Left vs righthand corners?

[Tunahunter]

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.......

Thanks, that is very helpful - I sense that I start leaning too early and should should be making the turn "quickly" but later - cheers

[Tunahunter]

Are you right or left handed?

Right handed

[Tunahunter]

Thank you one and all - I really appreciate the helpful comments

[Maha]

Right handed

Some may beleive that that has something to do with it...initially, or even ulimately, but dont get dragged into thinking that the little 'quirk' wont dissapear.

[tbs]

I had actually been struggling with this a bit on my mountain bike before I got my motorbike. I've been riding aggressively off road for years and over the last couple of years I had noticed a definite bias for turning left. In the case of the mtb I put it down to always having my left foot forward. Come to that, back in the day when I was a kid on a skateboard I could always do frontside tricks easier than a lot of people because I found turning left easier.
When I got on a motorbike I had a hell of a time learning to feel comfortable leaning the bike to the right. I would instinctively try to keep the bike more upright in right handers, twisting outward at the hips and counterweighting. Add to this all the previously mentioned issues with camber, sight lines and having your head knocked off by oncoming traffic and it just gets worse.
What helped me was going to a Prorider training day at Pukekohe. After many laps going clockwise around the track I have more wear on the right side of my tires, and I've got used to the sensation of leaning to the right.

Now I just have to get used to hanging out on the outside going into a right hand bend instead of riding the centre line or turning in too soon.... bit of a work in progress.

[ellipsis]

...its just a figment of an overactive brain...saying, 'it hurts and scares me'...fuck off !..get over it , like I had to...

[Genie]

I too had this wee issue, I felt I was stiff in the lefties, yet when I had someone behind me he said I was actually stiffer in the righties. Whereupon he advised me to drop my shoulder a bit...wow, what a difference. Now i'm enjoying lefties and righties, it's good to move my body in new ways and discover just what makes a good corner for me, speaking of which I hear the Whangamoas calling....

[Grubber]

Haven't read everything here but have to say some of the advice and ideas are a bit hard case.
When coming to your corner, sight your turning point in relation to the apex you wish to take. When you reach your turning point you counter steer into corner, not to severely, dropping bike over for the turn, at the same time looking through the corner to where you wish to both apex it and go through it. Soon as the bike is turned and leaning, start to throttle on while keeping your lower part of your body joined to your bike and your top half completely relaxed. You shouldn't have any pressure on the handle bars at any point through the turn. While going through the turn your body should be with your butt only half a cheek over to the side your turning into. Keep throttling on as you drive through the corner so as to keep putting weight onto your rear tyre thus adding more traction to your turn. And Bob's your Uncle. Simple really.

[Corse1]

I had this same discussion with an OZ mate. He asked me why he didn't like right handers as opposed to lefts. He couldn't figure it out.
One is theoretical more lean angle required to cope with camber unlike left handers that can be like riding around the corners at Daytona.
Also its easier to run wide on entry to a left hand corner then cut in at the apex. To do this on a right hander (as mentioned here as well) you chuck your helmet into oncoming traffic

Another one is the target fixation. While there is not always oncoming traffic to run into on left handers if running wide, the edge of the road is always there on left handers.

I find that when the pace gets up a bit I concentrate on entering as wide as possible before tip and being smooth as silk, making sure i have the exit point fixed in my vision once I have started tip in. Slow in fast out and smooth and you just get more and more confident.

[scumdog]

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!

There was a thread about this topic on KB a few years back, I recall somebody quoting from a US site that they too don't like the right-handers either, go figure!

I don't like 'em as much as left-handers but part of it MAY be because my zorst (on the right-side of the bike) touches down at a much lesser angle than anything on the left side of the bike.
And I'm left-handed if that makes any difference.

[The Stranger:Me]

You shouldn't have any pressure on the handle bars at any point through the turn.

Hmm, I must be doing it all wrong then.

Haven't read the thread, but a few possible reasons for the jitters in right turns are.

Camber - the road is cambered to shed water and as you make a right turn you may be closer to the ground.

You are leaning toward opposing traffic.

Where are you looking? on a left hander you tend to naturally look toward the correct vanishing point. On a right hander you tend to look across the centre line - and we all know you go where you look. Then you wind up fighting that. Try not letting your focus cross the centre line on right handers.

The other one that always leaves me wondering is the number of people who start a RH bend from the RH wheel track. Move to the LHS of the lane and stay wide until you can see your exit.

[Grubber]

Hmm, I must be doing it all wrong then.

Haven't read the thread, but a few possible reasons for the jitters in right turns are.

Camber - the road is cambered to shed water and as you make a right turn you may be closer to the ground.

You are leaning toward opposing traffic.

Where are you looking? on a left hander you tend to naturally look toward the correct vanishing point. On a right hander you tend to look across the centre line - and we all know you go where you look. Then you wind up fighting that. Try not letting your focus cross the centre line on right handers.

The other one that always leaves me wondering is the number of people who start a RH bend from the RH wheel track. Move to the LHS of the lane and stay wide until you can see your exit.

I'm not too sure if you are questioning the "no pressure on handle bars" or not, but the reason you don't have pressure is that it upsets your suspension and track through the corner by not allowing the bike to go it's natural coarse. The more pressure the wider the bike will swing out on a corner.
On coming traffic won't worry you if you stay on your side and the camber should be accounted for when you line your corner up in theory.

[Metastable]

I know I have said my peace about a track school to help with cornering. Having said that I just wanted to add one thing.

- If as a rider one wants to know more about cornering, but going to the track is not an option, consider reading Twist of the Wrist II or seeing the information DVD/Movie that has come out recently. It is very good.

Here is an interview with Code talking about the new DVD... this is part 1 of the interview, there are 4 more.... linked below. I've seen the full DVD, awesome!
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9uzVYL7RPs

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HJeckQRX_E

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_rG2...eature=related

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51j2f...eature=related

Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq_yw...eature=related

[aimee]

I've noticed that I'm better at left curves than right curves.

Which is very Zoolander, and so amuses me somewhat (except on right curves, of course). And then my partner mentioned that he, too, was better at left than right curves.

And hence this question. Are you an ambiturner, or better at one than t'other? And, for the sake of science, or something, are you left/right handed, or ambidextrous? I'm curious to see whether there's a correlation :)

[Laava]

Is that where your chicken strips are the same size on both sides?