This stunt is called "Reaching Out". It was one of the first stunts I learned. This photo was taken at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix AZ sometime in the early 90s at an NHRA national event.
In the back of my memory, I recall seeing a photo of "Cowboy Johny Brower" performing this stunt in the 1960s. Based on that photo, I taught myself this stunt on my Triumph 650 Bonneville. Since then, I have seen this stunt performed by various drill teams including the "Victor McLaglen Motor Corps" (my favorite).
My right foot is on the left foot-peg and firmly pressed up against the primary case, which gives me some control from swinging like an old barn gate back and forth. There is a lot of weight on my right arm as if I am holding up the bike. The bike is leaning way over to the right to counter balance me. I hold on to the left handle bar at the clutch lever mount. Call me chicken but I have always been afraid that if I held on to the handle bar grip, it might slide off!
I always perform this stunt by hanging off to the left so I don't mess with the throttle, which is locked to hold the bike at a constant speed. I perform this stunt at approximately 50mph. After about a year of performing this stunt on the Triumph, I discovered that the swing arm had become twisted. I could clearly see it by looking at the bike from the rear. The top of the tire was way over to the right in the fender. I still have that old Triumph out in my garage today, but since then the swing arm has been reinforced with angle iron welded down each side. When I first switched to Harleys, I routinely checked the rear wheel for placement but they never suffered this problem.
I crashed only once while performing this stunt over the last three decades. It was in Reading PA at the NHRA Keystone Nationals. What happened was my rear kill switch shut off while performing this stunt. At that time, I was experimenting with a stunt called "Bungee Skiing". I'm not going to get into the details of that stunt other than it used a kill switch mounted on the back fender of the bike with a thither attached to it. The thither was flapping in the wind and half way down the track, the wind pulled the switch to the off position. I did not expect this to happen but after picking myself up off the track, I inspected the bike and found the switch in the off position. This never happened while riding the bike normal, but the wind dynamics around the area where the switch is must change when "Reaching Out". That's the problem with stunt riding. You are on your own when it comes to learning new stunts and sometimes you have to learn things the hard way.
So let's talk about steering. You always have to steer even if it's just to keep the motorcycle going straight. So how do you steer a motorcycle? Most bikers will say "You don't steer; you lean". That's a good 20,000-foot answer but there's a little more to it than that.
Let's turn the question around. Consider this: I am riding my motorcycle and I lock the throttle at 40mph. Then while going no handed, I reach up with my left hand and push forward on the left handlebar and I do this without leaning. What happens? This is a test. This is a test that a lot of seasoned bikers can't answer! The answer: the bike will lean to the left and turn to the left. The bike goes opposite of the direction I apply pressure at the bars! So you can steer a bike by strictly pushing and pulling on the bars. When you do this, you're not really turning the front wheel. You're just putting pressure on the bars in the opposite direction that you want to turn.
You can steer a bike by leaning it too. Consider this: I am riding my motorcycle and I lock the throttle and then while going no-handed, I lean the upper part of my body to the right. What happens? The answer: my bike leans and steers to the right.
Note: the above discussion applies to speeds above the inversion point. For most motorcycles, the inversion point is approximately 15 mph. Below the inversion point, you steer the direction you desire to go. For bicycles, the inversion is much slower (thank goodness). For Bonneville land speed streamliners, the speed they cross the inversion point is typically much higher. It has to do with several factors including frame geometry and vehicle weight.
Do I steer my bike while performing this stunt? You bet I do. It's a matter of pushing and pulling on the left bar. When I was learning this stunt, first I practiced steering my bike with my right hand crossed over to the left handle bar. It's a weird feeling at first.
What happened after the bike died on me at the Keystone Nationals? The big compression of the H-D instantly slowed the bike down. I was thrown forward and as I went flying through the air, I pulled forward on the handlebar. But I was not able to hold on for long. Pulling forward on the left bar caused my bike to change its angle from leaning right to leaning left and it laid down on its left side. It was violent enough that as I skidded down the track to a stop, the bike slide past me on the left. I don't know what was bruised worse, my pride or my body! But it wasn't as bad as I had expected. I try to anticipate possible failures for all of my stunts as a matter of being prepared. I really envisioned I would stick my foot in the wheel and go down with the bike on top of me. My wife bought me a t-shirt after this crash that says "before you can be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid". How true!
Many thanks go to Bartels' Harley-Davidson for their support. Stunt riding is a form of pushing the frontier of what one can do on a bike. For every idea that I've had that works, there are dozens that have not. The team at Bartels' Harley-Davidson has been invaluable in my pursuit of all stunts.