Cornering skills?

[karneck]

First of all excuse my poor english cause I'm brazilian.
I have a question...
How much DOWN can I lay the gs into a corner without losing grip and crashing?
One thing that happens to me all the time when im cornering straight curves is that I move my body to the oposite side of the corner, in a way to compensate the fear of being too much agressive...
I think the same thing happens to begginers who try to do wheelies and moves the body forward to compensate the fear...
My question is, am I losing doing a better and more accurate and straight corner by moving my body the opposite way of the corner or thats a correct procedure?

[Lukewarm Wilson]

Oh God NO , dont lean against the bike lean with it if your a little nervious, for a start as you come to a corner just move your shoulder towards the corner dont just thrust it out just ease it in and youll find youll turn easier and with a little practice you will start to move your whole body that way which will help you progress and gain more confidence dont worry about trying to drag knees or anything like that.
Also remeber look though the corner for as far as you can see and follow your eyes, where you look is where you will go just let your body follow.
Practice this at slow to moderate speeds because if you cant ride properly slow what chance is there when you go fast.
Good luck hope it helps and dont worry once you start to get confident nothing will hold you back    

[Dragonfly]

Yea what he said NEVER lean the opposit way of the corner.
Shift your sholder and your body weigh to the inside. When you shift the weight to the inside the boike needs to lean less at any given speed than it would if you were on the outside.

One of the best and most informative books I have read about riding techniques is " Sport Riding Technieques" by Nick Ienatsch.

Ride safe
Micah

[Nomak]

If your pegs arent draggin you can lean more ... If you find yourself goin wide just lean harder and give it a lil more throttle jus keep it as smooth  as possible try avoiding any changes e.g gas/brake while turning. Trust me I am speaking from experience ... The GS can lean alot ...

And make sure that you wear FULL gear when you ride ... trust me on this as well I am speaking from exprience ... Gear saved my a$$. I jus wanna hug the dude at the gear store that convinced me to get leather instead of mesh ... best $ I EVER spent.

[Nomak]

PS if you are doin a lot of city riding get "Total Control"by Lee Parks ... Y you will learn sooo much ... And ALWAYS ride at your own pace DO NOT push yourself to ride at the pace of the person/group you are riding with

[chuey]

Something they always teach also is to 1) control/set your cornering speed by braking make sure you don't go too fast or slow  2) head for the outside of the curve 3) and then then throttle to the inside of the curve on the way out using only steady throttle all the way. You can lean as much as any motorycycle methinks.

[Turkina]

My friend makes the mistake of leaning his body the opposite way when going through turns on his Sportster.  He's scraped pegs a few times    Yeah, I know, not hard on the H-D.  I sometimes push my handlebar to help turn better, but end up lifting my shoulder up... then I have to lean back down and put my shoulder into the turn

Leaning the opposite way in a turn puts you way over on the side of your tire, and keeps your bike from its full potential for cornering.  You might want to slide a little off your seat and lean your body into the turn.  This will let you corner better, and the bike maintains better traction.  You do need to practice good throttle control through the turns!

[b1k3r 3li+3]

yeah dude, you never counterweight except when doing slow tight turns, is the only time you counterweight.

[Hi-T]

3 words: Motorcycle Safety Foundation.

Where ever you live I'm sure there is something equivilant- take the course.  Seriously- knowing good, basic riding skills (turning, braking and control) will save your life and it sounds like you may need a little extra guidance .  Nothing personal- we all start somewhere and that's why there are riding classes

[Adam R]

Your lean angle is determined by your tires, and then to a lesser extent your suspension.  

If you fit good sticky tires, then your can lean until you touch down hard parts.  However, I wouldn't recommend doing this on the street.

[MarkusN]

Yes, you can lean her down to the pegs, but that's assuming:

- Your tires are good
- The road is even, good asphalt, clean and dry.

That said, for most modern cycles, the rider's the limit, not the machine.

Keep your eyes as horizontal as possible, look far ahead, and keep your head on your side of the road. Doesn't help if your tires run on your lane when an oncoming cage takes you off your bike.

[perfdrug]

Doesn't help if your tires run on your lane when an oncoming cage takes you off your bike.

i just got my bike, and i was doing some riding around the local turns, and i thought about that for the first time.... "damn, my head almost leaned into that lane. that's something to watch for."  i doubt much would hurt worse.

[Lukewarm Wilson]

Yes best just to keep side of the road in your peripheral vision not direct. Where you look is where you go so eyes on the road

[conradvr]

What most of the offers have said:

1. If you lean the opposite way to the bike you will have more of a lean angle on the bike than if you leant with the bike.  Don't lean the opposite way.  The GS on a decent road surface and tyres will scrape the pegs before letting go.

2. Learn how to use counter steering to turn the bike instead of shifting your weight.  With counter steering you can flick the bike over much much faster with more control.  Counter steering is when you push the left handle bar away from you to turn left and vice-versa (ie. the opposite way to turning a bicycle).  To practise counter steering drive down a straight road at 40-50km/hr and set up some markers to weave between.  At one of the training courses some hog riders tried to use weight shifting instead of counter steering to do the weaving exercise and failed.

3. My corner method follows these steps (learnt at advanced ROAD riding training courses - ie. not a racing track method).

a) As you approach the corner brake to the speed you want to take the corner at and select the proper gear.  Maker SURE you have selected the correct gear and adjusted you speed BEFORE you enter the corner.

b) Enter the corner with the appropriate gear, throttle and a little rear brake.

c) Use counter steering to turn the bike into and through the corner.  If you need to adjust your line use more/less counter steering and more/less rear brake.  Try to avoid using the throttle for speed control as this will tend to unsettle the bike (ie. hold the throttle steady - this applies whilst using the rear brake).  NEVER use front brake whilst turning.  On the road I use a 'late apex' line - ie. I don't commit to the corner and apex until I can see where it goes and where I need to be.

d) As you start to exit the corner simply release the rear brake and the bike will progressively and smoothly accelerate - you can now start to accelerate with the throttle.  

Practise the method and you will soon be taking corners nice and smoothly and you will ride faster as a nice side effect

Have safe and fun riding
Conrad

[tmckay]

Just wanted to say "thanks" for this thread!

After about 8000 miles on my GS, I read this thread and was very observant of my own riding.  I realized that subconciously I was not completely leaning into the turns with the bike.  Not out of fear, just a bad habit formed over time.

I was very intentional about forcing my shoulder down and leaning into the turns.  Great payback!  The GS with the correct technique turns SO fast!

Thanks again,

Trev

[aslam]

One more thing, before you try to lean over more aggressively make sure your tires are warmed up.  If you try to lean agressive on cold tires there is a much higher chance of lowside which I'm assuming is what you're nervous about.

ASLAM.