Noobie Question : Banking - non financial :)

[VanVanRider]

Morning all,

I have only been riding for a couple of weeks and I have a question about banking.

How do I know how much to bank when coming to corners, a couple of times I have nearly drifted to the opposite side of the road for not doing it enough.

How do I recover from this situation and gain the confidence to push the limit so to speak ?

I know its a really daft question, but it wasnt something that was covered on my cbt.

Later

Gareth

[Phease]

That sort of thing all comes with experience of riding, knowing the roads and how brave you are to lean the bike over further and go slightly faster through corners.
Try finding other riders to go out on the roads with they can help you laern to ride to your limits gradually and offer assistance along the way, espescially if you fall off, which if you want to get you knee down and that sort of thing you will do, as you learn to control the bike thorugh the corners.
the cbt only teaches basic control and road sense to ensure you can ride the bike safely, not how to be valentino rossi through those fantastic welsh windy roads.
Don't worry it will come, after all you have only been riding a couple of weeks.

[Clint]

It's very common for new riders to be afraid of lean. It's also very common for experienced riders to be afraid of lean. Get some formal training, read a few good books, and practice.

Some common mistakes are to brake when you realize you've gone into a corner too fast, and to look at the ditch instead of throught he corner. Braking unsettles the bike. Always try to keep steady or slightly increasing throttle through a turn. Suspension dynamics and traction will be better. Look where you want to go, not where you are trying to aviod. Target fixation results in countless avoidable accidents.

Over here, "bank" refers to the relative angle of a roadway. "Lean" means the angle of the bike compared to the road. Is it different where you are?

[Phease]

Most people here refer to it as 'lean' never really use the word 'bank' for the road, if there is an angle on the road it is referred to as 'camber'. It's the whole tomato - tomato (pronounce how you like) thing with the cross water geog.

[Clint]

I pronounce it "tomato".

[Louis]

Wrong Rowdy, it's "my mother is hot"

[Uncle Bob]

Don't worry about bank/lean angles, the problem is you aren't looking where you want the bike to go.

You may think you are, but your eyes are being drawn to where you don't want to go ( in this case the dividing line which you don't want to cross) force yourself to look exactly down the road at the spot you want your tire to be 100 feet or more ahead.

[VanVanRider]

Thanks for the advice, its still a little confusing, so let me see if I can understand, (its too early in the AM )

When going around a corner I keep my eyes on the left side of the road*, looking at the edge of the pavement, so to speak.

Or do I have the wrong end of the stick?

(*would be right in the states)

[Clint]

Don't think so hard. Just LOOK where you want to GO. You should do a little reading so as to have an idea where a safe (not necessarily fast) line occurs in a given corner. Then you know where you should go. David Hough can tell you all about it.

[Uncle Bob]

You want to keep your eyes looking at where you want your wheel to be down the road. Of course you're always looking ahead .

If you look at the middle of the lane you'll ride in the middle, if you look at the right side of the lane you'll find yourself riding on the right side of the lane. If you look at a pothole ahead of you, you'll hit the pothole.

[VanVanRider]

Thanks for the reply.

I followed everyones advice and found that my cornering was greatly improved.

Thanks all

Later

Gaz

[Mike Burnham]

Just remember to slow before the turn and accelerate in the turn. The bike will gain more control in ecceleration, just give in enouph to allow a smoother lean. Remeber, your tires will catch tractoin even when you lean and trueth is the sides of the treat wear much less then the bottoms so you do get a little more grip. Just don't over do it on wet roads, and pay attention to loose gravel, leaves, and any debrey that may be in the road. I had one trip on a dirt road with a passenger, who out wieghed me, turn into an off road expedition. I recovered and got control, but the cow did not like me coming through her turf. Keep safe.

[stevie c]

As already said,what you are asking only comes with experience,but a good way to get your cornerng skills up a bit is a track day or even better a track school,Ron Haslems or something like that,were you use their bike,so any mistakes don't wreck your pride and joy.

Personally I think you will surprise yourself just by using your bike,I bet you that by the end of the summer you will wonder what all the fuss was about!

Stevie