Very often, however, we see riders committing some very basic mistakes which slow them down around corners significantly. That said, however, there are some basics which you can implement in your riding style , and it would start reflecting in the way you ride rather instantly.
Equipped with these basic techniques, you can then hone your control over the motorcycle to slice through those bends even faster. To give you the required confidence, here are five very simple yet effective riding techniques which will help you go faster around corners on a motorcycle and make you a more confident rider.
You really have to look reasonably far ahead, and look really where you wish to place your motorcycle. And this process of looking and scanning far ahead has to be constant, in tune with the speed of your motorcycle.
In its own mysterious ways, your body follows the direction of your eyes, and manages to place the bike where you are looking. This is also the reason why you are advised against looking at an obstruction, or a surprise on the road that you wish to avoid. Yes, you heard that right. Push the side of the handlebar where you wish to turn the bike. So if you are taking a left hander, push the left handlebar while leaned over; ditto for right.
Sounds stupid, right? Not without reason is counter-steering such a mystifying concept. By pushing the inner handlebar you actually make the bike take a corner while traversing a tighter arc. While being on a motorcycle, you need to be fluid and flexible, and move your weight around it without any jerky movements. Your speed around bends is also a function of how smoothly you transfer your weight from side to side, without unsettling the motorcycle.
Talking specifically of body parts, you should try and keep your hands as stress-free and light as possible. Locking your elbows or stiffening up your shoulders at the arm-joints is a no-no. Another aspect of being smooth is your hygiene with the throttle position, braking and gearshifts when you go around bends. So a good idea is to practice this skill on roads and corners that you are very familiar with.
For negotiating a corner in the smoothest manner possible, the ideal way is to finish your braking, and gearshifts before you enter the corner. Once you dip the motorcycle in, with a constantly smooth throttle input, only very slightly modulated should take you to the apex, and thereon you start cracking open the throttle to power out.
Advanced level riders can actually carry their front braking into a corner, specifically on a racetrack. You need to hold the outside line until you see the turn begin to open up. When you see the turn open up, you can then start to swing yourself over to the inside position and finish the turn. This allows you to easily set up for any corner that might be right after the one you are taking. Decreasing radius turns are handled almost the same as tight turns.
Except you need to make sure your entry speed and lean angle still has some headroom left. You need headroom just in case you need to increase your lean angle and tighten your line mid-turn.
Just hold your line and increase your lean as needed until you see the turn start to open up. You need to select an entry speed that allows you to safely and comfortably make it through the corner. Try not to max this out , you always want a little bit of lean left in case you need it in an emergency. When you are slowing down to set your speed, make sure you are also changing gears as needed.
Most motorcycles will easily be able to take most turns at the posted speed limit if not much faster. Setting up slightly below this will make sure you will be confident and comfortable getting through the corner. You can always speed this up as you get better. Be cautious when it comes to blind corners. A Blind corner is when you cannot see your exit point before you are in the turn. You have no way of knowing what is waiting for you, so slow it down for these.
You are almost ready to start taking the corner, but you still need to do a quick scan for hazards before you commit and lean your motorcycle. Keep and eye out for things like; tar snakes, sewer grates, leaves, gravel, oil patches, puddles etc. Anything that can cause you problems or reduced traction in a corner.
Not mid-corner. The toughest part is already done. To do this, you are going to use counter steering. Counter steering is when you are traveling around 15mph and up, you need to turn the handlebars left to go right.
Chances are if you know how to ride a bicycle you already know how to do this. If you are already riding a motorcycle, you are doing this without even knowing.
Now what? You gotta exit the turn and straighten the bike up. This is probably the easiest part of the whole process. Just watch for the turn to open up and the road start to straighten. This is also the right time if you want to increase your throttle.
To straighten up and cancel out your lean, press or apply pressure on the grip furthest away from the ground. So if you are leaned over turning right, press on the left side grip. Try to plan your exit point so you are ready for any turns that might be next. There are a few, all of them can cause you to crash. So never do these:. Not looking through the turn. This is a big mistake many riders make when taking a corner, they neglect to look through the turn.
Not only does it prevent you from scanning ahead for hazards and changing road conditions, you also run the risk of falling victim to target fixation. Target fixation is a phenomenon that causes riders to become so focused on a hazard or object that they actually increase the risk of colliding with it.
Basically, you go where you look. You can easily avoid this if you look through the turn. Try turning your head and pointing your nose where you want to turn, your eyes will follow. Chop the throttle. The last thing you want to do is upset the balance of a motorcycle when you are leaned over or in mid-turn.
But how do you get your speed down to a safe level to take the corner and react if anything should go wrong? Well, there are a few factors at work that need to be looked at. To correctly judge your corner speed you're going to have to assume early on in the braking phase what your maximum speed at the apex will be.
Should a dog, cat or tractor pull out in front, you need to get it stopped in time. It goes without saying, getting most — but not all — your braking done in a straight line is a plus. After the initial slowing down is done in a straight line, any other force through the braking system should be applied smoothly and gently.
Roadcraft Notttingham. To help you get the best view around the corner you need to open up the bend as much as is safely possible as you approach the corner. You don't want to sit on the white line, just inches to the left of it.
For right-handers move the bike to the left side of the road out towards the kerb. Using the vanishing point of the corner to judge the severity of the bend is a good but not fool-proof method. The idea is to look through the corner as far as you can, limiting your speed to that which you can safely stop before reaching the vanishing point. If the vanishing point starts to come towards you, the corner is getting tighter and you should adjust your speed accordingly.
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