Left vs righthand corners?

[McJim]

Ask an archer, he will explain. One of the first things they do when you enter an archery is testing your "guide eye". That is the eye that finds the point you are looking at and targets on things, the other one just follows. A quick test is to wink an eye. Which one did you close? The guide one is the one you left open.

Most people's guide eye follows handness. That is, for a RH person the guide eye is the right one. But on some rare cases it doesn't follow. I'm one of those rare cases, RH but left guide eye (I have to use a left-handed arc).

I prefer lh turns, so my guess is that the eye has nothing to do.

Good theory, though.

Interesting theory.

I am right handed. In football I strongly favour my left foot (can't kick for shit with my right but can send the ball 3/4 of the way down the field with my left) and I am more or less completely blind in my right eye and have been since birth.

I find left handers easier than right handers so I must be another exception then.

[Tunahunter]

I don't know why but I feel a bit less comfortable on right hand bends than I do on the lefties. This is magnified somewhat when my girlfriend is on the back - she's a good pillion but I guess if I'm hestitant she just follows my lead.

I first noticed this when biking on Crete - I hadn't ridden a bike for about 39 years and I thought its frame was twisted - but I was the one out of wack I think.

Is this a common issue?

[Maha]

I had the same problem once, I asked the question and it was explained to me at the time but I cant have been taking to much notice because I can remember, I was a party though...
Thinking about it, down hill was worse.
Appexing the corners help dramatically.
Entering a corner to early will make your exit line wider.

[george formby]

Might be camber related. I always feel I'm leaning further over on a right hander & my chooken strips seem to agree. Strangely I also feel I have better visibility coming into a right hander.

[george formby]

I had the same problem once, I asked the question and it was explained to me at the time but I cant have been taking to much notice because I can remember, I was a party though...
Thinking about it, down hill was worse.
Appexing the corners help dramatically.
Entering a corner to early will make your exit line wider.

Riding hard downhill is a real head game, I try to ignore the contour & pay particular attention to any gravel which may spoil my line. The safety margins just don't feel as great when your nose down.

[sil3nt]

Right handers suck because your turning in towards oncoming traffic. I bet those who drive on the right hand side of the road hate left handers!

[sgtp]

my "newb to riding" readings said this on this subject:

You may find the right-hand turn more difficult. This is natural. When you lean to the right, you have to support more of your upper body weight on your right hand - your throttle hand.

It didnt say anything more, other than that......glad I could be of some help ...but seriously, I guess its just something you have to get over and then you'll be fine?

[george formby]

my "newb to riding" readings said this on this subject:



It didnt say anything more, other than that......glad I could be of some help ...but seriously, I guess its just something you have to get over and then you'll be fine?

TBH I don't really think about it. Left or right I'm thinking about maximising my visibility through the bend.

I do believe I get on the power earlier in a right hander, the vanishing point is a whole lane further away..

[SVboy]

A possible technique on right handers is make sure you are mid-left in your lane, look well ahead to a spot[as chosen by you] "deep" in the corner where you will 'quickly' begin your turn[rather than enter the corner too early, which will see you apex the corner close to oncoming traffic]. As you enter the corner, focus ahead on the line where you want the bike to be[but DONT look down close to the front wheel]. In this way,most of your lean is done at the entry to the corner, you wont be leaning across the white line, and you have the maximum vision of the road conditions ahead. I have not mentioned braking or throttle inputs-braking into and accelerations out of-but I am sure you knew that. Find a set of corners you know and practice.......

[Sparrowhawk]

All of the above is very true, but I found my bike felt very different in a right hand corner. Checked the alignment between front & rear, and found it was way out. Fixed that, and it felt a million times better.

Worth a look!

[Usarka]

Right handers suck because your turning in towards oncoming traffic. I bet those who drive on the right hand side of the road hate left handers!

He first noticed the problem in Crete, I'm pretty sure they drive on the right hand side of the road so it should be left handers that he hates.

Might even be something to do with countersteering with throttle hand or eyesight or somethink.

[Voltaire]

Crete....maybe it was the ghosts of fallschirmjager trying to stop the Kiwis leaving the island....

[wanpo]

I've heard it's common to be less confident on the direction you had your first off.

I think that's why I'm a little more confident turning right, although any apprehension is mostly gone now.

[monkeymcbean]

It could be like other sports for example when I youst to ski. You have a better natural turning side than the other. It is something with more experience and kilometers travelled gets better for you if you work at it, i.e. better entry line into corners etc.
Like the others have mentioned, awkward feeling is exerberated when riding a bike downhill.

[Blackshear]

Right lobe dominance vs left lobe dominance.

Could be a correlation.