Locking your arms out during turning movements hinders the bike’s ability to turn. Let’s fix it. (Photos by Kevin Wing) If you’re under 40, hey, good for you. Seriously, congratulations on yet another effortless day of frolic and sunshine without knee pain, muscle strain, spontaneous vertigo, vision issues, and the ongoing struggle of getting one’s pants on in the early morning haze of yet one more day of being over the hill.  Let me set down my Theragun massager for a second and say I honestly had no idea how overcome with defeat my body was going to become after years of motocross, football, triathlons, SWAT, and raising a kid. And to take just a little bit more oxygen out of the room, I’ve noticed that over the years I need more riding hacks just to enjoy what limited riding time I have. I’ve had to come up with hacks for mounting, dismounting, picking it up, setting it down, starting it, stopping it, and just about everything in between. Not great. Now, all my sunny positivity aside, I have one riding hack that doesn’t take much at all on your end to easily peel 25 years off your “felt age” when you initiate and execute tight slow-speed turns on the bike. Even better, it will help generate far better dexterity with your controls in the process. The only downside is that you’ll first need to throw on your gear without throwing out your back. But let’s be honest here: What other options do we really have at this point? We might as well give it a try. Getting your body forward increases dexterity, comfort, and range of motion when turning the handlebar. Okay, here’s the deal. Right now, your ability to comfortably and repeatably execute tight slow-speed turns is limited, in large part due to your arms’ limited range of motion (ROM). What I mean is your arms are prematurely extending to the point of being locked out due to your current body position, effectively stopping the handlebar from turning any farther, even though it still has more range available. This means the motorcycle could turn tighter and wants to turn tighter, but your arms aren’t allowing that to happen. To make things worse, this causes far worse control and dexterity with the throttle, clutch, and front brake because it creates a pulling force from the bar at the point it binds up from your arms. This situation also contributes to pulling your body off balance, which can have a negative effect on overall chassis stability and rider comfort. Make sense? Now grab two ibuprofen and some orange Jello and meet me in the garage. Oh, and bring my knee wrap. First, we are going to do a static exercise to get a baseline. If you have a centerstand, engage it; if not, just sit on the motorcycle naturally, put the kickstand up, and keep both feet on the ground. From this initial position, take a moment and look straight down at your tank. Now draw an imaginary line directly from your chin to your gas tank, and mark that spot with painter’s tape. Next, with both hands on the grips, move the handlebar full lock to the right and keep it there. Now examine your left arm and see how much bend is in it. Is it totally locked out with no bend at all? If so, did your head position get pulled forward? Look straight down and pay close attention to that painter’s tape we marked earlier and use it as a reference to see if your upper body moved forward at all. If so, we want to readjust our upper body forward enough to eliminate the locking-out of that arm. Move the bar from center (pointing straight) to full-lock right a few times, and confirm that you can maintain control and balance and still have bend in your left arm. Once you find that spot, look straight down at your tank. This position will be your new seated position. Mark it with a second piece of painter’s tape and remove the first piece. You should note that this second piece of tape is closer to the handlebar than the first. Off-duty motor officer Jason Coleman maintains an unlocked arm position for smooth, consistent slow-speed tight turns. Do the exact same thing with your right arm and repeat the process with the bar moving between center to full-lock left. The updated painter’s tape position should be a solid reference point for a comfortable and stable range of motion when the bar moves to full-lock left as well. If not, rinse and repeat the process, making subtle adjustments to the position of the tape until both directions are free of any arm lock-out. Work the bar’s full range of motion and confirm your arms always stay loose and comfortable and still maintain a slight bend at all extremes. Well done. Take a breather while I stretch out in my van and rest my eyes. Now we’re going to do the same thing but with the bike in motion. Note: It does not matter if you don’t execute full-lock turning maneuvers with your motorcycle. You gain the benefit of this new body positioning because it minimally interferes with the handlebar’s range of motion (and your body position), regardless of how large or small the movement of the bar might be. Find a clean, empty parking lot and set out two cones approximately 60 feet apart. We are going to work on U-turns in a figure-8 pattern, and these two cones will be our turnaround spots. Now, with the painter’s tape on the tank, confirm your upper body is positioned in the proper place to keep your arms bent, no matter how far the handlebar is turned one way or the other. Ride this figure-8 nice and slow in 1st gear, ensuring your upper body remains in a neutral and comfortable position as you execute U-turns and that the handlebar moves back and forth freely. Keep in mind your handlebar may start turning farther and at a more rapid steering pace than you are currently familiar with because nothing is infringing its movement. For this reason, take this exercise slowly. One last thing: If you have a short inseam and ride a tall motorcycle, you probably opt for a low seat. This makes sense, because you need to get closer to the ground to start and stop. But this can have the negative effect of moving your upper body away from the controls on the motorcycle. When that happens, your ability to manipulate the controls can suffer as you move the handlebar through its range of motion. One solution is to lower your suspension (Race Tech offers this service), which gets your feet closer to the ground for safety and comfort but also enables you to maintain the stock bar-seat-pegs ergonomic triangle, so you retain that good forward position with the controls. Those are big gains. I sure hope my little riding hack improves your ride the next time you get out there on the motorcycle. But just in case it doesn’t, remember: It’s never too late to throw on a sun hat and blow out your knees with a few rounds of pickleball. See me demonstrate this technique in the below video from my YouTube channel. Quinn wears Schuberth helmets and Lee Parks Design gloves. Find out more at Quinn’s website, PoliceMotorTraining.com. Send feedback to rider@ridermagazine.com. See all Motor School with Quinn Redeker articles here. The post Motor School with Quinn Redeker: Improving Your ROM appeared first on Rider Magazine.