Left/Right Cornering

[Motig]

Just curious to find if I'm by myself on this. I'm more confident going round left handed corners than right. That is I can go into the corner faster, lean the bike and hang off far more going round left hand turns than a similar corner turning right. The only reason I can think of is I'm lefthanded. Anybody else noticed this. Is this why I'm not a MotoGP racer ?:scooter:

[yungatart]

Do you change position in the lane? ie, do you approach a left hander on the right side of your lane and a right hander on the left side?

[Filterer]

Wen ur in a long right hander you have less road to use as if you come to close to the centre line your head will be hanging into the oncoming lane

[98tls]

something to do with camber.....

[MattRSK]

Someone once told me that I wasnt countersteering when going around right handers. I was when going around left handers. Have a search on the site for counter steering. Once it was explained to me I have never had a problem since.

[Motig]

Good Points, I believe you could all be a little bit right, must practice this summer.

[quickbuck]

Just curious to find if I'm by myself on this. I'm more confident going round left handed corners than right. That is I can go into the corner faster, lean the bike and hang off far more going round left hand turns than a similar corner turning right. The only reason I can think of is I'm lefthanded. Anybody else noticed this. Is this why I'm not a MotoGP racer ?:scooter:

Okay,
You are not alone. It isn't because you are a south paw at all.

90% of riders who live in countries where we drive on the left suffer from this.

What the problem for me, (as pointed out by Warwick at Stay Upright) was that when tipping the bike into a right hander I would not dip my shoulder and head into the corner (the same as I do for a left). This is because I was so used to shying away from the traffic coming the other way. I would end up "chucking" the bike in and sitting up on top of it. This meant the bike was VERY upset to say the least, and infact leaning over further than needed for given radius corner.

Another thing you may be more confident on a left hander is because there is a perception that if you stuff it up there is the other lane you can use. This is false ofcourse, as there will be a big truck there when you need to use that run off (law of Murphy). A right hander usually has vegitation and a fence near by on the exit, but this is safer to hit than a vehicle coming the other way.

If you want to get really good at right handers go for a few (Hundred) laps arounf Manfeild if you get the chance. It is full of them.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you want more help.

[quickbuck]

But yes, some practice on a nice quiet Otago road will do wonders. Get somebody to follow you if you can.

[MattRSK]

Good advice there. Remember when going into a right hander push out on the right grip. When going left push the left grip out. Try it, will make more sense. You will already be doing this with your left just not knowing it.

[yungatart]

Sign up for a mentor on here, should be someone who can help you out in your neck of the woods.

[James Deuce]

Someone once told me that I wasnt countersteering when going around right handers.

Lol - you would have been punching holes in the scenery everywhere then.

It is physically impossible to steer a motorcycle travelling faster than about 25km/hr without countersteering.

I think what you mean is you weren't making a concious effort to dial in the exact amount of lean you needed for the particular velocity you desired in right hand bends.

[GR81]

it's like ice skating for most people... easier going anticlockwise than clockwise lol

but yes, im more confident going anticlockwise than clockwise. im also right handed.

[dawnrazor]

most people are more comfortable in LH corners, its because....now wait for it....we ride on the left. Ride in the US or continental europe and suddenly you'll be more comforable on the right for the same reason. The irony is because you are more relaxed in a LH corner you are more likely to run wide and end up in a ditch...ahem, like I did recently...although that must be better then going head to head with a car in a RH corner

[Skyryder]

90% of riders who live in countries where we drive on the left suffer from this.


American riders also prefer the left hand sweep. It appears that it makes no difference to what side of the road you ride on. Nor does being left or right handed and on that basis I go for number one.


For my part I believe that there are two possible causes for the left handed preference in cornering.

1 The left hand handle bar grip is stable where as not so with the right hand that has the throttle. There may be a psycological refusal to lower the bike on a right hand bend for this reason

2 It may be because of the brain activity visa vis left or right side. Some functions of the brain are activated in the opposite side than the female. We males may prefer the left hand sweep while the ladies prefer the right.

Who knows.............but somewhere there is a reason for this. The definitive one has not been found.


Skyryder

[Ixion]

I spent some considerable time analysing this a while back, Concluded it was indeed because of the throttle . It's harder to do the duck and shove thing to the right because usually that has the effect of twisting your wrist around . OK when its the left wrist, but the right side conflicts with the wrist angle wanted for good throttle grip. In essence, it's easier to countersteer left than right.

It may be a bit psychological to do with the rik of encountering traffic at the apex. Though personally I have more problems with the bloody roadside posts on left handers, twice now I've hit them with my shoulder, and it doesn't seem to be inhibitory (just painful!)

[dawnrazor]

i'm equally comfortable in either corner, its on coming traffic that makes me uncomfortable.

[Motu]

So,did Indian riders prefer righthanders? My wife had a Wipac rotating dip switch on the left bar of her Tiger 100 (pretty rare eh? I've never seen another),but the bike was equaly bad in left or right hand corners.Speedway riders and flattrackers only turn left,regardless of hemisphere....but the sidecars turn right,but then they aren't countersteering....nor are the cars.MX riders are turning both left and right in some extreme conditions,they don't seem to have a problem.

I've done a bit of left turn racing myself and must admit I prefer things to go wrong in a lefthander.On gravel roads I prefer a righthander when I can see through it,because I can cut it to the gutter and the camber works better,because you are cutting across to the left side.

I dunno,I'm left handed and I do most of the work on a left corner with my left arm...and leg.

[Squeak the Rat]

There probably is a generic issue - (check out ixions original thread, it made a bit of sense) but then every one will also have their own idiosyncrasies and psychological and physiological issues.

However I prefer right hand corners myself which I put down to:

a) a deep seated fear of losing it on a left and crossing the centre line
b) too much practice doing U-turns when learning to ride
c) usually more visibility through a right hand corner
d) just being plain crap at riding

[The Stranger]

most people are more comfortable in LH corners, its because....now wait for it....we ride on the left. Ride in the US or continental europe and suddenly you'll be more comforable on the right for the same reason. The irony is because you are more relaxed in a LH corner you are more likely to run wide and end up in a ditch...ahem, like I did recently...although that must be better then going head to head with a car in a RH corner

The most common motorcycle accident (in NZ anyway) is running wide on a RH corner.

I've always put it down to road camber and the fact that the throttle is on the RHS. Most of the work is (or should be) done by your inside hand.

[Blackbird]

Interesting comments and I'm sure that psychology does play a singnificant role. In my case, I feel slightly more comfortable attacking right hand bends than left. It's nigh on impossible to psychoanalyse yourself but I'd lay good money that it has arisen from an incident when I had only been riding for a couple of years. I came round a left hander, hit some gravel and followed the bike across the road on my arse. There was something coming the other way which I only just avoided and got a really bad scare.

I'm wondering whether I subconsciously prefer right handers because all I'm likely to do is slide off to the road edge or grass verge rather than smacking into oncoming traffic because of this early incident.

Excellent discussion......:yes:

[McJim]

I am glad I'm not alone - I never mentioned it coz I thought it was a symptom of my racing cycling days. I spent some of my childhood in Italy and there I learned to strap in my right foot (going back to the days of toe-clips and straps) but leave the left fairly loose until I was well underway. The upshot of this is that going round a left turn I had the option of putting my foot down - just in case - hardly needed it but knowing the option was there helped. I was more nervous going round to the right coz if the bike slipped I was gonna ride the asphalt on my pelvis.

So I'm glad to see all of this cycling stuff is just bollocks - cheers.

I have booked myself on the RRRS course and this was one of the things I was hoping to have remedied - since CaN has supplied a fairly succinct explanation and is involved in the RRRS course I feel pretty confident that my problem will be addressed on 20th Aug.

[Jamezo]

I too have analysed this, and I believe that a major cause - for me at least - lies in the different sight lines.

In a left hander, when you look through the corner, your sight line coincides with the edge of the road, and you can concurrently make judgements about bike positioning, and 'look' the bike through the corner (we all know the heavy mental relationship between vision and bike steering).

In a right hander, to properly look through the corner requires a lack of awareness of the left shoulder (which on a road, is much more variable and demanding of attention than the more uniform centre line).

This conflict of attentions can prevent as full commitment to the corner as is practisable on a left hander.

[thatHurt]

I too think it's the throttle on the right thing.

I push on the left to go left and pull on the left to go right leaves my right hand free to manage the throttle.

Seems to work for me.

[Motu]

It goes further than how we see or the layout of the road,because left turns are favoured by countries that drive on the righ too.It's the reason why bikes and cars go around a speedway oval anticlockwise....they do it because horses also go anticlock - so we have to find out why horses go around a track in a left turn.

[Motig]

Well I've been thinking over-night and I'm leaning (excuse that) to it being psychological as I have the same sort of thing but to a far lesser extent when on four wheels as opposed to two. I'm sure its something to do with the road code - Leftside GOOD v Rightside BAD ie Keep as far as possible to the left. (Of course this could explain some political preferences:blip: ) as well

[ZeroIndex]

I just find getting my left leg to hug the tank and right leg to ..not hug the tank the main issue with right corners.. practicing on it though: the good thing about seat position and a centre stand, is you can practice without using petrol

[acewheelie]

I think your problem is your all right handers and obviously have too much time to play with yourselves, rather than practise riding, LMAO!!!

[Korea]

Well, we ride on the RH side of the road here in Korea and most of the guys I ride with prefer lefties.

I think the throttle idea carries some weight but I have felt the same way about riding push bikes since I first learnt to ride - left is more comfortable / natural.

Funnily enough, I can get lower with better technique taking RH corners but it doesn't feel as nice as tearing up a leftie.

Meanwhile, there are a few who prefer right, so I really think it comes down to a left-handed / right handed sort of thing.

HERE'S A TEST:

Are you left or right THUMBED?

Clasp your hands together (you know, fingers between your fingers interlocking ~ are you confused now?)
Which thumb is on top? Left hand thumb or right?
Try it the other way - swap thumbs. Feels weird, eh?
I'm right handed but left thumbed :whocares:

[HDTboy]

I've only crashed on left hand corners on the track, do you think there's something in this?

[Goblin]

I've only crashed on left hand corners on the track, do you think there's something in this?
Yeah... there's only 2 left handers on Manfeild.:innocent: (short track)


I have the right hand corner thing going on too. I think mine came from binning heavily on a downhill, off camber, 55k posted right hander with sunstrike and narrowly avoiding the oncoming car:gob:

[HDTboy]

Not on the long track, there's 6. I dropped it on a left at Taupo too

[Goblin]

Not on the long track, there's 6. I dropped it on a left at Taupo too
Jeez you could take your pick then eh. Are you left or right handed?

[Ixion]

Clasp your hands together (you know, fingers between your fingers interlocking ~ are you confused now?)
Which thumb is on top? Left hand thumb or right?
Try it the other way - swap thumbs. Feels weird, eh?


No it doesn't

[kensuem]

All this talk about corners had me thinking about what I was doing in corners when I was going to work this morning,cant say I noticed any difference,but I couldnt understand why my gears wouldnt work,then I realised that I had reverted to my old British bike riding style and was trying to change gear with the foot brake!

[WildBoarMouse]

I do the same thing! My theory is that because I use to ride my push bike like a hoon too and from school/uni every day... that all those unobstructed left hand corners get you trained for taking lefts. All/most right hand corners you have to stop/slow down and check for traffic a bit more. Just a theory... an american workmate had a similar problem except he couldn't do the lefts as well. :)

[quickbuck]

There are some good points coming out. Much better than threads on some message boards.

Anyway, I had never considered the throttle thing, adds a new dimension I had not thought of.
Also the age old tradition of things anti clockwise, Rollerskating, Ice skating, pretending I was Ivan Mauger on the XL125, and the fact I'm left footed (right handed though), were my reasons for liking lefties. Once I was told how I was shying out of right handers though, the issue went away.

What helped me lots was concerntrating on getting it right (yes, very punny I know) ie ride a right hander like I would a left. Yes it is like skating clockwise, but you have to make an effort at times. After get it wrong, and you spend a long time dead.

Once I mastered it, and did many miles around the track over the hill (Man, I'm so lucky), I don't have a problem with either direction.

A big thing is BIKE POSITION.
Every right hander I enter, I am in the left wheel track going into the corner, and then tip it in. I ensure my head doesn't cross the centre line at all and travel around the corner.....
If I take EVERY right hander like this (traffic or no traffic), I never have to correct mid corner when I am looking face to wheel nuts of a 38 tonne truck.

BTW, I am left thumbed apparently.

[McJim]

Hey - I wonder if it's different in the Northern Hemisphere? Y'know like water down the plughole and all? Just a thought.

[mynameis]

I find that an issue as well, as I can take left corners way quicker than the right hand ones.

But I've been concentrating on the right hand corners for a few weeks now and sort of getting used to it.

Some interesting thoughts were mentioned about the fact it could be a psychological factor as well.

Try checking your stripes to see if the left one is smaller than the right, I thought there would be a significant difference but once I checked mine it wasn't, probably 1 to 2 mm max. And yes this was before I started working on my right hand corners :nya:

Would like to hear about your guys ones?

[quickbuck]

The stripes could give a false indercation due to the camber.

Also, in my case the bike was actually leaning further into the corner, it is just that I wasn't.

As Big McJim says, it could be the plug hole thing...

[DesmoJohnny]

Ok so I am r/handed,r/thumbed,r/footed. Lived and ridden in both North and Southern hemispheres and in countries that ride on both lh and rh (not at the same time obviously! :gob:
But I still prefer lh corners and have to make the extra effort to be as 'fast' on a rh bend. All my crashes have been on lh bends though - think I need help too !

[quickbuck]

think I need help too !

HI DESMOJOHNNY.

Welcome to the CCA (Corner Crashers Anonymous) help thread...


Na, just jokes, and I don't mean to cause offence to those in other programs.

[texmo]

I prefer right handers so does vtec I think. And I rember madboy saying he wears out his left hand knee slider slower than his right hand one.

im lazy but someone find the other thread that this topic was already discussed in. I rember the out come was because of the throtle position.


I've only crashed on left hand corners on the track, do you think there's something in this?
Yes, Your a muppet.

[Motu]

Speedway tracks,horse racing tracks,dog racing tracks,athletic tracks - all left turn - why?

[quickbuck]

I rember the out come was because of the throtle position.




I believe it isn't one simple answer. It will be different reasons for different riders.
If it were that easy, anybody could ride, or be a riding instructor (of which I am not, but I like to offer advise as I have riden a few years (29)).

I was reading the back of a PB mag the other night, and was reading an article written by Keith Code (google him, there is some great stuff on his site), and he was talking about 48 points of cornering a motorcycle.
Point 27 is "Line".
There was a break down of all the questions a rider must ask himself before he puts the bike on the correct line.
Well, lets just say, point 27 took up most of the page (remember there are 48 points), so that means there is a book out there on the whole process.

Remember there are only two things you can do on a motorcycle (change it's speed, and change it's direction) but there are many ways to do those things.

[quickbuck]

Speedway tracks,horse racing tracks,dog racing tracks,athletic tracks - all left turn - why?

I'm picking you have 4 of us thinking about this right now, but I can't think of the answer at the moment....

[Goblin]

But I still prefer lh corners and have to make the extra effort to be as 'fast' on a rh bend. All my crashes have been on lh bends though - think I need help too !
I wonder if those who prefer left handers and have binned on lefties, did so because they feel more comfortable going left, therefore pushed that bit harder and crashed?

Oh and welcome to KB:yes:

[Squeak the Rat]

It's well known that right hand people are intelligent and lefties are weirdo arty types. Left side brain controls right hand, so if these people are more intelligent then maybe the left brain has more mass. Larger mass naturally leans into the corner better, therefore left turns are easier.

[mynameis]

Ok so I am r/handed,r/thumbed,r/footed. Lived and ridden in both North and Southern hemispheres and in countries that ride on both lh and rh (not at the same time obviously! :gob:
But I still prefer lh corners and have to make the extra effort to be as 'fast' on a rh bend. All my crashes have been on lh bends though - think I need help too !

Welcome to the site mate, " quickbuck " this just cuts it short and dry to the point that it is more the throttle than any other factor. What are your thoughts? And please stop analysing the brains dude. Confusing the hell out me !! Grrr .. lol :weird:

[quickbuck]

Confusing the hell out me !! Grrr .. lol :weird:
Sorry to confuse you.
Analysts is part of my job, and I have the day off. Maybe I should have gone to work!

To answer goblins question:I wonder if those who prefer left handers and have binned on lefties, did so because they feel more comfortable going left, therefore pushed that bit harder and crashed?

Well, me, my worst bin was on a left, but I still preferred them to rights for some time. (Slipped on diesel on a wet night).
I guess it was because I could explain why I binned and believed it wasn't my fault. (Now I realise there was things I could have done to avoid the crash).

[Motu]

Who has a DVD of Ben Hur?

See if you can find out which way round Charlton Heston was driving his chariot....and did he have the reins in his right hand?

[McJim]

Wow! lot's of info too much to quote.

I am right handed, left thumbed, left legged and left eyed (long story for another day perhaps). I have binned once turning left and once turning right.

I have therefore devised the following approach - If I have to turn a corner I get off the bike, park it and try to hitch a lift on a bike going in the right direction.:lol:

[texmo]

I believe it isn't one simple answer. It will be different reasons for different riders.
If it were that easy, anybody could ride, or be a riding instructor (of which I am not, but I like to offer advise as I have riden a few years (29)).

I was reading the back of a PB mag the other night, and was reading an article written by Keith Code (google him, there is some great stuff on his site), and he was talking about 48 points of cornering a motorcycle.
Point 27 is "Line".
There was a break down of all the questions a rider must ask himself before he puts the bike on the correct line.
Well, lets just say, point 27 took up most of the page (remember there are 48 points), so that means there is a book out there on the whole process.

Remember there are only two things you can do on a motorcycle (change it's speed, and change it's direction) but there are many ways to do those things.

I didnt say that was the only thing to riding, just perhaps why people find left handers easyer than right.

[Skyryder]

Who has a DVD of Ben Hur?

See if you can find out which way round Charlton Heston was driving his chariot....and did he have the reins in his right hand?

Not me but have you read the book??

Skyryder

[Motu]

Chocolate microdot - Cinerama....front row...

It doesn't get more real than that....

[quickbuck]

I didnt say that was the only thing to riding, just perhaps why people find left handers easyer than right.
Neither did I.
The abridged version to what I said was that this is not the only reason ("throtle") that people find it easier to turn one way or the other.

[DesmoJohnny]

I wonder if those who prefer left handers and have binned on lefties, did so because they feel more comfortable going left, therefore pushed that bit harder and crashed?

Oh and welcome to KB:yes:

Cheers for the welcomes folks
But here's another angle on it - I prefer riding on the rh side of the road,but still prefer lh bends ?? Even when I used to do some kart racing I prefered lh tracks - think I need a shrink ! :whocares:
But yes to the above - trying harder because it felt good