How low can you go? The Sequel!

**Korea** · 14th October 2005, 14:40

Well all this talk about cornering etc. Thought I might post this riding practice video shot a few weekends ago.

Disclaimer: I am still far from being an accomplished rider so take everything with a grain of salt and a dose of your own common sense.
Disclaimer 2: This video might give some people silly ideas...

Oh yeah, the bike is a Hyosung Exiv, single 125cc, tyres: Poxy Korean brand 'Shinko' 100/80/17, 110/80/17.

Cornering method used to follow shortly...

Enjoy!

Edit: 25/06/2006 Just saw this again for the first time in ages ~ looks so slow! But yeah, goes to show that steering is important.

**Sniper** · 14th October 2005, 14:57

Hmmmmm........ Nice bike.

**ManDownUnder** · 14th October 2005, 15:00

what??? We're talking bikes???

damn...

**Korea** · 14th October 2005, 15:28

Okay, this is carpark riding but the rules translate well to the road. Also it’s aimed at sports bikes but is mostly true of all bikes.

I used to wrestle with the bike, trying to make it go lower around corners until I found out that the more relaxed you ride, the better you corner. It’s funny that I used to think I could hold the bike up around corners with a death-grip on the handlebars.

#1 Loosen your grip on the bars! Particularly your outside arm – it seems strange but as you are countersteering into a left-hander, you may find that your right hand is actually fighting the left. Make a conscious effort to relax that outer arm; your bike will steer much quicker.

#1b Grip always loose on the bars during cornering. This lets your bike do that low-amplitude weaving it wants and also helps on the gas during head-shakes/tankslappers.

#2 Arms and elbows relaxed. Take the weight off your arms so you don’t negatively affect the steering. How?

#3 …Grip the tank and outer footpeg with your outer leg. Some say it’s pointless but I find that if I’ve got weight on the outside peg, I am more stable when something unexpected happens; ripples, head shake, rear slide…

#4 Move your upper body to the inside of the bike’s centreline and form that oh-so-cool crouch by relaxing your shoulders and ab-region. (that’s the guts for those of you without abs). Head turned, looking through the corner.

#5 This has all happened way before you’ve gotten to the corner, so you may look a bit silly in a cornering crouch going straight. The reason is to do it all before the corner so that you don’t upset the suspension while your lardy ass is moving all over the place.
Now it’s time to choose your turning point… break… clutch, blip, downchange and… BANZAI….!

#6 I’m off the throttle until I’ve apexed and then I dial the gas in a little depending on the degree of banking angle (but let’s face it, you’d be lucky to have the rear spin up on a 125!).
Rolling-on straightens up the bike and you can help it along by counter-steering and pushing on the outside bar.

Important! During cornering, arms and hands are as relaxed as possible! I cannot stress this enough. You aren’t holding the bike up – you’re gripping the side and hanging-off, your arms and wrists should practically be flapping in the wind.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox – comments?

**onearmedbandit** · 14th October 2005, 16:23

Good video, and some good pointers.

**TonyB** · 14th October 2005, 16:41

Awesome post Korea! Now to watch the vid

**speights_bud** · 14th October 2005, 17:48

Good video, Just goes to show that you don't need to go fast to get your knee down. Nice bike

**LXS** · 14th October 2005, 18:34

Some good tips there Korea, cheers.

Nice video

**SlowHand** · 14th October 2005, 18:43

How do you go about finding that point on a bike? so that green ninja thing doesn't happen to me. Would I put the ball of my feet on the inside peg, and have the outside of my feet just off the peg? And when I feel that touching, that's the bike's leaning limit?

**Korea** · 14th October 2005, 18:59

Here's a Gixxer 750 at it too~
Same method but a little faster (he's braking though so actual corner speed is not all that fast).

Oh yeah, Michelin Pilot Race tyres help...

**Korea** · 14th October 2005, 19:09

Originally Posted by Strat

How do you go about finding that point on a bike? so that green ninja thing doesn't happen to me. Would I put the ball of my feet on the inside peg, and have the outside of my feet just off the peg? And when I feel that touching, that's the bike's leaning limit?

Yeah, keep your toes out of the way. My pegs are low so my toes touch down all the time. Everyone does something different with their inside foot - watch a few GPs / WSBK races. I put the ball of my foot on the end of the peg and curl my toes like I'm on tippy-toes. Do what feels best and gives you the most clearance.

The outside foot, I try to clamp down (as mentioned) somewhere in the middle or right up against the heel of my boots.

The first time the back let go (during practice) I panicked and my legs went flailing in all directions. After that, I started to clamp down on the outside (not excessively mind, just enough) so that when the back starts to slip I can hold on and ride it out. Much less scary.

Lean angle? For the road, once your knee starts touching down it's a good yard-stick telling you that you're going to run out of traction soon. Especially on stock tyres. Does this help?

**N4CR** · 14th October 2005, 19:13

Originally Posted by Strat

How do you go about finding that point on a bike? so that green ninja thing doesn't happen to me. Would I put the ball of my feet on the inside peg, and have the outside of my feet just off the peg? And when I feel that touching, that's the bike's leaning limit?

To find that point (from my little experience) you need a relatively empty smooth bitumen carpark with things you can aim to go around for corners, although the bike will handle differently (in terms of front wheel steering angle etc) to high speed, you get used to getting it down low.

Take it little bit lower each 'lap' of the course. I used to do a couple of hours each week untill I started scraping pegs and getting crappy tyres all skittish, and then got booted out by security >_<

Race track might be good as well, but higher speed = more damage, as opposed to a slow 20-40kmh carpark lowsider.

Doing this increases you confidence in corners you overcook at high speed - you know you can get it all the way down to the pegs on the right surface, so don't brake and stand the bike up - e.g hit the fence across the road when you fuck it all up.

I recently managed to get my knees down in a carpark... you learn pretty quickly what Korea said - move around before the corner starts, she gets frickken wobbly if you do it mid corner.

Oh yeah and knee sliders do help

**Korea** · 22nd November 2005, 14:06

More practice.
Practicing figure 8's in a closed carpark is good practice for all the skills you need on the road:
- looking at your ref' points, body position (trasitions!), brake timing, steering and acceleration.
Practicing with a buddy is also fun, but eventually this happens...
...he should have known better - I RULE the CARPARK

(er... kids... it's not really something to be all that proud of...)

**Korea** · 22nd November 2005, 14:33

...in case you didn't know.

**ducatilover** · 22nd November 2005, 20:18

Originally Posted by Strat

How do you go about finding that point on a bike? so that green ninja thing doesn't happen to me. Would I put the ball of my feet on the inside peg, and have the outside of my feet just off the peg? And when I feel that touching, that's the bike's leaning limit?

i wouldnt scrape my toes incase they caught. on the bros i have little bolts that are on the bottom of my pegs and do a really good job of telling me when my lean limit is reached, though that didnt happen often, only once infact because i wasnt used to the bike, but what korea said seems really helpfull. thanks korea