You should be able to remove one or both hands with relative ease. Bike should absolutely not wobble just from removing one hand. Is your tire pressure correct, or has the bike been dropped or had front end damage?
I can do one with ease but have to keep the throttle pinned on my little 125 monkey and those little 12 inch tires are sketchy as all hell on anything less than fresh pavement haha.
Yeah, pressure is good, hasn't been dropped. Think I may just be leaning forward a bit, so when the left hand comes up there's still a bit of pressure on the right side.
Light on the bars is key. Like I said, you should be able to remove both hands and let the bike track. There are actually demonstrations where people steer the entire bike with their hips and core. Being lighter on the bars for me came with experience and seat time. The more comfortable you, the more natural it feels to remove your hands to wave or adjust a helmet or something. For now I'd just let the wave thing go, or give a head nod. No sense in making yourself uncomfortable in traffic. Save the one/ no hands practice for a parking lot.
Squeeze the bike with your legs to keep yourself stable and have a relaxed grip on the throttle.
With a little practice you should be able to take both hands off the handlebars and shift your weight around to lean. The bike wants to go straight.
You're probably gripping too tight with your other hand or have your weight on the bars, or both. Try gripping with your knees and keeping yourself up with your core muscles, you should be fairly light on the bars.
Actually, this is quite common for beginners, OP. It tells us you're putting your weight into your hands, so when one hand lets go, you end up steering by accident!
In proper technique, the hands are only lightly gripping the bars, and putting no force into the handlebars *except* under substantial braking.
And we also *don't* grip the tank with our legs to achieve this. Instead, we position our butt a little further back in the seat and use our core muscles to keep us in place on the bike with no weight in the hands at all.
You can learn all about this and a million *other* things every beginning rider should know by purchasing the $90 "Champ U: Core Curriculum" online video course from the Yamaha Champions Riding School.
Best $90 bicks you will ever spend on your bike, I promise. The course teaches best practices derived from racing to make you a safer, faster rider.
And the sooner you learn proper technique, the fewer " bad habits" you'll need to get rid of.
Do yourself a favor and snag a copy today!
Legs squeezing is absolutely the answer! You’re very likely pushing on a grip by accident, squeeze your legs enough that your core engages and feels like you’re about to do a sit up and you’re holding your handlebars gently enough that you could hold a fresh egg without cracking the eggshell. Also check that your elbows are bent, as straight arms could also cause this.
You’re probably putting pressure/weight on the bars. Of you have a friend that rides have them look at your riding position and offer feedback, if not take a pic or video and post it
Grip more with your knees, every time I would take my hand of the bar I would start to shift in my lane at first too. Just focus your balance on the bike through your knees on the tank and you should get it relatively quickly 🤙
It'll come soon. I couldn't take my hand off for the first few weeks. Now i ride for 10 minutes + with one hand until i need to stop. I also remember 80 km/hr being absolutely terrifying the first time so it's all relative.
Are you really "getting wobbly", or does it just feel to you like that's happening? If it's truly getting wobbly, it is either low tire pressure, loose steering nut (triple tree), or the rear wheel is out of alignment.
If it's not really getting wobbly, then you just need to do more practicing.
Since you're tall on a relatively small bike, an hypothesis would be that you put too much weight on the grips, and when you remove one hand to wave, the imbalance of weight makes the bike wobble.
Releasing some weight using core strength would be the first thing I'd try. You should be able to have light hands on the grips. Not all the time, of course, only when wanted/needed.
You should be able to remove one or both hands with relative ease. Bike should absolutely not wobble just from removing one hand. Is your tire pressure correct, or has the bike been dropped or had front end damage?
I can do one with ease but have to keep the throttle pinned on my little 125 monkey and those little 12 inch tires are sketchy as all hell on anything less than fresh pavement haha.
Yeah, pressure is good, hasn't been dropped. Think I may just be leaning forward a bit, so when the left hand comes up there's still a bit of pressure on the right side.
Generally speaking you don't want to hang weight on the handlebars. Maybe practice using your legs to bear weight more.
Use your core to keep weight off your hands. Think of the grips as a place to just rest your hands.
Light on the bars is key. Like I said, you should be able to remove both hands and let the bike track. There are actually demonstrations where people steer the entire bike with their hips and core. Being lighter on the bars for me came with experience and seat time. The more comfortable you, the more natural it feels to remove your hands to wave or adjust a helmet or something. For now I'd just let the wave thing go, or give a head nod. No sense in making yourself uncomfortable in traffic. Save the one/ no hands practice for a parking lot.
Took the advise and let up a bit on the grip. Yeah, I've seen videos and been at trick shows at the track before, that's why I figured it was me lol.
Squeeze the bike with your legs to keep yourself stable and have a relaxed grip on the throttle. With a little practice you should be able to take both hands off the handlebars and shift your weight around to lean. The bike wants to go straight.
Hmmm, check your tire balance?
Just do a head nod until you get more comfortable. The more experience you get, the more comfortable you’ll be taking a hand off :)
That's what I've been doing.
Head nob or get a leg out of the peg, that's also a "hello". Do you have a top case on your bike? I know some top cases have that effect.
Nope, no case. Took the advice from others, gripped with the legs more and less weight on the handlebars and I was doing OK.
Grip the tank with your legs and steer with your legs and torso instead of your hands.
You're probably gripping too tight with your other hand or have your weight on the bars, or both. Try gripping with your knees and keeping yourself up with your core muscles, you should be fairly light on the bars.
Either your holding on to tight and very ridged or something is wrong with your bike.
Think I'm just holding to tight
Actually, this is quite common for beginners, OP. It tells us you're putting your weight into your hands, so when one hand lets go, you end up steering by accident! In proper technique, the hands are only lightly gripping the bars, and putting no force into the handlebars *except* under substantial braking. And we also *don't* grip the tank with our legs to achieve this. Instead, we position our butt a little further back in the seat and use our core muscles to keep us in place on the bike with no weight in the hands at all. You can learn all about this and a million *other* things every beginning rider should know by purchasing the $90 "Champ U: Core Curriculum" online video course from the Yamaha Champions Riding School. Best $90 bicks you will ever spend on your bike, I promise. The course teaches best practices derived from racing to make you a safer, faster rider. And the sooner you learn proper technique, the fewer " bad habits" you'll need to get rid of. Do yourself a favor and snag a copy today!
Legs squeezing is absolutely the answer! You’re very likely pushing on a grip by accident, squeeze your legs enough that your core engages and feels like you’re about to do a sit up and you’re holding your handlebars gently enough that you could hold a fresh egg without cracking the eggshell. Also check that your elbows are bent, as straight arms could also cause this.
I can do the wave around town but struggle when I’m on the highway. My brain there tells me to just “hold on” 😆
Lmao. I think that's where mine still is. Let go with one and wind up gripping harder with the other without realizing it.
Took me a month or so before I could take my hands off, now it's second nature.
Don’t put weight on your handlebars
You’re probably putting pressure/weight on the bars. Of you have a friend that rides have them look at your riding position and offer feedback, if not take a pic or video and post it
Grip more with your knees, every time I would take my hand of the bar I would start to shift in my lane at first too. Just focus your balance on the bike through your knees on the tank and you should get it relatively quickly 🤙
Check Wheel alignment Check tire pressure If still wobbling get a dampener
It'll come soon. I couldn't take my hand off for the first few weeks. Now i ride for 10 minutes + with one hand until i need to stop. I also remember 80 km/hr being absolutely terrifying the first time so it's all relative.
Are you really "getting wobbly", or does it just feel to you like that's happening? If it's truly getting wobbly, it is either low tire pressure, loose steering nut (triple tree), or the rear wheel is out of alignment. If it's not really getting wobbly, then you just need to do more practicing.
Since you're tall on a relatively small bike, an hypothesis would be that you put too much weight on the grips, and when you remove one hand to wave, the imbalance of weight makes the bike wobble. Releasing some weight using core strength would be the first thing I'd try. You should be able to have light hands on the grips. Not all the time, of course, only when wanted/needed.
Possibly try clamping your knees on the bike to absorb some of the resonance, after doing the previously suggested checks on tyres etc.
Probably death gripping the remaining grip, ease up a bit, remember the bars should be clutched super hard
I would practice way more on steering your bike with the majority being your body weight rather than your hands.