Five Essential Dirt Bike Skills and Tips

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We love dirt bikes. They're literally the best type of motorbike. Riding off-road how is challenging, so we've put together an outline of the best tips and skills for riding dirt bikes.

The basics of riding dirt bikes are well discussed, but some of the finer points aren't. Sometimes, just the right pointer will be the catalyst you need to understanding something. Hopefully there are a couple of tips in this video to cover exactly that.

Thanks for watching!

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Overall there are two simple keys for riding adventure motorcycles off-road - get lots of experience and swap street tires for serious dual-sport tires. (Get Continental TKC-80s. Their traction on the street and their longevity are uncompromised by their badass treads).

Here are some basic off-road skills…

• Favor the rear brake except in emergencies, in which case try your best to straighten the front wheel first before using the front brake and rear brake together. Using the front brake tends to make the front tire knife into the dirt surface and trip the bike up.

• Similarly, keep the wheels straight when turning from asphalt to dirt, ideally making the turn completely on the asphalt part and entering the dirt surface at a 90° angle. If you enter the dirt at a shallower angle, treat it like a curve and counterbalance (see below).

• Know when to be aggressive on the throttle and when to be gentle on it (sometimes the best defense is a good offense, other times overconfidence will hurt). Speed and momentum are crucial on the softer stuff, but too much will backfire and destabilize the bike. You have to develop a feel for exactly how much throttle by practicing on different surfaces.

• Ride standing up in rougher terrain. That makes all the difference because it lowers the bike's center of gravity and makes it more maneuverable. Remember to keep your knees slightly bent to allow your legs to flex, and lean slightly forward on straight sections, more forward the steeper any climbs get. On downhills, reverse that and keep your butt rearwards.

• When encountering a road with ruts, either stay inside the ruts or outside the ruts. The problem is continually going back and forth in and out of a rut, making it an edge trap, which can throw the bike down. If the rut is so narrow that your tires are continually hitting against the sides of the rut, that's an edge trap, so only ride outside of that rut.

• When riding on softer stuff, shift your weight rearwards to give the rear tire more bite - that also has the advantage of making the front tire "ski" more, creating less drag and making it less likely to trip you.

• Counterbalance generously on curves, getting your hips outside the lean and weight on the outside pegs. You should be one gear lower for the speed — that discourages swinging wide and gives you more engine braking if you encounter a surprise around the bend. Your outside leg will be mostly bent, the inside leg mostly straight. Know that you can always make your turn sharper by leaning further (I usually like to just straighten out my lower side arm for that).

• When going over mounds, you need to use finesse on the throttle, going from aggressive to gentle at just the right moment heading up, then be relaxed and confident while finessing the rear brake as you go down the other side. Like with everything else, you get better at it with practice.

• When encountering hard obstacles you can't maneuver around, (with your butt off the seat and legs flexed), as the front tire gets to the obstacle, hit the throttle a little as you pull up on the handlebars while leaning slightly rearwards (as if to wheelie but not actually doing so) then pogo-stick the rear suspension as the obstacle reaches your rear tire. Practice that in an empty parking lot with a piece of two-by-four.

And here's a good video if you ever get seriously stuck...

craigfinnegan

As always amazing advice! After riding street bikes for almost 20 years i'm absolutely loving dirt riding! thanks guys!

directgrover

Love, love, Brake! Stay well, all the best from CANADA!

kennethvernonprivate

Best tutorial of required skills to become a competent rider.... Great job!

royhaggard

Hi Guys having done the Portugal trip with you have bought a 2019 FE 250 also to keep my skills up for next years trip which is a bit spooky. Looking forward to the Adv Lite project. Keep the videos coming. Stay safe ride safe. Say hi to the gang😀

richardsapper

Thanks for these vids. I ride CRF250L on and off road. Have no riding buddies more skilled then me, and some MTB background plus vids like this is whats making me a half decent rookie and safer rider. Also got MX boots due to your vid because of remote areas where I go usually alone, hated both them and you for first few rides, now they are awesome, feels not only safer for riding but also like dogs and snakes can only brake their teeth on it. Keep up the advices.

breakM

Brilliant! and don't blame the bike! (if I had these tyres, those footpegs ...). Best advice ever, and you just slipped it in at the end.

gn

One of the best instructional videos I’ve seen for sure thanks guys!!!!

kennyjohnson

Great explanations and attention to detail in your tuition, thanks.

GR-

Brilliant video! Thanks for churning out great content.

debroyprasenjit

Good video! please continue off-road basics tips, thanks!

rfk

Really enjoyed these tips & your explanations. Van BC Canada watching!

WADZUP

Great job man and I gave you thumbs up for some solid tips! I know what you mean by weighting the pegs and bars that kind of goes hand in hand with 'leaning' the bike one way or the other but if your actually coasting in a straight line sitting and you pull on the left bar the bike actually goes to the right and vice versa for the other side give it a go! ;)

HeddleTown

That last "self critical" part you told was gold. I have many friends, who blame it on the bike but they ride so fkin passive. And ofcourse ego gets in the way of doing many things right.

Bastardg

Best tips, ride with people who are better than you. If you don’t know anyone better, find people. The bike community is awesome, as long as you go places where other people ride I’m sure most people will let u tag along. That’s how I met my riding buddies and it’s fair to say I’ve learnt a lot from them and had more fun riding with them too.

sonnyodare