Cornering Technique

[Koltu]

Hey, sure this has been covered before but search is bringing up a lot of results and most unrelated to what I want .

Does anyone know/can link to any decent guides regarding all forms of cornering technique? I passed my mod 2 last month, and feeling more and more confident in most areas - apart from cornering...I rode snakes pass last week and a ball but was very slow round the bends - was inspiring to see how fast my friend who has been riding 3 years was - and what I can aim for. I am being told all sorts of things by different people and now I thinking too much round the bends rather than just enjoying myself - my main area of concern is body positioning - I feel at the moment like I leaning against the lean of the bike and obviously know this is wrong!! Riding a 51 plate 600 Hornet so I know the bike is far more capable than I'll ever be!

Cheers for any help guys!
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CBT: DONE! Theory : Passed, DAS - 12/13 Jan, Mod 1 Pass! Mod 2 Pass! Bike Honda Hornet 600

[pepperami]

If it`s not second nature and comftable then the chances are you`re close to being spat off!

Each bike behaves in a different way, so whats good for one rider might not be good for you.

Once a rider who is X 1000 times better than me told me two basic hints that have stood me in good stead and kept me in one piece.
I am no track rider or even a "crack" rider, but he told me brake more going into the corner (in a straight line).
His second hint was look were you want to go.

They`ve always worked for me, but then I`m not the worlds fastest rider.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[darthbuttchin]

Drop into WHSmith when you next can and pick up a copy of 'The New Motorcyclists Handbook' - it should be in the magazine section. Or you could get it from Mortons online.

Basically, it explains everything, with a bit of stupid humour thrown in. I havent applied the techniques yet (as my bike won't stop without stalling atm) but just reading it has settled me in my mind, if you know what I mean?

I think it's like £5.49 or something, but it goes into good detail too.

db
____________________
CG125-K1 (1978) - 35 years old and (mostly) going strong! (Restored and rebuilt by my own fair hands).
Call me Tomsk - I am the Flying Womble after all.

[Koltu]

[Rogerborg]

I'd suggest that you get the where, why and when right before worrying about the how. Motorcycle Roadcraft isn't exactly a barrel of laughs, but it does give some pointers about carrying speed through a corner on a public road.

If you want to skip straight to the "how", then consider a trackday.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[darthbuttchin]

I suppose the other thing to remember is 'practice makes perfect'!

The more you do corners, the better you'll get - ergo the faster you will take them.

Don't forget that every corner is a learning curve (pun intended). It's better to be a bit slower round them for the first few tries than to go whacking through them and end up upside down in a field with a dirty great motorcycle on top of you!

db
____________________
CG125-K1 (1978) - 35 years old and (mostly) going strong! (Restored and rebuilt by my own fair hands).
Call me Tomsk - I am the Flying Womble after all.

[pepperami]

[Koltu]

[pepperami]

You ride within your limits and what you feel comftable doing.
As you gain more experiance and confidence you will find yourself getting around the corners that little bit quicker.

You will "know" when you are better than you used to be.
Every biker will go through the same thing.
Some of us (me) know our limitations and stick to them.

I`m not saying for one moment you are going to be spat off , but you will feel if something is not right?
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Recluso]

Have a look through this. Especially some of the related posts. There's some interesting stuff in there pertaining to cornering, steering, hanging off etc.

It opened my eyes a little bit, plus explained a few bits and bobs too.
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'Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken.'
Honda PS125i > Yamaha YBR125 > Yamaha XJ6 Diversion > Yamaha Tracer 900

[Taught2BCauti...]

What Roger said ^

Far too many variables to consider to give a concise answer - road surface, camber angles, other road users, weather conditions, tyres and suspension, centre of mass, and many more.

Be guided by instinct and tempered by experience - bearing in mind that 'experience' is what you get, just after you needed it most:)
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Honda Varadero XL125(V8)
www.TheFutureIsHere.eu

[duhawkz]

See if you can download a copy of the twist of the wrist dvd, that pretty much covers what you want to know.

It might also be worth looking at joining your local iam group for some advanced training as well.
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"The guy is a worthless cunt and I honestly believe I would be a slightly happier person if he died." - Chris-Red

[Ariel Badger]

You need to come off a few times and get over your fear
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[HD]

I think the best course of action is for you to get a little video of you cornering so we can see what you need to improve on. But basically as someone said above, brake into the corner, lean the bike in and apply gradual throttle. Not so much you accelerate, just to keep the bike balanced and at the same speed. As you hit the apex of the corner and begin to come back to upright then you begin to open the throttle.

The actual body positioning varies from person to person but depending on how fast, how far you are leaning and how tight the corner is depends on what you may seem appropriate. If you are riding quick then you might want to approach the corner with your bum off the seat a bit, ball of your foot on the peg, looking through the corner with your head around mirror height and bring your arm out or else you become twisted. If your pottering then you may not want to move at all and just tip the bike in. If you are going in between the two, I like to move my heels back a bit and shuffle my bum across a tiny bit.

I haven't ridden that much to be honest, just what I've read and some of which I have put into practise, just haven't had the right bike to practise it on yet

Hope that helps a bit and as said, try to find some info and do some research but put it into practise.
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Rusty '02 Vito Camper + CBR600F3

[janner_10]

Look up twist of the wrist on you tube, bloke knows what he's on about.
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Yamaha FZS600 (Now gone to heaven) > CBR600F4i (SOLD) > '99 YZF-R1

[johnsmith222]

The only word you need to know at this point is

Smoothness!

Smooth braking, smooth rolling on the throttle, smooth rolling off the throttle, smooth lines through the bends etc.

I was faster when I tried to be smooth in comparison to when I was trying to be "fast". It stops the whole accelerating hard then braking hard for the bends and then having to get back up to speed again etc.

Speed will come later. The biggest thing is smoothness and looking through the bend even if you feel like you've messed up and you're not going to make it round it.

Fight any urges to not be smooth. eg slamming on the brakes, cracking open the throttle rather than rolling it on.

[Koltu]

[Paulington]

Being smooth makes you fast. Let out the clutch smoothly, get on the throttle smoothly, come off the brakes smoothly. To be fast you have to be smooth.

As has been said also, if you want to take a corner fast get pretty much *ALL* of your braking done before you 'tip' into the corner. This way when you do tip into the corner your tyres are using their maximum grip for cornering and not trying to corner and brake at the same time which will slow you down a lot.

Also, has been said but the best advice I can possibly give you is something I learnt in racing that transformed my driving/riding years ago and is quoted by a famous driver, cannot remember who, but in essence it is:

"Your mind should always be 5 tenths ahead of your vehicle".

An example of this being, when you start braking for a corner, you are looking directly at your 'turn in' point, about 5 tenths before you start turning in, you look at your apex, just before you hit the apex, look at your 'exit' point (where you begin to accelerate harder and harder), just before you hit the exit point, look at the next corner's braking point.

This means that as you are riding/driving/racing you are already ahead of the people around you and ahead of your vehicle so you are preparing for what is ahead. If you start thinking about braking and prepare to react to start braking long before you have to do so then you will do it better. If you look at your braking point, start braking and then look at your turn in point your vehicle will be ahead of you instead of you being ahead of the vehicle.

In my opinion this is the most important thing I ever learnt when it comes to racing/going fast/being safe on the road. It means I am prepared for something long before it even happens.

I also follow something called IPSGA I was taught from the IAM. It stands for:

Information
Position
Speed
Gear
Accelerate

This is more road-orientated but essentially it allows you to prepare for corners before you approach them, as above. Go through that list as you approach each bit of the corner that it is related to before you get to it and it will work wonders.

Lots of things out there too, I believe the standard recommendation is Twist of the Wrist?

Get out there and practice, best of luck! !
____________________
"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[iooi]

[DrDonnyBrago]

Keith Code A twist of the wrist 2.


Tis ace, a book and a DVD, the DVD is the better but both are useful.

[robbieguy2003]

Have a look at these links;

First is bike dynamics, bit of a physics lesson, but if you can get this in your head, you'll have a decent theory of what should happen, you can then build on that theory through practice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_and_motorcycle_dynamics

Second is what you asked for, a guide on cornering and what types of things you should do before entry, on entry, during corner and out of corner.

Two of the biggest things i've found that have helped have been leaning off and counter steering. If you use both together you'll be able to corner quickly and the bike will do it more comfortably.

Counter steering 101 - Ride in a straight line at say 30mph on a quiet road, gently push the left grip away from you (only a few mm), you'll turn left (note the bars are turning right), do the same on the right bar, you'll turn right. When you're actively doing this, think how much easier it'll be to do a corner now.

Secondly, leaning off with counter steering can be useful. Basically in a corner, the bike is leaning in, if it didn't have momentum (i.e. it was sat stationary), it'd fall over, but it does have momentum, so it has a force pulling it to the outside of the corner. If you can lean off to make the force pulling the bike to the ground and the force pulling the bike upwards even, then the bike will go around a corner in a more stable manner.
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Current Bikes: Honda CBR 600RR - '07, Suzuki GSX1250 FA ST '11
Old Bikes: Suzuki Intruder 125 LC - '2001, Honda CBR 600F - '92, Honda CBR 600RR - '03

[pinkyfloyd]

[FBSF]

The biggest tip I can give you is to make sure you are looking at where you want to go, not at the patch of tarmac 10-15ft in front of your front wheel, as a lot of "novices" do.

Providing you aren't going so close to the kerb as to necessitate looking, your spatial awareness will fill in the immediate issues, allowing your mind to concentrate on what is coming up.

It will feel strange to start off with, but after a while becomes second nature. At that point, your cornering will improve a great deal by itself.

[Squircle]

I'm in the same situation at the moment, only been riding a few months and most of that in rain/wind/hail, so my cornering isn't the best.

What I am learning pretty fast though is that when I approach a corner, if I'm all tensed up in my arms and shoulders, doing exactly what you describe eg over thinking it all, then I guess I'm basically fighting against the bike and stopping it from turning. When I relax, trust the bike and look exactly where I want to go, then all of a sudden I'm round the corner. I've certainly made the mistake of staring at the tarmac in front of the bike a couple of times.

The other thing that has helped is reading on here that many bikers have been through this, which stopped me thinking I was being slow on the uptake. It lifted some of the pressure I was putting on myself and I'm trying to let my confidence grow naturally and in its own good time!

[Daytona Paul]

Slow, Look, Lean, Roll.

Go into the corner slow, Pick your 'Turn Point' this could be anything, a bush, a drain cover, a mark on the Tarmac etc.

When you are closing on your 'Turn Point' look to the exit of the bend ie Where you want to go.

Lean the bike and Roll on the throttle.

Practice, practice, practice - when you are comfortable start upping the entry speed.

But remember, as iooi said Slow in Fast out

The video 'countersteering 101' on youtube is a good description of countersteering and will help.
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