Questions about going into a turn too fast.

[michiganduc]

Originally Posted by tufty

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the most important rule; If you go in too hot, or think you are (99% of the time it's just your panic reflex), the very first rule is to LOOK where you want to go and KEEP LOOKING. Forget the brakes, in most cases you will make the bike tighten the turn subconciously just by looking through the turn.

If you must brake (only as a last resort) then start very, very lightly......


LOOK, LOOK, LOOK and KEEP LOOKING through the turn your body and bike will follow your eyes. I can't stress enough how important it is to LOOK!!

This happened to me the other day. Cold tires had me drifting wider than normal through one of my favorite corners close to home. Brief panic had me looking at gravel, ditch and trees instead of where I wanted to go. After reminding myself to look through the corner and out to the straight my body followed instinctively and moved a few inches farther inside the bike. Nothing abrupt and staying smooth I was through the corner and into the straight reminding myself to remind myself before ever leaving the driveway.

[jsanford]

Originally Posted by chaos321

Okay, 1st: The chances of "most" of us being too hot into a turn is slim to none. Most of us will never reach that level of skill to out ride our bikes capabilities. One of the things I learned early on when working with "real" racers is they all had the same theory about the turn in. Way too many people "think" they get in too hot and either stand it up and run into the gravel or are too hard on the brakes and lay it down. The advice that is always given is "trust your bike", when you get in too hot don't panic, hold your line or tighten it a bit and ride through the turn. I promise you will be amazed that you were able to hold that much corner speed. I had a tire test at Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump Nevada and came down the front straight and carried way too much speed into turn one. I started to drift to the outside edge of the track into the pebbles and instantly thought about what they were all telling me. I tightened my line and held my ground and the bike took me where I needed to go. Lesson learned. After that my corner speed improved and lap times dropped alot!

2nd. Trail braking is when both the front and rear are applied "lightly" all the way to the apex. You can use one or the other but the term applies to both brakes late into the turn. Not just the rear. Just a reminder, remember that if you apply the brakes while leaned over, it will try to stand the bike up and force to to apply more pressure to the bars to hold your line. The key to all this is exactly what the other posters said.. you have to be smooth about everything!

+1 and well put; that's the crux of what I picked up at my Lee Parks Total Control class last spring. The third thing I learned which has [strike]gotten me out of a bind[/strike] stayed with me is that as long as you have throttle, you're okay; physics will keep the bike upright. So I usually downshift into corners and will hit the highest RPMs on a ride taking corners.

Also, I'm working on not tensing up when I think I might be in over my head.

[TheDeerHunter]

Trust your bike...chances are it's better than you. I had the same situation when I got my Monster, then went out riding with some family friends who had won some regional roadracing championships...they all told me to trust the bike. I realized that even if I felt I was over my head, the bike could be pushed down into the turn just a few more degrees and I could sail right through. After a few years of practicing that, I developed a habit of dragging hard parts and could feel the bike flex under me...that was when I knew I was at the limits of the bikes frame & suspension. So I added a Honda CBR 954 to the stable, and I'm starting all over on the learning process...fun!

Trust the bike
Look through your turns--if you don't know what's 3-5 seconds in front of you, you aren't far enough ahead of yourself
Smooth is the key...no throttle chopping or grabbing brakes.
APEX-straighten out your turn