Advice need for riding downhill and sharp bends

[China Greg]

Hey, MAX BANDIT-

You know, I'm all screwed-up and want to aplogize. Forget all that cornering nonsense.

You remember that scary downhill with your friend's tail-lights shrinking into the distance?

The hell with it! Just screw that f**ker WIDE OPEN and GO for it, baby!
Point it downhill, close your eyes, twist the right grip with all your might, and bang out the clutch. Then, just keep rowing up through the gears until the lever won't go no more.

When you finally open your eyes again, you'll be far ahead of them.
Or mounted on a Volvo hood.
Whatever. Either way, yer buddies won't be laughing anymore!

[billincentraljersey]

I lost count how many times a smaller bike with a good rider out ran me in those mountain passes.  It is all about skills and not about the bike.

Most had been said .....

1/ learn skill first, be patient, learn speed later.
2/ slow down while you're upright before leaning over.
3/ go in the turn on the outside of the curve so you get the maximum view down the road/curve for any stopped car, deer, dead body, etc.
4/ you should be done braking to reduce speed when you enter the turn, you'll learn to brake late into the turn as you get better.
5/ for now, you'll enter the turn coasting or VERY SMALL throttle.
6/ as you exit the turn, the last 1/2 to 1/3 of the turn, start to increase the throttle. Don't whack it open.
7/ important:  keep some drag on the rear brake peddle through out the turn.  This allows a larger throttle without increasing road speed.  Larger throttle is easier to control than small throttle.
8/  my track racing friend tells me lots of street guys, once they find out he is a track guy, always have something to prove to him.  They tend to ride to 90+ percent of their potential and the road condition and leave nothing in margin.  Encounter a piece of road junk and they don't know how to tap that last 10% ... crash.
9/  look at where you WILL BE GOING, not where you currently are. 
10/ DO not look at the road right in front of you.  Do not look at the ditch.  Do not look at the road junk.  Where you look is where your tire WILL roll to.

I found myself improved in normal turns and series of "S" turns after I practiced making tight U turns and figure 8's.  On a parking lot, press down on the rear brakes allows you to keep the throttle open wider for better control.  LOOK at where you WILL be in 2 seconds later.  SO, on a U turn, your neck is turned to look 180* from where your bike is pointing.

[Red01]

If there are other people taking the corner quicker they either - have been riding longer, are stupid, or both. 

If that's true, I should be faster than Rossi since I was riding before he was born!   

Seriously, no matter how good you become, there's gonna be someone better.  So, as has been said so well earlier, relax, take it easy and concentrate on smoothness and self-confidence.  Speed will follow. 

[Vidrazor]

Has anyone ever had their foot peg scrape the ground in a turn? I was going through a pretty steep one when that happened. Scared the shit out of me. Fortunately there was enough road to straighten up a bit and make it through. I would've thought my center stand would scrape first.

[B6mick]

Become a motorcycle courier for a week, it will fix ya or f*#* ya 

[txbanditrydr]

Has anyone ever had their foot peg scrape the ground in a turn?

Sure have... and it will get your attention.  Prior to that I scraped my boot because it was half off the peg.  That will also make you want to stand things up - though you really don't need to be doing that stuff.

I'll say if you're scraping pegs you probably are using poor body position in some way... or let's say I know my body position was incorrect each time it's happened.

Add to that poor positioning a mid-curve dip in the road and you can scrape the peg AND engine guard before you scrape the center-stand - now THAT will get your attention.   

Work at hanging off the bike a bit more instead of leaning the bike so far over...  it's uncomfortable at first but you'll quit scraping parts.

[txbanditrydr]

There are some good book on riding better/faster.  I forget the name of the one I liked best.  If I can put my fingers on it when I get home, I'll post....

Since Rob has obviously forgotten about this... or still can't find it  , here's a list of my favorites that I have.

Twist of the Wrist, Vol. I & II - Keith Code (I got more out of Vol. II)

Total Control - Lee Parks (Very good information... well written and lots of photos)

Sport Riding Techniques - Nick Ienatsch (My favorite by far...  a must have book)

[notagix]

Since we're talking about a new rider here, he shouldn't be going fast enough to hang off the bike. Nobody has mentioned on a steep downhill, grip the tank with your knees so you can relax your grip on the bars, and just slight throttle.

[billincentraljersey]

Has anyone ever had their foot peg scrape the ground in a turn? I was going through a pretty steep one when that happened. Scared the shit out of me. Fortunately there was enough road to straighten up a bit and make it through. I would've thought my center stand would scrape first.

Let your heart not be troubled.  It happens all the time, at slow speed.  On tight turns, like regular street right turns (USA, not Egland), and very narrow back woods roads going very slow.  Just becarful, if there is enough room on the road to go slightly wider line, take it.  Although changing line in mid turn may not be good.  Just do not panic and back off the throttle.  Follow through the turn.  If the turn is a decreasing radius turn, and you are already draging the peg, you may run out of peg clearance (peg goes up to it's limit of movement).  In that case, plot a new line.  That is why you should always go in a turn and leave some margin for the surprises.

BTW, tires usually holds well beyond the mechanical limits of bike/road clearance.

[wizzobeer]

pm me for a pdf file of twist of the wrist

[PitterB4]

Total Control - Lee Parks (Very good information... well written and lots of photos)

THAT's the one I was thinking of!  He tells a great story about relaxing his outside arm.  His buddy was trying to convince him to work on that skill.  He finally did... on the buddy's bike.  He turned so much better than he expected, he ran off the track on the INSIDE of the turn.

[China Greg]

 RE: Lightening your grip on the outside bar end:
 
I tried it over the past week... It's a good trick. Mostly helps you to lean in properly. Thanks for the tip!

....but might mean problems on a non-track-smooth surface with real-world defects like manhole covers, tar-snakes, and pot-holes.
We've got truly NASTY pot-hole problems in the Northeast this year! Swaller' ya right up..

PS... I wonder whatever happened to MAX BANDIT.. the guy who STARTED this string?

[andrewsw]

heh. I mostly learned to ride in an urban environment. That means all your lefts are practiced while crossing oncoming traffic and rights are practiced without crossing oncoming traffic... And it's much easier to cross the line one left hand sweepers than on rights, etc etc etc...

Finally, rights are tighter than lefts, generally speaking, as they are always on the inside of the curve, so you get much more practice at the tight right handers than the lefts.

[smooth operator]

  All good advise, like Rob said, you don't want to turn in too soon. Turning in too soon will have you running wide at the end. Stay on the outside of your lane while looking around the turn . But look around the turn picking your turn in point (or apex) so you know where you want to go. You can try it on 4 wheels as well, and making it a habbit on 2 wheels ,you'll end up doing the same on 4 wheels. Watching the outside of your lane helps to keep from turning in too soon. Going down hill let your motor slow you down and the sooner you give it a little throttle the sooner your weight transferrs off the front and settles the chasis. With a little practice you'll be looking forard for the turn coming up rather than anxiuos about it.
  Now I'm kinda hesitant on saying this, because I don't want you to lock your back tire. But sometimes while heading down a steep hill,espesially while riding 2 up, I'll preasure the back brake a little (w the front brake)to keep speed in check and keep the bike settled. Then roll on enough throttle while letting off the brake. This is done BEFOR the apex so your chasis is already settled and your in contoll all the way around the turn.
   Practice makes perfict,and once you have it mastered,its what make driving a motorcycle such a joy!  Dan