Nervous on roundabouts today. Tight cornering

[Aaron_newrider]

Hey guys,

Note: No abusing, no laughing, no giving me shit, if ya wanna hastle a noob fuck off Just looking for your comments

Took a bike for a fang today, gt250r, but I suck at roundabouts and go way too slow. Main reason I wen't slow today, was because there was road-works about 50-100M away and there was water/possibly oil in it on the road right across the roundabout but it wasn't much.

I think I just don't like the whole major lean going slowly, going 40K+ it's easy, and I enjoy leaning into the corners but I'm useless at doing it slowly and guess I'm scared of falling off from the bike sliding out.

Anything anyone can recommend to getting my confidence up?

Cheers

aaron

[firefighter]

Hey guys,

Note: No abusing, no laughing, no giving me shit, if ya wanna hastle a noob fuck off Just looking for your comments

Took a bike for a fang today, gt250r, but I suck at roundabouts and go way too slow. Main reason I wen't slow today, was because there was road-works about 50-100M away and there was water/possibly oil in it on the road right across the roundabout but it wasn't much.

I think I just don't like the whole major lean going slowly, going 40K+ it's easy, and I enjoy leaning into the corners but I'm useless at doing it slowly and guess I'm scared of falling off from the bike sliding out.

Anything anyone can recommend to getting my confidence up?

Cheers

aaron

I had the same problem at the very start.

Your looking down right? ie, not looking up at your exit? More just a little ahead and down a bit?

Stop looking down!!!

Look UP and at your intended exit, physically make yourself do it, and practise this at quiet roundabouts.

It works.

[sil3nt]

I guess i am in the same boat as you. I am very much a learner and small roundabouts can be a bit of a pain but things that help me are:

1. Relax!!
2. Look through the turn at where you want to go

I dont think i even bother moving my weight around at this stage. I was worried i was going to slow until i followed a car that was doing the same speed so i think i am doing ok. I think the looking through the turn is what really helps at roundabouts more than anything.

[YellowDog]

Hey, you are right to be cautious if there is potential hazzards around.

You can lean on slow corners, but just not as much.

As a suggestion, why don't you practice slow cornering in a completely upright position. Just let the rear brake drag so that it doesn't run away.

At such slow speeds you can also move your weight from side to side to counter balance the slow lean.

Once you can do it really slowly, just try to use the same control at a slightly faster speed.

Works for me.

Good luck.

[Spuds1234]

With slow turning, look up and if you have to, lean away from the turn.

This will allow you to do slow, tight turns (uturns etc).

It takes lots of practice and you need good throttle and clutch control.

[varminter]

I assume you mean turning right, left and ahead should be no problem. I know what you mean but all you have to do is as you get to the bit where you start to go right just look where you want to go, the bike just goes there. Trust me it works. You could start with larger roundabouts and work up to the little one's. Don't worry about speed, that's where the problems occur (assuming your not going slow enough to fall off), as you have seen cars don't usualy whiz round.

[Deano]

Find a closed carpark and practice tight turns ? It's just a matter of confidence, balance and experience. (Like anything really)

[Quasi]

Hey guys,

Note: No abusing, no laughing, no giving me shit, if ya wanna hastle a noob fuck off Just looking for your comments

Took a bike for a fang today, gt250r, but I suck at roundabouts and go way too slow. Main reason I wen't slow today, was because there was road-works about 50-100M away and there was water/possibly oil in it on the road right across the roundabout but it wasn't much.

I think I just don't like the whole major lean going slowly, going 40K+ it's easy, and I enjoy leaning into the corners but I'm useless at doing it slowly and guess I'm scared of falling off from the bike sliding out.

Anything anyone can recommend to getting my confidence up?

Cheers

aaron

Hey Aaron - good on you for asking. There is a huge wealth of knowledge amongst the members here and people are more then happy to share it. Anyway - I have found the same as already been suggested. Try not to think too much about how you are going to get round and think about where you intend going and focus on that. Its more about riding intuitively. Plenty of practise and it will all come together for you

[scracha]

Hey guys,

Note: No abusing, no laughing, no giving me shit, if ya wanna hastle a noob fuck off Just looking for your comments

Don't be ashamed. Roundabouts are dangerous things, full of fucktards that don't know what lane they should be in, who they should give way to or when to indicate. Add $hitty diesel patches (overfilled diesel vehicles braking and turning suddenly for the first time since filling up), pot-holes (trucks lifting the road surface) and silly distracting landscaping, then they should be taken with extreme caution. Gain confidence in what lane you should be in and when to indicate by reading up on the law.

The idea behind roundabouts is to improve traffic flow and therefore the idea is to keep your vehicle moving. Lane discipline aside, approach the roundabout, look at the vehicles on (or coming onto) the roundabout to your right and adjust your speed to try and get onto the roundabout with a nice safe gap. If you have to stop before entering the roundabout (no gap, poor visibility or traffic in front of you) then wait for a gap, move off, quickly check for a gap again (that's a 'lifesaver') then look where you're going. You see a lot of idiots going onto roundabouts looking to their right. There's no point in doing this as
a) You've checked the gap twice
b) You're now comitted so there's sod all you can do to avoid something anyway
c) The idiot on their mobile phone who started moving off in front of you may have suddenly changed their mind and suddenly stopped. That's why there's so many rear end crashes approaching roundabouts. It may be 'their fault' but you're insurance company and the police won't agree.

The best piece of advice I can give you (at roundabouts or otherwise ) is to pretend that you are invisible every other vehicle/dog/pedestrian on the road.

Mini-roundabouts are a complete different beast. They are a complete fuckin waste of time and in this country the safest option is to give way to any vehicle bigger than you or driven by a pensioner.


Confidence:- go when it's quiet and go round and round the roundabout
OR
get a mate with a car, "borrow" some traffic cones and make your own roundabout to practise on in an empty car park.

Confidence is best increased through experience. If you get too much confidence too early then it's usually followed by landing on your arse.

[CookMySock]

Good words above.

You can also speed up a bit and concentrate just steer with the bars and fight through though the fear, but large levels of concentration and balls are required, and if you panic and stuff it up you will mount a kerb somewhere..

Somtimes you will have shit days where you just don't feel in touch with the bike.

Steve

[Aaron_newrider]

Thanks for the comments guys - I think 1) I'm looking down too much 2) Maybe i'm looking around alittle too much for those crazy cage drivers trying to kill me.

General idea: Look ahead to where i'm going, practice on some big round abouts, try it upright, and steal some cones from the roadworkers.

Cheers all,

Aaron

[=cJ=]

Yep, I had the sam eproblem. I found a carpark that I wouldn't get kicked out of, then used some ice cream containers to mark out a figure of eight, then went round it ad nauseum.

Fixed my roundabout problems right up

[tigertim20]

Thanks for the comments guys - I think 1) I'm looking down too much 2) Maybe i'm looking around alittle too much for those crazy cage drivers trying to kill me.

General idea: Look ahead to where i'm going, practice on some big round abouts, try it upright, and steal some cones from the roadworkers.

Cheers all,

Aaron

Yep you got it matey! just practice it heaps (ha!, like you NEED an excuse to get out on a bike eh?)
Good on you for asking, better you do than have one of us scrape ya up off the road cos you didnt ask!
By the way, there are fuckall people on here who will harass you for being a noob. (and the ones that are will quickly get told to fuggoff very quickly by other members in my experience anyway)
keep riding, keep practicing, and see you on the road sometime dude

[Aaron_newrider]

Yep you got it matey! just practice it heaps (ha!, like you NEED an excuse to get out on a bike eh?)
Good on you for asking, better you do than have one of us scrape ya up off the road cos you didnt ask!
By the way, there are fuckall people on here who will harass you for being a noob. (and the ones that are will quickly get told to fuggoff very quickly by other members in my experience anyway)
keep riding, keep practicing, and see you on the road sometime dude

Thanks Mate, I was actually test driving a bike today , taking afew different bikes to see what I like. Still gotta get the bike and i'm already getting frustrated at stuff I can't do well lol.

Cheers

[p.dath]

Try entering from the left and cross to right right hand side of the lane just after the apex (which will depend on where you are exiting). Look through the line from you head through the apex of the corner (and this will move).