Faster Cornering

[Az]

I don't know why, but every time I come to a bend on a fast ride out on almost every bend that I can't clearly see all the way round I feel the need to touch my brakes before entering the bend, I then get onto the bend and think, I could of just full throttled it round this.

Sometimes it's even just a tiny bit of braking, as in I probably don't even slow down more than 5mph, but i always feel the need to cover my brakes and slow down.

Here's how I take a bend: brake before bend, lean, throttle on as soon as I can see round the bend complete or coming out of the bend.

Is there any good tips on how to read a bend and get an idea of how tight it is before turning into it?
And do you have any tips on my cornering method?

The reason I ask is that, the faster part of the group I ride with don't even seem to slow down for a lot of the bends or brake, they just get straight round them and they're gone.

TL:DR - Any tips on fast cornering and how to read how tight a bend is before entering it?

[Wonko The Sane]

Move to the outside of the corner (so on a right hand bend, move left, left hand bend move out towards the white line but be ready to move back across if needed) so that you can see further round the corner sooner

Basically, move on the road to get the furthest view up the road.
____________________
Looking to pass your CBT / Bike tests in Bury Lancashire? try www.focusridertraining.co.uk Would recommend.
They're also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Focus-Rider-Training/196832923734251

[notbike]

Look at the tree line, if the tree line seems to cut right across the bend then it is tightening. if the tree line seems to be gentle or seems to "open up" as you're entering the bend then it's probably a gentle bend. I dunno how to explain it that great but RoadCraftNottingham has a video on it on youtube which explains it a lot better than I did check him out.

Stop comfort braking, judge your speed into the bend. That group probably practices the same bends over and over so they know the "feel" of the bend and can get all their entry/lines/exit speeds without thinking about it.

Just ride within your comfort zone, go at your own pace, if you lose em then oh well more practice!

Edit again: Nevermind, The Shaggy D.A. posted the video link just below

[Andy_Pagin]

Sounds live you've developed a confidence issue and subconsciously feel a need to brake to protect yourself. Why not just throttle back a bit in a lowish gear before you take the bend and consciously keep off of the brakes, do this a few times on bends you're familiar with and you'll soon break the habit. If you keep the revs up you can vary your speed purely with the throttle, I treat the brakes purely as an emergency system and a slow riding tool.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Might be preaching to the choir, but have you heard of the vanishing point?

[edit] two replies whilst I looked for the video, this is the one Meef referred to.
____________________
Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[CaNsA]

[chickenstrip]

Depends on the corner. Some I'll pile into on the front brake, a fraction of a second to let things settle, then throw it in (tight corners I'm familiar with). More open, but still can't see where it's going, I'll use more engine braking, drop a gear or two; less need to let things settle this way, and gives you greater flexibility to adjust as you see how things go.

If it's a bend you don't know, always better to go in too slow, in a lower gear, use acceleration to drive out hard. You've heard "slow in, fast out"?

Bear in mind there are no prizes for getting around bends fast on the road; only a rewarding feeling from getting it right. Find a good mix of different corners near you, practice them so that you'll have more idea when you come into unfamiliar territory. As others have said, use clues like the vanishing point, looking across the bend when it's not obscured by trees etc, shift your weight before you tip in, look at where you want the bike to go, rather than where you don't want to! But never go flat out into corners you don't know.

And not forgetting, keep it smooth!

My bet is also on others in your group knowing the roads better. Also, if they're on light sports bikes with quality shocks etc, you'll find it harder on a Bandit. Doesn't mean it can't be done though!

A little summary: corner approaching, blip the throttle on the downshifts (usually one or two) whilst simultaneously shifting your weight to the appropriate side, and lining up your approach to give you maximum view; use all of the available lane where it is safe to do so, going in as wide as you can (on the road, not always possible). All that done, now you can tip into the corner, watching the vanishing point for your guide as to where it's going. When that vanishing point starts to move away from you, the corner is opening up and you can get back on the throttle. The throttle should not be off through the corner; rather neutral (not changing) or gently feeding in to adjust (good reason for "slow in"). Off throttle means less control of the bike.

But an unfamiliar corner can start to ease and then tighten again, so it's a question of constantly reading it, and adjusting as required.

If it tightens up unexpectedly, you can use a little exaggerated counter-steering to get the bike round; push forwards on the inside bar, effectively steering out of the corner (counter-intuitive, but this is how your bike goes around a corner even when you're not aware you're doing it). Practice this at slower speeds on corners you know to get a feel for it.

There are always places and situations on the road where you can't get it perfect or things suddenly change (e.g. due to other road users); you have to be ready for this. I'd say always keep a little in hand, i.e. don't ever be right on the limit, so you have choices when this happens.

I seem to remember you didn't do too badly two-up in Wales
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[CestrianX]

Classic case of not trusting your tyres. Have faith in them, they are better at cornering than you are. Look where you intend to be in a couple of seconds time and enter the corner at the correct speed.

[esullivan]

[barrkel]

Do a bike tour through northern Spain. You'll get more bend reading practice in a week there than a year in the UK.
____________________
Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[Wonko The Sane]

How square are your tyres?

Found it hard to get the bike to lean into and settle in bends when I've mainly been doing motorways for a while
____________________
Looking to pass your CBT / Bike tests in Bury Lancashire? try www.focusridertraining.co.uk Would recommend.
They're also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Focus-Rider-Training/196832923734251

[chickenstrip]

[barrkel]

[thomp1983]

like alot of people your probably turning in too early and not committing enough it can be unnerving at first feeling as if your running out of road and throwing the bike over but the bike is more than capable of doing it

[CG Sam]

If you find yourself up around Penkridge on the A34 turn left onto the Teddesley Road and do a few runs back and forth along it. It'll give you a huge amount of confidence with cornering, just do the first run pretty steady, not a massive amount of room for error. I love that road.

Edit: The road surface is great, not many junctions, or much traffic on the stretch between Penk and the A34, but watch for mud from tractors.
____________________
CG125, SV650S, CBR600F, GSXR600 SRAD

[mentalboy]

[Sload]

Just dont hammer hard into corners on bends you are not familiar with, it's not a race track. I have said before though that it can be the "oh fuck" moments when you overcook it in that can progress your lean angle. You either tuck it over harder or crash.

As for tips, seat time, watch vids and judge the corner radius from looking at the kerb distance at the end of your visibility. It does work but is not fool proof.
____________________
Honda Varadero >> Triumph Speed Four >> Honda CBR1100xx

[MCN.]

Throw it in and hope it sticks.

Agression is king.


Don't do this,listen to the posts above

[Teflon-Mike]

"Always ride at a speed in which you can safely stop, in the distance you can see to be clear'.....
Are you sure its YOU that is doing it wrong?
Lot of folk pile into bends faster than is prudent, 'cos ninety-nine times out of a hundred on that or similar bend, there's never been anything in the space they cant see they have needed to haul up for.... Hindsight, is 20/20 "I could have taken that bend flat out"... is only granted after you have seen the whole picture, not before. & Its a dangerouse thing to try and rate your own riding by others; you can easily learn their faults as their strengths.

So back to the initial proposition of the highway code...Always ride at a speed at which you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear... so how can you increase the distance you can see?

Usually bends are less than 90 degrees, and eve with hedges either side, you should e able to see through them, to see they are clear. So only on tighter turns you will have a 'vanishing point' where the road ahead disappears from view ... as you approach, the vanishing point will be getting closer... distance you can see to be clear getting shorter... so you probably aught be slowing down.... and continuing to slow, right up until that vanishing point starts to go away from you and the distance you can see to be clear is increase, not reducing....

Next step is to ride for sight lines, so as to maximise the distance you can see to be clear, as has bee mentioned, 'edging' to left or right of centre, so you can see more of the corer before you get to it, then, as has also been mentioned NOT turning your corners before you reach them.

99% of people turn long before they need to; which takes you into the corner earlier strangling your sight line, as well as reducing the time and space you have to do anything differently, and pick the best line and speed, and frequently demands a mid-corner change, as initial 'early' line is to wide or too tight.

Next time you are at at a set of traffic lights; watch the cars turning right into the road next to you; invariably, they will start steering towards their exit the moment they pass the give way line, rather than going 'straight' those extra few feet that's the width of the left hand lane you are sat in; if they take it in one wide curve, they are probably a couple of cars lengths past the give way you are sat at, before they are straight; more often though they will realise they are turning too soon, so straighten up, go diagonally a little, then have to make another turn into the exit. If they JUST went that extra cars length or so first, 'straight', they would have more space and time, before they had to turn into potentially on-coming traffic; they could make one, neat, tight turn into their exit, and be accelerating two, three cars lengths earlier, spending less time in the 'danger-zone' as well as being better able to see any danger, d do anything about it.

Now, don't sweat country roads and trying to read them. Ponder, this 'early turning'' business, and round-town, try it. When you are at a set of lights turning right, DON'T turn straight from the give way; stay straight to the middle of the road you are entering, then make the turn in one, short shot. That's the principle here; and in that situation you can see more readily how it works, and how much extra time and space you can make, not 'rushing' your corners.

It's easy to get the sense of it round town junctions, where you have nice road markings, central bollards and the like to give you easy references to see how it works, and all hopefully at friendly speeds.

The you can start applying it on country roads. Finding your OWN sight lines, making your OWN road room, remembering the rule, to ride at speed in which you can stop in the distance you can see... not at the speed some-one else might, in which they may or may not be able to stop in the distance THEY can see, which may or may not be the same space YOU can either see OR stop in!
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Rogerborg]

[evoboy]

[Pol Anorl]

Try a trackday to gain confidence just dont push it too far, its better to be slower than a corpse.. they move super slow.
____________________
GOOD GAME BODYGUARD: https://i.imgur.com/8WePGgf.jpg
20:30:37 Pyro.: I don't sort of like men, I take every advantage to choke on dick.
Jewlio Iglesias: You live in Liverpool - Chances are, the front door has already been kicked off the hinges

[Mario_Kempes]

If I don't know the roads I don't hammer it in the straights so don't need to hammer it on the brakes. It's not necessary to transition from accelerating to braking on every corner.

Turn late. Much later than you think is necessary. Keep an eye out for crap on the roads and dicks crossing the centre line.

Going fast in a group is a recipe for disaster anyway IMO. Whenever I've been out pin a group I chill the fuck out mostly. It's when I'm on my own, and when I know the roads, that i really go for it.

[Skudd]

A lot of cornering is to do with confidence, confidence in your skills, bike, road position, the road and speed. I used to be fairly quick and could hustle my bike along with most riders, but this last year or two I haven't been on the bike and am VERY rusty, so a little confidence has gone so my corners are slow and almost square like.
What I need is a few weeks of riding the Welsh roads and around the Dales for a few weeks and I'll soon be up to scratch again, but for the moment I'm going at my pace, getting the position right and keeping the speed within my limits, soon those corners will be flowing one after another.
____________________
Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[SteveSmith]