Motorcycle drifting

Drifting—also known as skidding when you’re doing it on a bike—is a technique where you approach a corner on your bike at a high speed and move around the turn as your back tire loses traction with the ground. To successfully skid around a corner, you should lean into the turn as you're going around it and shift your body weight forward. Skidding on a bike takes practice, but once you get the hang of it, you can use the technique to improve your speed and ride private downhill trails with ease.

The move happens when you enter a corner with speed, lean your bike over to turn, and your tires start to lose traction. This causes your bike to slide, or “drift” as momentum pulls you to the outside of the corner. Skilled riders can anticipate this, and control it—making them faster down the hill. Drifts happen often in loose or wet terrain, where your tires have a hard time maintaining traction. This is different from skidding, which happens when you lock up your rear brake and drag your tires around the corner. Skids slow you down, but drifting helps maintain your speed and can have less impact on the trail.