Cornering - which gear, opinion poll.

[Squeak the Rat]

Kolmar Burton poll:

Spent 1300km on the Z in 2 days this w/e, and had some time to consider gear selection for cornering.

When riding at a decent pace on the road, do you prefer to corner in a gear giving high revs or low, and why?

I try to go high / med-high, but often find myself shorting but that might be cause my current bike has a decent midrange (or more likely I get lazy or I can't ride for poo :))

[Maha]

You have come to the right place.....:yes:
Lower gear/higher rev's, or you may find you drift wider than you should and hitting the picks mid corner (not good)...go in hard come out harder, make of that what you will....:scooter:

[Bonez]

Kolmar Burton poll:

Spent 1300km on the Z in 2 days this w/e, and had some time to consider gear selection for cornering.

When riding at a decent pace on the road, do you prefer to corner in a gear giving high revs or low, and why?

I try to go med-high, but often find myself shorting but that might be cause my current bike has a decent midrange :)
Higher revs in lower gears.

Why- because I ride over weight, underpowered shitters.

[Pumba]

With my 600 bandit I had no option but to keep the revs high. With the SV I still tend to keep my revs high, more of a riding habit than anything else, but being a V twin it has the low end if I happen to have low revs at corner time.

[Oakie]

Lower gear, decent revs. Just a product of changing down before the corner and the getting correspondingy higher revs. Also allows good drive out of the corner.
I quite often find myself changing down again half way through a corner to keep the revs up but it's never caused me any problems (it's a slow deliberate release of the clutch to re-engage drive gently)

[Wenier]

Low gear mid range of revs so i can get on the throttle through the corner and not have to change up too early.

[BarBender]

Kolmar Burton poll:

Spent 1300km on the Z in 2 days this w/e, and had some time to consider gear selection for cornering.

When riding at a decent pace on the road, do you prefer to corner in a gear giving high revs or low, and why?

I try to go med-high, but often find myself shorting but that might be cause my current bike has a decent midrange :)

Depends on the bike, (torque largely I suppose), corner and the conditions for me Squeak.

[Ixion]

Depends on thde bike. On a two smoker you MUST stay in the power band. whereas on something like ffwabbitt with soft long travel suspension, I need to have power on and pulling as I exit the corner to extend the forks. And a upchange is unwise, so high gear and low revs is best.

[Motu]

Is there an option for the correct gear for the corner....

[N4CR]

you're talking sh1t :p

depends on corner and speed you come in and curve the corner presents, revs (and power i presume you mean) don't mean **** if the throttle is barely open...

it's hard to run outta revs on the 10 around corners, on the 250 i have rooted my boots trying to shift with standard shift pattern, the toes ripped apart from soles :\ i shoulda run race shift pattern. often i'd run outta revs on long corners cus you need to ride it at 15-16k at max power to beat/stick with the bigger bikes.

[Jeff Sichoe]

I go into the corner while the engine is spooling down from say, 10-12k's, then I can flip it back open when I exit the corner...

[MSTRS]

Obviously depends on the corner, but in general - change down during approach and ensure higher revs throughout

[Jimmy B]

Depends on thde bike. On a two smoker you MUST stay in the power band. whereas on something like ffwabbitt with soft long travel suspension, I need to have power on and pulling as I exit the corner to extend the forks. And a upchange is unwise, so high gear and low revs is best.

Im gonna me too Ixion cause the X11 has such fat torque that anything above 3K rpm is game on, plenty of power for the exit, and good engine braking with closed throttle on approach, usually reserve the stoppers for the really tight stuff....mind you I ride on the conservative side of balls out

[Motu]

As Ixion says,each bike is different,and you adapt your riding style to suit.When I first got the XLV750 it had new Avon's,so pretty good I thought - but it used to step out big time on corner entry.I tend to change down a gear and lay it into a corner at the same time,but the engine braking of the V twin was breaking traction.So I changed my method on this bike - entering the corner a gear up,and changing down power on for the exit.With bikes with a powerband like 2 strokes or early Tridents you would adjust engine and road speed so you had the power come in just as you started to pick the bike up on the exit.....get it wrong and you'd still be picking the bike up....from out of the ditch.

[hurricane_r]

all i can say is wat feels best for you, and wat your doing, best be in a gear that u can hold revs to keep some power to road as grip, then enough rpm range to power out without having to change gears,

thena gain wat do i know.....

[Pwalo]

Get into the correct for the corner (if you can see through it) before entry, carry a slighty opening throttle through the coner until you can see your exit, and gently wind on the revs.

Revs, as such, aren't important. As long as you're in the right gear, and don't try and ride through the corner on a closed throttle you should be ok.

My own preference is always to have the engine in the mid rev range where ever I'm riding.

[mstriumph]

all i can say is wat feels best for you, and wat your doing, best be in a gear that u can hold revs to keep some power to road as grip, then enough rpm range to power out without having to change gears,

thena gain wat do i know.....
hey - me either

but on this bike i generally change down setting up for the corner - no scientific explaination - just feels like the needful thing

[ManDownUnder]

Higher revs - i.e. 1/2 way through the rev range... more engine braking if needed, more "turbo boost" if needed, plenty of chance to rev it out and really have some fun if needed...

Just better control of the vehicle overall, nad making it ready to accelerate as rapidly as it reasonably can when the corner opens out