need a little help with riding technique please.

[cOoTeR]

I just bought an 08 klx 450. It's street legal and geared more for road use. The suspensions been rebuilt and tuned for a 200 lb rider by zr1 suspension. ( I'm the same size as the previous owner). It has the on road off road tires. I think that's all that's relevant to its set up. I have very little dirt bike experience so I'm learning as I go. I've read that turning a dirt bike is different than a street bike but I wanna make sure I'm doing it right. To turn I've read you weight the outside peg and lean the bike in. What exactly does that mean? What I've gathered is you press with the out side foot and have very little of your weight on the outside of the seat no weight on the inside peg and counter steer lightly with more of a upward pulling motion on the outside handle bar. Is that right? Also when I was on a gravel / dirt road and got up to speed the bike started to wobble especially on the washboarded sections of road. It felt like it was fishtailing kind of like a snake moves. I just eased off the throttle until it went away. But I was wondering if this could be a result of poor riding position?

[Gixxus Christ!]

Never heard of that. its just a smaller, lighter motorcycle with more suspension travel, of they stiffened it up then you should be golden, should turn like any other bike. As far as the fish tailing, it is much lighter than you're used to, so its going to feel a little squirrelly. Pay with it for a few days, I'm sure you'll find your comfort zone.

[Moto-Brian]

If you are street riding, it is very similar and really, shouldn't go much differently than your sportbike.

But, off road and MX style riding is as they say. In a left hand turn for example, you'd weight the right peg. You keep your body above and center of the bike while moving it left. The arm and hand position should be elbows out and hold the bars like you were turning a door knob. Mostly standing up everywhere also. This allows you to shift weight, stay center and move around.

Coming to a corner, drop into the sitting position with the same elbows and hands and weight the pegs and squeeze the tank with your legs when braking. Move forward on the bike and enter the turn and exit out under load. Stand up on exit and repeat.

But, again... You really won't be doing this when street riding...

The bike is feeling loose most likely due to tires and the skinny chassis. You also need to remember that it is designed to use all that suspension and you probably have close to 11-12" of travel vs 6-7" on a sportbike. It's gonna feel loosey, goosey and all over the place...

[conn-e-rot]

Twist the throttle more on those wash boards until your just skimming right over them dirt is fun

[MidgetTodd]

Put slicks on it and keep it on the street

[RSparky]

More gas generally does make my dad's 125 feel better. I like the rear sliding, not the front.

[Helmutt]

I always used to ride my dirtbikes like BMX bikes.......kept my butt off the seat and used my legs and arms for additional suspension and to balance the bike under me while throwing it left and right, leaning back downhill and leaning over the bars uphill -- I'll sit when trying to control wheelspin or riding smooth terrain, otherwise I'm on the pegs. Can't give ya any pointers to ride street on a dirtmachine though. Watch some Supermoto races and mimic their riding positions?

[cOoTeR]

Thanks guys. This bike is pretty quick for the street and scary fast in the dirt! I love it.

[cOoTeR]

So I went for a ride today. Out on the highway when it started getting wobbley I sat further back and it fixed that. Then I got off onto a mountain road made of dirt and rocks and it handled pretty good. When I hit the washboard I gave it more gas and it did well. When I got home I started running laps around the yard. (i live in the desert so its pretty much dirt.) After a couple laps I decided it was too bumpy since it had been disc'd and rutted up by a tractor prior to me moving in. So I decided to run the truck around a few laps to pack it down and smooth it out so I can practice my turns on dirt. All that did was break it up and turn it into about 6 inches of loose dirt that is impossible for me to control the bike in. Now I've got to get ahold of a drag and/or a roller to fix it.

[cobrat]

Haha, you're having fun now!! Cool.

[conn-e-rot]

Once you get the hang of it you will have a blast

[redkow97]

I have next to zero dirt experience, but I believe the "weight the outside peg" advice is derived from the fact that dirt riders usually remove their inside foot from the peg to hold themselves up in the event of a 'dirt lowside.'

On a surface that's not loose, that shouldn't be necessary.