Motorcycle Throttle Mistakes Every New Rider Makes 

Thanks for the great content Kevin. Too many riders concentrate on going faster instead of smoother.

Helmet clanking is how I keep the wife awake... 🙂

I've only been riding about 3 yrs or so, I started on a Honda Rebel 250 which requires quite a bit of throttle to ride at 60 mph. When I finally graduated to my Sportster I knew I had to be VERY careful with it's throttle or I could easily hurt myself. I'm very petite 5'2" 94lbs and to me Sportster's are mighty powerful and they are a blast to ride! I'm looking forward to warmer weather so I can get back to practicing everything.

When I've had my girlfriend on the bike with me, I'm super conscious of being smooth because I want her to enjoy the ride and want to ride with me again.

I was taught to “cover” front brake at all times. You never know when someone will do something and that split second of reaction time could save your life.

I have found that the Ice cream cone hand position lends itself for counter weight riders for large bikes. This tends to provide a two fingers on the throttle position and mid positioning of elbows to allow the body movement for additional control of the bike.

I got into some bad throttle habits on my first bike, a CBR250R. It was light and didn't have a lot of power so I would just snap the throttle wide open all the time. When I switched to a Ninja 1000 my bad habits became really evident.

I can't remember where I learned this but it was like 20+ years ago. It was about approaching the throttle like it's a door knob. Meaning you keep your wrist more or less straight and use your whole lower arm to turn the throttle instead of just using your wrist up & down. You need to reposition your throttle arm to have your elbow pointing out to the side more, so it's a bit of an adjustment. It allows for much more precise throttle input and eases strain on your hands and wrists. This technique helps me greatly because I've got an elbow condition that causes a fair bit of hand pain when holding something. I've also found that this approach is a good antidote to panic gripping the throttle.

I think anyone who's had a passenger on their bike has done the head or helmet banging thing, it's kind of a rite of passage. Thanks for the tip on the wrist position for the throttle. Keep the good stuff coming Kevin.

Thanks so much for the help. Going on my third ride today and I love minimizing my stupidity on the road

Thanks again for great information

Excellent teaching! Thank you Sir !

Thanks for the Tip.

Correct. Very well explained.

6:15 have never heard that technique before to cover the brake with the ring & pinky finger... I use my pointy and middle fingers for covering. Interesting. Thanks for the tips, and the hat is cool looking.

Thanks again always great content 😊😊😊😊😊😊

As always, a good imformative video. Thank you

Another great vidio. Thanks for this insight. Stuff to work on for sure. See you on the road.

Thanks Kevin.

I love this training sir, I practice all that you show as much as possible. Been riding since 15 and larger bike were what I had, nice to get proper techniques and advice, I'm 63 and still going, never was one for burnouts and stuff but I wanted big, long cross country stuff. Live on the bike till time to call it a day. And go at the next day and repeat. THANK YOU !! GREAT STUFF GOD BLESS

Hi Kevin, thanks for another informative video! You did a video on this topic quite some time ago, which made me correct my high wrist position - thank you. However my problem was partly due to me being a bit of a shorty, and so I also needed to rotate my brake unit up a bit to put it in the correct plane for my finger reach... that was apparently the root of my problem to begin with. Thanks for all you do for us. Cheers from South Australia! 👍🇦🇺

Something just come naturally for me and somethings do not, I am glad you take the time to make these videos. They are very informative and they give me a little voice to hear when I am out riding for the day. Keep up the good work, your videos help a lot of people.

Excellent video. Very helpful. God bless brother.

I will have to see how that works and if I drop back into the wrong hand positioning. Thanks for the tip!

My formerly broken collarbone definitely agrees with good throttle control

I had a Honda monkey for a year it's only 125cc's 9 horsepower and 7lbs ft of torque there's not much room to learn throttle control even doing the speed limit but I wouldn't just chop it wide open all the time cause I knew I was going straight to my indian scout Rouge 1133cc's 100 horsepower 72lbs ft of torque so I had to learn the best throttle control I could luckily it made it easier for the transition sure it's way more power but I'm being as safe as possible and I'm feeling more and more comfortable on it every day. I've had it for a month now and love the scout! I'm taking it slowly but surely! Thanks for the content and the information. It's cause of you when I stop my front wheel is always straight and my head and eyes are forward looking out at the horizon and my last 10 to 5mph is on the rear break only. Makes for a nice upright stop. Thanks again Kevin!

Happy Friday Kevin hope you and your family are having a great week and a great weekend take care

THX 🙂

Great info and great looking hat. Some day I'll get one and maybe save the shipping (we live in the same place) at an event.

Good one

Excellent vid about a subtle but really important point of control. I’ll be thinking more deliberately about this when on the bike. Thanks! On another point, are those Lee Parks gloves? Really nice!

That triumph in your garage is beast 💪😉

Good video

Hi, Kevin! I just purchased a new cap and keychain from you. I will wear it with pride. I appreciate your efforts, and love your channel. Thank you!

OK thank you to information about the motor matic injeksi

Kevin -- great informative videos! Please keep them coming. Question: In this video you discuss covering the brake with your outside, "third and fourth finger." In prior videos you discussed using the index and middle finger to cover the brake. Can you (or others) please clarify or provide additional info on the two different techniques?

Love the hat! Too bad no shipping to my country :(

I’ve got a stage II cam on my 2015 Roadster, so it doesn’t exactly have the smoothest idle anyway, and I think the good folks at Indian might have gotten a bit too conservative with the low rev fuel mapping. One thing I’ve noticed is that the fuel mapping will sometimes goose the throttle for you if the revs get too low (in the computer’s opinion) as you engine brake while coming to a stop. It causes me to feather the clutch a bit earlier than I might otherwise, forcing me to rely more on the brakes. Similarly, the bike will automatically goose the throttle while rolling at at idle it if it thinks the revs are too low, requiring a judicious hand on the clutch. It makes crawling in stop and go traffic _interesting_ (in the Chinese curse sense). It’s one of the dubious joys of fuel injection and not something you will experience on older carbureted bikes. Fueling is almost always smoother and more forgiving on a properly maintained carbureted engine, at least in my experience. Anyway, just something to be mindful of. Always be intimately familiar with the fueling behavior of your fuel injected bike, especially at low revs and speed. It’ll save you some embarrassment, and it might just spare you from a drop.

Thank you for the tip… the wrong starting position of my hand at the start was the cause of me riding onto the parking lot during my very first lesson because while reaching for the brakes I accidentally gave more gas.

I change position of my wrist during ride, especially if I'm riding hundreds of miles. In the city, I will always have finger or two on the brake. On straight stretches (like 90% of Texas) with no traffic, I do whatever feels comfy at the moment. Actually, prefer cramp buster for as it really reduces stress on the wrist. Find it far more useful than cruise control which I mainly turn on now and then to see if it still works.

Very useful. I made this exact mistake leaving my driveway. Made it 20 yards and layed me and the bike down. Low side. Back end got squirrels due to water on the tire and then hitting gravel. I completely made a wrong move, not the bike. All due to throttle and covering the front brake when no danger was present except pot holes. Live in mn.

I am brand new to riding. It took me a while to understand what rolling off the throttle meant. I kept letting the throttle go, but that isn't the same as rolling off of it.

The most life altering change to throttle operation for me was that little gadget that lets you use your palm to stabilize the throttle position without having to hold a death grip on the handle itself. Well, that and cruise control. LOL.

I still have a "whiskey throttle" issue when I haven't ridden my Honda CBR in a while. Not sure what I'm going to do when my reflexes start to slow down. Always interesting and informative, thank you!

Thanks, every little tip adds up and builds a safe and confident rider.!

Salute Bradda

While in "pilot" training and advancing the instructors were clear the object of control inputs are to do so in a manner that the passengers don't notice the changes in speed, altitude and going into a turn ... Cleaning up after a sensitive passenger is smelly.

Hi Kevin, I will need to get a few of your reflective logo sticker's, one on the back of my helmet for safety/visibility to the others on the road in the evenings- the sticker on the back of the helmet will IMPROVE my visibility to them! Talk about "raising the classy appearance" level! WOW! I'd like to see someone TRY to eat that! Doug👍🏍️🤓

3 fingers on throttle, 2 on brakes.. and those 2 are like in MX - index finger and large finger... not vice versa.. if you check how brake leaver are in angle (not easy to use it with small finger)..

How would you say using a cramp buster plays into your wrist position? I have carpal tunnel and can’t even ride without mine. Thanks

What gloves are you wearing in the throttle demonstration?

"Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast" - by unknown / US Navy Seal mantra. While I agree with much of what you have said here, there are a couple of things I do differently. First, while I have tried using my ring and pinky finger for front braking, I found it to be very cumbersome, I prefer to use my index and middle fingers. This is especially true when hard/emergency braking on the bikes I ride (Honda VFR & 2021 GW (great brakes!!)). Second, is the wrist position you are suggesting. This is a bit more nuanced, and I will start by saying this is very good advice for new riders, but as a veteran rider, there is no way I am going to ride like that... it is simple way to uncomfortable, and whatever gain there may have been from the optimal hand/braking position would be lost by the fatigue/pian that would result from having my wrist in this position for any length of time... For normal braking, I simply roll off the throttle, ease my grip on the throttle, and apply the brake(s). For emergency braking, I ease my grip/dump throttle and apply the brake(s). Just my two cents, YMMV. Shiny side up

I like that you explain it first then actually show how it looks when preformed on the bike great video 🫡

Bumping Helmets... OR the wife falls asleep. LOL! (Ask me how I know)

Long time watcher of your show. Here is a topic you may want to explore. I was making a right turn from my parking lot and my bike stalled. Nothing I could do, the 800pound Vulcan 1500 was going down and there was nothing I could do to stop this from happening... The problem was that the right floorboard pinned me down, landing on my ankle. fortunately a policeman was driving by and helped me up. It resulted into a wound that is deep and I haven't recovered yet after 5 months. Could you comment on the proper dismount from the bike if it is going down?

Ya got me on the wrist position. Shame on me😎in my defense, I have some nerve damage that keeps my 3rd and 4th fingers from fully extending

One thing that I have seen many a time is that riders will take off from say lights to beat all th other traffic queuing with them only then whilst accelerating to be confronted with a situation that requires immediate and now heavy braking and that also destabilises a bike and can be very dangerous as one could easily lose control of it. With too much acceleration the rear end digs in and the suspension beneath one contract which lowers the bike at its rear but the front end goes light, much lighter, so much so that its almost doing a wheely and that means little to no front end grip. Then with the need for heavy braking the reverse happens so swiftly the front end suspension is compressed down under braking and the rear end is lifted so it not unusual for one to lose the bikes tyre/tarmac grip and off one goes.

Love your videos and I appreciate your expertise. But I cant bring myself to pay $50 for a hat..... LOL

Adjust the throttle cable slack to a minimal so you don't have to roll it a near 1/4 turn to get it off idle, also rotate the brake lever to fit your particular riding hand position ..there I fixed it for ya~~~~~~~~~~~~~Braaap!

Smooth acceleration and deceleration/braking are critical on a wet street or hwy also. I like my middle and index finger on the front brake when in low speed traffic. With my thumb underneath and little finger side of my hand on top of the throttle, a slight twist longitudinally of the wrist gives me total throttle control without gripping at below 30mph speeds. I just don't feel comfortable using my smaller fingers on the front brake, less feel for me, I tend to over brake that way. Less finesse.

I always remind myself to keep that wrist down especially when approaching an intersection. One time I had to make a quick stop when I hit a yellow light at that perfect go or stop decision point. Had my wrist humped up on the throttle and when I applied the front brake I revved the engine hard and felt a bit silly and embarrassed. I have a checklist of points to remember whenever I get ready to ride and that is one of them.

I also want to share something I do when the road is very choppy. I move my throttle hand inboard to the part of the bar the doesn’t rotate and hang on to the fixed part of the bar with my thumb and index finger. Allows me to keep a steady throttle. Keep up the good work.

The one second fix is really thought provoking. It seems during my first month of riding (started at age 60 on a fatboy) I adjusted my brakes on the right hand to clear the brake handle with my wrist flat and throttle closed to shorten reaction time. Still appropriate?

Never had this problem even as a child

One big mistake and I think we're all guilty of is practice practice practice 👍 Kevin be safe everyone 🙏

Taking off is the most important throttle control. Sudden acceleration can jerk the rider backwards,losing control & crashing.

The head bumping is also a result of poor shifting technique, as I think MC has explained in another video

Ok here is my problem. My little finger and ring finger go numb while riding. I even make sure that my fingers are not death-gripping the throttle. But when I go for a 3-4 hour ride man do I have to take the hand off the throttle and shake the hand to get it to come alive. Been thinking about getting either the atlas or a brakeoff throttle control. so which one would you recommend and what can i do about this problem? PS i have been riding since 2009 when I took a new riders course and bought to only bike I will ever own a Honda Aero 750.

I always wondered how the throttle got that way around to start with. Seems wiser to have it the other way, roll away from you. After a hundred years, sure that seems wrong, but why not design it to work against inertia of the bike moving away from you? Whiskey is thee classic throttle ufda, and if it rolled the other way, that wouldn't happen. What am I not thinking about here?

The acceleration of fuel injection overold scooll can cause a scare quick tweekwhia mule

When trail braking, do you have the index and middle finger on the brake with thumb and outer three fingers on throttle or do you use the outer 3 fingers on the brake with the index and thumb on the throttle?

Just for the record, i have never bumped helmets with another guy.

Most usually when we clank helmets it means my wife is nodding off.😁

I understand your reasoning behind starting on throttle with a flat wrist, but that also looks very uncomfortable if your going to be going 60 mph for any length of time with no cruise control.

I have helmet issues with my VMAX. Lol

“Rev matching” is the key to being smooth on deceleration / down shifting. Without rev matching, you’ll probably be clanking helmets with your passenger. 😂

👍👍

Are we turning the throttle the wrong direction?

Start with your wrist flat, then twist it when you accelerate? Then what? - Ride with your wrist bent all the time, because otherwise you can't properly grab your brake...? How about instead, adjust your brake lever position so that when you're riding, the throttle position is where your wrist is comfortably positioned, then when you roll off the throttle, your brake lever is positioned such that it doesn't interfere with your ability to grab it??? Also, you forgot the most common throttle 'mistake' - many 'cruiser' riders blipping their throttles whenever they stop. Harley and other cruiser bikes have been effectively fuel injected for a couple of decades now, and don't need to be 'blipped' to prevent them from stalling. If you have to do that, the idle isn't set properly...

Please consider doing a beard maintenance video... what products you use and recommend. I've tried asking Dan Dan the Fireman, but he just ignores me. 😔 Most of us motorcyclists have beards, just makes sense to do a video.

You really need to learn to use your front brake. No doubt you're scared of it like most beginners. front brakes actually help you go around turns. They're great for slow riding too. I like your videos but so many go into how scary front brakes are, they're not scary

Wouldn't you be hard on the brakes going into a turn on the track? Your idea applies more to riding 2 up, then I agree with you.

Driving on the city streets here in Miami and Miami Beach, I rarely, if ever, use the front brake. I usually downshift and use only the rear brake.

Ok! It’s a hat??

Duh

ESPECIALLY SRING RETURN THROTTLES FOR AMATEURS!!!!!!!!!!!!

😮😮😮😮

...every new rider?

Are we turning the throttle the wrong way? All new riders accelerate as they crash!

Just can't do low profile caps.They just look goofy .in my opinion,I'll have to pass

Maybe they can pray they handle the throttle correctly huh?

Every new rider? I was a new rider once and I didn't make any of these mistakes.

You'd think, with an average of about 10 pounds of skull and brains, plus another pound-ish of helmet attached, most folks would get pretty tired of the neck-cramps from their heads bobbling around like one of those stupid figurines they like to superglue to the dashboard of their otherwise unimpressive 2-ton death boxes... AND that would prompt them to use appropriate posture on the bike, and to learn a little bit about the finesse of throttle control and appropriate braking inputs, as in NOT stomping, kicking, snatching and yanking on everything from 0 to 100 or more all at once. Folks, I've ridden for more than 30 years in over a dozen countries since I hit 15 and could legally get a motorcycle license... AND you'll not only live LONGER but HAPPIER for not causing whiplash every time something dubious happens in front of you on the road. This ain't rocket science, but it DOES take attention, focus, and patience to actually PRACTICE and get better. Just because you've got an "asphalt demon disguised as a motorcycle" that doesn't mean your succubus of speed has to beat you to death every quarter mile or so. That would be silly. It means you CAN do the whopping 185 or more mph registered on your speedo'... There's no less controllability in the machine for all that magnificent power and dynamics... BUT whether your ride is smooth and silky comfort or more akin to being inside a coffee can tossed down a flight of stairs is 100% UP TO YOU. On a motorcycle, YOU are the master of that very tiny universe, and it either goes well or horribly because of YOUR ability to step up responsibly and take control. "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast." It's said over and over, but it doesn't mean that you'll cut your lap times by riding like Grandma Moses. It means that your focus should be in DELIBERATE and careful manipulations of the controls. Just like a fighter jet, the bike is already engineered for this slow-dance, and it already knows ALL the steps. It's up to YOU to learn how to gently and easily tell her what you want, and then LET her do it. Learn that... and you'll ride like a pro' and almost never actually feel fear on the roadways... whether the posted limit is 50 or 250 mph. It won't matter. ;o)

Why don't you show us practically ?

I totally disagree with everything you said. Your wrist should be up in the idle position so you end up in a comfortable position riding. You are incorrectly compensating to cure a different problem. Your brake lever is not adjusted correctly. Setting up your bike is critical but you rather do and worse teach improper compensation over proper setup

these machines have no safety features! crap … riders take care

Why don't you demonstrate What you talkin about instead of setting their. Let people see what you talkin about instead of trying to sell hats.

What gloves do you recommend that don’t rip from just wearing them a few times..