Dirt Bike Clutch Control! The Top Drills to Help YOU Master Your Clutch Skills.

[Music] [Music] hello my friends i'm rich larson and i'm the irc tire guy today we'll be talking clutch control yet again we have released some clutch control tips in a previous video so click here if you haven't already checked that one out but today i wanted to go even more in depth on a few drills and add a few extra tips to really help you guys master those clutch control skills so the more i ride and the more i teach the more i preach clutch control it's crazy especially in technical situations that you encounter in hard enduro how important your ability with your clutch is you need to have 100 control and a 100 understanding of where your engagement point is with your clutch so you can efficiently put traction to the ground and keep that momentum moving forward i've mentioned this before but when i originally started riding and even in to my amateur career i always used to say the term throttle and clutch control like it was a 50 50 skill but as i progressed to become a professional writer and i really started focusing on proper technique that percentage increased in favor of clutch skill over throttle now i would say it's more of a 75 25 split and that actually might be on the conservative side the point is your clutch control a lot of times is the difference between your success and your failure so today we'll be going in depth on a few drills that will help improve your clutch control skills immensely these are literally the tips that i break down during the private lessons that i do especially for the riders on the less advanced side these are all very simple drills that at first glance may seem really easy but it's amazing how many riders i see struggle with these exact drills now one thing i wanted to mention is during practicing these drills your focus needs to be on as little throttle as possible i would much rather hear you kill your machine than over rev and spin your tire practicing using the smallest amount of throttle possible will not only make it safer but really make a difference in those slick situations you may encounter less throttle equals less spinning tires and that means more momentum and less energy expelled it also means saving money on those irc gummy tires because you're not burning off the treads so keep that in mind throughout all of these drills so we'll start with a simple one and then as we go it'll get harder and harder the first is your ability to quickly slip the clutch all the way out to the engagement point we've spoke about this in the last clutch control video but your dexterity with your clutch finger is very important you shouldn't have to think about where your clutch engages it should come naturally like signing your name the best way to get to that level is repeat these type of monotonous drills over and over this is a basic practice of lifting the front tire this is a great way to not only help you understand if you're slipping the clutch correct but also to introduce real world hardened row applications using a slight uphill riding in a standing attack position as we ride forward we're giving a very steady low amount of throttle because we're focused on getting that front tire lift i like to use a little front suspension compression and rebound for assistance so i'm moving my body down and forward to get that suspension compression you can also drag your front brake slightly for a little extra help with that compression now as that compression is established we are simultaneously pulling the clutch in and slightly increasing the throttle this increases the rpms then we quickly release the clutch to the engagement point while now simultaneously moving our weight back to get that front tire in the air as you can see there is so many steps and a lot of coordination that go in to something that can be so simple as lifting the front tire but this is the beginning of any slow wheelie double blip and even pivot turns it all starts with being comfortable with this drill [Music] practice in an open area and repeat this over and over the best way to learn it is do it until you're sick of it and then do it some more the next drill i use so much especially when the trail gets steep again this may seem simple but it's proven to be very challenging for a lot of guys using a slight uphill and again very little throttle practice rolling 10 feet forward and 10 feet back only using your clutch now what do i mean when i say only i mean use no brakes whatsoever we're focused on using only the engine to slow us down i can't tell you how many times i've seen guys make it up an obstacle or a hill and then grab their front brake when gravity begins to roll them backwards and we all know that the front brake does nothing in those situations so when practicing this drill focus on using only your engine and keep your hands off the brakes use low rpms focus on your traction and control of your machine the next drill is an add-on to the last again in hard enduro your ability to have complete control over your machine is imperative you should be able to move and stop your machine in any situation again using an uphill the steeper the more challenging slip your clutch forward moving your machine up the incline with as little rpm as possible but this time instead of rolling back try to keep your machine in one place using only the engaged clutch and engine no brakes to add a level of difficulty on top of that try to switch from engaged clutch to rear brake back to engaged clutch while staying on the incline without moving at all notice the low rpms and really no movement up or down the hill [Music] i'm focused on making my machine do exactly what's needed the next drill is more on the challenging side and really it's connected to all the previous drills again this is about being fully comfortable with the machine and the terrain you may encounter this is a practice in not only clutch control but the balance point you'd encounter during a slow wheelie we're practicing controlling that bike when it's straight up in the air again this is something you might encounter in hard enduro situations especially when it gets really steep and the last thing you want is to panic like i've seen so many guys do and let go of the bike or freeze and wheelie over using a slight incline straddling both legs off the side of the back of the bike again you can use a little bit of compression with the front suspension just like in the first drill using that slight increase of rpms and that quick slip of the clutch let the machine come out from under you now the shorter you are or the smaller your inseam is the quicker that front end needs to come up and the machine has to come out from under you that means full commitment now i have a 13 year old student that can do this before he could even touch the ground with both feet on a full-size bike it's not about your height it's about control and commitment when the front end is in the air you're using that same clutch control from the two previous drills it's a low steady throttle and adjusting your engine's rpms with the clutch and the clutch engagement point the lower the front end is the more you need to engage the clutch to keep it there the higher or closer to the balance point your machine is the less clutch or throttle you need this is a challenging technique but it really makes you one step closer to mastering that slow wheelie or the pivot turn and having an all-around understanding and control of your machine the final drill is almost an introduction to loading the flywheel technique which we have gone over the importance of over and over on this channel it's a great way to get comfortable with using the loaded rpms on your engine to propel you forward with a higher intensity the beauty of this technique is you can practice this on smaller obstacles jumps and even climbs basically we're using that loaded flywheel up the face of these smaller obstacles to propel our machines much further and higher than you would by only using the throttle you are snapping the throttle and clutch simultaneously off the face of these obstacles to increase the traction and propulsion from your rear tire this is something i'll use on smaller jumps with very little run in or even out of a corner this is also a very similar technique to the beginning of a splatter when practicing this drill use a small log rock or jump approach the obstacles centered in attack position on your machine much like the first drill i'm quickly pulling the clutch in and increasing the rpms then we quickly release the clutch to the engagement point your goal in this drill is the timing with whatever obstacle you're riding you want your clutch to release and engage at the same time your front tire is propelling off the obstacle you're literally trying to jump as high and as far as you can you can almost hear the snap that i'm talking about in my rpms you can use this in jump situations or even climb situations to load the flywheel and propel you forward up the hill or over the obstacle the whole point of these drills is to have a complete control over your machine focus on the micro the less rpm and the fine control of your clutch engagement go out and set the intention of improving on these skills and don't let yourself fall into that same ride you've gone on a hundred times these drills could be the gateway to the skills that separate you from everybody else and that's always worth a little bit of monotony if you guys are enjoying the channel please share this video and make sure to like comment and subscribe as well as follow us on instagram at ircmoto and my personal instagram page at rich larson 511 and until next time keep shredding

Channel: IRC Tire USA Moto

Views: 107,878

Rating: 4.9677677 out of 5

Keywords: hard enduro skills, hard enduro lesson, extreme enduro, hard enduro techniques, hard enduro skill, Dirtbike technique, dirt bike technique, proper dirt bike technique, Clutch control, slipping the clutch, Dirtbike clutch slipping, dirtbike clutch technique, hard enduro clutch control, enduro clutch tips, dirtbike clutch tips, irctires, gummy tires, clutch control secrets, moto clutch tips, extreme enduro techniques, dirtbike riding tips, motorcycle techniques, irc tire guy

Id: nCf1any-Yg0

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 07 2020