Getting back your bottle

Winter has been too long for me. Im not comfortable riding in the rain at speed (mainly as im just straight into london, the roads are awful). So after dropping the bike a few weeks back, and the nasty cold gritty weather, time for some summer riding confidence training

Found a few quiet and clean (ish) rounadabouts with little twisty 2 lane roads between them (A2, new Ebbsfleet junction). So i spend about 15 minutes blatting round these roundabouts, getting the bike over that bit more, working on the brakes etc....

Thing is, how to hell do you brake hard while cornering? I.e you have a long curve that progressivly gets tighter. You can't back off before the corner, you'd end up stopped.

you can't go hard on the front brake obviously
i tried using the rear more to keep balance, but it always ended up taking me off line into the corners.
Tried using the gears, back end gets skittish (even blipping while changing).

My hands also cained after the little play..

Its gonna take some time

Any advice?

get your corner speed right before the corner, and use the back brake, not the front, using the back should bring the front round

I've been riding for 5 months after a big accident which scuppered my confidence somewhat.

Now it's got to decent enough weather to be riding the SV fast and well, I've started leaning more and more.

I never expect to get my knee down, nor am I going to try. However my toe sliders came into good use yesterday on a few roundabouts confidence back

I would say never, ever use the front brake while cornering. Unless you are racing you should not need to brake hard into the apex etc etc. If you find your corner speed a little hot lightly apply the back break. Many a people have binned it from grabbing a handful of the front and washing out. Get all your speed/gears and body position sorted before the corner. You should not upset the balance while in the corner. Look through the corner and accelerate through. But keep doign what you are doing, practicing leaning a little more each time until you feel happy and confident. Remember 99% of the time the bike can outride your skill.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by sv_dan

I would say never, ever use the front brake while cornering.

As would I, well known fact in both road and off road racing

Started pushing mine harder and harder lately. Find it pretty fluent now dropping into corners at pace and have learnt the lines round the roads near me i've been taking 2 of the roundabouts at 60+ (1/2 mile visibility in all directions leading up and nice sweeping bend in/out of both) My toe sliders are looking very sorry for themselves but i still can't get that elusive knee-down. Can't wait till summer when the tyres are stickier and there's less crap on the roads.

Originally Posted by JakeRS

As would I, well known fact in both road and off road racing

Next time the MotoGP is on though watch the onboard cam of the braking hand. They brake hard right upto the apex!!! Christ knows how they do that.

Storm: The knee down is actually quite easy. Just make sure you get your body in position before the corner. The most common mistake people make is to try and lean off the bike like a baboon when in fact you should try to swivel yourself around the tank. Grip the tank with the leg that is not going to scrape the deck and also use your elbow on the tank to hold you onto the bike too. Once you have the technique you actually lean the bike less that you probably do now. The only thing with the SV is that the stock fron is a little wallowy and moves aorund a little so make sure you have a sturdy grip on the bars but not a death grip! Maybe I should open a knee down school, I've managed it even on my GN250! Just as a note it serves no purpose on the road other than showing off. But it feels and looks quite cool.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Daimo

Thing is, how to hell do you brake hard while cornering? I.e you have a long curve that progressivly gets tighter. You can't back off before the corner, you'd end up stopped.

You cant breaking hard whilst in a corner is the quickest way to fall off especially if you use the front brake.

Its much better to get your entry speed right before you get into the corner and then use tricks like looking forward and using the hedges or telepgraph poles to work out if the corner tighens or opens out.

Another tip is to look at the vanishing point of the corner and ask yourself is that gong away from me or towards me. If its coming towards you the corner is getting tighter if its going away from you the corner is opening out.

Once you've worked out whats going on with the corner and the corner opens out progressivly and gently wind on the throttle and accelerate away from the apex of the corner.

If you do get it wrong. Use the back brake to slow you and tighen your line, Also never ever snap the throttle shut. Gently roll it off and then gently roll it on again once you have adjusted your line. What you want to do is minimise unsettling the bike on its suspension. Snapping the throttle and big throttle opening is the quickest way of doing this.

Just take it easy and build your confidence up gently. You might what to think about some more training or a police observed ride something like a bikesafe course as you'll get loads of tips and advice that way.

HTH

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by sv_dan

Next time the MotoGP is on though watch the onboard cam of the braking hand. They brake hard right upto the apex!!! Christ knows how they do that.

Because they are more skilled riders than us mere mortals. Also the suspension is better on a Moto GP bike.

I've noticed on the GSXR you can carry more front brake into a corner as the front suspension is better. But its still not someting I would recommend doing.

Oh yeah, i understand braking while corning is a bad idea, but minimal braking?

I have no confidence in the back brake, it just doesn't work all that good imo. Inspires no confidence.

The roads i was using is fully open, you can see ever corner from all points so you can judge where the line is well.

Its just they are long progressive corners, and the more i worked on the line and brake, the slower i got through the corners ending up at a snails pace. That meant theres no way i could really get the bike over.

Having flatspots (motorway riding) doesn't help either as tipping it in doesn't feel smooth.

It'll come in time, need more practice RIDING instead of commuting