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How to Corner Properly on a Motorcycle 04/05/2015

Corners and intersections are the motorcycle versions of coming upon a black diamond run on a ski hill and fearing that your skills are not developed enough to make it to the bottom .

It makes sense to use great care in a sharp turn when riding, especially if it's a blind turn. This is quite obvious, yet it must be foremost in your mind in any cornering situation.

If you are fearful of corners there is probably a good reason. You may not have the knowledge needed to understand how a bike negotiates a corner, or you may not have the skills and training to turn the bike on the line you want, when you want, and how you want.

The best thing you can do is take an  Experienced Rider Course and learn the basics of motorcycle cornering. If you have never taken the basic course, I would recommend this as your starting point. Even though you have lots of miles and experience under your belt, you still may have alot to learn and nowhere is that made more clear than if you have a fear of corners.

  Here is a proven sequence you should apply in every corner you encounter.  There are four words to learn.  Those words are ;    "slow, roll, look, and press." You're going to repeat those words during every corner.  Talk to yourself out there--talk yourself through each corner.

"SLOW"  As you're approaching the corner, you must slow to a suitable entry speed. A suitable entry speed is one that allows you to roll on the throttle and accelerate all the way through the curve. As you slow, you're going to position your bike for the turn. Position it to the outside of the turn. This means for a right turn, you're going to position your bike 2-4 feet from the left side, which is  the centerline of the road. Oncoming traffic may require you to move farther right. For a left turn, position your bike 2-4 feet from the right side, or the edge of the road.

"ROLL".... Once you've set your entry speed, get back on the throttle. You don't have to whack it open, but it needs to be "open"--that is, positive throttle--all the way through the turn. Decelerating or "rolling off" mid-turn destabilizes the bike, reduces traction, and reduces cornering clearance. Smooth, open throttle is what you want. NOTE: You haven't started turning yet! You've only slowed down, then opened the throttle back up.

"LOOK"......  Focus your head and eyes on where your bike is going to be in 2-4 seconds. Your bike will go where you're looking. Look as far through the turn as you can to find the exit. This is the point on the road where the turn is finished and you're going straight again. Since your bike will want to go where you're looking, do not stare down at the ground in front of the front tire. You don't want to go there! You also want to avoid looking at the edge of the road, the ditch, the oncoming traffic, the trees, the gravel shoulder, etc. Stare at those things long enough and guess what? Your bike will go there. Focus on where you want your bike to be in 2-4 seconds. NOTE: YOU STILL HAVEN'T TURNED IN YET.  You're still set up on the outside of the turn and you're following the curve of the road only.

"PRESS"... Press on the handlebar to lean the bike into the turn. This requires countersteering. To lean right, press forward on the RIGHT handlebar (or pull backward on the left handlebar, if that makes more sense.) To lean left, press forward on the LEFT handlebar, or pull back on the right.

This might sound backwards, but it's the only way to steer a motorcycle at speed. Initially, you point the front tire AWAY from the turn. This makes the bike lean into the turn quickly.  Once the bike is leaned over, the front tire naturally points into the turn (right for a right turn, left for a left turn). This backward method of steering is known as "coutersteering".

When you first turn the bike into the corner, you are "aiming" for the inside of the turn. Even though you're starting from the outside, you want to use all the road, therefore you want to be on the opposite side of the road during the middle of the turn. The ideal line through a turn doesn't follow the exact curve of the road. It straightens the turn somewhat. You want to finish the turn on the outside again. Outside-inside-outside.

This is hard to describe without a diagram. Draw yourself a picture of a 90-degree turn in a road. Pick a point on the outside of the turn just before the curve, and pick a point on the outside of the turn just after the curve, and make a little dot at each of those two points. Now, draw the straightest line you can between those two points while still within the edges of the road. See how it brushes the inside of the turn? Notice also that using this line effectively "straightens" the curve, making it safer and easier to negotiate.

One important note. Don't "press" until you have spotted the exit. You don't want to turn too early. Stay on your outside line, following the curve of the road, and keep looking through the turn until you see where the curve ends and the next straight begins. THAT is when you press and initiate the turn. Don't commit to it until you know for sure where you're going!

If this all sounds scary and confusing, that's because it is. It takes years of practice, training, riding experience, and focused learning to get good at this. However, every turn is pretty much exactly the same: SLOW, ROLL, LOOK, and PRESS.  Use that same pattern every time, use the outside-inside-outside path of travel, and use good throttle control and you'll be a corner expert sooner than you think.


Ride On!
Josh