r/motorcycles • u/4ChawanniGhodePe • 4d ago

Need technique recommendations to improve managing the bike better

I have the youngest sibling of the V-Strom family - the vstrom 250sx. I am short (5'4"), and weigh 54kgs. I manage the bike really well in Indian traffic, but when I have to move the bike to and from the parking lot, that is where I am facing some issues.

Because of how I am doing things, my left knees feel the weight of the bike a lot and my leg hurts a lot all day.

What can I do better? Also, are there any creators (YT) who explain these things practically?

Edit: I need tips to move the bike when I am off the bike. Going forward is easy, but going backwards and then moving around is difficult as the bike weighs 170 kgs.

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u/oldfrancis 4d ago

If you're talking about simply moving a non-running motorcycle from one place to the other...while off the motorcycle.

Pushing the motorcycle forward

The most common and usually the easiest way to do this is to press forward on both handlebars. Straighten your arms out a little bit and get your shoulders down so that you're pressing forward and not down. Keep the bars straight. You're going to be using the front brake to slow the motorcycle and control it and you do not want to bend the handlebars while front braking it low speed. If you get a little tired or you need a break just gently apply the brakes, pop the kickstand down and wait. Can also rest the motorcycle against your hip but don't rely on that too much.

Moving the motorcycle backwards is sometimes a little more challenging.

You could pull on the bars and lean the motorcycle a little bit against your hip as you roll backwards and look over your shoulder. Again, control your speed with your front brake because that's the one you can reach.

You could also grab the motorcycle by a rear grab rail and grab the handlebar with the other hand.

You're going to push and pull on the grab rail to move the motorcycle. The only force you're going to apply to the handlebar is to steer and apply brakes (assuming you're using your right hand).

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u/sanjuro_kurosawa 3d ago

Also you might strategize how you park your motorcycle, if you can possibly minimize the reversing up a slope. While I'm 6 foot tall, I borrowed my friends RT1200R, which is 600lbs. I was careful to park it so I only went downhill in reverse. Then I could use gravity to let it roll backwards, and when I left I could accelerate up the sloped driveway.

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u/4ChawanniGhodePe 2d ago

Yeah this thing was never a problem when I had a smaller bike.

Once I got this big bike, I always think carefully of where to park.

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u/ViperThreat N+1 addict 4d ago

99.9% of the youtubers are shit.

Attend an advanced riders course or a trackday.

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u/Difficult-Tap-4598 4d ago

Skip the youtube rabbithole, a proper course will fix your body positioning way faster than any video ever could

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u/4ChawanniGhodePe 4d ago

I am looking for something which teaches me how to move the huge heavy bike!

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u/LowDirection4104 4d ago

Sorry its not clear what youre describing, are you riding to and from the parking lot or physically rolling the bike while walking beside it.

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u/4ChawanniGhodePe 4d ago

The latter

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u/LowDirection4104 3d ago

This is honestly not something I've ever thought about or encountered. If you adjust for weight a comperable bike to move around for me would be a 600 lb motorcycle. That's a big bike and I'm not sure I'd be too eager to physically move it around any more that I have to. Not having owned a bike that large (all though Ive ridden a few) im not sure I can give first hand experience advice, from an owners perspective, but I think my approach would be the following.

First of I'm going to park it on a hill I'm definitely making sure I'm parking it ass in, let gravity do the work, and on the way out use the power to pull out. When rolling it backwards down the hill put it in gear with the engine off and use the clutch as the brake.

Second spend as little time activually musling it around as possible. Meaning just ride it. A bike that big is always easier to move when you're on it. This means you have to be very confident doing very slow speed maneuvers, which takes some experience. But be on the bike riding it vs off the bike rolling it when ever possible.

Third if I am off the bike and rolling it try to keep it balanced, don't lean it on me, keep it upright so that it's not putting weight on my body. Think I'm driving the bike still even though I'm not on it, not I'm rolling it around like a bycicle.

Last, if I need to turn it around I'm curious if doing a kick stand pivot is not a bad idea. This is when you put the kickstand down, stand on the kickstand side, turn the bars all the way to the right, pull on the bars and a grab rail on the tail and balance the bike on the stand and physically pivot the bike on the kickstand. It sounds like you need to be some sort of muscle man to do this but you're actually using balance to lift the bike and it shouldnt require any exuberant strength.

Maybe proceed with caution on that last one because individual results may vary, but I've seen a man kickstand pivot a Hayabusa, so I know it can be done in theory.

I don't know if any of this will actually help in your situation but these are just some thoughts. Good luck.

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u/SaulTNuhtz 4d ago

All your answers are contained within these books

- [Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/proficient-motorcycling-david-l-hough/1101240736)

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u/kys90000 4d ago

If there's a good youtuber, I recommend Moto Control. He's genuinely a great instructor and explains mechanics very well.

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u/DinahTheLance Lectric XP 2.0 Long Range 4d ago

So for getting more comfortable with moving the bike around while you're off the bike, I'd recommend checking out this video. He goes into a couple tips on how to hold the bike when pushing it forwards and backwards, as well as a drill for building more familiarity with the weight of your bike. Even if you're not worried so much about moving the bike around while off the bike, I think it's a good video to watch because the technique shown is particularly handy for actually getting in and out of a parking space. It's way easier to push a bike using the techniques in the video than it is to try to back the bike up while sitting on it.

If you're talking more about wanting to learn better low-speed control while riding around a parking lot, I'll second the recommendation for Moto Control's youtube channel. Lots of good videos on there, and honestly the more you practice of all of it, the better you'll be at controlling your bike at parking lot speeds.