If you’re new to motorcycling, you may have wondered about your levers — specifically, which fingers you should be using to grab them. The MSF may well have taught you to use all four fingers, but the MotoGP pros never seem to do that. What gives? Is Marc Marquez some kind of moron who doesn’t even know basic riding? Well, no. The real answer is that any number of fingers can be the right number to squeeze your clutch or brake with. It’s just a matter of adjusting for the situation you’re in.
Some styles of riding call for fewer fingers, others call for more. Neither is wrong in a vacuum, but either can be wrong for a given riding situation. Sometimes one might be the right answer, sometimes four, but we’ll help you sort out the difference. Just keep in mind that you do not, in fact, know more than Marc Marquez. None of us do.
Why you may want fewer fingers
MotoGP riders, the best of the best, rarely if ever grab their front brake with four fingers — and rarely grab their clutch at all, but that’s a topic for another day. The reason why is simple: Control. Putting four fingers on your levers means there’s nothing left to grip the bar with, and you lose a degree of precision over your steering. Similarly, it can be easier to modulate brake or clutch pressure with fewer fingers rather than more. If you can fully disengage your clutch and engage front ABS (or lock up the front wheel), then you’re able to provide enough pressure to the levers. More fingers will only lose you precision.
When I’m out riding, I’ll usually use two fingers each for my clutch and front brake. It’s my own personal muscle memory at this point, but it’s not written in stone. When I did Yamaha Champ School last year, I found myself using just one finger on the front brake far more often than I used two — all because of the extra precision in braking and steering it afforded me, particularly when doing both at the same time.
Why you may want more
Towards the end of a long ride, though, I’ll often end up with four fingers on my clutch. A friend of mine whose riding involves plenty of Boston traffic uses four fingers at all times. This too has a simple reason, even simpler than the precision of keeping your fingers on the bars: Pulling levers all day is tiring.
This is why moto cops, in videos of police rodeos, frequently resort to a three- or four-finger pull on their clutch levers to keep their control up through a full day of clutchwork at a rodeo. This is also why I often end up using four fingers for rides home from the rock climbing gym, where I’ve already exhausted my grip strength. Fewer fingers on your levers may give you more control, both over the bars and the brake or clutch, but four fingers lets you keep riding for longer without getting tired.
