Downhill Riding Lesson - Body and Brain - Learn the Techniques - R1200GS 

Seriously the instruction, skill, etc, and NOT TO MENTION the camerawork, production quality, sound quality, and overall editing of this show is such high budget, I love it. You guys do such great work.

For what it's worth.....I never have my clutch pulled in going down a hill...ever! I'm in 1st or 2nd, depending on the steepness. If need be, I can pull the clutch in. I love engine braking. I find it extremely reliable. Also, the line you take is so key. Fully agree that your eyes need to be forward but choosing or deciding to cross over the center of the road or trail can present true problems. The center is where thew rubble is, the loose stuff. The rider needs to be very very aware of this, as it is most likely to pitch your front wheel if you are not prepared. I ride a 650 dual sport and a 250 dual sport. They handle different. Know your bike.

"you are gong to the bottom of the hill, one way or the other" that cracked me up.

About the helmet and clutch in technique. Helmet: I often will not completely undo my helmet strap. I leave it threaded through the D-rings with just enough slack to clear my chin and nose. I pull forward on the straps to put the helmet on while the straps are laced, then I give it a tug on the strap to snug it up. When done right the tug happens as I pull my hand away from the helmet or after I start rolling. A time saving trick I learned teaching. Clutch in: the truth is in the details. I hold the clutch in so that I have compression braking or acceleration ready when I need it. My gear selection is low enough to allow strong acceleration but not cause skidding if I release the clutch. Brakes are the most precise way to control speed and avoid a stall. If I am "riding" down hills I am normally on the gas, coasting or on the brakes. The engine is to make the bike go, the brakes make it slow. My goal is control... There are a lot of considerations to riding down hills and this is just a general process of what "I" do. There is so much more but I hope this clears up any confusion.

Found myself in a challenging (for me) downhill situation this weekend, and I thought back to this video. Worked a treat! Made it down without falling and felt elated at successfully accomplishing the task. Thank you Bret!

I've been around the channel from the early stages, glad to see the channel's growth. Great information streamlined for the audience, top notch production. Keep it up.

Hey man, I love your videos but I gotta say something that contradicts your advice on this one. When coasting down a steep hill off road DONT pull in the clutch, here's why, rear traction is constantly bouncing between 0-100%, with the brake you either have to brake lightly or it will lock the tire. If you engine brake you will keep that rear wheel moving and you can control your speed with the throttle AND the rear brake. You want the throttle to dictate how fast the rear wheel turns, because traction changes so fast on dirt depending on rocks, bumps, momentum, etc, the rear brake just wants to lock. I learned this lesson the hard way last week. Stay safe everyone and again love your channel man, I've learned so much, thank you

Thank you! A question I needed answering for ages already 👍

Thank you so much for this video. This something I struggle with, I at times fear the down Hill I am on. So needed this, I just hope I can remember it all when I find myself there. Keep up with the great videos.

I have watched , and re-watched some, all of your videos and I ride a bit. I just needed to take a moment to thank you for; making, sharing and getting this info out there for us all. And you DO a GREAT job on these this isn’t iPhone quality videos. So, thank you for the ; info, time and effort.

Perfect...u r good teacher.its so easy to understand nd apply when we r on these kind of terrain. Thanx for sharing this.👍🏻

These are great tips. I think that if a person has a lot of practice (drills!) understanding the role and function of the brakes, this can help give the confidence to “roll with it” through the center of the hill. Another big point is what Chris Birch says: there’s a big difference between “out of control” and going a bit faster than you’d like. Most of us are probably prone to equating those two things, but after hearing him say that, I’ve grown comfortable that they are not at all the same thing.

The last hint is the best. Thanks for the video!

Another home run! You are providing the best instruction on the web!

Great video! I really enjoy the instructional videos.

Totally agree Brett, fear is the biggest hurdle.👍 Great vid.

Very well presented! A definite review every riding season to mentally prepare for those downhill adventures.

Yet another great video! Short, with excellent instruction and no superfluous BS

Perferct, as always. Thank you

Don’t forget to strap on the helmet! Great vid.

Love that Ridge jacket and Expedition H2O boots 👍

Great tips as always Bret! I could have used this video a couple of years ago after 3 downhill drops on the same ride. I was a shattered mess by the end of it! lol

Excellent Bret!! Thanks for share

Love this Brett.

Thanks for the great tips. Did a little offroad with a downhill situation this morning. From now on, my strategy is looking far ahead, planning where to land it, clutch in and slight break pressure, or 1st gear engine brake. Don't panic and grab the breaks, especially the front one.

Clutch in... that was my problem recently when I went down a hill and was all herky-jerky with the throttle as I descended. I came here to watch this video again to see what what was my problem, and there it was... clutch in.| Thanks, Bret, your videos are superb.

You are totally right, fear is the thing that you need to master first. I was going down hill and fear caught onto me and I wound up cartwheeling the bike and breaking my wrist and the engine case. Thanks for the video!

He is simply the best instructor in the world.

Awesome, thank you

Thanks for giving for right technic for off road downhill rides

Somehow I have never been comfortable with the clutch in method. My bike just gains a lot of speed which I find difficult to manage. My bike and me both get worked out a lot using this method. I prefer to use the engine braking for descend control with feathering of the brake just in case needed.

Good advice with the "landing zone"!

Thanks, I really love this channel! Can gain tips even as a enduro rider that uses way lighter bikes.

Great video. Will keep pushing for the 2 up riding version.

Great video on both techniques and mindset, thanks man!

Great job explaining so well. Overall so good. I subscribe the first few minutes I watched.

Awesome video, great quality and instruction. One mistake I've seen with beginners is going down loose terrain with too much brake pressure, causing the bike to deflect, bounce and buck instead of "float" over the loose debris. Easing some brake pressure for a micro-second helps. It's all about steady, gentle pressure to stabilize only, trusting your bike and "gliding" smoothly down. Again, outstanding vid.

Excellent... learned something very important

Love your videos!

I generally go down a hill in the same gear as uphill. I read it somewhere and it works for both motorcycles and cars

Great video as usual . The mental attitude explanation was very good

Nice one! But still waiting for "Off road with passenger" videos! :P BR, from Hungary

I love the work you do. I also gave you a nickname "The Proffesor" 😁 . Super useful videos!

Great advice ! But where I struggle most downhill is when you get to bigger rocks like in your "gnarly gravel / river rock" video - so when I feel the rocks can actually bring the bike to a stop or a least make you loose momentum. I feel that in that case the gravity does not play in your favour because it can easily make your bike fall to a side due to the high center of gravity. I had a case like that and I decided to go downhill with the engine turned off so that I could use the clutch as rear wheel brake, keeping my both feet available to step down.

Thanks a lot ! Very informative ! 🙂👍

The ABS on my 1290SA is absolutely extraordinary. It’s light years away from the Gen1 ABS I had on my R1100GS all those years ago. I’ve been down very, very steep offroad tracks using only the front ABS with the clutch disengaged and no rear brake. It really is a wonder of modern engineering.

Excellent video, I really like how you explained how your feet are positioned. We were always taught to never ever use the front brake, well, unless you want to go down. I liked your insight on that.

You bet it's fear! And fear makes me slow down, which makes the descent even worse.... Alas, it's a conundrum and I am practising, albeit without a smile on my face. Great video. We shall practice more...

To sum it up. Engine braking or brakes,,, both techniques are correct. There is no "one way" to go down hill. all down hills are different, in length, traction and angle. Not everyone learns the same way and not everyone has the same bike configuration. Take Bret's video and use what is applicable to your needs. Try it, and use it if it works for you, if not, keep doing what you're doing. Techniques are like ass-holes,, everybody has one!

My first lesson. Thanks

Bret, I usually make it to the bottom of the hill,"The Other Way"!!!!

Lovin' your work Best👍

Thank you! 😊😊

Hello from India ! Great video Sir... Will try next time I go off-road ! Cheers 👍

Awesome video!

Where was your channel when I got my GS in 2014? This is so good.

Very nice brother thanks from India you said best ideas

My girlfriend lives on the top of a 22% inclination-100 meters long nasty dirt climb, it looks almost like a dry river with 10 cm rocks, no gravel but dirt instead. She always say goodbye at her house door when I leave in my 2016 Africa Twin, I always end in the bottom of the hill not knowing how I got there without crashing, sweating like if I was running a maraton. Your pieces of advice in this video are what had kept me from crashing.

Nice! Thanks

Very helpful info! Can you please make a video about going up or downhill in a loose surface with tight cornering? I want to stop dropping my bike in that situation.

Was stuck on a steep hill on a gravel road with my NC700X, with street tires. I'll tell you, nothing motivates you more than knowing that that's your only way back home.

Recently, when I was in a mountainous area I used to switch off the engine going on a long downhills. Even off-road (if it is not a case of a hellish hard enduro of course). Sometimes it is possible to ride 15 or 20 minutes without engine with the speed about 20-50 km/h. The record is almost 11 kms downhill without engine. No reason to hold the clutch for nothing. Like this you have a new feeling of a motorbike. No noise, only gravel and brake sound.

Always.. smile cheers

Love the product placement and the instruction.

Dont forget to smile!!! Best tip ever!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Great video as always....Could you please talk to us about the Rev'it Expedition H2O Boots!!! Please!!!

One of the best moto trainer 🎉👍🙏

So last week, downhill.. mixed gravel/mud .. clutch out, engine breaking on first gear.. and the bike kept getting speed - used front brake as recommended here and helped a bit.. but every time I'd do clutch in, the bike will get more speed that I needed/wanted .. good thing I survived lol

Good info sir

Man, I really need to do some route planning with you. I haven't found any of the awesome roads you have!

This tutorial is almost a point by point of Downhill MTB. 😅👍

Brett, I feel that the hill shown was not steep enough to explore the techniques described, I am not 100% on letting the bike roll down the hill without compression braking of the engine, as compression braking is the most effective way of maintaining a slow speed without brakes, thus preventing wheel lock. On really steep hills I try and ride in the smoothest part of the track with the least amount of loose rocks, as this keep the rear wheel from skidding, if all fails just ride in the ruts and just paddle down the hill and don't try to steer out of them with speed as the front wheel usually washes out.....breathe and trust the bike....but it is the fear that catches most of us out....

Hi! Thanks for all your really useful videos! I got a question, what do you think about the Benelli TRK 502 X as First adventure bike ?

Great videos. Could you make more videos Riding with passenger in different conditions?

and never forget to smile!!! ;-)

Once you master using rear and front brake by listening and feeling the tire/gravel interaction, you'll like keeping the clutch pulled in and use if needed as he said. I can take a passenger down or up my curvy, 30 deg sloped gravel driveway on my 750 lb Roadking. Gross weight 1250 lb.

Matt Joergensen, we are waiting on that album! :)

#1 for me on my DL1000 is pull the ABS fuse. Off road it will kill you on downhills. The bike will not let you stop on gravel or loose downhills with the abs engaged. Really need a switch on the bars or dash. Its on my short to do list.

I'm by no means a pro at riding off road. In fact I am very new to riding off road with bikes only riding off road for about a year now, but I have done a fair amount of off roading with a 4x4. Riding down a steep hill with your clutch in seems very counter intuitive for me. I almost always have my bike in second or even first gear if its a really steap hill and I compression break the whole way down and will use breaks when needed. I suppose that depends on your bike aswell. I have an R1200 GS that will tractor along at the slowest of speeds. I was taught in 4x4 riding that clutch in on a steep downhill must be avoided as you can control your decent better using compression breaking. So I took that over to bikes and it seems to work just fine for me. 🤷‍♂️

Holy Sh*t! You showed the top of your head! Always seems magical when you are wearing a helmet one second and a hat the next.

In my place we deal with both dry and muddy wet downhill roads. And its not just a simple ride coz we have loads like 3 sacks of fertilizers 50kg each and one or two persons on top. Thats a lot of weight for 100cc bike and a difficult terrain.

Hmmm ur going to the bottom of the hill one way or another....😂

Excellent video. Any extra advice for when the road is made of apple-to-grapefruit-sized rocks? Typically one needs to keep up momentum over those, but I don;t like to have much momentum on a steep downhill :$

Good 👍👍👍👍

how have i just found this channel..wow

Hi Bret, huge fan of your vids! there is a situation i can´t find in youtube. How about if i drop my GS downhill. Whats the best way to pick it up? all the cenariums are always in horizontal pavement... thanks cheers!

You’ve produced a lot of GREAT material thus far and I always learn something new with your vid’s. Have you ever thought about producing a line of tip’s for riders that are off-roaring with DCT bikes like the CRF1000 from 2016 and Up? I often try and adapt what you teach (minus the feathering of the clutch) and I wonder how would YOU adapt your techniques with a DCT.

You quickly mentioned that ABS can get you freewheeling down the hill. Please expand on what ABS, ASC, Enduro, Enduro Pro, Soft, Medium, Hard . . . settings do on rocky downhills and why certain settings are best.

Hey, could you make a vid about creating a bubble with the windshield? I am having a lot of turbulence on my helmet with my new 54cm Large windshield. Thank you! Best regards from Buenos Aires.

👍👍👍

Would love to be able to come up to WA for one of your classes, but is there a class you can recommend a little closer to Phoenix. Ideally one that would provide a bike. I'm still on my learner-cruiser, but feeling the call to size-up to a dual sport or small adventure.

On tip if you use engine breaking do not use rear break also unless you use the clutch also at same time as you definitely do not want an engine stall as that = locked rear wheel and sliding until you pull the clutch. Also my experience is that 450 and 500 endure bikes are simply impossible to roll start again because of the high compression so stall is really bad as you need to kick start it or use electric start to get engine going again (my WR450 and KTM 500 you can not even roll start on tarmac...).

A few weeks ago I drop my bike in a uphill because my clutch pad has finished middle of the pad. I tried to throttle but bike was getting slower and slower. Because of the road condition I coulnt use my rear brake. After the bike stops I use my front brake but this doesnt helped me. Unfortunately I fell down and hurt my right wrist.

Off topic here but I ride and work high steel rigging, and I would like to say our prayers are with the families dealing with the crane accident in Seattle. With that said rubber side down.

On modern ABS you can use as much front as you want.... the ABS will never let if free wheel and it will never tuck. I can hold enough pressure on the front to control speed and leave the clutch out at idle. I wouldnt touch the rear brake.

Downhill wile raining....plez make one video addressing this situation.. Tnx.. 🙏🙏🙏

CROM approves...(and don't forget to have fun AND strap that helmet @5:50).

would you be able to find steeper hills there? there are some really scary steep places here 😂 already got thrown off once, probably pressed the front brake instinctively. now I'm too nervous when going through extremely steep off-road

What about the passenger D:? Nice video and as always very helpful!

What gear would you be in to be able to add power if needed? 2nd, 3rd?