Why motogp riders stick leg out?

There is a good chance that if you watch MotoGP for even a short period, you will witness riders extend their legs while braking. Depending on how they’re leaning their bike, you could also observe that it’s always the inner leg. Why do they act this way? Watch this useful video where we explain everything.

The sport of motorcycle racing is physically demanding. The demands on a racer’s physique increase as they move up the competitive ladder. Racers alter their bodies in this manner to increase the effectiveness of their braking since the G-forces produced by braking are pretty intense. That thus reduces the strain placed on their bodies.

This foot-dangling manoeuvre is comparable to setting up an “air anchor.” The weight transfer is equally important; it’s not only about the foot. There is a lot of weight in your leg from the ankle to the thigh. Dangling a leg helps to properly plant the bike and improve stability during braking by lowering your centre of gravity and moving it backwards away from the front of the bike.

Additionally, you’re relieving some of the strain on your arms and wrists, which are subjected to the greatest G-forces during severe braking. Riders in the MotoGP race move very fast, and they stop quite hard, too.

These things are made feasible by their equipment and training, but any human body would still be put under a lot of stress.

Any benefits from the leg dangle are, at most, marginal. However, riders competing at the MotoGP level are always trying to improve their lap times by even the smallest amount of time. After all, all those fractions of a second add up to whole seconds. If you can locate enough of those, you will have a big advantage over your rivals.

Unless you’re aiming for a track record and travelling at an extremely high speed, attempting this on a track day definitely won’t assist you much. You won’t notice much of a difference if you try this approach while driving around on your neighbourhood roads since you won’t be travelling fast enough (we hope, naughty) or braking hard enough for it to matter.

Even so, it’s an intriguing look at all the subtle tactics that great racers employ when competing.