Bad Turning Habits
Jun 23rd, 2009 by Leo
Bad habits are hard to break. But when it comes to turning a motorcycle at speed, you either break the habit or it can break you. Ha! How’s that for a dramatic statement? But this is serious business. Here’s what I mean… Most car drivers turn this way: they get to the turn-point and they turn – turn – turn the wheel and then straighten out the wheel. During the whole turn they are either turning-in or straightening out. The way this habit translates to two wheels is: bikers lean lean lean the bike through the turn and straighten out towards the end of the turn. On track days people lean into the turn, lean in a little more, and after the apex they lean in even more… So what’s wrong with that?
There are two problems with this…and both of them can result in crashing. First, you can’t “roll-on” the throttle while you’re in the process of leaning the bike over (changing lean angle). Rolling on throttle while leaning it over tends to cause the bike to go wide. And at steeper lean angles it can cause a lowside crash. You don’t want to accelerate (or brake) while increasing the lean angle. Second, if you’re gradually increasing the lean angle throughout the turn, you’re bike is in an unstable state while handling the most difficult maneuver it was designed to do (turning). That means the suspension isn’t in a good place to handle bumps and slips. That can lead to a crash as well.
“Slow, look, lean, roll”
What you want to do as you come to a corner is to steer once so that the bike turns into the lean angle you want… You do that with the throttle off. Then gently roll on the throttle as soon as your finished steering, roll on the throttle throughout the turn, and then steer to stand the bike up at the end.
Of course sometimes you’ll get the wrong angle and have to correct it… In which case you can stop rolling on the throttle for a moment, correct the steering, and then start opening the throttle again. But as you get used to particular corners and find the best places to start the turn and learn what kind of lean angle you’ll need – you should be able to set the bike at the right lean angle, and then roll on the throttle in one shot.
Anyway, if this interests or intrigues you, it’s a bit of a recap and expansion on some recent posts:
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