Mountain Riding Tips #4 – Mastering the Curves – How to Loosen A Tight Turn

Here’s another trick from the motorcycle racetrack which has applications on the street and will improve your ability to carve through the curves by slowing the whole process down and making the turn less sharp.

These are not pure racing lines. Save those more elliptical and aggressive paths for where they belong. This is a softened interpretation more appropriate to day-to-day riding which will still achieve similar results without all the other complicated factors which come into play in a racing situation.

These diagrams show a section of road with a 180 degree turn. The red line shows the path taken by a rider who maintains his position in the middle of the lane throughout the curve. The blue line shows the path taken by a rider who adjusts his position prior to starting the turn and uses more of the road.

The first diagram shows taking the curve in the outside lane. Coming onto the turn, the rider moves to the outside edge of the roadway. One immediate advantage from moving to the outside edge of the road is he can see deeper into the turn – he can see more of it, more of what lies around the bend, and has more warning of any hazards ahead.

The second thing to note, is the rider begins turning sooner. This means more time in the turn, it takes longer to complete it. As both riders end up at the same distance down the road when the turn is completed, making the curve longer in effect slows it down. The blue rider takes more time to complete the turn.

Another way to look at it is to note the distance travelled by both riders. The red line is much shorter than the blue line. The curve of the red line is much sharper than the curve of the blue line. Taking the longer blue line makes the curve bigger. It’s not as sharp.

Note the position of my bike on the road in the photo of me just leaving the apex of an outside curve (above). See how close I am to the double yellow lines in the road. I started the turn near the outside edge of the road. I’m now at the tightest point of the turn and ready to start accelerating out of it. Because I was over at the far edge of the road I was able to see deep enough into it to know it was clear of traffic. If I had suddenly seen a car ahead, particularly one which had come across the yellow line, I was already out of the way on the far edge of the road. I was done with all my braking entering the curve at a speed I was comfortable handling at a steady throttle. If something appears in my path as I approach the apex of the curve, I have the entire lane to my right to move over and avoid it.

The last diagram shows taking the same curve in the inside lane. In this case, it is a much tighter turn, and effects are more dramatic and apparent. Note how much longer the blue line is than the red one, how much more time is spent between the start and end of the turn.The same advantages come into play here.

Don’t get locked into riding the center of your lane. Use all the road which is available and you’ll ride better, smoother, faster, and safer.

Wayne@americaridesmaps.com

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Mountain Riding Tips #3

Mastering the Curves – Move Your Ass To Save It

It’s the classic mountain motorcycle demise. You’re clipping along, feeling your oats, enjoying the rock and roll through a series of curves feeling like you’ve got this stretch of road dialed in when suddenly the next curve throws something at you that wasn’t expected. Maybe it shuts down and gets tighter than you expected. Perhaps you grabbed a little more throttle than you should have coming out of the last one. Could be there’s a huge patch of gravel in the path you’d chosen. Whatever the reason, you’re coming in too fast and your sphincter seizes up.

The result too often goes like this – rider tenses up and sits bolt upright to react. Next he focuses all his attention on the problem – the patch of gravel, or most likely the edge of the road where he knows he’s going to go off. Taking your eyes off what’s ahead is a sure way to blow a turn. In desperation he grabs a handful of brake to try to kill his speed. The hesitation brings him too far into the turn and by the time he feels he’s got to lean the bike over it’s too late. Once that front tire rolls off the pavement it’s all over.

The more experienced rider may try to dive into the corner harder. Laying on the brakes, the bike is hesitant to pitch over, but he wrestles it down. Braking causes weight to transfer onto the front wheel and the back end gets light just as he’s really stomping on the rear brake. The rear wheel starts to slide. The bike pitches further on its side and something makes contact – a floorboard, foot peg, exhaust pipe, center stand, frame, whatever, and the rear tire lifts off the ground. The result is inevitable.

Admittedly, there is a point at which the speed you are coming into the turn is just plain too fast and there’s nothing even Casey Stoner can do to save it (he’s one of those racer guys for those of you that don’t recognize the name). But take a lesson from Casey, there is something you can do that will make a huge difference – move your ass.

For most of us, the idea of hanging off a bike with your knee and sometimes elbow sliding on the pavement, face only inches above the tarmac at 150 mph is sheer lunacy. It should be. That’s hardly “safe” even on a race track. There’s no place for it on the street. But there’s a reason those guys do it. By shifting their weight down low and inside on the curve, the bike can be kept more upright. More upright means better contact between the road and the tires. If the tires do break contact, the bike tends to slide and drift sideways instead of going down, at least most times.

There’s no need to start stitching knee sliders into your leathers, that’s not where this is going. But you can take a lesson from the pros that may save your ass from meeting the road. Learn to shift your weight in a turn.

It’s all about the center of gravity and relative mass. No wait, that’s a little too much out of the physics textbook. Put the calculator away. It’s so much easier to just go out and try it yourself. Shifting your weight, even just a few inches, has a dramatic effect when going through a curve. I’m not talking about hanging off the bike like a monkey. Just sliding your butt cheeks over to get one off the edge of the seat and lower your torso while dropping it to the inside of the turn will produce remarkable results.

It works on a bicycle. It works on a full dressed Harley. Try it. When the road tightens up, get in the habit of moving around a bit. Once you’ve made that initial adjustment, it’s easy to slide a little further if needed. You’ll have more control and better traction. While it’s a little more effort, that little effort could keep you out of the hospital, the repair shop, or worse when a curve throws more at you than expected.

Wayne@americaridesmaps.com

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