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Anybody any tips for cornering?

Got no fanny bands on rear tyre anymore, so I must be leaning enough some of the time - I just can't seem to keep corner speed?

Any suggestions on body position / weight distribution etc?

I already countersteer like a biatch, but just cant keep the speed through a corner.

Cheers for any advice.

what state is your suspension in mate?

I find Andy Ibbots column in Fast bike mag very good, not just for cornering but riding in general.

Keep the throttle on mate, not as in wound open but keep it balanced, not accelerating nor decelerating. You carry the speed through then, go onto you tube and type in 'motogp onboard', loads of videos show you they got the throttle on.

jake wrote:what state is your suspension in mate?

Rear is nice and hard - front had a leaking fork seal that has re-sealed and seems ok now.

I am 17 stone and 6ft 2 though if thats makes any massive difference?

Will try that now Rob, cheers.

I think I may be braking too much first, and taking the wrong line>? (Is this possible?)

Sure it hasn't just lost all its oil lol. I must admit i hardly used the brakes on the 400. Find a nice, quiet industrial estate and practice different body positions etc thats what i do now and again.

Wabby wrote: front had a leaking fork seal that has re-sealed and seems ok now.

it didnt fix itself, it pissed out all the oil, and there isnt any left

Wabby wrote: I think I may be braking too much first, and taking the wrong line>? (Is this possible?)

yep, and probable.


thing is, the road isnt a race track, its a (state the obvious time) road.

the lines you'd be taught to use on track, are completely different to the lines you would be taught to use on road by say a police instructor or IAM type..

on track its about getting through the bend as fast as possible, 100% commitment, on roads its more about ensuring that you can see as far ahead as possible, and maintaining as much control over the bike as possible at all times.

where a racing line on a right hander would see you treating the centre line of the road as the apex, this obviously places your upper body and bike over the line and likely to be twatted by any oncoming traffic, on an advanced road riding course, you'd be taught to turn in far later and far sharper from the far left of the road, so that you minimise the amount of time the bike is banked over and can see further round the bend by the time you are committed.

Slow in fast out is a good rule on the road mate. Also good for sex too

So take it easy on the way in, and dont hold the front brake on for too far into the corner, you want to be doing most of your slowing down while your upright when the tyre has the most grip and then just ease off as you turn in and start to get onto the throttle. always easier said than done but it something that just takes practice. You dont have to be going flat out to do it either, just do it slowly and then build your speed up.

Weight makes a huge difference, since it makes up a good proportion of the bikes weight.

Zimm speaks perfect sense, road and track are completely different. On the road you want lines that give you the best possible view, not the fastest.

without watching you through a bend it's hard to understand what you mean by carrying corner speed and what your comparing yourself to when you think you should be going faster. it's not as if you give a whole lot of information away with this one.

I would say two things though, 1. Your a large lad, keep the revs high into the corner, 2. you can get back on the throttle in most cases a lot earlier than you think and i'd say these are most probably where your going wrong if your saying you arn't carrying enough corner speed you really mean your not getting enough speed out of the corner.

Stay in 3rd.

Wabby wrote:Anybody any tips for cornering?

yeah don't try and corner on a straight road!

masterofinsanity wrote:

Wabby wrote:Anybody any tips for cornering?

yeah don't try and corner on a straight road!

What zimm said is (as ever) spot on. Sustained high cornerspeed/lean angle and safe road riding are not two things that go together, for a couple of reasons:

a) As zimm, Rob, etc have said, a safe line through a corner isn't the same as the racing line. Safe road riding is very 'point and squirt' in comparison to circuit riding.

b) The sort of corner you find on a track (long, flowing, constant radius and with good visibility) barely exists on the roads. I can count the number of times I've had my knee down on the road (roundabouts excluded) on my fingers - almost all were on mountain hairpins on holiday, and one was out on the fens somewhere where you can see for miles. Pretty much all of those were tip it in, knee down for the tiniest moment, stand the bike up again. You can get big lean on the road, but never for very long.


Something that might benefit you is to start keeping your eyes on the vanishing point. Pick up a copy of 'Motorcycle Roadcraft' for a far better explanation than I'm about to give. In fact buy a copy anyway.

Basically, as you approach a corner, you will notice there is a point at which the verge/kerb/hedges on either side of the road meet, and you can't see any further up the road. Pay attention to how far away this vanishing point is, and whether it's coming towards or away from you. If it's coming towards you, you need to be slowing down. If it's going away from you, you can accelerate.

This won't (on its own) do a lot about your mid-corner speed, but it will help you with getting the gas on as soon as possible coming out of corners, which makes much more difference when it comes to keeping up with your mates. It'll also stop you getting caught out by corners which tighten up, and it will force you to look further ahead than you (probably) are at the moment.

deviant wrote:Something that might benefit you is to start keeping your eyes on the vanishing point. Pick up a copy of 'Motorcycle Roadcraft' for a far better explanation than I'm about to give. In fact buy a copy anyway.

I have mine, its a very good book. The policeman who did my roadsafe course also suggested to go and buy a copy since parts of the course are based around it.