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Tips for cornering on your motorcycle
The essence of motorcycle riding is cornering: many motorcycle riders agree with that. You may keep enhancing your cornering skills for the rest of your life, and you will probably never reach full perfection (well, maybe with the exception of Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa).
What kind of mistakes are often made in corners, and what is the reason for those mistakes? What can you do about it? What is the perfect line, and how do you find it? When do you brake, and what is the right speed for a corner?
Reading about cornering is, of course, not enough: you will have to practise, practise, practise.
Here some tips on how to do that
Sometimes, everything seems to fit together. Without being aware what you are doing, you choose the ideal line, you instinctively feel how every corner will behave, and you ride with the right speed, in the right gear, without thinking with hindsight that you could have had a higher speed, and you never get the upsetting thought that your speed is too high for the corner.
Counterintuitively, you get in the flow most easily when you also try, from time to time, to be really conscious of what you do when cornering.
In cornering, everything is important: how you look through the corner in advance, how you plan your line, hou you sit on the motorcycle, how you start the corner, how you use the throttle and how you shift, how you brake in advance, and sometimes, unfortunately, how you brake or swerve in the corner itself.
Of course, reading alone will not make you better in cornering: you will have to practise, and learn to feel what happens.
But reading about cornering may help you there....
By far the most important thing to do to get your cornering fluent, is, as always with motorcycle riding, *looking*.
You will have to learn to judge corners, in order to be able to enter an unknown corner with the right entry speed, and in the right gear..
By looking far ahead, you can sometimes see corners long before you have arrived there, and follow the line of the road by viewing trees or lamp posts, even when you don't see the surface of the road.
Judging unknown corners gets better with experience, of course, but to accelerate that learning process, it's always good to evaluate what went wrong and why, when a certain corner surprised you somehow, or when cornering didn't feel good. Try to think whether there were signs about the corner that you missed.
In the corner itself, it's important to look where you want to go, as always (so don't look at the lonely tree, but follow the line that you want to ride, with your eyes). Always look *far ahead*.
Try to pay attention, in a corner, to the way the corner behaves: tightening curves can be very treacherous. Keep track of the "vanishing point": when it comes closer, the corner is tightening.
The perfect line through a corner depends on where you ride: if you are on the track, then your goal is simply to get as fast through the corner as possible. You should choose your line such that you can ride one fluent line from the point where you lean in, and such that you are able to accelerate easily throughout the corner (pull the throttle open gently). This is what the books of Keith Code will teach you.
Outside the track, almost always your *vision* is the limiting factor. Your line then will not be the line of the optimal speed, but of the optimal vision.
Therefore, you split a corner in two:
You start the corner (lean in) where it starts, as much as possible in the outside of the corner, and you make sure that, when necessary, you have already braked and switched gears.
Before entering the corner, you should have the correct speed, be in the correct gear, and have the throttle (slightly) turned on. Then you lean in, and you stay in the outside of the corner.
Somewhere in the corner you arrive at a point from where you, from the outside where you still are, can ride on, in one line, to the outside of the road through the inside of the curve.
To do that, you have to lean in again, and now you accelerate out of the corner, via the inside of the corner, to the outside.
That way, you have maximum view all the time.
It is not always possible to judge corners before you enter them. A nasty kind of corner is the one with a decreasing radius. Such a corner starts easy but gets tighter.
Sometimes there are warning signs so you will not be taken by suprprise, like in this photograph, but that's not always the case.
Corners with a decreasing radius are especially treacherous because you will often not notice it until it is too late to react.
You are able to notice such corners longer in advance, when you, while in the corner, keep attention to the so-called "vanishing point".
In the photograph, the vanishing point is just behind the sign. It is the point at which the inner and outer side of the corner seem to come together.
When you observe that your distance to the vanishing points keeps getting bigger, everything is alright: the corner is widening up.
But when the vanishing points gets closer, you know that the corner will get tighter. You stull have time to decrease your speed with that back brake (gently of course), or to lean in more.
OK, but what to do when you forgot to observe the vanishing point, and you are surprised, mid-corner, by a decreasing radius?
Push your motorcycle to the inside, with your outside knee. Leaning in extra by pushing against the inside steering handle is possible as well, but often, you have a psychological barrier to do so in such a situation. Pushing with your knee is easier then.
Use the rear brake gently. You will not only decrease your speed, but the motorcycle will turn a bit around its rear wheel so to speak, so you will turn more into the corner. That's exactly what you need. Mind that you don't hit the rear brake hard in panic!
In general, you will ride corners in such a way that there still is the possibility to lean in more, on the street. After all, you only ride to the limits on a circuit.
The ultimate form of positive camber is the wall of death. The riders in there ride very tight corners without leaning in at all.
Sometimes, you ride through corners with a positive camber, and you will notice that they are easier then they looked before you went in.
A positive camber makes you ride a curve whil your motorcycle holds a right angle to the road surface. The surface of a positive camber corner goes upwards to the outside of a corner.
A corner with negative camber is the opposite: the outside of the corner is lower than the inside.
That means that you have to lean in more than in the same corner and the same speed when the surface of the road would be flat, or would have a positive camber.
Often you don't see it in advance. You notice that the corner seems tighter than it looked, while it isn't the radius of the turn that is the cause.
Roundabouts are often higher in the centre than at the outside, so have a negative camber.
That has been done so that dirt or oil will stream to the outside, while at the same time, traffic will be slowed down extra.
So, especially in the wet, try to keep in the inside at roundabouts (less dirt there), and be prepared that you have to lean in more than you would tell in advance, observing the corner.
Before you enter a corner, you should be ready. You should have the right speed (so you should have braked enough if necessary), and you should have switched to the right gear.
The right gear is the one in which you ride through the corner easily, and which allows you to accelerate out of the corner.
A good exercise to get a feeling for which gear suits which corner, is to choose a stretch of the road where you know each corner, and enter those corners one gear lower then you are used to, and again, with one gear higher.
You will notice where you are in too high a gear because it is hard to accelerate without switching to a lower gear, or when you use a too low gear because it is hard to get the bike through the corner by gently accelerating.
Take your time to prepare for a corner. If you have to do everything in the last moment, you will probably brake much harder, and enter the turn with a much lower speed than you would if you would prepare longer in advance.
If you really want to ride a certain distance in the shortest possible time, you would have to prepare at the last moment, of course. But even then, you are better off when you first make sure that everything else is perfect, before you start working on braking and shifting late.
If you take your time for the preparation, you can concentrate on the corner itself.
In fact, the word steering is the wrong word, because it has the association of a steering wheel which you use to turn the wheels, like you do in a car, to handle a corner. That is not the way it is.
A much better word is "lean in".
You start a corner by leaning your motorcycle. You lean again in the point where you can ride out of the corner through the inside of the corner to the outside.
How do you do that, lean your motorcycle in? It helps to push with your weight, and it helps to push with your outside knee against the tank. In a corner to the left, you push the bike leftward with your right buttock; in a corner to the right you push the bike to the right with your left buttock.
It also helps if you push against the inside handlebar. It feels like you push that handlebar downward. (So, this is different from "steering", because you only use the handlebars to lean your motorcycle, and use your handlebars only indirectly to get your motorcycle to ride a corner).
If you ever come across the word "countersteering" (you probably will): this is what it is. Some explanations sound incredibly confusing, but it's simple and clear.
When you push the motorcycle downward (or rather, when it feels as if you're pushing it downward) through the handlebar, try to keep in mind not to automatically sit straight up and round the corner motorcross-style.
It's better when you get used to lean with the motorcycle, or lean a little bit inwards, because you have more ground clearance that way.
Only in very tight corners, motorcross-style can be of use, because you are more in control, so it's more easy to push the motorcycle farther or less far into the corner.
The ideal situation is when you are able to turn on the throttle, little by little, during the whole corner.
Whith the throttle on, and without pulling the clutch, your motorcycle is much more stable than without the throttle or with a pulled-in clutch. When you pull the clutch during a corner, your motorcycle will "fall" to the inside.
During the first stretch of the corner, the stretch where you keep to the outside, your use of the throttle is very gently.
At the point from where you can lean in further, from where you can ride out of the corner, almost in a straight line, you can open the throttle more.
Now you can accelerate out of the corner. The acceleration will get your bike stright up again, which you need to ride in a straight line.
What you should know about speed in corners is very simple: you enter them slowly and you go out fast.
Try to give your attention to the line through the corner, and to the amount of throttle you give.
Speed will come as a bonus that way.
In general, when you try to go as fast as possible, you end up going less fast than when you concentrate on what matters ;-)
What is the right speed? There is only one correct answer: the speed at which you feel comfortable.
If you notice, halfway, that you go off the throttle, then your speed was too high (by the way, go off the throttle is not the right way to lower your speed in a corner; it is an automatic reaction that often occurs when your speed is higher than you comfort-speed).
If you notice that cornering doesn't go like you would like it to go, that you can't find the right lines, that you make mistakes like going off the throttle, than those are signs that you should enter corners at a lower speed.
Other signs that you go faster than what is right for you, is when you notice that you are holding your handlebars too tightly (you always have to have a loose grip on the handlebars: your motorcycle should be able to make small steering corrections by itself), or when you are fixating one point (a tree or a lamppost).
Of course, you should always try to enter a corner with the right entryspeed. But here, we suppose you didn't quite succeed and you were riding much too fast to your liking. Or you encounter a big truck in the corner, and the road is very narrow, what should you do?
In the first place, try to keep in mind that letting off the throttle is not the way to go. Somehow, that's what happens most easily, so it's difficult to get rid of that habit.
When your speed is just a little bit too fast for feeling comfortable, simply touch the back brake. Not hard of course, but just gently touch it with your foot. Your motorcycle will steer even more into the corner and will not try to straighten up, so touching the back brake is never a problem for your line, and for cornering fluently.
But sometimes, you really have to BRAKE. A child might cross the road, or a car pulls out from behind a hedge. In such a case, your back brake won't help you.
In such a case: pull the clutch, and brake with your front brake.
Be careful, and keep pushing your bike into the corner (for most people, the outer knee and outer buttock works best in this situation), because your bike will try to straighten up (and thus steer out of the corner).
When you practice, you will be able to brake rather hard in corners!
The mistake that is made most often, in cornering, is not to ride a fluent line, but showing a polygon instead, by dividing one corner into a series of short corners. This mistake is made in different ways:
It's possible, for instance, to start cornering too early. Then your bike ends up near the side of the road, or on the part of the road for the opposite direction, which forces you to steer out of the corner. But because you still didn't finish the corner, you will have to steer into the corner not much later, and the same process may start again.
Another possibility is that you didn't look through the entire corner before you started it. Then you may be surprised any moment by the corner; you will have to make corrections any moment, and those steering inputs will result in a line made up of several short lines in slightly different directions.
When you observe these kind of mistakes, in yourself, it's important to decide, before you enter a corner, which line to take, and especially to look far ahead, and practise that.
There is no absolute speed for every corner: the right speed varies from person to person, from motorcycle to motorcycle, from tyre to tyre, and from day to day. When your name is Valentino Rossi, your maximum speed for a certain corner will probably be higher then when you have a different name, and when the weather is cold and wet, your maximum will be lower then in sunny and dry circumstances.
So, the right speed is a combination of the motorcycle (tyres, ground clearance, frame), the motorcycle rider (experience, mood, awareness), and the circumstances (the road surface, the weather, the corner).
You entered a corner too fast if you:
Can't resist the urge to brake during the corner,
Can't resist to close the throttle during the corner,
Don't take the corner at all, but instead ride straight on (that means that you didn't dare to enter the corner at all).
When you notice that you tend to enter corners too fast, read the piece about speed on this page, and try to concentrate on the line through the corner instead of on how fast (and related: how much leaned in) you take the corner.
In the end, you will go faster through corners than when you keep trying to keep your speed up.
Lots of people see it as a mistake when they notice, when having finished a corner, that they could have taken it with a higher speed. Is taking a corner "too slow" really a mistake?
When you think about it, it's only a mistake when you see it that way.
By concentrating on looking, and on the line through the corner, you will, somewhere in the future, really get that higher speed. When you enter a corner at a slower speed than might seem necessary with hindsight, it only means that you needed the slower speed, and that is no mistake at all.
So what do you do, with all these tips and clues?
Start slowly is the rule. Do't think about what "they" will think about you.
In the first place, make sure that when you enter a corner, that your eyes already have followed the line that you want to follow through the corner.
In the second place, make sure that you are ready before the corner. So make sure that you have braked or slowed down otherwise, that you are in the right gear, and that your throttle is constant, with the speed that you want to be the entryspeed.
Point three is entering the corner by leaning in, following your virtual line, and in the meantime keep looking far ahead, staying at the outside of the corner as long as possible.
Point four is the throttle: you always give throttle while in a corner. You will soon be at the point where you can lean in for the second time, and you will be able to accelerate out of the corner.
From then on, you will be looking ahead for the next corner...
Enjoy!
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Very helpful thank you.
From:Colm O Brien
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Due to many scooters and some bikes being autos, would it be possible to explain to the unitiated the differences in cornering?
As it is not possible to 'downshift' or enure your in the right gear on an auto this part has to be handled differently. This is true also for emergency braking in a corner as you can't pull the clutch in if you don't have one.
From:coffeescoffer
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************************* Answer ******************************
Yes, that's a very good point you have there.
A few months before I did my first spin on a T-Max, and got a hefty squeeling backtire, when I instincktly grabbed the "clutch", but they made the clutch lever actuate the backbrake...
With automatic transmission you'll have to take corners much more as you learned in driving school: you really have to prepare your entry speed very carefully *before* the corner, and keep throttle open and use the backbrake much more dilligently, because the frontbrake really destroys the stabillity on a scoot because of the small and wide tires.
I only had a half an hour spin, on a lent bike, so did not really try different techniques to adjust my emergency braking techniques, wouldn't be nice to make scratches on a lent bike :-)
But when I have another spin on such a bike I will try to figure it out.(has anyone got a Mana to try some techniques? :-)
From:Ernst
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I agree with the comments about countersteering not being fully explained here. Rather than push down on the bar, push forward. Try this on a flat smooth road with little traffic and see what happens.
Everyone countersteers a motorcycle, or even a bike. They just might not realize they are doing it. Once you realize how countersteering works, and use it INTENTIONALLY you will find that you can turn sharper, going faster.
There is NO LEANING needed to turn a motorcycle, the leaning comes after the countersteering. No pushing on the tank or with your buttocks on the seat. Not until you get into a race mode or off road, not needed for a normal street rider.
If you are at a standstill and turn your handle bars to the right, which way will the bike go? To the right at a walking pace, but to the left above that. THAT is countersteering. Easiest way to see this is let go of one hand at speed. Pull back (very easy!!!!) on the bar and you will see that the bike will go the other way without leaning or moving one bit.
I can also hang off a bike entirely on one side and the bike will go straight if you do not turn the handlebars. LEANING DOES NOT TURN A MOTORCYCLE. Sorry, but I find this article very misleading. Maybe it is just the definition of the words.
From:Doug
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Nope, just two of the possible ways of steering a bike. You may not be aware of the possibility to steer your bike with leaning, but just one look at mr Pfeifer will convince you: he is able to steer his bike in an 8 like figure, with his front wheel in the air :-)
A more convincing statement of the force of weight transfer is imho not possible; talk to any offroad rider and he will tell you he mostly steers his bike with weight transfer and powersteering, because countersteering offroad (or on ice surfaces) will get the bike in unwilling contact with the surface...
You will just pull yor front wheel from under you, when trying to countersteer on loose or slippery surfaces, while putting pressure on your pegs will also disrupt balance and give course change, all be it more fluently than with CS. CS is way too much in such circumstances, and will lead to a unnecessary spill.
I know it might be confusing that there are so many way's to let a bika alter course, but TotW has a major flaw in it on that account :-)
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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I have got back into biking after 17 Years, have found all helpful re Braking Cornering body shifting.Thank you
From:Mitchel
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A really usfull web-site. thank you
From:John Dennis
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This the best document I have read about Cornering.
Please clarify:
if inside of thr curve I found that my entry speed is too high I should, according to you, slightly use the back brake. My question is: should I shutdown the throttle while using the back brake or not?
From:Joao Miguel
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No, you should (preferably) never go off your throttle in a corner: when you shut down your throttle the bike goes in overrun and the chain goes slack. As soon as you then power up on exit, the engine will blurt and the chain will twang, giving a nasty jerk to the bike, ruining the chosen line !
So always try to keep the engine pulling (ever so slightly) in the corner, it will lift the bike when it pulls at the chain giving more ground clearance.
Hence the addition of a slight whisk of backbrake to the recipe, to prevent overshoot :-)
Just try it in a controlled known speed situation, where you allready feel comfortable. Then apply ever so slighly a little backbrake (as if you got an egg under your boot!) put some weight on the outer peg, and enjoy a whole new corner stability experience. It's kind like letting your horse (the hoofed one) run into the bridle: the bike will compose itself into a rockstable cornering platform.
I found this out on my all wobbly XT500 in the late seventies, and it still works sublime, especially with pukky motors like an one-cylinder or ducati, with otherwise massive engine braking when you closed throttle mid corner...
From:Ernst
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Brilliant site... as a newbie it's a real help. Many thanks from Ireland.
From:Nige
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An excellent guide. I've only been riding for 2 months, and so far most of the 'art' of cornering has been a matter of instinct and guesswork for me - this is a very helpful description of the necessary steps, and has already helped to give me a better feeling of control.
Superb work, thanks.
From:Paul
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I am not a rider as yet,but am prepearing my self to be one. I have agreat passion for bikes and these basic tips on how to ride is a great start for me.
Keep up the good work on helping persons like my self by providing us with such brilliant riding tips.
I will comment on how it help me in the future when I begin to ride.
From:Simeon
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Thanks for an excellent website Ernst and Sylvia! I have searched far and wide for this information. This site is definitely going to my favourites!
I have a question though... I am very new at riding a motorbike and recently had my fourth lesson. I have to do special manoeuvres, starting with the halfturn and slow zig-zagging (slalom). The halfturn freaks me out slightly, because when I press the bike to make the turn and it actually obeys, then it feels like I am going to fall! How far can the bike go at such a slow speed before falling over? (20km/hour being slow.)
Thanks again!
From:Chriselda
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************************* Answer ******************************
You can lean very far at slow speed without falling! But in the beginning, it feels terribly ;-)
It is very important to keep off the front brake, not to stall the bike, and to try to keepoff the clutch. A constant throttle, the back brake to control your speed and maintain stability,and looking far ahead is the secret. Success!
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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Thanks for great a great article.
Was wondering if you could give some tips on taking steeply dipping corners or ones where the dip changes half way through. I live in Yorkshire and is a great training ground, but find these the hardest to master as the dip produces a natural adverse camber and makes it difficult to maintain safe speed without braking or (the natural response)coming off the throttle and losing control.
From:Dan
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The trick is to keep the throttle a little open, so you have traction, and thus more ground clearance at the "top" just before the dip, and regulate speed with a tiny bit of backbrake. Not really decelerate with it, but just a whisker to moderate, and more importantly stretch the bike so it gets a little virtual oversteer.
The offset camber of the transition from bump to dip, will force the bike to veer to the outside, a little trailing backbrake will counteract that.
But beware, it colud be a hidden dip, so always stay at the outside line of the radius you'll have to take, so you'll have maximum line of sight !
And if it is a really blind hidden dip, just go slow, it's no shame to be safe, better safe than sorry...
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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wtf? r there people that dont know how to turn?
From:Anonymous
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If you were born with that knowledge, you are a really special person!
But seriously: even in those countries were there are compulsary lessons and severe exams totake before you are allowed to ride a motorcycle, you have only rudimentary knowledge aboutturning.
Even MotoGP riders keep on learning on the topic of turning, so for us, there is alwayssomething to learn, no matter how much we know already...
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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All the facts are informative and usefull, but it woud be more practical dividing a corner into entry, middle and exit, and the speed in each section and the riding position..The way you explained positive and negative corners is really important and the way you hold your handle bar.
Really enjoyed reading this page, hope you continue to give more insights.
From:Jaffa
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Very useful. I suffer from corner panic ... Will go practice your teachings somewhere quiet. I just bought an Africa Twin, and I have really been wresteling it in the corners until now, but I'll nail it soon. Thanks for your great effort!!
From:TJE
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Very good job! Many right informations! My question is: where is the point that you shouldn't lean more?
From:George
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That's impossible to answer in general, because it depends on tires, the road surface, the motorccycle and yourself ;-)
But in general, your bike is capable to lean far more than you would think.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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Quality, I'v been riding for a good few years now, tried a few things I'v read, and now I feel more comfortable at higher speeds through corners.
The knee/buttock thing with a little pressure to the rear brake is brilliant for those sketchy tightening corners... dodged a fox the same way.
Many many thanks :D
From:Warren
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Wonderful article with lots of facts explained in a clean way. I am sure one could gain a minimum of 20 percent; increase in their cornering capability just by reading this article and some practise.
I (may be we) look forward for your more detailed articles about each step of cornering in details. Like switching of the buttocks, few photos would serve more better for us to get it quicker.
Thanks a lot for this amazing article.
From:Girish M
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I absorb everything that relates to motorcycle riding (age 58) and this document is a must for all who have problems on trusting not only the bike but limited knowledge. This will increase both. Thanks bunches
From:Calvin Johnson
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Is it ok to up shift w/o the clutch when racing?
I do it and it makes my shifts faster and more bullett proof.Only use the clutch when down shifting. Is this a bad riding style?
From:Marc Jourat
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As long as there are no protesting sounds of the gearbox, and you close the throttle just a little to get the torque off of your geartooth.
If you use force to upshift, you are killing your shift levers, but if it goes smooth as a baby butt, it's even better than clunking with the clutch.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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An excellent article but I cannot understand the advice about pressing the knee against the tank. Surely applying pressure in this way will make the rider move in the seat in the opposite direction to counter the force of the pressure. (Newton's law of physics states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction).
This seems to be the exact opposite of what is needed when leaning into a corner. I have tried applying knee pressure as you suggest and I am baffled as to how this can possibly aid lean. I am probably missing something and I am willing to be convinced.
From:Simon Merrett
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************************* Answer ******************************
It is easier to experience than to explain...
If you ever managed to get yourself swinging on a swing without using your feet on the ground, you already know that it is possible to get something moving by using your muscles in the air
.
The force applied by your muscles does not simply disappear
because there will be a force in the opposite direction; this force disturbs the equilibrium of the dynamic system that your motorcycle is at that moment, making it lean further into the corner.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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What I am trying to understand is....(I'll put the issue in caps)
I choose the speed to enter the corner and adjust my position to the right for a left hand bend or to the left for a right hand bend for the best view.as I enter the bend riding the outside line
*********** Answer ************
Yes, that's exactly the thought lying at te base of this system. At first it's psychological a bit counterintutive, because it seems as if you ride closer to the opposite traffic, while in reality, you create a longer path of vision, giving one more time to react on oncoming traffic, thus being further away of oncoming traffic.
As long as you keep a little lean angle to spare you will then have every opportunity to steer out of harms way.
Some people keep an inside line, but they forget that you also have to deal with slow partners like bicyclists and farmer on one's own roadside, espacially in hilly countryside. !
*********** End answer ************
DO I USE A CONSTANT THROTTLE POSITION MEANING NO CHANGE TO SPEED?
Then as I see the exit, I lean in again, putting angle in the line aim at the exit and accelerate out
*********** Answer ************
No you ever so slightly feed a minute bit of throttle, to keep the motor pulling, from the start of the corner, so you'll carefully choose the appropriate entry speed, with a safe margin, so you'll have a little slack to increase it ever so slightly during cornering (and keeping a little leaway to change course by leaning in further as described earlier).
Keeping the engine pushing the bike, will keep the bikes geometry as intended.
Even giving the suspension a bit more travel, because a pulling engine lifts the bike a little out of its suspension (verry aptly demonstrated by elderly beemers and guzzi's who lift themselves forcefully by the driveshaft torque). This lifting power of the drivetrain compensates a little for the cornering forces who compresses the bike's suspension.
So a slightly pulling engine is of utmost importance, not really accelerating but just feed a little throttle, to compensate the sagging of the suspension under cornering load, and keep grip on the tires.
*********** End answer ************
OR;
DO I GENTLY INCREASE MY SPEED FROM THE START OF THE CORNER, THE FIRST LEAN AND WHEN I SEE THE EXIT, TURN IN BY LEANING MORE FOLLOWED BY FURTHER INCREASING THE POWER AS IT ALL STRAIGHTENS UP?
*********** Answer ************
Yep, that's exactly what you do, keep it churning away the corner, until you have a clear line of sight on the rest of the road, if there are no obstacles in one's path at the exit. Cut the last piece of the corner short by leaning in a bit more and at the same time start feeding the throttle to really accelerate, this will give you the most traction, and as the revs pick up the compound torque will push the bike outward and upright again.
So choose your apex as late as possible, wait with it until you have made sure the exit path is totally Free of Oncoming *and* slow traffic on one's own lane !
Better safe than sorry.
And always keep yor focus on a point in the distance just right of the divider (for lefthand traffic (e.g. England/Japan read just *left* of the divider) because this line of sight will make your complete system pull you around the corner. So don't let your attention be caught by trees or guiding rails..
*********** End answer ************
From:Jason
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I'm new with bikes & the article was excellent for me. I'll try your tips during my next ride. It's safety first...Thanks.
From:Tassos
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Thank you for the amazing article!
I have a question however, I'm not sure if its fear what is keeping me from leaning on turns, but that seems to be my main issue. I been riding for a year now and my first bike was a 900 cc and since then i have always had liter bikes, however, everytime i go ride with my friends they all seem to leave me behind in their 600's. Most frustrating is the fact that some of them have been only riding for less than 3 months.
I'm not sure what it is, but i've always been careful on the turns because of the kinds of bikes that i've had, I'm afraid to lean too much, or slip on gravel.
I'm sure this article is going to help me improve my cornering in many ways.
From:Gerardo
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Really good article. I just bought a road bike. My cornering is poor because I am cautious due to the heavier weight of the bike. This was simple basic rules and I was entering correctly but not leaning and using the throttle correctly in the corner hence reducing my speed to be careful.
Also I used to live in NL so I enjoyed seeing the photos :-)
From:Don
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Great article ; infact the best out of the huge number of internet mcycling articles i ve found so far.
From:paranjit
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Thanks for all the great tips and information about cornering. However, I have two questions: I'm a beginner with only 6 months of riding. I have a Suzuki Burgman 400. Beeing a scooter, how shall I replace the press on the outside knee to help leaning in?
Why do I feel much more comfortable leaning to the left than to the right and is therer a drill to help me solve this?
Thanks again.
From:Luis Laureano
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************************* Answer ******************************
That's a difficult question! You hust miss the possibility of pressing your kneeagainst the tank. Your only option is, I would think, to get yourself used to press the handlebar conciously, so you will do that in an emergency situation as well.
As for the preference side
: almost anyone has that, and for most people corners to the left feel most natural, even if they live in a country where theyrride on the left side of the road.
I think the explanation is in the assymetry of our bodies, but experts are not sure.
The only option here is practice practice practice.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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I've been riding for 40 years and instructing for 9. Overall an excellent website that covers a lot of of fundamentals very well.
A nitpick however is on the emphasis on pushing with the knee on the tank. Unless you shift body weight to the inside of the curve (hang off), the only way to apply pressure to the tank with the knee is to counteract that pressure with the other knee or by bracing with the arms on the handlebars which will not accomplish anything useful.
Why not talk about the weight shift and the knee pressure that comes naturally from that?
From:Jim
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************************* Answer ******************************
To analyse the way you lean a bike in, or lean it further in while in a corner, is very difficult, both when trying tothink of the physics and when trying to observe your own behaviour.
The advice on pushing with your knee is meant as an advice: somehow, it is easier for people to lean their motorcyclefurther into the corner by pushing their knee than by applying extra pressure on the handlebar, or by shiftingmore weight.
When I try to observe what I'm doing when pushing my knee against the tank, I think that I use theoutside footpeg as a pivotpoint (this is actually also what Keith Code says happens). It actually works, without hanging off.
But I don't think it is necessary to explain that with the advice, because it makes it sound more complicated than itis: with most people, when they just
push their knee against the tank, they do instinctively what makes thebike lean further.
Maybe we will devote a page, some day, to what happens exactly when you lean your bike in; it is far morecomplicated to talk and think about it than to do it!
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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Thanks!
From:anonymous
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I have been riding motorcycles for 16+ years (current age, 34 years).
But coming from an Asian country, the riding was not a past-time but a cheap mode of transport. Biggest
capacity bikes available were 200cc to 400cc, and the roads are quite congested everywhere (lane splitting becomes second nature).
So all in all, the intentional improving of the techniques of riding never happened.
After moving in to a developed country later in my life, I got in to the genuine enthusiast
mode, where one rides for pleasure and not for economic reasons.
Once I got into 1000+cc bike and much higher speeds and roads built for touring, I still didnt realise any lack of skill. But gradually I realise there must be an art
for this as I found most of my fellow riders go faster in the corners and do it with less effort.
But as I was equally fast most of the time, I didnt give it much thought.
I found a few caught-out
moments where I sometimes ran off the centerline, again these didnt struck me in a major way as I stayed upright (retrospectively, it was pure luck).
Recently I had my first real crash, came off the bike on a twisty road, first running off the centreline on a left hand corner and and then going off the road on the next right hand corner.
Again I was lucky as my gear held up well and I got off only with a few scratches.
Anyway mainly this event made me rethink about the whole technique
side of riding, it is common sense really, but when one has done the wrong
thing for a long period of time he/she doesnt see the obvious.
Soon I realised that I have been doing the complete opposite of what I should do in a corner. For example, I have been cornering with the worst possible line ( from European (non-UK) perspective it will be, following close to centreline for left-handers and following close to the edge of the road for right-handers).
Only thing that worked for me was countersteering (and doing it VERY hard, with handlebars fexing). So, eventhough in a speed
sense I was not a slow rider, I was working really hard for it (Fast in, Slow out).
That also explains that when surprised how easily I run off the road.
Your article is a great wealth of information compiled in a very simple to-the-point manner. I can see a lot of new and not so new riders benefiting so much from this absolute gem.
It really IS a life-saver. Thank you so much.
From:G.
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ive had some hopeless teachers but always survived.
How do you enter the corner? Where are you looking?How do you lean the bike? Do you countersteer?
From:anonymous
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************ Answer *******************
We are planning a page about how to set in leaning the bike.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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Sorry ,,,,! I must agree with Stephon Patterson regardingthe road position of the rider looking around the corner
,,,
extremely dangerous,,, should be much more left, extending earlier viewaround the corner and most importantly away from oncoming traffic.
From:DEC
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*********************** Answer *************
There is a misunderstanding here
Alle photographs show situations in countries where traffic drivesat the right side of the road, unless otherwisestated.
If this would be a situation in the UK , you would obviously be right.But in France (where this photo was taken), you 's better not right on theoutermost side of the place for the oncoming traffic.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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Great article.. I've been riding for 2 years and never quite understood why sometimes things worked and sometimes they didn't.
Very useful to have a reference point from which to work and improve my cornering ability. Thanks again.
From:George
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I have read about countersteering many times and I was always confused.
Your explanation really made it clear for the first time. Thanks.
From:Mike Kirkpatrick
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Thank you for putting together a first class tutorial about cornering.
The point i would like to make is how can one be absolutely sure about the grip of the tyres. Can someone safely assume that if the tyres and the road surface are optimal then the bike will never skid (provided that the rider does not do anything silly)?
From:Xenis Ioannides
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********************** Answer **********************
When you watch the MotoGP, you see that they can ride incredibly fastthrough corners, even in the rain. But of course those are optimal bikesfor cornering, on optimal tyres for the conditions, and on very goodgrippy tarmac.
On the street, things are different. In Greece for instance, the tarmac may be very slippery in summer. On such tarmac, the bike may skid during even a slowly taken corner.
In northern countries the oil is washed away regularly, but in warmer countries the spillage of diesel and autogrease kan be substantial, especially in corners and on roundabouts !
So, northerners must watch out especially after such a road washing, the first hours after the first rain, the oil is washed out of the tarmac (oil floats on water!) and a verry slippery soap
can cover the road, sometimes you really can see its foam as a reminder to be extra carefull, but more often, you only *feel* it :-(
So the answer is not straightforward. When you know that the tarmac is not slippery, you will be able to lean the bike in far more than you would ever do in the street, without the risk of skidding. Most modern tires do have *in ideal circumstances* (watch out they are verry verry rare!) enough grip to grind the pegs of any bike even on damp tarmac.
But:
The most important limiting factor for bikelean isn't grip at all...
In most circumstances, the traffic is the limiting factor, not the tarmac or the tyres: on the street you always have to be prepared on traffic.
To feel how much is possible with your bike, a day on a circuit (preferrably with a riding course) is very valuable.
From:Sylvia and Ernst
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I can´t thank you enough for writing this great guide, invaluable reading to help new and unexperienced motorcyclists with tips that they don´t give you in driving school, and to help more experienced motorcyclists improve their edge.
And also great advices like start slow
and dont care what other people think
cause in my opinion, most accidents i see are mostly related with the lack of those 2 sentences.
From:Daniel
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This was a very helpful guide. Thank you for writing it.
I am an experienced rider but consider myself a learning beginner on cornering. I picked up a couple of concepts from your article that really were helpful, especially the idea of the second lean in. Though I admit I don't fully get it yet but suspect I will now that I experiment with that in mind.
From:Chris
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***************** Answer **********************
The second
lean in is easiest to understand when you imagine a switchback (or hairpin; I dont know which of those is the common word).
You could ride a switchback all along at the outside of the corner, but it will be much more fun when you lean in further just past halfway.
On that moment, you can see the road ahaid, and you could ride in a straight line from the point where you are, to your place on the road where it is straight again.
You should stay on your own side of the road, of course.
When you train yourself to ride corners in that way, you will always have a big safety margin.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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Great page but you sounded a little confused about counter-steering. Pushing down
on the bars will have no real effect. The purpose of countersteering is to take the bike off its vertical axis and in effect initiate lean. This is achieved by minutely steering opposite to the direction you want to go for a brief period of time (the time needed increasing along with increasing speed.)
If you ae wanting to turn left, your first move should be to apply slight pressure (a push) to your left grip or effectively steer very slightly to the right. I know this sounds counter-intuitive but try it on a straight, hopefully not busy, road and you will actually realise that you have been doing it naturally for years as according to many biker physisists it is the only way to initiate a turn at speeds of over about 30mph
From:anonymous
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***************** Answer **********************
On most motorcycles, countersteering feels as if you push the bike to leanin to the correct side. You do that by pushing against the handlebar, andbecause it just feels like helping the bike lean in by putting pressure on the handlebar, the confusion that most descriptions of countersteeringraise, will not be present.
When people remember it like that it has lost its counterintuitiveness, so they will act right when they have to instead of being confused.
That's why we have described it like this.
From:Ernst and Sylvia
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Very useful,and inadvertently saves bikers lifes so thanks
From:Helen
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This is a fabulous article... as a new rider, I'm delighted to have this to reflect upon, and it has made me aware of some of my errors (like rolling off the throttle through the corners).
Thanks for all the tips. I'm certainly going to practise!
From:Jos Duffhues
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Very helpful and practical
From:Addie Topacio
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I had a scary experience the other day where my front wheel started to wobble when I had to steepen the lean and adjust my line through an ever sharpening curve - I might have been going a little to quickly.
I found your recomendation to use the knee very helpful. I was practicing some cornering tonight and noticed that by using the leg against the tank the corners felt smoother, steadier and it was easier to lean and keep control. Thanks so much for the tip!
From:Mike Budd
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So helpful, many thanks.
From:Adele
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I just wanted to thank you for putting in the time and writing you advice.
Ive been riding for just about a year now with 5000 miles of experinece. The weather is better and I've been out finding roads to ride. Today was great but could have been better if I had a better feeling about corners. I love corners, sometimes they are just great sometimes I end up with a jittery feeling. Not always good.
Having just read your advice I reckon Im doing most things right (and of course lots of things wrong). However I have come to realise that what your basically saying is that it is all about feel.
Ask a kid to pretend to be on a motorbike cruising round a corner. They will demonstrate someone knee pussing on the tank, looking where there going, inside hand pushing down with a great big grin on their face.
That's what Ive been searching for. I think Ive just found it. Looking forward to just getting on the bike tomorrow and enjoying the ride (not just the speed)..
From:John
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Excellent.
From:RJ
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I am disturbed by the photo labeled looking around the corner
.Leaning into a blind corner so far to the center line leaves very little room for error should you encounter a vehicle comming from the opposite direction.
I encounter this situation just this weekend in the California foothills.
I always try expect the unexpected I came around a tight corner on my GS and there was a large van which I luckely avoided with little room.
From:Steven Patterson
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********************* Answer ********************
It looks dangerous, but actually, you'll see the danger times ahead.
When you ride the inseam of a corner its much more blinded
and the risk really a lot bigger, when the truck stood in the shoulder on your side, if you took the inner line, you'll ride into it blind...
To make it visible i took some photo's right here in front of our house, on the first you see the positions where i took them, you'll see how much further you can see, as you move outward...
It is dangerous too in this two lane situation, because oncoming traffic will get confused by the situation, but is essential on onetrack road as you find it in Yorkshire etc.
photograph showing the differences in looking around the corner.
From:Ernst
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Excellent website.
From:Martin Howarth
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Excellent advice. I will now practice what i have read here. I learned that i have not been postioning my bike as good as i should be when cornering.
From:Craig
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I am a brand new motorcycle rider. I so appreciate the tips here. Thank you for taking the time to help all motorcyclists. I am taking up motorcycling at age 69.
I have been a photographer all of my life and giving this up to ride.
From: Larry Letzer
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Thanks , good tips :) pushing the tank with the outside knee...is something i didnt know about ...cheers
From:Des
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These tips and pointers are brilliant. They give very specific details on what to do and not do. Most other site just give general advice which is not very helpful.
Rereading these pages are my weekly bike training ritual to improve my skills.
Greater skills, greater confidence, greater enjoyment!
Well done and thanks.
From:Niall
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Enjoyed reading the tips got a few good hints will try them when the weather bucks up a bit thanks.
From:Matt
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I learned a lot but have to apply it first.
From:Joey Janolo
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