standing on footpegs crazy GS riders

[sit]

This all being said, I hope too that most officers would not worry about a brief standing up to stretch the legs. Heck I doubt that many of them even know about the law. Most if interested would just stop you for careless. Cool your jets, not saying it is, just saying that would most likely be the ORS they would "reach" for fist in stopping a rider standing. And remember, if you do get pinched for it, depending on your state's laws, trying to argue that you have been through what ever class for off road or what not is not going to fly for on road, normal riding.

[Polarbear]

Standing is an art to some riders of much expertise! Its a balance issue to the best of the best offroaders and even the newbies learning it. Its a rest for weary road and dirt riders with siitng too long in saddle. Blood flows into the butt again, as we stand, even briefly, feels so good. Road racers rarely stand, but actually LEAN/slip OFF the saddle into a turn, rubbing knees on pavement and this gives a better tire patch on the track/pavement. Keeping the bike as verticle as possible! Many ways to see coming off a seat. Us DIRT guys like standing and the more we do it, the better we get at riding dirt. Its a challenge to stand LONG, if unpracticed at it. It burns the muscles, we rarely use. My Cons; Your mass is indeed raised standing, so IF the bike/you, gets the need to stop very quickly, you are in the wrong place up there! Sitting is a HUGE mistake, riding in soft terrain or bumpy terrain. Know your place, as the conditions make all the difference and finding yourself ABLE to move about on the bike only makes you a better rider. SOME bikes are simply not made to stand on the pegs, handlebar/seat position and all is just wrong. The GS lineup and many street bikes are possible to go up on the pegs. Pick the right time/place and go for it. Start easy. Randy PS; Ref to standing/dirt and hard terrain! (TIP)Its much "easier" to come OFF your bike while standing, handling hard, slow terrain, first gear kind a riding. This is GOOD, as we find ourselves in the need to separate from bike on occasion. Experts understand, maybe you can agree, as we just walk off the bike. Randy

[Mike_Philippens]

Standing is an art to some riders of much expertise! Its a balance issue to the best of the best offroaders and even the newbies learning it. Its a rest for weary road and dirt riders with siitng too long in saddle. Blood flows into the butt again, as we stand, even briefly, feels so good. Road racers rarely stand, but actually LEAN/slip OFF the saddle into a turn, rubbing knees on pavement and this gives a better tire patch on the track/pavement.

Standing on the pegs on a racer is very difficult because the steering is too low. You'd be very uncomfortable. Om my R850RT it's not a problem, but I'm bend over a bit. A GS (and dirtbike too) have a higher steering wheel. It should be high enough to enable you to stand up comfortably.
I did a trip to Dakar last year, all the way through the Sahara desert and then you'll have to stand. In sand or on gravel tracks, if you don't you can't really control the bike.
I do it on the RT on long stretches to get some blood in the old behind and to get some cooling too. I live in Holland, and we have loads of speedbumps. Sometimes it's really crazy; you have to slow down to crawling speed to prevent a launch. A GS is better suited for that. But if you stand up, the bike can do anything it wants.

I did an advanced driving course one (here in Holland) and they let you do bike gymnastics. It starts with standing on the pegs, and you end up sitting like an amazone with both legs on one side of the bike. It sounds and looks like very complicated stuntwork, but when you do it, you notice it's very easy. This exercise shows you how stable the bike is at speed and that it won't fall over just like that because you move your body over. Very good exercise!

[Visian]

Standing up on the footpegs will also raise the center of gravity, making you and your bike more top heavy.

No it actually lowers the center of gravity. Counter intuitive I know but the load carried by the seat is shifted to the pegs and thus lowers the center of gravity increasing stability in the process.

More accurately it converts a tightly coupled system (you and the bike joined at your butt) to a loosely coupled system where your knees act as a spring that lightly separates the mass of the bike from your mass. The CG of the bike is lowered. Your CG is raised. More importantly you can move your CG around. When riding in loose stuff the location of the CG may be more important than how high it is off the ground. Moving your body to put the CG over the contact patch helps control the bike.

here's what i've learned from hundreds of thousands of miles of off-pavement riding and not one riding (or physics) lesson:

It's the combined (bike+rider) CoG that counts. When standing, squeeze the bike with your knees and use your upper torso as a counterweight to manage the combined CoG as you travel over the ground. When the bike starts going the wrong way, using your torso correctly can help steer the bike back to your intended line. (Depends on how quickly/forcefully things are going wrong... too fast/forceful and the correct strategy involves jumping.)

Personally, I almost never stand unless the ground is getting really rough (or if there is a press photographer present). People who ride with me always comment about that, saying "wow, you sure are smooth... why don't you stand?" I don't know... I guess I've never felt the need.

Having never taken any lessons, when people ask for advice, I am very shy to give it because, well, I don't know why things work! It just happens.

My personal off-pavement riding rules for big bikes are:

1) Steer with your feet.
2) Squeeze with your knees.
3) Grip the throttle like a screwdriver and dial it carefully.
4) Feather the clutch to keep the rear wheel from spinning, or to spin it judiciously, aka throttle-steering).

I may not be fast, but I rarely fall.

Ian