Proper Body positioning when cornering

[209manny]

I went out to ride hwy 49 saturday morning, and I notice that I keep getting crossed up on my body position when cornering. In theory I know the proper riding position, but there is a big difference between theory and actually applying it. My upper body tends to stiffen up while my lower body is less tense.

Now I didn't have any oh shit moments at all, when I was out on 49 but I think I need to improve my cornering techniques. No I'm not trying to race, I wasn't speeding at all and was only going at a pace that I felt comfortable.

One thing that I notice is that on consecutive corners I find myself braking too much instead of just leaning into the turn. It feel as if I try to lean the bike over but its not enough and I'm going to run wide, when in reality I never did run wide.

I think that better riding position will help me be smoother around corners and I will be able to take corners without having to brake when I really don't need to.

 

[Hooli]

Trackdays?

 

[209manny]

Trackdays?

Ideally, yes. But like I said I'm not out there trying to race, just to sharpen up my cornering skills.

Once I have more $$ I'd like to do a trackday school, At my current skill level I don't think I'm cut out for even C group

 

[MtnRacer]

It sounds like you're resting a lot of weight on the bars. You need to retrain yourself to use your legs and core to support your body weight. Once you can do that, then work on leaning off the bike a little, while still using your legs to do the work.

Steve

 

[tzrider]

In theory I know the proper riding position, but there is a big difference between theory and actually applying it.

This is a common thing. Old habits kick in and as riding places all kinds of demands on your attention, it can be hard to change things like body position without employing a few tricks. To make it worse, it can be hard to tell what position your body is in if you don't have reliable cues. Here are a couple of suggestions:

First, if you know what position you want to be in, practice it statically, while the bike is parked. Use a rear stand if you have one, or get a buddy to hold your bike upright while you practice. The goal in your static practice is to find ways to tell how your body is aligned on the bike. It's easy enough to feel where your butt is on the seat, but many people need a visual reference to tell where their upper body is. Once you get you position right, look at the front of the bike and observe what part of it is roughly lined up with your nose when looking straight ahead. Maybe your nose lines up with the brake lever pivot, for example.

Now that you've got this, how can you make use of it? Should you ride around staring at the front of your bike? Generally, no, but we're trying to break a habit. If you hang off long before the turn entry, even before you roll off the gas, would you have a moment to glance at the front of your bike to see where you are? Usually you can do this safely, while you're not busy doing other things.

You can make this a part of your routine for a while, to make sure you're really in the position you intend to be in. Once you're situated, sit still on the bike as you turn and don't move until you come out of the turn.

After a while, this new position will feel natural and you won't need the visual check any more. As you begin trying this, keep your speeds within comfortable limits so you can concentrate on what you're trying to change.

 

[R6WiTDis]

[youtube]LaEpMG0A_LQ[/youtube]

 

[jrutherford]

Wow, great post! I never thought of my body position that way. I was the classic example of trying to curve around the tank. Can't wait to get out and see this one in action.

 

[Desmodromic]

^ yea twisting around the tank with your lower body will yield a twisted body position.

 

[Paulo666]

That was very informative, thx dude.
I have seen some b4 on youtube but missed that one, very good vid.

 

[hebrew hammer]

Some of those guys have an insane farmer tan. Anyways I have a question on foot positioning and didn't wanna make another thread. When I am engaged in almost full lean i feel my boots scrape the concrete before my pegs. Should the ball of my feet be on the peg? because my feet is at the ridge between the heel and ball.

 

[ucb]

Some of those guys have an insane farmer tan. Anyways I have a question on foot positioning and didn't wanna make another thread. When I am engaged in almost full lean i feel my boots scrape the concrete before my pegs. Should the ball of my feet be on the peg? because my feet is at the ridge between the heel and ball.

Should be on the balls or if anything at the very edge of the balls closer to the toes..

 

[b.wild]

great vid thanks for posting and i also had the same question about foot position

 

[SNsMoto]

Just to clarify something from the video, when you're set up and going in and through the turn, your weight should be on the outside peg, NOT the inside peg correct? This is how I've been riding, but the video doesn't really specify and it seemed they were going with inside peg weight?

 

[calreef18]

Just to clarify something from the video, when you're set up and going in and through the turn, your weight should be on the outside peg, NOT the inside peg correct? This is how I've been riding, but the video doesn't really specify and it seemed they were going with inside peg weight?

There's a lot of debate on this but in general weighting your outside peg gives you a good pivot point that's stable, and it definitely helps on lower speed turns. Yet weighting the inside peg on turn in helps to get the bike over without pushing too much with the upper body.

209manny- are you hanging off the bike at all? That video is a good start, also, if you need someone to follow you sometime and see what you're doing I'm down to ride the 49, been a few weeks since I have. It's way easier to work on BP if someone is watching rather than just by feeling.

 

[209manny]

There's a lot of debate on this but in general weighting your outside peg gives you a good pivot point that's stable, and it definitely helps on lower speed turns. Yet weighting the inside peg on turn in helps to get the bike over without pushing too much with the upper body.

209manny- are you hanging off the bike at all? That video is a good start, also, if you need someone to follow you sometime and see what you're doing I'm down to ride the 49, been a few weeks since I have. It's way easier to work on BP if someone is watching rather than just by feeling.

that would be cool if you want to tag along with me for a ride up 49. Hwy 49 is only about 40 minutes away. Like I mentioned in my first post though, I have really bad newbie form, I try to hang off just a bit but I bet it looks all goofy, since it sure doesn't feel right. I think I was leaning my lower body into the turn while keeping my upper body upright or even going the opposite direction.

I just recently came off a motard and I got used to leaning the bike over using mainly my arms while keeping my body relatively straight.

 

[stangmx13]

i find it impossibly hard to hang off the bike properly when at a pace id call suitable for street riding. w/out the extra speed, u feel little to no centrifugal force holding u up on the bike and end up weighting the pegs improperly. for me, this ends up being a waste of energy and is detrimental to the bike through the corners. to get the right feeling w/ my upperbody in these turns, i just kiss my mirror, move my butt a tiny bit inside, and dont even bother w/ the inside knee and such.

think about it this way... in the video w/ those guys hanging off, how are they holding themselves up on the bike?? they are pushing on the inside peg so they dont fall off. and what is this doing to the bike?? the bike wants to fall over, and the stand is the only things keeping it from doing so. obviously, this isnt a state that u want to put the bike in when riding. so, in order to hang off well, u need to turn sharp/fast enough to force your weight onto your outside peg.... i havent found a turn yet on the streets that can be taken at a safe sub-C-group speed that allowed me to hang off.

 

[ucb]

i find it impossibly hard to hang off the bike properly when at a pace id call suitable for street riding. w/out the extra speed, u feel little to no centrifugal force holding u up on the bike and end up weighting the pegs improperly. for me, this ends up being a waste of energy and is detrimental to the bike through the corners. to get the right feeling w/ my upperbody in these turns, i just kiss my mirror, move my butt a tiny bit inside, and dont even bother w/ the inside knee and such.

Good point, at street speeds, simple upper body shifts and a minor ass shift are all you need. And yeah, unless you are going at a decent clip, truly hanging off the bike is quite tiring. Try hanging off with the bike on stands and see how difficult it is

 

[VaderSS]

I'm pretty new to riding through twisties like we have here. (From Texas/Loiusiana) When I find myself making the wrong moves, I find it really helps if I slow down and concentrate on technique more than speed.

The speed should come naturally from the correct technique, not in spite of bad form.

As for weight, I find that simply moving my bodyline until my head is about lined up with the inside bar, and all of my weight rested to the inside, really helps settle the bike through the corners, and gives me much more leverage on the active bar.

 

[Burning1]

One thing that I notice is that on consecutive corners I find myself braking too much instead of just leaning into the turn. It feel as if I try to lean the bike over but its not enough and I'm going to run wide, when in reality I never did run wide.

In my opinion, this is normal when you start changing your riding style. Your mind is used to receiving certain clues about how far the bike is leaned over, and uses those clues to decide weather or not you're going to make the corner. As soon as you change your technique, the feedback you get from the bike also changes, and your likely to feel awkward, uncomfortable, and slow until you get back into the swing of things.

I ran into the opposite problem... I used to hang way off the bike at street speeds. The first time I reverted to cornering without a lot of body movement, I blew the double yellow so bad that I risked running off the left edge of the road.

When you start out riding, any positive change to your riding style is likely to make a noticeable improvement in your performance. Once you've gotten comfortable and developed some skill, changing your style may mean step backwards before you can make forward progress.

 

[Grease_Monkey]

Ideally, yes. But like I said I'm not out there trying to race, just to sharpen up my cornering skills.

The track is the absolute 100% best place to sharpen your skills. And track days are not about racing, they are about learning and understanding the limitations of yourself and your machine.

Here are the basics, weight on the feet light on the hands. In the turn you want to push down on the inside peg and pull your outside leg into the tank, inturn push the bike over. From there it's personal preference, if you want to look like Ben Spies and try to drag elbow. unforunately you cannot fully appreicate this until you go to the track and expience it at full speed.