How To Ride With Miles Davis

This entry is part 18 of 21 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #13

A little thought about throttle use and engine revs can make a big difference to a few important aspects of a bike’s performance.

Let’s face it: the sweet sound of an engine powering out of a corner can be music to a rider’s ears. There are lots of different bikes, engines, and even more kinds of riders.

Some engines have more bottom-end grunt while others have more top-end punch. One thing plain to see is how some riders always seem to rev a bike close to redline at every gear change while others swap cogs at lower revs. Depending on the bike and the situation there are pros and cons for each, but it pays to understand when it makes sense to grab the next cog quickly and when it’s best to hold a gear and rev the engine a bit harder.

Short change

Obviously there’s a big difference between racing and social riding. Generally a racer will need to rev a bike pretty hard to get the best possible result. But even then some elite racers prefer to short shift. Stefan Merriman, a multiple enduro world champion, is a good example. He was well known to grab gears early and be lightning fast. So when you’re out riding, and especially if you’re on the bike for longer distances, you can keep up a great pace, ride smoother, expend less energy and be kinder to your bike by grabbing gears a bit earlier.

Understand your bike

Power is the buzzword, but torque is what really counts, and for this reason, most adventure bikes tend to be tuned for torque more than outright peak horsepower.

From my experience a lot of riders don’t know how much torque their bike has and how they can use it to their advantage.

A great test of a bike’s power delivery is to cruise along in, say, second or third gear, and roll off the throttle. See if the bike will lug along on flat, smooth, firm terrain at zero throttle without any hesitation. Many bikes will. Then roll the throttle on gently and see how the engine reacts. Does it build revs smoothly without hesitation? If not, find out how low the revs can go and the bike still be able to accelerate smoothly. Then do the same, but roll on the throttle with a bit more gusto. My guess is most riders would be surprised at how well a 650 or bigger will handle this sort of low-rpm zone. Most riders will also notice the transition from rolling on to rolling off the throttle at lower, torquey, revs. The change is very smooth and keeps the bike nice and stable. Out on the trail, this smoothness translates to stability and improved traction on slippery surfaces or heading up steep climbs.

On the flip side, see what the motor’s got up top. Rev the bike from idle to redline and see how the power’s delivered.

You should also notice that the bike is less balanced when transitioning on and off throttle at higher rpm. Whenever we run customer test rides we suggest riders do exactly this. Test the lower-rev torque feel, especially in corners, to see how smooth the bike feels and how easily it changes direction, as well as giving it a good rev to see how much grunt it’s got. Many riders concentrate on the latter and don’t get a feel for the low-down grunt, which really is more important.

Miles Davis

Commuting, transport or remote riding

If I’m out just clocking up kilometres I’ll generally be in the tallest gear the bike will pull. On an 800 GS or 1200 GS, that means I might take off from a set of lights and click from first to sixth before I hit 70kph or 80kph.

Then I’ll click down gears only as required to keep the engine in the ‘happy revs’ (not chugging or losing that smooth feeling).

I ride the same off road when I’m just cruising along eating up distance. I find this gives the smoothest result and generally I don’t see any benefit to revving the engine any harder.

Sometimes I treat it as a challenge to see how smooth I can ride. Everyone has heard the saying ‘smooth is fast’, right? This technique is especially handy when riding in remote areas when you want your fuel, tyres and energy to last as long as possible.

Having a bit of a go

When the roads and trails get a bit more interesting my ears prick up a little. If I want to find a faster, flowing pace I’ll generally roll the throttle on a bit, but still usually grab gears quite early and almost never get close to redline. An exception is when one corner is closely followed by another and it doesn’t make sense to grab that extra gear as it will probably need to be down-shifted almost immediately.

It would surprise many riders the pace that can be held when riding like this. And it’s not just the speed, it’s the consistency, smooth-ness and how easy you can do it that are the real benefits.

Race face

If you’re having a proper go and are with riders who are at a similar pace, you might need to, or just want to, hit the rev limiter every now and then. It can be a bit of fun, but it generally comes at the expense of tyre life and fuel range. That’s no problem if you don’t need either at the time.

Obviously the risks go up too, so you need to make sure you have all of your focus on the job.

Drifter

Almost everyone loves to get the back to slide out of a corner and it’s pretty easy on an adventure bike. I see lots of guys power on in a low gear with high revs, get heaps of spin and opposite lock and have to correct it quickly before they end up on their head. On lots of corners you can crack the throttle early one gear higher, at low revs and get the back to drift, then control that drift with good throttle control and hold a sweet drift for a lot longer. I love this feeling on a torquey twin cylinder adventure bike!

Riding in sand

I covered sand riding in issue #04, and obviously sand has its own challenges.

Sometimes you need to rev pretty hard, like taking off from a standstill. But again, it would surprise a lot of people how you can short shift once you are on top of the sand, like a boat up on the plane. You just need to be ready to add power quickly if required, mostly when the bike starts to get unstable.

If you’re always revving it hard in sand you don’t have a trump card up your sleeve for when you really need it. Try getting to the point when you can grab another gear and you’ll probably do it 10 times easier. Then when you hit a tricky bit, you can add a bit of power to maintain stability.

Uphills

Again, we covered hills in issue #03, and hills are one of the best places you can really use the low-down grunt of a torquey motor to get up steeper, loose hills without getting excess wheel spin and losing control.

Sometimes first gear, sometimes second, and you need to be good with your clutch control too.

I love watching riders who are struggling to make it up a hill because they’re too heavy on the throttle. As their wheelspin increases it’s really common for them to add more throttle, which is pretty funny when you think about it. Riders who have control with the bike at lower revs will generally get the best results with technical uphills.

Yin and yang

One of the best things about riding is, bikes have an engine and a gearbox and you can ride them however you want to. It’s good to know a bike’s capabilities and how the different ways of riding it can give an edge in certain situations.

Over the past two years we’ve covered quite a wide range of ‘how to’ topics. Please email tom@maynemedia.com.au if you have any-thing in particular you’d like to see covered in an upcoming issue.

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