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Question:

How to corner better on motorcycle?

I just rode a motorcycle again, a 321 cc sports bike and I was having trouble cornering, especially downhill and when corners went right and then left again. I think it is mainly psychological, but I am afraid of leaning too much so the bike doesn‘t slide.So if I am going downhill on a corner at 75 mph, how far can I lean over before the bike may slide with pretty good tires? Will it make a difference if I lean my whole body over with bike or keep body to left while bike leans down to right (this is what I usually do). I have no problem doing corners at 75+ uphill but it seems like I don‘t need to lean as much as downhill.

Answer:

This is something you can only get the feel of by doing it and building up the speed gradually. On a dry good road surface the tyres will be capable of taking the bike to maximum lean angle BUT think of these points. 1. There are 2 safe speeds for a given bend. speed a is the speed at which you can safely stop in the road that you can actually see. speed b is the one where the bike can get around the corner safely in terms of not falling over or coming into conflict with other traffic - YOU NEED TO BE AT THE LOWER ONE OF THOSE. 2 . You do not lose grip when leaning. You do ask the tyre to do more work than in a straight line as it has to deal with the additional forces. 3. Think about what will happen if you hit water or gravel or similar as you corner. what if the bend tightens up - you have to be in the right gear to be able to tighten the line with less gas. 4. Yes getting yourself off the side of the bike will mean the bike leans less - all that will do is allow a faster speed before something touches down. it does not reduce the cornering forces on the tyresIf you are going to do this you have to get moved before you start to lean or you will de-stabilise bike 5. Heading into a corner downhill adds a little complication. You may need to brake more heavily to get down to the speed you need to be at and this needs to be all done before the lean starts so that your front suspension has time to come back up
First of all, you lean with the bike, or in the same direction as the bike. If you're turning left and leaning right, the bike has to lay down farther than it would if you were leaning way into the curve. Look at motorcycle racers--they lean into a curve so hard they drag a knee on the ground! Try leaning while riding in a straight line and you'll see the bike leans in the other direction to balance you. Now, how far can you lean? You can lean until something scrapes. The thing is, leaning reduces your traction. If you hit some gravel or dead leave or whatever, the wheels can lose that last little bit of traction and slide right out from under you. So it's just a matter of how daring (foolhardy) you are. Losing your traction and going down is called a 'spill'. There are two varieties. A lowside is when the bike just goes over and slides to the outside of the curve and deposits you relatively gently on the ground. A highside is when you regain traction and the bike suddenly flips over, throwing you violently toward the outside of the curve. If it's a right-hand curve, it can throw you right under the wheels of oncoming traffic. So you don't want to do that. After we slide out once or twice, we learn to scan the surface ahead of us for loose stuff, to pick a line through a curve where the pavement is smooth and clean. We take it easy over railroad tracks, manholes, stuff like that. Even white paint on the street, like the white line, is slippery, especially when wet.
Look through the corner to where you want to be for the next corner or the corner after that. Slow in, fast out is the mantra. When you look through the corner look at the edges of the road, as you enter the corner you will notice they meet, if the point where they meet seems to be coming closer slow down more, as the point gets further away accelerate. Lean with the bike. If you lean too far you will lose grip. There is no precise angle that applies in all conditions – weather, road condition, tyre condition all affect the speed you can safely corner at. If you are riding at 9/10ths of your ability you will reach the edge eventually – and it will hurt. There are no prizes for riding at 9/10ths on the road. You aren't doing yourself any favours using the technique you are because you have to lean the bike further to compensate for your position, and you become a candidate for a peachy high side – make sure you have a camera running – Youtube sucks up these things.

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