Taking a turn too fast

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tropicalhotdog · Fri Aug 31, 2007 7:59 am

Yeah, it's pretty scary until you learn to trust the bike. It's just one of those counter-intuitive things you have to train yourself to do when riding a motorcycle. I still get that metallic taste in my mouth from the adrenaline whenever I find myself hitting a curve too fast, especially a right curve with oncoming traffic zooming by. That feeling is a potent reminder to slow down BEFORE the turn. I've metnioned it in other threads, but Hough's Proficient Motorcycling book was really helpful on this issue.

Kal · #12 Unread post by **Kal** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:21 am

Look all the way through the corner (which you should be doing anyway - the bike goes where you look most of the time) and lean more

Roll off of the throttle slightly and use the rear brake to scrub speed and prevent the front end diving.

I feather the clutch and use the rear brake to produce the same effect.

NOTE: Too much rear brake with no power going to the rear wheel will cause it to lock up so be gentle with it.

As said above you'll learn entry speeds and appropriate road position. Ideally our road position will maximise your field of view through a corner. If the vanishing point of the corner is getting closer to you then you need to scrub speed, if you can see out of the corner or the vanishing point is moving away from you then you can pile it on.

Curbs and hedges planted along theside of the road are really good indications of the severity of the corner.

However to be honest this is stuff that you tend to pick up and start to use after you've mastered the basics.

Texfire · #13 Unread post by **Texfire** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:37 am

Good advice. Even with all the emphasis in MSF on not letting off the throttle if you start going wide on a turn, the first time I found myself going wide on a turn I let off the throttle. It wasn't a reasoned response, just a reflex which was absolutely wrong for the situation. Of course I ended up in the other lane, which was the opposite of what I wanted to happen. Fortunately the oncoming lane was empty and my learning experience was painless.

Tex

MattC13 · #14 Unread post by **MattC13** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:37 pm

Im kinda new at riding; started a month ago. I worried about this at first but soon found that my bike would lean as far as i needed it to. But my question is How do you know where your bikes lean angel stops unless you have low-sided it. I am a corner junkie now that i trust my bike and its tires and i want to be able to push my bike to its limits in the corners but how do i know when enough is enough with out eating the ground?

Kal · #15 Unread post by **Kal** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:25 pm

Quite simply if you don't low side then you could have probably gotten more lean. if the bike twitched as it lost and regained traction then you were probably right at the maximum angle of lean.

However generally the only way to know what that feels like is to take a bike past that point a few times. People who take their bikes to excessive lean angles, racers especially, will have spent a lot of time coming off.

Not forgetting that there are a silly number of random factors which dictate what the maximum lean on any given corner will be, and that any one oft hose factors changing can change the lean angle you will safely achieve. Which is why when watching a race you will still see professionals getting it wrong.

The good news is that you shouldn't approach those angles in day to day riding - most of the time.

How do I know its most of the time? Because I low sided on my way to work on a corner I had been taking exactly the same way for a year. My error? Not taking into account the drop in temperature of the road surface.

You are now in what I consider to be the most dangerous phase of your career, you're cocky enough not to have the newbie fear anymore but don't have the experience to back it up yet. Take care out there.

Jas0n · #16 Unread post by **Jas0n** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:42 pm

I did what Kal posted.

Some really mentally challenged woman went past the white line while I was turning left into her lane. The reason this was so bad, was because she was pulling out while I was in the middle of the turn, so I had to widden my turn in order to avoid her front end. I bet she was just one of those "i'm a cellphone not paying attention" cases. Anyways.. I would have hit the curb on the right if I didn't do maximum lean during the other half othe turn. My rear wheel skit because I guess it lifted off the ground from my ... center stand? (ninja 250) and it regained control after a split second. I got scared though.