Lets talk cornering

[Motosportz]

I ride a lot of tight stuff and if you can save a second a corner and have 100 corners in a section of trail, well you just gained a lot of time. Sometimes I like to blast into a corner, brake slide the ass around and fan the clutch all moto style. It is fun and feels good. Feels fast to. But is it? I say no. I am big on technique and understanding what works. Watching fast guys they all have various styles. Some look slow and are FAST. Some LOOK fast but are not as fast. A few months ago I went on a ride in a really tight riding area and there was a Canadian down for a race and hooked up with us for this ride. He was FAST. I could keep him in sight for a while but he would methodically get away from me and i could do nothing about it. What I did learn is he had a VERY smooth cornering technique. Railed the outside, tire started a mild roost out of every corner about mid corner and had excellent exit speed which translates into straight away speed and seconds gained. rolling a smooth arch, rolling on early and not letting the back step out seemed to be the method for him and it sure worked. Since that ride I have been working on this. Does not feel near as fast as the brake slide and thrust technique but I can see why it is faster. The brake slide and rip MX method feels fun but the slowing and then re-accelerating is overall slower, more work and less fluid. Sometimes slow is fast. What this means is slow FEELING can actually be faster overall. Oh, he also sat a lot more than I do, I tend to stand a lot.

I look forward to the responses and feelings on this. Maybe something we can all learn from. thanks.

 

[Zomby woof]

Smooth is fast. Your suspension settings can affect your cornering, so it's not a bad idea to experiment with them and see what works. Everybody is different.
Regarding standing, The smartest thing I've ever read on that topic was on here.
Sit when you can, and stand when you have to.

 

[jmetteer]

That sounds like my style, smooth corners and sitting a lot. It seems to work for me but I know I should stand more.

The whole reason I started riding MX was to improve my corner speed, it really helped a ton when you could work on the same few corners lap after lap. That really helped off road as that perfect corner feel is exactly the same, you know when you nailed it, or totally screwed it up.

Later,

 

[Motosportz]

Smooth is fast. Your suspension settings can affect your cornering, so it's not a bad idea to experiment with them and see what works. Everybody is different.
Regarding standing, The smartest thing I've ever read on that topic was on here.
Sit when you can, and stand when you have to.

I am all about suspension. My 125 has gold valves front, TBT revalve rear, 5.2 shock spring and I am about to install new fork springs. I am with you 100% on suspension setup. Always playing with clickers, fork position in triple clamps and shock sag.

 

[TROFFER88]

How are you getting correct sag with a 5.2 rear, maybe a fad diet

 

[Motosportz]

How are you getting correct sag with a 5.2 rear, maybe a fad diet

I have a 5.4 also but like the 5.2 better on the trail. This is REAL 5.2 (measured) not a husky 5.2 which could be a 4.8. Stock was 5.0 and WR250's come with 5.2 so seemed to be about perfect for me. 190 pounds.

 

[wallybean]

How are you getting correct sag with a 5.2 rear, maybe a fad diet

Kelly aka in another of his posts.

 

[TROFFER88]

Funny shit Walt

 

[robertaccio]

for offroad see definition- Juha Salminen king of looking slow while smoking everyone.
for MX see definition- Stefan Everts same as Juha.
Youtube and watch (Everts has some free tutorials on technique)

We can name lots of others but these are 2 that are very high on the offroad fast cornering speed scale record books.

 

[ray_ray]

I think what you are saying in the 1st posting is called carrying speed ... And I think it applies to all forms of racing ...

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I know I over-brake about 99% of the time, killing off my speed ... Once you lose the speed, ...well you are going slower and have lost a bike length or so that has to be made up somewhere ... I have to constantly tell my self when racing or practicing to NOT put my foot on the rear brake so hard entering a corner and only keep mild pressure there to keep the bike under control AND not kill off all my speed ... My brain is just not on-board all the time with this ...

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Ever see some of the PROs lose a brake and still race fast? Apparently they don't use them like most of us ...

 

[steadydirt]

I have a 5.4 also but like the 5.2 better on the trail. This is REAL 5.2 (measured) not a husky 5.2 which could be a 4.8. Stock was 5.0 and WR250's come with 5.2 so seemed to be about perfect for me. 190 pounds.

Think it's a 5.4 on the wr250...I stand to be corrected

 

[steadydirt]

Smooth is fast. Your suspension settings can affect your cornering, so it's not a bad idea to experiment with them and see what works. Everybody is different.
Regarding standing, The smartest thing I've ever read on that topic was on here.
Sit when you can, and stand when you have to.

Yep - Marty Tripes sat almost all the time and saved energy. Smooth is gold. David Bailey rode trails to improve his precision. Look at where the Pros put their front wheel in a tight bush turn- way outside, almost up on the tree- leaves more room to drop the bars lower and get more lean and carry more speed.

 

[Freaky]

Sit when you can, and stand when you have to.

Works for me!

 

[ohmygewd]

I think what you are saying in the 1st posting is called carrying speed ... And I think it applies to all forms of racing ....

100% Correct....carrying speed and maintaining as much as that speed through the corner is the key quick laptimes for a better word. But so is your braking point, which is unfortunately where l fall down as being an old road racer, l'm used to setting brake markers and hitting the same spot everytime....don't get that luxury on the trail
Sit or Stand? If l'm flying into a corner (assuming l have my braking point correct), l'm in the attack position , entry mid and exit on my arse until l get into the attack position on straighter section.
Majority of the time l spend trying not to kill myself and wonder how l made it out of the corner.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3egUZbv0uZk

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayvwni_Ex1I&playnext=1&list=PLBgbxZ4_Fydimgm8fpDvjXHC1boUbTDsE&feature=results_video

 

[ray_ray]

100% Correct....carrying speed and maintaining as much as that speed through the corner is the key quick laptimes for a better word. But so is your braking point, which is unfortunately where l fall down as being an old road racer, l'm used to setting brake markers and hitting the same spot everytime....don't get that luxury on the trail
Sit or Stand? If l'm flying into a corner (assuming l have my braking point correct), l'm in the attack position , entry mid and exit on my arse until l get into the attack position on straighter section.
Majority of the time l spend trying not to kill myself and wonder how l made it out of the corner.

I was reading Gary Semics words on the subject ...
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/no-more-front-end-washouts.28080/#post-253468

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I'm doing a race in a few days and it has a big flat corner and these videos will help me here I'm hoping ...

 

[motohio]

I think it really helps to get your braking done BEFORE you get into the corner. Get set up for the corner and on the gas soon after. Although this happens in a second and is hard to know when your coasting into the corner and loosing time. I used to think that you need to either be on the brake or the gas no in-between. It seemed like when I did this I would come into the corner too hot and not get set in the corner as I should.

 

[R-J van Hulst]

keeping momentum in the corner is the key but breaking and spinning out ( admitting it has a certain cool bad ass factor) is loosing momentum

I agree with motohio that the breaking has to be done before the corner at the same time everything has to go in a one flowing motion (which is practicing and practicing)

I would think there is a gas in between (depending on how wide the corner is) in order to get the flowing motion perfect

Robert-Jan

 

[4eyes]

In all forms of racing corner-exit speed is the end all, be all. A higher exit speed gives you a faster start to accelerate down the straight.
Telemetrics are great if you can afford them, but a friend with a radar-gun and a log-book will get the job done.
You play with braking points and entry lines to give you the best exit speed, even if entry speeds or mid corner speeds are lower.

 

[Motosportz]

In all forms of racing corner-exit speed is the end all, be all.

Even drag racing


Just having some Friday fun. Thanks for the input and i agree.

 

[LandofMotards]

Keith Code (sportbike racer) wrote a book I would recommend. Though it isn't dirt based it seems to have the same information you guys are talking about. It's really informative and easy to follow. There are two "twist of the wrist" books. Get the second.