As promised, I will continue the Safety topic of the week. I have been reading a lot lately about riders going down in turns/curves. Curves are statistically the #1 place for motorcyclist only accidents. This is largely due to lack of training or not riding within the riders limits. Lets face it anyone can get on a bike and ride straight and fast, it takes someone with skill to turn and maneuver the motorcycle.
Let’s first examine the proper way to make a motorcycle corner. I would say any thing under the speed of 15 mph you would turn the handle bars in the direction you want to go. That is turn right, go right, turn left, and go left.
Anything above 15 mph you will use counter steering. I’m sure there are a few out there (probably a lot more than a few) that believe that in order to turn a motorcycle you must lean into the turn. In other words, Lean your upper body to the right and the bike will go to the right. This is true in a sense, but not the easiest and most effective way to turn. Counter steering is a proven way to negotiate curves. Basically it is Press right go right, press left go left. What I mean about press is to press down on the hand grip in the direction you want to go. Do not press outwards in the direction you want to go. Next time your on your bike give it a shot, just press down on the right hand grip and your bike will lean to the right. Keep your body relaxed, with your elbows slightly bent. No need to hyperextend your arm downwards, unless you want to drag a knee. Don’t worry about your upper body, like the old saying Shi*t happens so does lean, your body will follow. Do not fight the lean by leaning the opposite way either. Just press and everything else will fall into place. If you want to turn/lean more all you have to do is press more on the hand grip in that direction. Now that we examined the easiest way to make the motorcycle corner lets look at the proper procedure to safely negotiate curves.
The procedure is Slow, Look, Press, and Roll. The First step to any curve is slow, slow down your speed. Second is to Look where you want to go, Press (counter steer) in the direction you want to go, and Roll on the throttle.
Slow: Slow down so that you can see hazards coming up in the curve, so that you don’t ride outside of your limits, and it also allows you to roll on the throttle.
Look: The key to motorcycling is to look where you want to go. It’s just that simple. Look right go right, Look left go left, Look behind you and you can make a u-turn in your two car driveway easily. I hear some riders that have gone down tell me that while in a curve they looked to the outside of the curve and they flew off the road. Some tell me about looking down at the ground or curb and freaking out and grabbed the brakes or hit the curb and wrecked. Head and eyes are the key. So in a curve look level with the horizon as far as you can into the curve. Trust your eyes; your peripheral vision will catch everything around you.
Press: Just use the counter steering method as described above.
Roll: Roll? Get off the bike and roll on the ground? No, Roll on the throttle. Give it gas or maintain a steady speed in a curve. Do not role on the gas like a fool, so that you ride outside the curve and get yourself hurt. Rolling on the gas stabilizes the motorcycle in a curve. I’m not going to get technical on the physics of it, it just works. While in a curve if you ever rolled off the gas (decelerate) you felt the bike get jumpy. That’s because the front end is no longer stable. So if you slowed down enough, as in the first step, you will not have a problem rolling on the throttle. If it is a blind corner and the corner turns out to be a decreasing radius turn all you need to do is press more. This shouldn’t be a problem for you, especially if you knew it was a blind curve and took the correct precautions before the turn. We will get into slowing in a curve and braking in a curve at a later date.
Also use the outside insides outside path of travel in every curve. It is the straightest line thru a curve (not needing excessive lean angles) and it also allows you to see farther thru the curve.
So that’s my safety advice for the week. Have at it my fellow riders; put your .02 in there. If you have any questions or don’t understand any of this in part or whole, don’t be afraid to ask. Ill be more than happy to clarify.
Thanks for reading the safety post, pass along this info to your fellow riders.
Let’s first examine the proper way to make a motorcycle corner. I would say any thing under the speed of 15 mph you would turn the handle bars in the direction you want to go. That is turn right, go right, turn left, and go left.
Anything above 15 mph you will use counter steering. I’m sure there are a few out there (probably a lot more than a few) that believe that in order to turn a motorcycle you must lean into the turn. In other words, Lean your upper body to the right and the bike will go to the right. This is true in a sense, but not the easiest and most effective way to turn. Counter steering is a proven way to negotiate curves. Basically it is Press right go right, press left go left. What I mean about press is to press down on the hand grip in the direction you want to go. Do not press outwards in the direction you want to go. Next time your on your bike give it a shot, just press down on the right hand grip and your bike will lean to the right. Keep your body relaxed, with your elbows slightly bent. No need to hyperextend your arm downwards, unless you want to drag a knee. Don’t worry about your upper body, like the old saying Shi*t happens so does lean, your body will follow. Do not fight the lean by leaning the opposite way either. Just press and everything else will fall into place. If you want to turn/lean more all you have to do is press more on the hand grip in that direction. Now that we examined the easiest way to make the motorcycle corner lets look at the proper procedure to safely negotiate curves.
The procedure is Slow, Look, Press, and Roll. The First step to any curve is slow, slow down your speed. Second is to Look where you want to go, Press (counter steer) in the direction you want to go, and Roll on the throttle.
Slow: Slow down so that you can see hazards coming up in the curve, so that you don’t ride outside of your limits, and it also allows you to roll on the throttle.
Look: The key to motorcycling is to look where you want to go. It’s just that simple. Look right go right, Look left go left, Look behind you and you can make a u-turn in your two car driveway easily. I hear some riders that have gone down tell me that while in a curve they looked to the outside of the curve and they flew off the road. Some tell me about looking down at the ground or curb and freaking out and grabbed the brakes or hit the curb and wrecked. Head and eyes are the key. So in a curve look level with the horizon as far as you can into the curve. Trust your eyes; your peripheral vision will catch everything around you.
Press: Just use the counter steering method as described above.
Roll: Roll? Get off the bike and roll on the ground? No, Roll on the throttle. Give it gas or maintain a steady speed in a curve. Do not role on the gas like a fool, so that you ride outside the curve and get yourself hurt. Rolling on the gas stabilizes the motorcycle in a curve. I’m not going to get technical on the physics of it, it just works. While in a curve if you ever rolled off the gas (decelerate) you felt the bike get jumpy. That’s because the front end is no longer stable. So if you slowed down enough, as in the first step, you will not have a problem rolling on the throttle. If it is a blind corner and the corner turns out to be a decreasing radius turn all you need to do is press more. This shouldn’t be a problem for you, especially if you knew it was a blind curve and took the correct precautions before the turn. We will get into slowing in a curve and braking in a curve at a later date.
Also use the outside insides outside path of travel in every curve. It is the straightest line thru a curve (not needing excessive lean angles) and it also allows you to see farther thru the curve.
So that’s my safety advice for the week. Have at it my fellow riders; put your .02 in there. If you have any questions or don’t understand any of this in part or whole, don’t be afraid to ask. Ill be more than happy to clarify.
Thanks for reading the safety post, pass along this info to your fellow riders.
