Safety over position
Whether you’re a learner rider or you have moved onto an advanced level, you’ll know position plays a big part in cornering. It is important to remember that no matter what you may have heard about ‘holding your line’ your safety always comes first.
For learners, I recommend staying in the centre of the lane, but this is not rigid. If you see a problem on the road surface, or there’s a hazard, you must have some flexibility to move position or slow down. Remember the road surface is your braking surface.
When cornering at any level, if there’s a road surface problem on your line (the line is the position you take up on the road), always move to avoid it. Imagine moving to the offside (closest to oncoming traffic) of the road surface problem – let’s say a manhole cover for example. What if there’s a large vehicle coming the other way? You’ve moved out the way of a potentially minor problem and now put yourself in a more dangerous position near oncoming traffic.
For advanced riders there are more alterations you can make to your position prior to cornering. To keep things simple, I won’t be talking about them here. If you want to know more about positioning for bends, I strongly recommend further training.
Positive throttle
When you ride a bend and counter steer, you shouldn’t need to adjust your speed. If done correctly, your throttle will be maintained consistently to pull the bike through the corner, at the same speed. This is known as a positive throttle. If this isn’t set before the bend you could end up sitting the bike up (throttle on) and then back down (throttle off) as you go around the bend, this is known as fifty pence piecing.
At the apex
The apex is the point in the bend where the lean angle is at its greatest. In other words, the part where your bike is leaning the furthest into the bend. It’s not until you’ve reached this point, that you can consider putting the throttle back on to exit the bend.
Exit and vision
Once you can see where the bend is going, you can start to plan the next section of road. Usually when you’ve reached the apex, the view of the road ahead starts to open up. It’s at this point, your speed can potentially be adjusted.
Throttling on
Often riders have timing and delivery issues when throttling back on to exit a bend. They either put the power on too early, which pushes the bike out wide (and sits the bike up) or they wait too long to add throttle.
Throttling on at the right time is definitely a skill in itself. It took me a long time to perfect this. However when you get this right and in a responsive gear, you will be leaving the corner quicker than the speed you entered. Remember the saying “slow in, fast out”.
If you’re in a responsive gear though, your throttle may feel a little on the twitchy side if you’re not used to it. So don’t attempt to put the throttle on aggressively, or it could leave you feeling out of control.
Throttle sense
Throttle sense is an important part of riding and I don’t think there’s enough emphasis on it. Power delivery is about being super accurate and delicate. Nothing is aggressive or rushed. If you ever try to ride your bike with aggression or in a rush, you’re bound to have problems.
Think about how you hold the throttle too, make sure your wrist is flat and on the same angle as your knuckles. Riders often hook their wrist up, which is known as cocking the wrist. This will encourage way too much throttle without meaning to.
Plan ahead
When riding, it’s important to plan ahead and I have talked about the importance of this during the first part of this series, called Vision and Planning. However, this is about being able to move from one bend to another, smoothly and seamlessly. See the bend; adjust your position (as an advanced rider), adjust your speed and gears and ride the bend at a speed that’s appropriate for YOUR ability.
The more comfortable you feel at cornering at a slower pace, the more time you’ll have to focus on the next piece in the puzzle – the next bend. If you are wound up or anxious about going into a bend, the chances are, your eyes will not be where they should be – seeing where the road goes next.
So, after you’ve hit the apex and before you throttle on, decide how much power you need. If there’s another bend, do you need so much power that you’ll need to brake again in the next few seconds?
The next bend
Quite often, if there’s a series of bends, there’ll be clues, such as a warning triangle for an S bend, or the paint work on the road will remain solid, for example. Do you ever look at the paint work on the tarmac to help you read the road? What about chevron markers? Cars in front braking? Are there any cars coming the other way – can you see the roofs of their vehicles over the hedges? These are all clues to help us work out whether there are any more bends in the road.
If you have any questions on this cornering series, please get in touch. If you’d like me to cover any other areas of riding, please let me know?
Women Only Motorcycle Training is part of RMT Motorcycle Training, based in Redditch, Worcestershire.
