Motorcycle Vehicle Control and Riding Skills
Domain 2 - Motorcycle vehicle control and riding skills. This domain tests whether you understand how a motorcycle actually behaves: clutch and throttle control at walking pace, countersteering, hard braking without locking the front wheel, and picking a line through a corner.
Before you ride
- Do a walkaround: tires and pressure, controls, lights and signals, oil and fluids, chain or belt, stands.
- Wear an approved helmet, eye protection, gloves, boots and abrasion-resistant clothing.
Slow-speed control
Walking-pace work - parking lots, U-turns, tight turns from a stop - is done with the clutch in the friction zone, steady throttle, a little rear brake to settle the bike, and your head up looking at the exit. The rear brake stabilizes at low speed. Grabbing the front brake with the bars turned at walking pace will drop the bike.
Steering and cornering
- Above roughly 20 km/h you countersteer: press the bar in the direction you want to go.
- Slow before the corner, look through it, lean, then roll the throttle on smoothly once your line is set.
- Do not brake hard while leaned over; stand the bike up first.
Braking
- The front brake supplies most of the stopping power - roughly 70 percent - as weight transfers forward.
- Apply both brakes progressively; squeeze the front lever, never grab it.
- On gravel, sand or wet paint, be gentler with the front and use more rear brake.
Following and lane position
Keep at least a two-second gap, more in rain or darkness. Ride in a tyre track or the left or right third of the lane rather than the oil-stained centre, and position yourself where you can see and be seen.
Worked example
A rider enters a corner and finds it tightens. If braking is needed mid-corner, the entry speed was already too high. The correct response is to look through the turn - head and eyes to the exit - hold a steady lean and a slight throttle, and let the bike run wide on exit rather than chopping the throttle. Staring at the outside edge pulls you toward it; that is target fixation.
Traps that cost marks
- Grabbing the front brake during a slow, tight turn.
- Braking in the middle of a corner instead of before it.
- Looking at the hazard rather than the escape route.
- Tailgating, which removes both your view and your braking room.