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What does it mean to "Tuck the Front"?

roland

roland

New member
Joined
Jun 17, 2008
Location
San Ramon
Moto(s)
Ninja 250
Hear it a lot (usually in reference to an impending lowside)... can someone explain?
 
Too much front brake in a turn and you'll "tuck the front". You could also simply run out of front tire traction and "tuck the front". There are probably some others that can pipe in here. I've only experienced this on a supermoto in a dirt section on the track.
 
In a low side, the front wheel feels like it's sliding under the bike. "Tucking the front in under the bike."
 
I read that it's what guys do their package when trying to dress up and pass as a woman....?


YMMV
 
Disregard the text. This is what tucking the front looks like.
1accident146.jpg
 
roland said:
Hear it a lot (usually in reference to an impending lowside)... can someone explain?
Click to expand...

It'll happen a couple ways.. usually you're going too slow with too much lean angle and you back off the gas.. there it is.. also the same situation but add some front brake.. same thing happens.. then again.. gravel will do the same.. If you're used to the feeling.. you can plant your foot, risking knee and ankle injury, to keep yourself up.. but it's gotta be quick.. can't let it linger like a smelly fart..
 
some bikes like to tuck(push) a little more than others due to the geometry of the bike.. you can mitigate this by adjusting the trail of the bike with a rear link adjuster or pushing the forks farther down in triple effectively increasing the contact patch of the front tire.
 
monstermonster said:
Fabrizio/Spies. Watch the slow motion at the end.
Click to expand...

IMHO, Tucking and Losing the front are two different things, (feel free to debate if you think I'm off-base here), to me, the picture above, with dufas on the 955i tucked the front where-as Fabrizio, lost the front. The physics of where you (and the bike) end-up are similar, but how the chassis folds from underneath you is different.

Fabrizio had a majority of his weight on the front-end as he was on the brakes and had to tighten his line with more lean angle until he lost grip. If you'd imagine that the bike normally sits/rides on the bottom of your tire (at say 6 o'clock), Fabrizio, lost traction towards (the side) and the 7 o'clock direction, as you see the tire just "scoots" out from under him.

Dufas on the 955i, apexed too early and then added "GOBS" of lean angle midway into his turn while probably getting OFF the gas too. Then, traction on the front tire effectively crawled-up (to say 5 o'clock) decreasing the rake and trail of his bike and hence the road "grabs the front", tucking it in on him. Also, adding front brake too fast will also amplify this situation, but this guy was visually already a "gonner" in the first pic, (not to mention all that great gear they were wearing).:rofl

So, I'm no Superbike instructor, but I will tell you in the best terminology I can from past experience, however, in either case, you do get an unsettling feeling before both begin to happen. If you take the right pace and line to start with on the street, you shouldn't even have these feelings because "ideally", you shouldn't be relying on your front that much. Losing the back tire, is far more easily recoverable with the right feel on the throttle, but losing the front happens so fast, you'll be chewing on asphalt before you know what hit you.:kicknuts

Pro Tip: Set your lean angle on your turn-in, then smoothly maintain throttle and then open-it smoothly as possible. If you're adding lean mid-turn (especially after your apex), you're asking for trouble. I think Keith Code's superbike school (or all of them) teach you to try and make no more than one mid-corner correction on the bars...using throttle to adjust is much cleaner.

Further reading: Read pg. 38, 53 and page 79 on "Early Apex" in Nick Ienatsch's book "Sport Riding Techniques"....GREAT book, thats where I learned it. :teeth
 
rean1mator said:
some bikes like to tuck(push) a little more than others due to the geometry of the bike.. you can mitigate this by adjusting the trail of the bike with a rear link adjuster or pushing the forks farther down in triple effectively increasing the contact patch of the front tire.
Click to expand...

You don't increase the contact patch by changing the ride height at the front or rear, you change the rake and trail numbers, which can add or remove stability and that "planted" feeling in the corners.
 
you boys go outside & fight it out......

OP, here's another, 'street' view of tucking the front
[copied from elsewhere on BARF] -
 

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If you go into a turn at full lean you should generally have been on the gas at the entry point, equalizing the weight distribution of the bike while on the gas (unloading the front weight on the tire abit, while loading up the rear a hair).
If you go into a turn hot the weight distribution is still way towards the front because you're on the brakes, then you decide to let the brakes off maybe to fast without the correct throttle imput (always roll on the throttle when your done braking)the weight bias is still going forward hence you tuck the front due to incorrect throttle response.
Either that or you go in way too hot slam on the brakes at a lean and off you go.
 
RacerAlx said:
<snip>
(always roll on the throttle when your done braking)
<snip>
Click to expand...

...and as you get more advanced (as I'm sure Alex and I know many of the racers do), you can roll on(ease-on) the throttle before your braking trails-out and that allows the rear to squat even earlier, aiding that rear-bias push through the turn...but be careful here, especially if you have a bike with "big kahunas". Not sure, but I think this is called torque-steer. Anyways, master everything else first and worry about this later.

Ride Safe!
 
DYTB said:
you can roll on(ease-on) the throttle before your braking trails-out and that allows the rear to squat even earlier.
Click to expand...

Rolling on the throttle does transfer some cornering load to the rear tire. However, it does not cause the bike to squat. Because of the swingarm/chain geometry, throttle will usually lift the rear up a little.
 
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