No More Front End Washouts

This is Gary Semics written article ... I'll read it over and over till I think I can understand what he is really trying to say and then practice it over and over, both in my mind and on the bike, starting at a slow pace and then increasing speed...Paragraph 2 sounds like a good starting point ..

One of the most important things when cornering is keeping the front end from washing out. Well, you can when you know what’s involved and know how to practice it. Just like all the control aspects in motocross the front end is controlled by 2 technique categories; body movements and controlling the five controls of the m/c and that’s the front and rear brakes, the clutch and throttle and the gear shift. Body movements relate to always maintaining the center of balance. Of course if you loose your center of balance with the m/c you’re going to be out of control or at least making a bobble to correct it. Well in motocross this center of balance is even more complicated. It’s not just your balance with the m/c; it’s the m/c and your balance as one. And this one balance of you and the m/c relates to the track, the forces of the obstacles on the track and gravity. There is no steady plane under you. The track with all it’s bumps, ruts, obstacles and everything else out there cause constant change in the center of balance. Meaning your body position is in constant change, body movement to maintain the center of balance. So body movement is defiantly a big factor in controlling the front end.

A typical example is when you are entering a corner while braking. Whether you are standing or sitting your body position should be back. Then when you are letting off the brakes in the middle of the corner and making the transition to the clutch and throttle you’re body position should be in the center of the m/c. Right after that as you begin to exit the corner your body position should be in the front of the m/c. If you had your body position too far forward too soon, before you got to the center of the corner, you would be much more likely to wash out the front end.

Besides front to back body movement there is also side to side body movement and everything in between. Think of you’re body movement as a clock horizontal to the ground with 12:00 being all the way forward and 6:00 all the way back. You’re body movement can work to any number around the clock and anywhere in between while sitting or standing. And it has to move through this range quickly, loosely and smoothly with precise timing and grace. This timing and grace has to be so precise that it happens automatically through your automatic reflex reactions. It has to happen from what your nervous system feels, feels what you and the m/c as one are feeling from the forces of the track, obstacles and gravity as it is happening or better yet just a millisecond before it happens. If it happens just a millisecond too late you’ve already made a mistake.

What has to happen just as precisely together with all this body movement? The controlled use of all five controls. These 2 categories are where all your control comes from. Can you think of anywhere else any control comes from, me neither? That’s because there is no other place or way to have control. One good example of how the controls; in this case the rear brake, helps control you and the m/c (remember you and the m/c should be operating as one) is when you are about a quarter of the way into a corner and you’re dragging the rear brake a little, in this case dragging the rear brake has a big effect on the front end. Do you know what that effect is? It pulls the front end back. Think about it; if the rear wheel is slowing down and the front wheel is connected by the frame it has to have an effect on the front wheel. It does indeed pull it back and since you are a quarter way into the corner and leaning over it pulls it back and to the inside, keeping it from sliding out.

Now the most common mistake here in the situation is to let go of the rear brake before you get onto the clutch and throttle. If you make this mistake and you are at maximum speed you are likely to wash the front end out and take a nice refreshing soil sample with your face. Remember the controls are half of your control, why would anyone in their right mind give up half of their control at the most critical part of a corner.

Just like the slowing down controls of the front and rear brakes and gear shift, if you are downshifting and even sometimes the clutch if you’re going to lock up the rear wheel for a really tight corner. The speeding up controls of the clutch, throttle and gearshift, if you are up shifting, also give you and the m/c half of the control over the track and gravity. As you get on the clutch and throttle or just the throttle even this gives stability and holds the front end from sliding out.

Now we know and understand how you control the front end, well it’s a lot easier to control it if that front tires hits what you want it to hit and doesn’t hit what you don’t want it to hit. The only way this is going to happen is if you are looking ahead early enough to see what you want it to hit. Don’t be too concerned with looking at what you don’t want it to hit, you can’t see everything at the same time. Obviously if it’s hitting what you want it to hit it won’t be hitting what you don’t want it to hit. Everyone knows that if you hit a railroad track at an angle you’re going to go down. Well there may not be any railroad crossings on the track but there are ruts, ridges, rocks and all sorts of things (some of them little and hard to see) that can cause that front end to go in a different direction than you had planned. This is why it’s so important to look ahead early enough and well enough to see exactly where you want that front wheel to go, especially in a corner where you are going to make the hardest part of your cut, your turn. This is usually where you are going from braking to accelerating in the corner. I coined this place as the Exit Dex or Transition, the most important part of any corner.

So now that you have seen exactly where you want the front tire to go how do you make it go there? Well, you know that by now, with body movements (maintaining the center of balance) and mastering the use of all five controls. For better body movement control carry your weight in your legs mostly and allow your upper body (especially arms and shoulders) to be loose and mobile. You and the m/c will both handle better this way because the m/c and your body handle better with a low center of gravity and it will also allow your upper body to move more quickly and with much greater physical ease.

You’re inside foot placement while going through a corner is also very important in regards to controlling the front end. You’re inside foot should be out in front of you, off the foot peg. Your hip, knee and ankle should be slightly bent and able to move and dab at the ground in case the front end tries to slide out. A common mistake here is to have a lazy leg and when your foot has to dab it comes back behind the foot peg. This is not good because what if you have to dab a second or third time? You wouldn’t be able to and you’d fall over. So try to keep your foot out there in front of the foot peg. Another common mistake is to slide your foot too hard through the corner. This causes you to tighten up and hold on tighter. When you’re doing this you are trying to muscle the m/c instead of using timing and balance. No matter how strong and how much endurance you have you will knot up and die if you keep doing this through a long moto. The inside foot should stay on the foot peg as long as possible helping to maintain a low center of gravity, then just before the Exit Dex (remember that’s where you go from braking to accelerating) you should put your foot out and then as soon as you’re on the throttle, to start exiting the corner, get that inside foot back on the foot peg, again maintaining a low CG. Remember, you’re control comes from you’re body movements and controlling the five controls of the m/c, not so much from your inside foot. You’re inside foot is out there so you can lean the m/c over further and in case you need to dab to save the front end from washing out and since your leg and boot are pretty heavy while being low in relation to the CG it does complement balance. But don’t be too dependent on it; you have much more control in body movements and controlling the five controls of the m/c.

I hope this information helps keep that front wheel under you.

Ride smart and have fun,

Gary Semics

I like Gary Semics..just oredered one of his videos...I think that it's imparative to always educate...for the main reason of having a good time on the dirt. Practice, practice...I love dirt bikes.

I'll agree with ya on all points here ... Gary has got the racing\riding history and in most cases, I can understand what he's trying to say in his tips ...

If a serious racer, Garys video will probably be a big help in techniques and that should carry over to more speed with practice, practice ... Riding a bike feels so much better (and less tiring) if you can use correct technique(s) and let the bike do the work ...

Also, Gary makes a big point in always pointing out how the rider is controlling the bike at almost all phases of riding ..ESP in the turns ...

Yep, my life from here and forever after is about 99% dirt bikes and dirt bike riding ... Except at night ... My gf is about 95% of my time then ...


Just reading what he mentions above that must be accomplished in a corner shows how complex some of the corning techniques really and AND they must be accomplished very quickly while in the corner or you just roll around the corner using bad technique ...

"If you had your body position too far forward too soon, before you got to the center of the corner, you would be much more likely to wash out the front end."

think i had this problem for awhile....also liked the "taking a fresh soil sample with your face" line lol been there done that

"If you had your body position too far forward too soon, before you got to the center of your GF, you would be much more likely to wash out the front end."

I'm good for one per month. I seem, at times, to be waaaaaay too far forward. On my YZ this doesn't happen but on the Husky it does.

Maybe because of the way the seat is? Or, maybe I just suck?

remember to base line bike set up as well SAG SAG in good order. The Dwight Rudder (seen here in the tech forum) formulas falls right into the industry OEM and pro tuners specs and works great for bike suspension set up.

Entering a corner and in mid section of the corner, I'm in the front ... Probably too far forward for Gary ... But I never have a front end wash-out until my front tire is totally worn out ...Maybe dragging the rear brake has been keeping the wheel planted() ...

I've been sure for quite sometime that my 'entering-a-corner' speed is bad and I've been trying to fix my issues ... Now, at least, I have a specific way to try to increase my corner speed by moving my weight in the right places on the bike and dragging that rear brake is OK..

I had crazy front end wash out on the TE511. Didn't matter where my body was positioned and when in the curve. What fixed it was suspension and sag. Especially on the 449/511, the front end has to be higher than the rear. Way stronger front springs + compression and sag to 120mm and I was golden.

Yep, it all starts there with that sag stuff ... I've never saw it explained with pics on paper or the mechanics of how and why it works but, its vital ...

Absolutely correct.

I suspect the castor of the front end is also rather more than most other bikes.

Put the bike on a stand and turn the handlebars from centre to either full left or right and you will notice a more than usual change in fork angle. As you turn the bars it is very noticible visually that the forks progressively become very acute in angle (very straight vertically), till full lock when it is severe.

I suspect that this together with the anti squat effect of the CTS is the culprit to the wash outs particularly on sand, and this is why you are correct in that you have to increase sag to 120mm and push the forks down into the tripple clamps to alter the geometry to compensate.

These are just my ovservations.

SAM511

On a side note (not trying to hijack the thread), the new frame that Husky will be selling in two years solves the cts lifting in the corners and squats down like a regular motorcycle.

Interesting ... And yep, different thread on the CTS ... And yep, many questions ... is it gonna be on all the bikes (250cc) in the future ...As the bikes stand today, 2 different technologies are at play between the 250 \ 450 models ... They are probably gonna have to be combined shortly ... Huskies bikes should really start to get interesting in the next few years ....

I think I'm gonna take my TC250 to a cool, small track today to practice and attempt some of the correct sitting positions Gary is explaining above ...

wonder if its going to be similar to a 4 link in drag cars

This sounds like the advice I am looking for! I like my new wr300, but I am getting fatigued earlier and arm pump and most of all front end knifing on me. My other bike is a crf 450. You would think that the husky would be superior in all these areas. I am frustrated right now because I enjoy my husky but am at my witts end about the front end wanting to wash all the time. I will stiffen it up and give it a try. How far down are your front tubes seated? That would also raise the front end in relation to the rear. Have you tried that, and if so what was the effect?

My 300 XC-W did this to me as well. I went to a different front tire; GT 216 AA fat tire and sag. Huge difference, especially in the soft loam/sand.