[kozhissery]

I voted for American style.



In my case if it is a small pothole or hump, I just stand on the pegs and continue. This is applicable for bike only and in case of Activa I slow down and continue without standing.
Apart from this I do stand on pegs on long drives to give the butt muscles a change.

[pranavtengshe]

Standing while ride offroading or riding on bumpy roads is mainly to shift the centre of gravity downwards and thus maintain stability and speed. Also it helps tranfer any jerks to legs and hands instead of spine. Hence dual sport and offroad motorcycles have ergoes designed for ride while standing.

[TorqueKnight]

Asian style is my ride style. But standing on foot pegs while riding is good when we travel on bad roads. It actually saves the groin area from being hit and helps in balancing. That's why most rally drivers stand on foot pegs when encountering such situation. But for normal riders it won't be necessary. Since most of the rural roads are in bad shape I think most of the riders have already experienced with this technique.

[AlphaKilo]

Well given the standard of roads in chennai these days, if i have to follow the American/European style, I probably will be standing during my whole ride! I might even remove the seat.

Also, with the average speed of the traffic, I don't feel comfortable standing for bad patches of roads.

[pavi]

Originally Posted by simeonovitch

What are the reasons behind not standing enough. Lack of physical fitness, or is it just a different riding technique?

I think it’s because people like to handle situations in the way they are comfortable with. Let’s consider two persons, one who stand up to tackle a pothole (definitely at higher speeds) and other one who likes to take it slower respecting his ride and his back. Who will be more safer in case the bike skids?.

Second scenario is the case with speed breakers. Those who take speed breakers in American style would be considered ‘plain stupid’ as they have not understood the reason why that particular thing is called speed breaker. I am used to seeing this everyday at least once. I believe there are no riding methods, it depends on how you tackle a particular situation while riding.

Note : Hope Americans don’t suffer from piles much

[Jaguar]

Isn't America predominantly Chopper territory? I am trying to imagine people standing on the foot pegs and riding a chopper

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

Just because someone says something on the internet; doesn't make it a fact

Exactly! So I voted for option 1, it is a myth.

[simeonovitch]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Isn't America predominantly Chopper territory

No.

Cruisers amount for 50% of the sales, but Tourers, Sports bikes, and Standards (read naked bikes) nake up the other 50%. https://www.statista.com/statistics/...united-states/

[anilupadhya]

Originally Posted by pavi

I think it's because people like to handle situations in the way they are comfortable with. Let's consider two persons, one who stand up to tackle a pothole (definitely at higher speeds) and other one who likes to take it slower respecting his ride and his back. Who will be more safer in case the bike skids?.

Second scenario is the case with speed breakers. Those who take speed breakers in American style would be considered 'plain stupid' as they have not understood the reason why that particular thing is called speed breaker. I am used to seeing this everyday at least once. I believe there are no riding methods, it depends on how you tackle a particular situation while riding.

Note : Hope Americans don't suffer from piles much

90% of the speed breakers aren't designed scientifically. These unscientific speed breakers even at slow speeds will jerk the spine atleast when you just exit them. You can't be absolute dead slow as it might frustrate the others that could lead to road rage and with it the possibility of injuring the spine in another way. Also Some happy chap in an SUV, HMV might just nudge you to help you go over the hump a little faster.

The one way to deal with such speed breakers/potholes is to stand while riding over them.

The two reasons why I think we don't do that

1. We do not have sufficient training on how to stand and ride. When to brake,
/ understanding engine braking, use/not use the clutch, what angle the knees should be at. how quick can the elbows adjust to the initial shock, throttle play.
2. Our motorcycles are not designed adequately for such scenarios. The geometry is wrong. The tyres are thin, small and not knuckled. suspension is set too soft and might bottom out leading to fork seal leakages. Bottoming out could give even harder jerks.

The Himalayan is perfect for such aspects. But not all own one and anyone who does, and ride it like it's supposed to be ridden is met with strange stares.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by simeonovitch

No.

Cruisers amount for 50% of the sales, but Tourers, Sports bikes, and Standards (read naked bikes) nake up the other 50%. https://www.statista.com/statistics/...united-states/

Mine was a light-hearted comment. But now that you have brought in numbers, I decided to do some analysis myself.
The statista link takes you to a premium access page, so I looked at other sources. Tourers make up 20% and Off-Road bikes make up only about 15% of the market. Even amongst tourers, you have the big boys like the Honda Goldwing and Kawasaki Vulcan on which you can't stand and ride. So basically your are talking just about 25% of the market which enable this kind of riding style.

And then you think about the need for standing up and riding to determine the evolution of this style in America. Most of the American highways do not warrant such a need and hence my conclusion that this is a myth.
And now the most important reason, a simple Google search doesn't bring up anything related to American riding style, other than this thread. If Google doesn't know about it, then it doesn't exist.

[Gildarts]

I voted for 2 different riding styles is a myth. Even in US/ Europe standing on footpegs is safe and advisable only in bikes with suitable ergonomics (like adv bikes and street nakeds). I cant imagine a cruiser or Sports bike rider standing on footpegs. It is the same anywhere in the world. Asian riders may prefer taking speed bumps at a slower speed while seated because most of the speed bumps are just unscientific mounds and our roads and traffic are more hazardous.
P.S:- Is it even possible to safely negotiate a speedbreaker while standing on the footpegs on bikes like R15, RC siblings with such committed riders' triangle?

[SJM1214]

There is nothing like an American or Asian riding style. Standing on the bike is purely based on the type of terrain and type of motorcycle. How many American(style riders) stand on their big cruisers? The bad(bumpy road) can be tackled easily by standing on the bike. In most of the rally, riders tackle bad part of the road by standing and tarred surface by sitting on the bike.

During my daily commute, I tackle some of the speed breakers by standing, that doesn't make me American-European(style) rider.

Originally Posted by pranavtengshe

Standing while ride offroading or riding on bumpy roads is mainly to shift the centre of gravity downwards and thus maintain stability and speed. Also it helps tranfer any jerks to legs and hands instead of spine. Hence dual sport and offroad motorcycles have ergoes designed for ride while standing.

+1

[RodRowdyBiker]

I do stand on my bike a lot, although it is more of necessity as I don't want my spine to slow disintegrate. Also it allows me to glide over speed bumps at 40-50 kmph. Just a fair warning to anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps, be prepared to shell out Rs. 1000 - 1500 every 2-3 months because those front fork seals are not gonna last long.

[Romins]

On a bicycle or a bike, I stand up to save my spine. On a bicycle it is a must, as there are no shock absorbers. It costs a little to fix the machines, but it does pain a lot if the spine is damaged. Standing up and riding saves a lot of time, especially on bad roads and unncessary speed breakers. But definitely, we need to practise changing gears and braking (while standing) to avoid any accidents.

[IshaanIan]

All it takes is one to look at the markets to understand why this is. In the Asian markets, bikes and other 2 wheelers are bought because people cannot afford anything else this means most bikes on the roads are commuters like splendors or even activas where the forward set foot-pegs and absolutely upright riding position, makes it a little difficult to keep standing and rather forces to keep sitting. In American and European markets where bikes can be considered a passion purchase, you obviously have riders more bothered about traction levels and stability and even the bikes that are generally bought have a bit of a sporty ergonomic to them, hence the difference in riding styles I feel.

[boniver]

Voted for Asian style.

Wanted to check out what everyone was talking about and decided to stand on the footpegs while crossing a speed breaker. Had to slow down anyway, so my toes were gently pressing the brake pedal and when I stood up, I ended up almost locking up the rear wheels. Thankfully there was no one behind me on the road when I tried these antics.

Also, I've never ever seen anyone standing up while riding. It's probably something that scooter/bicycle riders do due to the weaker/non existent suspension and the fact that there's no foot brake pedal. As for me, I'm never going to try it again, thanks.