From a burnout to a 360, here’s what this training session taught us!
We at BikeDekho recently had a chance to attend the Red Bull Moto Jam 2025 in Chennai and learn basic Stunt riding on a Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450. Here’s a brief overview of our experience and what we learnt from this session.
Stunt Riding Basic Precautions
Stunt riding is risky if you don’t take the right precautions, so the session started with the basic dos and don’ts of stunt riding. The first thing we had to keep in mind was having all of our riding gear in place. A good helmet, a riding jacket, gloves, knee guards, and riding boots were a must.
Second, practice had to be done in a safe, closed space, away from traffic. An empty parking lot, for example, is a good place to practice. For our training, we started practice in an enclosed space right next to the Royal Enfield Stall.
Another important precaution we had to take was not to let our ego get in the way. This meant that we shouldn’t be trying out moves which we had never tried before.
The Session
The first thing we learnt to do was a burnout, and after that we moved on to more advanced stunts like a 360. So the basic idea behind the burnout was letting the rear wheel spin fast enough while keeping the front locked.
Before we started, we had to first get a basic idea of brake and clutch control. Our instructors recommended we use two fingers on both the clutch and front brake. This way we have control and at the same time won’t end up pulling the clutch and brake too hard.
So for the burnout, the first thing we had to do was engage the front brake and load the suspension. After that, we had to put the bike in first gear and start. The key was to release the clutch after giving a good amount of throttle to get the engine rpm high and the rear wheel spinning.
We had to keep the front loaded the whole time or else the bike would have jumped ahead. Once the wheelspin was achieved the burnout would begin. Tarmac by nature offered better traction than dirt, so this meant that I had to rev the engine a lot higher than what I would be doing on dirt. Once I got the burnout done, I realised it was not as difficult as I thought it would be.
Now, getting the burnout right was easy. But moving on to the 360 was the hard part. The first step was sitting on the bike, and transferring the weight to the left leg. After this, we were told to sit ahead and load the front like we had done earlier and start the burnout. Once the burnout had begun, we tilted the bike and allowed the rear to start slipping. I tried to get it right a few times, but the best I was able to achieve was a 180-degree turn.
Lessons Learned
Other than getting a solid understanding of how to do a burnout and a 360, One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from this session was the importance of safety. Stunt riding can be extremely dangerous, and the probability of crashes is quite high.
Another thing that I learned is that stunt riding is quite a tiring activity. My hands started feeling numb after a while. The heavy clutch action on the Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450, along with the fatigue from holding down the front brake, started to wear me out.
I was also wearing road riding gloves, which although offer excellent protection, are not suited for such activities. I still went with them as in case of a crash, the first point of impact will be the hands and I didn’t want to take any chances. I had to sacrifice comfort for protection but this was a tradeoff I was willing to make during the learning stages.
Given the kind of risks at play, I could now understand why our coaches insisted that we don’t attempt any new stunts which we haven’t done before. Overall, the session was quite enlightening and showed me a different side of motorcycling. One which we get to see often, but one which we rarely get to experience first-hand.
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