WHAT ACTUALLY IS FEEL
We’ve all heard of it, and we’ve especially heard racers talking about it as one of the most important elements of being able to ride a motorcycle fast. But, what is it? There’s no component called feel. You can’t buy any from your dealership. We asked the Rapid Pro Coach team including Rapid CDH Racing’s Josh Owens and Liam Delves to describe it for us.
Rapid CDH Racing team of Josh Owen and Liam Delves ‘feeling it’ at the recent BSB Championship at Oulton Park.
“It’s really hard to put into words,” Josh Owens muses, while his Rapid CDH Racing teammate Liam Delves highlights its importance, saying, “if there’s no feel you can’t push yourself or the bike to 100%.”
Rapid MD Brian Glover-Smith claims that: “Feel is the product of commitment to countless hours of practice. Going out once a week through summer isn’t enough and a rider can’t expect to develop ‘feel’ that way. You need to ride all year in all conditions.”
Owens’ assessment seems to back that up. He says, “More time on the same bike is key to getting more feel and feedback from it, especially when it comes to front end feel.
“Most of the feel, for me, comes from the rear. When it’s on the edge of the tyre and starts moving away from you, you feel it through the seat. As you stand the bike up and it slides or spins you can feel it more through your body and your core. I think you can feel the rear more as it’s obviously a bigger tyre, and you can correct it if it’s going away from you.
“With the front it’s a lot harder to get that feel and often, when it starts moving it’s too late. But if the bike’s not working right then it’s hard to get any feedback from the front. Once you get it right though, it’s this feeling through the ‘bars and in your fingers. If you can ride relaxed and keep your hands light, then you feel connected to the front tyre underneath you.”
Delves expands, “It all boils down to a couple of factors for me: bike setup and confidence; confidence in myself and confidence in my team. You may have the best setup but if you haven’t got the confidence to push and exploit it you won’t generate any feel. So it’s definitely a mix.”
While there are obvious differences between the road and track, the principles are similar, and road bike setup is designed to help generate feel without pushing to the limits top level racers achieve.
Rider and machine in perfect harmony.
Brian sums it up best when he says, “Feel for a bike comes when the rider and machine cease to be individuals and they act as one entity. Rider and machine in perfect harmony. The expert rider has an intuitive, natural feel for the bike, understanding what information the bike is transmitting from its tyres on the road through its suspension and chassis.”
“The only way to truly grasp it and to have that ‘feel’ is by riding. The old adage, it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert, may be debated, but the principle is true.”
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