Anyone care to comment/advise

[Blackbird]

One possibility is too short a focus on what is unfolding ahead. When I went for my advanced riding course 3 years ago, the instructor introduced me to the "12 second rule". What this means in practice is that you should be scanning ahead for a distance equivalent to what your current speed will take you in 12 seconds. This applies whether it's urban riding or open road. The instructor noticed that I was only scanning for 6-8 seconds on average. Scanning further ahead prepares you for more eventualities and better decisions.

The other possible improvement which could be made is use of the "vanishing point" on corners to make informed decisions about positioning and entry speed. I'm assuming that you know about this and won't expand on it here. I raised this with my wife with some trepidation as she was pretty hesitant on blind corners in her MX5. She cottoned on really well and is very smooth through corners now. Interestingly, I did a straw poll among the car drivers in our office a while back about corner vanishing points and not one of them knew what I was talking about!

Hope that these items might help, but best wishes for a speedy solution.

Cheers

Geoff

[Charlie]

Wheres your head at on your bad corners?

I find the same thing happens to me sometimes, and the one thing I notice is that just about everytime I nail a great corner my head and eyes are focused on the vanishing point. Body leans and throttle opens up as the road ahead does. Peripheral vision takes care of the road immediately in front.
1st thing I learnt in cornering is stear with your head! And it works!

Now when I have an oopsie corner - I notice EVERY time, something on the road in front has distracted me. A potential hazard perhaps. Now my head and eyes are focused on the road directly 2-5m in front of me. Very hard to corner smoothly and counter steering is all stuffed up etc etc when your NOT leading with your head.

Just something to maybe consider Yungatart.

[EDIT] Darn.. Blackbird read my mind!

[GIXser]

Track days are always good , you go at your own pace, with no real interference" did wonders for me--

[Gixxer 4 ever]

One possibility is too short a focus on what is unfolding ahead. When I went for my advanced riding course 3 years ago, the instructor introduced me to the "12 second rule". What this means in practice is that you should be scanning ahead for a distance equivalent to what your current speed will take you in 12 seconds.
Geoff

This is good but, be careful you don't focus on points ahead cos they go by quickly. Look a long way ahead. Your peripheral (sp) vision will pick up hazards on the road side at a slower speed.
You need to be very active at high speed. Your eyes work as hard as the body when you get to the fast hard riding.

[Blackbird]

This is good but, be careful you don't focus on points ahead cos they go by quickly. Look a long way ahead. Your peripheral (sp) vision will pick up hazards on the road side at a slower speed.
You need to be very active at high speed. Your eyes work as hard as the body when you get to the fast hard riding.

Totally agree with your comment on object fixation, you should be constantly scanning and not fixing. That's what's so good about the 12 second rule. That means that at 100km/hr, you should be looking at least 336 metres ahead and around, and if your "clear ahead" vision is less than that, scan closer for potential hazards and/or use the vanishing point if it's a bend obscuring forward vision.

[yungatart]

Thanks guys/girls for all your replies. I still don't really know what causes it, but will ponder on what has been posted. I know it is not due to riding fast, or gripping the tank too tight so I'm guessing it is a case of not looking far enough ahead. However, I am getting it right more than I was so its not all bad aye? More riding will definitely fix it_ now I just have to finish this bloody course, so i can have some riding time instead of having to do those stooopid bloody assignments...
Will keep you posted...

[enigma51]

She needs to follow someone that she will feel confident to follow and that person just needs to "flow" at the pace she feels confartable with.

this might sound crazy but boomer had ride behind very competent mutal friend of ours and he improved alot he use to be very nervous. He has his moments (The hoon in him is strong) but he tends to "flow" with the roade and he does not seem so nervous anymore and when the pace picks up he tend to keep up and when we get to our destination and ask him about it he says he was not pushing it and was feeling comfortable.

[boomer]

Indeed Enigma; i feel like i've come on leaps and bounds and its all thanks to you and Murray.

not 6 months ago we went for a ride and they both told me at a rest stop.. "go your own pace don't try and keep up". I met them after the next set of twisties probably 5-10minutes after they had got there. Now...constant rides out with you guys means i can keep up and on occassion even try and set the pace. I've learnt a lot from following and learning. A real confident booster. ps.. we're all slow pokes

i'm still learning and have me moments but hey... all good fun!

[stify]

Track days are always good , you go at your own pace, with no real interference" did wonders for me--

gota go with ya there, very cheap investment

[JohnR]

Gixxer and Blackbird are right. The theory of the 12 second rule is that you scan the road out to the 12 second distance, scan back then check your mirrors. This is a constant process and should involve the whole width of the road. This is a major component of teaching emergency vehicle driving (I am involved in ambulance driver training). Once it becomes second nature you will wonder how you managed to ride/drive without doing it! Practice, practice, practice. (Good excuse for lots of riding!)

[sugilite:Me]

hmmm, it sounds like you "may" be coming through a series of corners with good visability and coming into a blind one, which could on a semi sub concious level be giving ya the heebie geebies.

Lots of good points been made already, relax, don't be to hard on ya self and practise heaps, look ahead without focusing on any one thing for too long.

I'm not sold 100% on the idea that you would have to slow it down, as I've found the optimum line for safety and flow often needs a certain speed to be attained in order to hold that line smoothly. If ya get what I mean lol

[Motu]

I don't know anything about the 12 second rule,I started doing this stuff before anyone developed theories about it.As soon as I exit a corner I look straight to the horizon and then scan back to where I am now,this can be a few metres,or a few kilometres,but I constantly scan this area to know where the road might go and what other obsticals like other vehicles etc I might meet.At times I also scan back with my mirrors and look to the sides...not just taking in the scenery,but as much info as I can.

[jonbuoy]

Inherently, you mainly get this on roads you don't know really well (most roads, for me). Which is why sprotsbike riders don't encounter it, because they seldom ride unknown roads. They "know" the road - when you don't you have to try to guess, and sometimes the guess fools you.

So how do we get to know new roads if we never travel on them?? Yes I have my favorites but I still enjoy finding new roads that become my new favorites.

Maybe shes getting tense - if your physically tense you cant ride well. If I get tense I try to focus on tightening my stomach muscles only. I sometimes get like that riding on a damp wet days, especially if I've had a little slide or something. Best to stop, have a break to chill, then carry on.

[pritch]

The original question didn't mention whether the problem occurred on particular corners. I have a couple of bogey corners, off camber and bumpy with it, and I use one of them every day. The normal cure involves walking around the corner and picking the best line. Bit of a problem on a busy intersection...

Saw a guy drop a Blackbird on one of them once and that has effected how I approach it.

Time may cure all...

[Mental Trousers]

Track days are always good , you go at your own pace, with no real interference" did wonders for me--

gota go with ya there, very cheap investment

Yup. Everyone should do track days. After a track day the road feels dangerous cos it's full of cars/animals/idiots/more idiots/every idiot and his dog/etc. Despite what mothers (like mine) think, the track is a much safer environment to learn. It also helps you figure out whats going on in your head when you're losing concentration, as I found down at Manfield.