KasbeKZ

i've been away from the forum for a while because i've been all wrapped up in motorcycles since i got one a couple months ago (nothing nice. '83 suzuki sp125. tops out around 63).

anyway, i've got a question about performance riding. before you make a crack about the type of bike i'm on, keep in mind that i'm not really pushing it, just driving "spiritedly" and most of this wonderment will really be put to use when, if ever, i find myself on a real street bike. so, here goes.

in a car, i have gotten to the point that i can put the car right on the edge of its performance potential in a turn, give it more, and correct the loss of control all pretty smoothly with a little throttle input and a little steering input. not to say i'm a good driver, or a fast driver, but i'm not crazy intimidated about the outer limits of the car's limitations anymore (all this at low speeds on vacant roads with wide shoulders).

on a motorcycle, this becomes a different feat. if i go past the limit and fail to correct properly, the list of negative after-affects is too long to list here. so, to avoid going out there and f-ing stuff up while i'm trying to learn this, i'm hoping to hear it from you seasoned riders that have probably wrecked a few times . how do you know you're near the edge? how do you correct? what warnings would you give?

peace.

SportBikeMike

I guess the best advice I could give you regarding cornering on a bike is: enter slow, exit fast. You never want to go into a curve too hot....nothing good will come out of it. As a beginning motorcyclist, you should enter every curve slowly and you'll know with time how fast you can approach a curve. As I said, you can always increase your speed through the curve. Hope this helps...

hoov100

Also you can set up the bike to either push in a corner or to be loose. a large majority of the time, either the bike isn't leaned far enough or the ride is not hanging off the bike enough. Another problem I often see is people doing is using their front brake while leaned over and the eat it. Also make sure you are counter steering and the center of you're body is leaned into the turn and not inline with the bike, make sure your shoulders are also leaned with your body.

KasbeKZ

thanks guys. definitely good advice.

am i to understand, though, that the motorcycle is different than the car in the aspect of corrections after pushing too hard in a turn? is finding "the limit" an act of prediction?

hoov100

You'll know when you are at the limit, as you will either save it, or wreck it. If you are going into a corner to hot you will usually push to the outside and this feeling is not like the front tires of a car losing traction, but more like the whole bike physically will be pulled to the outside of the corner. You can use you're knee to judge how much lean you have left in you're bike. If you are about to eat **** in a corner when leaned over, just let the bike go and be happy you are sliding on the asphalt instead of tumbling. Be sure to wear your gear whenever you go out too.

SportBikeMike

ATGATT (All the gear, all the time!)

snwbrderphat540

Brakes once entering a lean should NOT be used unless in a hair pin and you are a PRO because for those turns they actually slide the tail out a little to enter with more speed. bikes for going hard you go FULL brake right off the back and actually bleed off pressure as you enter the turn, not like in a car where it is the other way around. also to get an appropriate measure of lean try to kiss the outer most part of your mirror. and yes i mean almost kiss it and always look ahead not down, then STEADY throttle as you start to counter steer to leave the lean then you can start getting back on the throttle.

hoov100

unless it's 117 outside and you are going half a mile to the liquor store.

hoov100

He's asking basic cornering technique, not track technique, secondly you do NOT go full brake into a turn and bleed off as you enter, you brake right before the turn, engine brake into the turn and trail brake to keep the suspension settled and roll through the center of the corner and wait until you are coming up to accelerate. Also your head and shoulders should normally be inline with the top of the tank. Lastly you ALWAYS countersteer in a turn, unless you are doing less then 15mph. If you do a majority of the things snw said you will place excess load of the front tire/suspension and cause a low slide.

xpwarrior

Definitely wear the gear. I watched in my rearview mirror as a friend of mine went wide through a corner and had a headon with a Lincoln. Messed his left arm up bad but the doc said without the gear it would have been amputation above the elbow.

Enter slow exit fast once you know the corner is clear. When you enter fast on public roads you never know what might be on the road. I've seen everything from the normal gravel to a 5 gal bucket oil spill to a green crap slick from a cattle truck.

Get good tires. Old dried up rubber will give you very little warning before sliding out.

Practice full power emergency braking. If you have to think about it it's too late.

Sell the bike and take the T-tops off the Z if you need to feel the wind in your hair. That's what I did after 20 years of riding and I have no regrets doing it. I do still have a dirtbike though.

KasbeKZ

thanks everyone. this has been very helpful.

KasbeKZ

i've been riding a much more "streetable" bike this weekend, and i've got a much better understanding of control now. it's much different with the knobbies on my bike that could break loose at any speed lol. with the street bike, it's about giving the gas on the way out until you feel a loss of stability in the rear. i haven't been trying this yet, but i feel that that's how it would be... maybe not. at any rate, way too noob to this to be trying. thanks guys.

snwbrderphat540

actually he asked for how to treat it if getting frisky, not basic turning technique, so i said some aggressive ones, i also stated NOT to use the one where you slide the tail since it's ridiculously hard to do right, just stating it as something interesting to find a video of being performed. second off, you bleed off BEFORE THE TURN. i said, brakes while in a lean = BAD. Read better. Also, listen to PRO tips, that's where ALL my info came from, reading what Rossi says as well hearing him say these in interviews (but that is a PRO like i said so i took a few things that normal people can do) as well as what people that teach track days, race AMA on the kawi forums say.

Now if i misread and he was looking for just basic cornering technique and not how to enter a turn and get low as if in a personal race. then my bad.

also, never go aggressive on a corner you don't know, hidden obstacles/surface conditions can equal a low side. not "low slide".


for the record, my advise selection is narrow (but wise and true) since i did most of it withing the few months i was on the kawi forums reading, then after they served their purpose i just didn't give a **** and stopped going there, i had enough to read everyday on my own.

http://www.ebike-ridingtips.co.uk/video.php

there you go n go to hell. tell me what he says about braking.


also for the record, i don't mean full blown brakes as in you loop yourself, and you always use rear brake as well, but without knowing how to use it in balance with engine braking (especially since old bikes don't have slipper clutches they are new to supersport bikes as of 2004 2003 i believe for the most part) you can easily low side to.

hoov100

I didn't learn from reading, I learned from doing, Rossi rides an M1 race bike, which is nowhere near the same as a street bike, let alone the technique used to ride. Also you do not bleed off before the turn! You bleed off right before you start leaning, trail braking with the back brake will help keep the suspension settled until you start accelerating out of the corner. This is from track experience on a 100% stock street bike.

there really is no basic/advanced techniques when it comes to cornering, as regardless of what the turn is, or how fast you are going a large majority of the time you are going to be applying the same techniques.

Gixxer

Ive been riding for 15 years...best advice I can give... ride your own pace. Dont let peers pressure you into riding faster than you can handle. You will know when you are ready to step it up and pass em..LOL...oh yeah... and WEAR YOUR GEAR...lol even if it is only a half mile ride... I think I read 85% of accident are within 5 miles of your home... so wear it..LOL