Continuing with our Glossary of Motorcycle Terms, moving to those that begin with the letter “H.”
Hammer down: To accelerate quickly or ride aggressively.
Handlebars: Where the rider places his hands to control the motorcycle’s steering. There are several variations of handlebars for different riding postures and uses i.e. touring, racing, cruising, etc.
Hang-off: The action by the rider moving his body mass to the inside and off the motorcycle when taking a corner. More commonly called the kneedown, or at least when the knee does touch the road.
Hardtail: A motorcycle with no rear suspension.
Head: No, not the toilet, but a short name for the engine’s cylinder head.
Header: The “front” part of the exhaust system with attaches to the engine block. It then leads to the downpipe/downtube, to the catalytic converter and finally, the muffler/silencer.
Headlight/s: The main light or lights at the front of the motorcycle for illumination and to provide more visibility to other road users.
Heat: High temperatures whether relating to the bike, or whether, or just anything to do with temperature. It also means the police or authorities in American movies.
Highside: A motorcycle crash involving the rear wheel temporarily losing traction and suddenly regaining traction, and throwing the rider over the bike’s handlebars, as opposed to the “lowside” where the bike and rider drop onto the ground.
Holeshot: Racing term used in motorcycle racing referring to the rider who takes the lead and reaches the first corner or turn ahead of the other competitors immediately after the start of the race.
Holeshot device: First used in motocross, this device locks down the forks down to let the rider have better control at the start. Pressing the brake dips the forks down further and disengages the device for normal suspension operation. The device was subsequently adopted first by Ducati in MotoGP. However, the MotoGP holeshot device lowers both the front and rear of the bike, to lower its centre of gravity hence limit wheelies when the motorcycle accelerates hard from the start line, practically turning the bike into a dragster.
Hooning: Hooning is a term that is often used to describe reckless and irresponsible behaviour on a motorcycle or any other vehicle. It refers to engaging in dangerous stunts, excessive speeding, and disregarding traffic laws and safety regulations. Hooning typically involves wheelies, stoppies, burnouts, drifting, and other high-risk maneuvers. Otherwise known as “rempit” in Malaysia.
Horn: Audible device used to warn others.
Horsepower (HP): A unit of measurement that quantifies the power output of an engine. It indicates the rate at which the engine can perform work i.e. the maximum amount of work produced by an engine. The higher the horsepower, or engine speed, the more power the engine can generate.
