Cornering and Body Positioning

[Vicious_Cycler]

Solo ride yesterday in the limited sight hills of TN. During some of my more spirited moments, I became aware of a couple of things for which I'd like the members' observations:

 

1) when set up for a corner, do you hold your original body position through it or do you lean out/off more as the turn progresses. I often seemed to be insufficiently leaned to the inside of several curves but moving caused the bike to bobble,

 

2) I learned that I struggle with target acquisition, meaning that on limited sight turns I loose the the road as I apex and exit. This is especially common when the exit is complicated by "Y"'s or similar. The road I want is not immediately clear to me.

 

Regarding #2, I know the first thing to do is to slow down, but does anyone have any advice for improving this situation? I hate to have reached my limit of spirit.

[Paul Mihalka]

In fun joy riding I like it simple. In the turns I just make sure that my "inside" elbow is bent a little more than my "outside" elbow. In turns with short visibility I intensely look for the "vanishing point", looking as far ahead as the road permits.

[Chris K]

1) You should finish both positioning your body and any braking before you lean the bike for a turn.

 

2) I agree with Paul that you should look for the vanishing point down the road. If it is coming towards you the corner is tightening. If it steady then hold your throttle steady or accelerate slightly. If the vanishing point is going away from you the corner is opening up. Time to straighten up the bike and open the throttle.

[FLrider]

Funny this post just popped up. I just spent the weekend taking a class on this exact subject.

 

Anyway, here is the Lee Parks 10 steps to proper cornering:

 

Reposition your foot - Be on the balls of your feet for max leverage. Also keeps your foot from accidentally touching the ground in max lean.

 

Pre Position your body - Body center-line to inside of the bike's center-line BEFORE the the corner starts.

 

Push on outside grip - the weight shift of your body will cause your bike to turn in. Pushing on the outside grip straightens her up and tees her up for the inside lean.

 

Choose a specific point where you will initiate your turn. Delayed is better.

 

Look through the turn, to the exit if possible.

 

Relax the outside grip. Will pull the bike into turn without upsetting the suspension.

 

Push on the inside grip. Use only the inside arm to steer.

 

Roll on throttle - Gently and as early as possible.

 

Push outside grip again - helps throttle pick up the bike.

 

Move Back to Neutral - After the bike is completely vertical.

 

 

 

 

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

You might find exaggerating the head and eyes might help. I look into the corner a second or two before actually initiating the turn. When I can see straight road, I look down the straight section allowing my head to come back to center as the bike centers up.

This may not be as clear as it is to me. I never had much success verbally training guys on slalom courses either, "do this" was easier.

[notacop]

Maybe a set of Hitch Hikers Guide "Impending Danger Glasses" would help?

I'm like you, I try to follow guys on bikes shod with the same tires and I'm just slower in the turns. My internal lean angle alarm goes off sooner than theirs. I'm used to it now. What helped me years ago was a statement, 'if you can see, accelerate, if you can't, brake." Then again, there is always the speed limit and the LEO's.

[Quinn]

My problem on lefts is that, when I look through the curve, I tend to cut the corner too much because I'm headed toward the straight. Even when delaying the apex, I cut too sharply and often have to repossition my line. The only way around it for me is to pick an intermediate point, just before the curve is over, and aim toward it until I'm ready to get on the straight line by accelerating.

 

 

Not saying this is right or even helpful.

 

 

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[Alan D]

My problem on lefts is that, when I look through the curve, I tend to cut the corner too much because I'm headed toward the straight. Even when delaying the apex, I cut too sharply and often have to repossition my line. The only way around it for me is to pick an intermediate point, just before the curve is over, and aim toward it until I'm ready to get on the straight line by accelerating.

 

 

Not saying this is right or even helpful.

 

 

---

 

Same thing for me. Left turns especially.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Pick a turn in point, note it in passing as your eyes go for the apex. Note the apex as you pass it and your eyes are seeking the exit line. Exit line isn't the same for a single turn and linked turns. You really want to position yourself, on the exit line, such that as the bike straightens up, you are already at the entrance line for the next turn. This makes for a more efficient, if not faster, transition through linked turns depending on the spacing between them.

[LDHack]

My response to your questions; When entering a turn, I consciously weight my inside handlebar. That puts your body in the correct position on the leaning motorcycle without even thinking. The MSF folks say to push on the inside handlebar, like countersteering. Thinking "weight the inside bar", vs "push like countersteering", seems to work much better for me so I'm in the correct position all the time, without thinking.

 

The second, all I can say is set your sight far ahead in the corner. Look at where the road disappears past the curve. After you set up for the curve, looking ahead gives you smooth follow through. With multiple linked curves, just keep looking farther ahead as the road becomes visible, and do it actively with your eyes and head.

 

Hope these ideas help.

[Horse]

Anyway, here is the Lee Parks 10 steps to proper cornering:

Pre Position your body - Body center-line to inside of the bike's center-line BEFORE the the corner starts.

 

Push on outside grip - the weight shift of your body will cause your bike to turn in. Pushing on the outside grip straightens her up and tees her up for the inside lean.

 

Push outside grip again - helps throttle pick up the bike.

Move Back to Neutral - After the bike is completely vertical.

 

Is this for road riding? If so, does the course see it as essential to use significant body movement as part of corner set-up and negoitiation.

 

[And being picky, shouldn't the final phase also recognise the need for steering to counter the effect of body movement returning to the 'neutral' position?]