How To

Dirt Bike Pro Riding Secrets With Shane Watts - Dirt Rider Magazine

February 24, 2009

We asked former GNCC and World Enduro champion Shane Watts to demonstrate how a novice should handle one of the trickiest situations any dirt rider can come across on the trail: an off-camber.

This is what you'd normally expect to happen on an off-camber: one or both of the tires slides down the hill. With the right techniques, though, this need not happen.

Watts offers up this advice: "Weight the outside peg as much as possible and look straight ahead; avoid looking down . You'll have better balance if you focus ahead. You always go where you look. So pick a point on the other side where you want to get to and you'll usually make it."

Watts puts so much weight on the outside/downhill footpeg that he appears to be off balance. "My inside foot was actually up off the footpeg because I was leaning as far out as possible to put all that weight through the outside footpeg, which then transfers into the tires to give it maximum grip."

A view from the downhill side also shows how much emphasis Watts puts on weighting the outside/downhill peg. Even in a high-traction situation such as this, you want to maintain constant throttle; off-and-on throttle applications make tire slip more likely.

And, finally, here's how it looks from the uphill side. Watts is crouched slightly; this helps lower the overall bike/body center of gravity. He's also fairly centered over the bike (front to back) and has a finger over both the clutch and brake levers in case either requires instant activation.