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.