Corners are one of life’s inevitabilities. We all have to change direction at some time, and managing that change is more likely to bring success and reward than relying on luck or other people.
But that’s enough philosophising, we like corners because they allow us to interact with the motorbike and to feel that we have some input into the riding process - in a straight line our bikes virtually ride themselves nowadays. Many people judge a person’s riding ability on how they progress through corners (usually if they can keep up), and it is always a satisfying feeling to take a corner well no matter what speed you carried through it.
A typical corner will allow you experience everything motorbiking offers while you also use every major control and component of it. They can supply a rush of adrenaline, a feeling of satisfaction, of achievement and confidence like no other section of road or track.
On the downside they are dangerous places, where the vast majority of motorbike accidents happen, and need to be tackled in the correct way to minimise that danger and maximise the fun.
This article has been written to allow Londonbikers.com’s largely urban membership to enjoy the winding country roads that surround the metropolis in safety and style. It is not intended to be a course in ‘Advanced Riding’ (whatever people think that is) nor a substitute for being trained one-2-one by a professional such as Rapid Training. I prefer to think of it as essential knowledge for anyone who sets a wheel onto country roads, although all the points in it are applicable everywhere, from the High Street to Silverstone.
I have seen several riders tackling bends, including the latest LB ride-outs, and what I saw made me determined to give LB the knowledge to help keep you safe.
For those of you who are brave enough to admit that twisty roads make you feel nervous and fill you with trepidation it should be seen as a guide and please PM me for a 3hr ride-out to go through these points on the road. If you feel you are more confident, and don’t particularly want instruction then I hope it acts as a reminder. But please don’t think you are better than the roads. One day, you will find that you aren’t and the likelihood is that it will hurt. Happy cornering!
The BasicsThere are 2 basic topics that will make the biggest difference to your progress through the upcoming corner.
- POSITION - specifically where you are on the road
- SPEED - the obvious one
These two subjects are, in my view, the most easily altered and controlled elements of cornering. Observation is a related topic, but too big to be covered as part of this article, and braking technique is more technical than necessary to help us here. Other more minor factors like ‘hanging off’, machine type, state of mind etc are all important but not essential.
The only element of these I will mention now is an Observation point - always always always keep you eyes open while cornering. Even if it gets a bit scary.
Position - always sacrificed for safetyI view this as the most important point for cornering. Some would argue that speed is the most important since if you are simply going too fast you won’t stand any chance of making the corner.
This is true (and obvious), but in order to know what speed to adopt, you need to be in a position to see the corner. Your position is the factor with the most influence over your ability to make observations.
The more view of the road ahead you have, the more braking distance is available and so more speed is available for you to use with the confidence that you can stop safely.
• Look Ahead
When you are on a straight, you should be looking ahead to get the most warning of a corner. If you are behind a vehicle with no option to overtake it, position yourself so you can see around or through it if possible (remember cars are mostly glass from the waist up).
When you are entering a corner, you should be looking through it at the exit or where the road disappears from view. Do not stare at the edge of the road directly ahead of you or the apex of it.
As you approach the exit of the corner - where you can see out of it - keep looking ahead. Do not stare at the curb or apex, just look up the road for the next hazard.
And never look at approaching traffic. Remember you always go where you look!
All this is in addition to the usual scanning of the road for wet patches, holes, roadkill etc which are all classed as hazards to be avoided.
On Approach•
Left hand cornerThe basic idea is to adopt a central position (i.e. to the right) as you approach the corner to maximise the view around it. The generally accepted default road position is to the right of centre for your carriageway anyway, so all that may be required is a small adjustment to take you closer to the centre of the road and the while lines.
Here, the rider is tucked into the left side of the road and can see little of the road ahead. Certainly not enough to enter the corner confidently.
This is better. Exactly the same distance from the corner but out in the middle of the road and you can see into the corner and spot two major hazards. Well, can you?
The junction on the right and the driveway on the left (nearer).
At this point I will briefly mention the use of the opposite carriageway. Some riders use the full width of the road to give greater visibility through the corner. I rarely do it for this reason, as I think that if you can see enough of the road ahead to decide that it is safe to use the other carriageway, you can probably see all you need to see of the corner anyway. If the carriageways are separated by a solid white line on our side, forget crossing it. If you can’t return to your side of the road without crossing one, forget it too. They are there for a reason - more expert people than us have decided it’s dangerous to cross them. And it’s illegal.
As mentioned already, the more view we have, the more confidence we will have in our ability to stop if we need to. So we may carry more speed in safety.
ButWhat about the large Scania truck lumbering out of the corner towards you? Still fancy being close to the white lines ? Thought not.
Your positioning, to the right of your carriageway, or even out near the white line will have allowed you to see the behemoth coming sooner and so you can retreat to a safe position (at least more central in your carriageway) earlier and therefore with less panic.
This extra time should also allow you to adjust your speed down, or at least adjust your expectations of the severity of the bend ahead. Do you realise that by moving to the left, you have made the oncoming left hander tighter? So you’ll probably want to go slower.
So always be aware of the risk of oncoming traffic as you approach, and make sure you can adjust to a safer position and speed.
•
Right handersOur aim should again be to maximise the visibility through the corner for the reasons stated above. The best view around a right hander is from the left hand side of the road, so we would look to approach this corner as close to the edge of the road as possible.
While the extreme left hand of the road may be the furthest, and therefore safest, from the oncoming Scania truck, it is not safe from other hazards including :
failing road surfaces and road furniture like drains
roadside detritus such as litter, gravel and pedestrians.
junction mouths where waiting vehicles will now have a much restricted view of you.
So we have to consider whether these factors are going to compromise our position which in turn may limit our speed. If you don’t like being there at all, don’t be. Niall MacKenzie isn’t and so never rides there on the road, ever.
For a right hander we would make a greater change in position than for a left hander.
Safety is the key advantage - we want to be a safe distance from the car! Increased vision is a valuable benefit too as the red line shows a greater view through the corner is possible from the left hand side position.
The aim of the rider now is to get out of the corner as safely as possible, and for most of us, as fast as possible. And the fastest and safest line for a bike is a straight line, so we will aim to minimise the turning bit, and maximise the straight bit.
I will use the term ‘turning point’ to indicate where I would stop following the curve of the road and create my own corner angle.
•
Left HandersOur primary hazard once we enter a left hand corner is the oncoming traffic. In the picture below as we come into the shot from the left along the red line we must look to get away from the white line and therefore away from the oncoming traffic that may cut the corner.
Approach the corner as far to the right of the carriageway as is safe to do so, and continue in that position until you see the exit of the corner where the road begins to straighten up again. (In tight corners - hairpins if you like - it is likely that oncoming vehicles will creep into your lane, begin to leave the right hand entry position for a more central position regardless).
See how much room is left between the turning point and the white lines immediately ahead. This might be needed if a pothole is seen at the last minute, or oncoming traffic may ‘borrow’ it if they cut the corner.
On my red line, I am far from danger.
This is the point - the turning point - where I can see the exit. The severity of the turn needs to be enough to leave the bike pointing in a straight line to the exit and should clip the apex (real or theoretical) of the corner. If my straight line doesn’t brush the apex, it means I have stayed in the corner too long, but it may be safer to do so if the apex has a nasty manhole cover or drain mouth on it.
Having put the bike on a straight path out of the corner means I can accelerate safely and have more control over the bike.
In the previous image the line is held to the left once out of the corner. Below is the line I would take if there was a ‘straight’ between the corners and I return to the default position to the right of centre. Information about the corner is learned as I enter the frame below, looking behind the road sign on the left verge to see the road ahead.
Understanding ‘where the road goes’ is helped enormously by your powers of observation as you approach a corner. By looking at visual clues, not least of all warning signs, you will be able to read the road ahead with more confidence.
If you are not at all sure where to exit your corner, aim for a neutral middle of the carriageway position from where you will be ready for any corner with minimal effort.
•
Right HandersAgain our primary hazard is the oncoming traffic, though not as we enter the corner (we would ideally be over to the left of the road) but as we power out of it.
From the left hand edge of our carriageway, or at least the safest position closest to it, I am looking through the corner searching for the exit to give me my ‘turning point’ where I will turn tighter than the corner line to straighten up for the exit.
The only reasons I would leave the left hand side are the turning point and hazards such as a junction or obstacle.
Being on my line we are as far from oncoming traffic as possible, especially at the point where they may overshoot the corner and encroach onto our carriageway (above the word ‘point’ I imagine).
Once I’m at my turning point, where I can see a straight line from my position that brushes the apex and takes me to the exit, I would turn the bike and then accelerate out of the corner.
From the camera position I can see all I need to know about this corner and the road immediately ahead - it turns to the left (signed).
Keeping an eye on the car ahead will also warn me of any potential hazards and help my understanding of where the road goes. Until I overtake it of course…
BUT if our Scania is rumbling towards me, I may delay the turn so my straight exit line doesn’t clip the apex (the white centre lines), but cuts through the corner with a safe distance between me and the Yorkie eating monster - perhaps exiting in the middle of the ‘SLOW’ marking. I may even decide to continue around the corner in the left hand position.
Remember on right-handers, as you exit aiming to return to our default lane position you have become a potential hazard for a rider coming towards you who is lining themselves up for a (to them) left hander.
So what do a lot of people do that is so wrong? The answer is nothing!
Many people ride in (roughly) the correct position in the carriageway when moving along a straight, but then don’t change this position for corners.
Whilst out photographing the above images, I didn’t have to wait long at all for my first example. He/she was the first of 4 bikes I saw that hour, and all got it wrong around the first corner in the article.
This rider is in about the right position for a straight but is in a very dangerous position for the oncoming right. They should have moved towards my indicated line, away from the centre.
Imagine the car coming around the corner as pictured previously…
Speed; slow in fast outWhizzing around corners like Rossi may be a rider’s dream, but speed itself is not a major tool used to get you around a corner, it is a product of getting the corner right.
Speed is discussed here because it is your control of it that can make a difference to your corner confidence. Let’s get the obvious out the way - if you are simply going to fast (for you, your machine or the road) then you are unlikely to make it around. We all know that.
You will also know that your inputs with the throttle have an effect on the bike’s balance or attitude. Give it a handful and the weight transfers to the back wheel and the front rises up, usually on the fork travel but the ultimate expression is a power wheelie. Hit the brakes, and the weight transfers to the front wheel, the forks compress and you slide forward (ouch).
This loading and releasing of weight (pressure on the tyre) unsettles the bike. Put too much weight on the front, and it’ll skid. Frightening enough in a straight line, but when corning - you can imagine the result.
The clever bit is taking this standard knowledge and understanding when it effects what we are doing or ideally, what we are about to do.
On ApproachYour chosen speed on approach can assist or limit your accurate positioning of the bike - positioning can only be done if you have given yourself and your machine time to do it, and the time available is controlled by the speed you approach the corner.
Specifically you need time to:
- Position the machine - as described above and this will normally mean that you need time to see the corner and judge an approach line.
- Change speed to a suitable one for the approaching corner. You are probably thinking I mean braking here, but you could be exiting a slow corner and approaching a fast one and so accelerate to it. Braking should always be done while the bike is upright, and must be completed by the time you arrive at your turn in point. Trailing your brakes, or using the rear through the corner is for track use really and not a technique for this level of discussion.
- Observe (and react to) other hazards such as approaching traffic entering the corner or roadside / surface obstacles. You may need to adjust your line of approach, speed or turning point if you spot a hole or road kill for example.
The most common mistake, and surely the most serious, is to carry too much speed into a corner. Everything becomes rushed, elements are missed and danger arises.
If you are travelling to fast for all this to happen, slow down. It is always best to go slow in, and fast out. Rather than fast in, ambulance out.
During the TurnThis is all about Throttle Control, that most sensitive of controls and the one that gets us into the most trouble.
The physics:
A machine travelling at a given speed will take a certain length of curve to change direction. If the speed increases, so does the length of the arc required to complete the change. Slow down and less arc length is required to make the turn. On the road we compensate for this by leaning the bike more - the faster you want to go around a corner, the more you must lean the bike - otherwise you’ll be in the hedge.
During the corner we should keep the throttle neutral to stay on our chosen line. Should we need to change this, you would accelerate or decelerate (slightly of course) to widen or tighten your line.
(Altering the speed in a corner will make changes to your arc around the corner in the way described above. If you accelerate before completing the turn, the corner will appear to get tighter and you’ll eventually (or quickly) run out of road width. Decelerating has the opposite effect, the arc can be smaller (tighter) and you can turn the bike much quicker.
This information is useful to know, but should not be used unless really necessary. If you plan the turn properly, and approach it at the right speed, you should not need to adjust your speed mid turn. I’d file it as ‘emergency use only’, perhaps there is an unseen hazard and you need to avoid it - hitting the brakes is never a good policy mid turn, so the throttle may be your saviour.
All throttle actions should be gentle and respectful. During the turn you are putting a lot more stress onto the tyres, and if you use the throttle harshly the bike will pitch and weight will be transferred onto one of the tyres. This is also why braking mid-turn is not recommended either, as it can produce an even more dramatic pitching (usually you onto your ass).
Exiting the TurnBy straightening the corner as described above, we would be in a safer position to open the throttle earlier than if we had not moved to the inside of the corner upon seeing the exit. As we exit the corner the throttle is used to straighten our line as the arc we are on lengthens into a straight line so little steering is needed, and the bike fires out of the corner perfectly.
This picture from earlier shows that the bike’s nature is to go straight on once the throttle is opened.
Open the throttle here. Once the turning point is cleared, the straightening of the bike will be automatic.
Again we need to use the throttle as gently as mid-turn, only with perhaps more travel ! If the road surface is dubious (i.e. wet) we must pay even more care to being gentle.
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