!

To practice this I set up an area where you can mark out a small radius "figure eight" on flat ground... then ride it out....you'll find it forces you to sit as you pivot the corners foot down......and also forces you to lean forward coming out of the turns when you apply the power too...do it over and over

I try it when I can...but I find as I get older the upper leg and hip joint starts to cramp up if I sit too long

so its back to the old adage "its easier to tidy up speed..than to speed up tidiness"

[radicalron]

Maybe I missed it but the first thing to do is get the ergos on the bike rigged for standing, bar position and controls are key. First and foremost you have to be comfortable standing and working the controls. My guess is that the seat and peg height are good (the size eight shoe size gave it away). So focus on the bar position, clutch, brake and throttle. Also set your brake and shifter for standing.

Get the ergos right and start practicing the drills mentioned and buy all three Shane Watts videos they are inspiring. Practice lifting one leg off of the peg when riding, start with some straight line riding then move to doing figure 8s lifting thie inside foot off the pegs. Your balance and confidence will improve and it will get your comfort level up quick.

[rbm33]

i am just the opposite of you. my "standing up" riding is much better than my "sitting down" riding. i can run the pace of the slower pros while im fresh and standing up but when i tire and start sitting im running the pace of the novice riders!!

a couple of tips i have is dont be afraid to move around and work your bike underneath you as you are standing, alot of people tend to tense up and not relax when they are standing. also, if you notice your hands and arms getting tired quickly, you probably arent leaning foreward enough. alot of people preach keeping your head above the number plate when standing, but its really more about keeping a neutral balance point and letting your legs do the work, which means under acceleration you would be leaning foreward more than you would at a constant speed and certainly more than braking.

one little trick i do when practicing and riding slower is to take one hand off of your bars while standing and rolling through some turns smoothly and slow.
it wont take but a second to determine if your positioning is neutral or not.

hope this helps...

[mrkartoom]

Get a trials bike. You'll have no choice but to stand and it will be more 'normal' when moving to the other bike.

[GasGasDreamer]

if the shock has too much preload, you will feel like you have more control if you sit down. if i were you, i would see what your preolad is now. adjusting the preload by seemily small amount of 2mm makes a huge difference. the better the back end works, or another way to see this is the less the back end kicks, the more comfortable and confident you will be standing up.

another thing that helps with standing up is to not lock your knees. they need to be bent so they become your suspension component.

throttle and brake control, or lack of control, becomes more evident when you are standing up too. before you twist the throttle to go fast, try 'pre-leaning' forward in anticipation. the same goes for braking. make your body position and tension start to adapt before the actual event takes place.
this might sounds stupid, but doing a deliberate dump over the bars can help reduce the anxiety of going over the bars. i am pretty good at controlled get-offs. probably because i suck and bail often, or because i'm pushing my envelope. i think dirt riding is like snow skiing in the fact that falling is just part of the experience.

[lankydoug]

+1 on standing wile riding is similar to snow skiing. I set my throttle brake and clutch controls to be optimal for standing position and have been practicing trials exercises like full lock figure eights and riding tight circles around trees and over logs. This seems to be helping my standing skills and it surprised me how difficult and tiring it is to go slow.

[waycrazy]

Funny enough what helped me standing (which I am by far not perfect at) is riding my mountain bike. I started riding a bicycle because I was out of shape and as a after effect I found out it has helped me with motorcycle riding.I think because I was working so hard at peddling and thinking more about dieing from exhaustion,that everything else fell into place. Also find that just coasting your bike with the engine shut down helps too. Kind of takes that bucking bronco out of the equation tell you get used to the feel and balance needed to stand up.

[motogroove]

Originally Posted by lankydoug

+1 on standing wile riding is similar to snow skiing. I set my throttle brake and clutch controls to be optimal for standing position and have been practicing trials exercises like full lock figure eights and riding tight circles around trees and over logs. This seems to be helping my standing skills and it surprised me how difficult and tiring it is to go slow.

I always tell people that dirt biking is like skiing, especially the whole thought process and total flow concentraton.

If the pedal weighting thing is confusing, try pushing the handlebar away from you on one side. You might be surprised which way the bike goes.

I stand as much as possible, but know that it's not unwise to save energy when a section allows you to sit. A good neutral position doesn't require too much energy, and as folks have mentioned, you can keep it pretty neutral by shifting your body to compensate for the awesome power and other intended dynamics.

[andykr87]

When I rode C class racing gncc's taught me to stand. They are brutal and fast. I weight 260 and I just can't pound through a lot of nastiys being this big so I have to stand up to absorb the hits and trail garbage.