Cornering position

Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting moving out of your lane at any time with any part of your body, just using the width of it.

[yorkie_chris]

That's not the point I'm getting at, there's nowt wrong with having your tyre half an inch on the edge of the kerb and dragging your knee in the grass at the side... if you can see... Nor using the entire road, full racing line, if you can see there's nothing coming...*

Point is, if you are heading into a corner with limited visibility like this, then you are severely limiting your view, given that you're heading nearly straight towards the thing you are wanting to see around.

With that line, if the corner tightens up (which you won't see coming, by the way), then you will have apexed way too early and run wide.



*In fact I do recommend this. Except the knee in the grass, that will likely hurt.

[gruntygiggles]

As you are a new rider, think...

Slow in....fast out!

So, drop off the speed, choose the right gear and position yourself to get the best view around the bend and take it easy...then, when you see the exit and have read the road ahead, you can start to power out of the bend confident that there is nothing unexpected coming. The worst thing for a new rider just going into bends trying to figure it out as they go is that you can get caught out by a corner tightening up on you. When that happens...if you are hugging the kerb or the centre lines, you leave yourself very little margin for error and won't have the experience to ride your way out of it. I say that from experience. luckily I had very good riders to learn with and follow and be critiqued by and my lord did they critique

I do agree with the racing line approach when you are on roads you know and have the experience to get yourself out of trouble, but if you are on roads you don't know, you have to bear in mind that you may take the racing line, hit the apex perfectly, then notice another bend fast approaching and be left to sort yourself out in a hurry. Again...a mistake I made after passing and learned from.

The best way to learn how to ride fast is to first learn how to ride smooth.

Use your obs to judge the bends

Choose a gear that puts you under power through the bend...enough that you are not coasting and won't need to change down mid bend, but not so much that you risk putting too much power to the back wheel when you accelerate out!

Look in the direction you want to go.

See your exit clearly before you get on the power and do it smoothly...remember that when you twist your wrist, the bike will want to sit up, so smooth is the way to go.

I haven't got nearly as much experience as many many membs on here but I learned by mistakes and it was when I followed the above advice that it all just clicked for me.

Good luck and ride safe.

[Fallout]

Dan, I would say if you're doing 60-70 around a bend on a countryside ride out you're riding 'energetically'. In that situation, I wouldn't worry too much about where you position yourself in the road. If there is an obstruction you can't see around a corner and you're doing 70, you're going to hit it and splat like a Ribena berry.

IMO, road positioning is only really suitable when you're riding at a speed where you're comfortable. If you're riding at a speed where you feel you might make a mistake and stray from your line, the last thing you want to think about is where to position yourself for maximum corner visibility. You need to work on feeling completely comfortable at the speed you're taking the bend first.

If you practice road positioning at easy speeds, I think you'll find being on the outside of the bend much more comfortable, because you'll feel capable of adjusting your line if you see a hazard you need to avoid.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by gruntygiggles

Choose a gear that puts you under power through the bend...enough that you are not coasting and won't need to change down mid bend, but not so much that you risk putting too much power to the back wheel when you accelerate out!

Just have some revs up, not spinning the wheel is more a fact of not using too much right hand!

Originally Posted by Fallout

Dan, I would say if you're doing 60-70 around a bend on a countryside ride out you're riding 'energetically'. In that situation, I wouldn't worry too much about where you position yourself in the road. If there is an obstruction you can't see around a corner and you're doing 70, you're going to hit it and splat like a Ribena berry.

IMO, road positioning is only really suitable when you're riding at a speed where you're comfortable. If you're riding at a speed where you feel you might make a mistake and stray from your line, the last thing you want to think about is where to position yourself for maximum corner visibility.

That's backwards thinking...

Your road positioning tells you what speed you CAN do, not the other way round.

For a start bikes are more stable at speed.


Take the number of mph out of your thinking. The techniques and physics are exactly the same whether you are flat out on a 125 stroker doing 45mph... or on tickover on a 'busa doing 120.

[rictus01]

there are several ways to corner "correctly" and a matter of opinion what correctly is, the fastest, the safest, the most precise, a percentage of either can be sacrificed to gain a bit of the other; depending on the circumstances, learning all three will give you the tools, experience will give you when to use the appropriate one.

I coach a few people each year, what I tend to do is appraise someone for a distance with the advice that they ride as they normally would, then we stop, I point out areas to be addressed and see if they confirm, then we discuss how to rectify, from that point I take on there riding characteristics and they follow, gradually I adjust what lines they previously used but retain their speed and let them copy what I do, after a later stop I follow them again to check the lessons have been consolidated, it's a system that seems to work without pushing people beyond their own limits.

Cheers Mark.

[gruntygiggles]

I will also add to my above post to say that they are just a few examples....there are sooooo many things that can go wrong in corners it is impossible to write it all down.

To clarify, I think it is good practice to hug the left of the road going into a right hand bend and vice versa. As a new rider...give yourself margins, so don't get too close to the left kerb on right hands and don't get too close to the white lines on left handers. You can think about apex and lines when you can see your exit and read the road ahead.

[Bibio]

or just pin the throttle wide open and hang on. seems to work for most people.

[TheRamJam]

Far left as you dare, and the road surface permits you too, for right handers and the opposite for left handers. If the vanishing point is going away from you then your speed is good, hold a constant throttle and as soon as you see the exit you can start to get on the gas. If the vanishing point is coming towards you, then you're carrying to much speed and you need to slow down.

Seems to work for me. Just go ride and try to find what works for you. Have you thought about some advance riding training like IAM or ROSPA etc

There is also some good literature out there that may help: A Twist of the Wrist by Keith code and Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch

HTH

[anna]

Originally Posted by Bordtea

My logic seems to follow that if I'm on the outside of the bend and I **** up, I'll go off the edge of the road, but if I'm on the inside then it gives me a little more room to sort myself out. Going round corners at 60-70 seems quite unnerving if I'm on the edge of the road whilst going around it.

I do all the normal stuff like looking where I want to go etc, no problems with that; it just seems to be the positioning.

Cheers
Dan

The thing you have to remember here is physics if you go slower in a corner you are going to come to the outside of the corner. If you go quicker you are going to hug into the corner.

So if you are already going around the inside if you need to go quicker to get yourself out of stuck.. you have already run out of road, only in the worst way because your only option is to slow down and make you unstable in a moment of panic.

Also as you are already in the inside you are not able to see the situation ahead as clearly and have cut your response time down.