Technique question...

[benVFR]

Ok, I have a question for the more experienced/faster riders.

Turning to the right side seems to be my weakness. There is a noticeable difference in how far my tire is scrubbed on the left and right side.

One thing I have identified is I believe when I turn to the right hard I am pulling on the left bar rather than pushing on the right bar, which makes it easier to hold steady throttle.

Now saturday I was going quite fast, and I went to downshift as I came into a 90 degree right hand corner. Now I've got my fingers on the clutch and I realized I had difficulty getting my hand back onto the bar fast enough.

Just curious if anyone has noticed this or has any ideas on things I could do to try and fix this habit. I don't notice this becoming a problem until I start pushing my pace up.

Thanks,
Ben

[Degsy]

Ben, Take up NASCAR racing

Seriously, Josh's advice is the same as I would give. Everyone favours one side over the other. I have seen people who sit to one side on the bike also, that can cause the same problems. Check next time, you might be surprised. Some poeple actually sit with their ass off the seat on one side.

[benVFR]

Hmm.. thanks for the advice. I of course have always been able to turn left better on skis, do hockey stops better on ice skates to the left, etc.. (I'm left handed)

I don't think I'm sitting off center on the bike though.

I think I'm actually going to try and go practice turning right and just leaving my hand on the clutch so I'm forced to push the right bar instead. It should help my throttle control too if I practice that.

Ben

[RandyO]

I too generally take left handers more agressively than right handers, I did say generally, cause I have actually leaned further and scraped more hardware on the right side, as much as it gets my heart rate up, I find I can lean as much as I need to, if I've entered a corner too hot.

I pull on the opposite bar a lot too, when you do that, just be careful that your not cross leaning your body

[TLRMan]

And what are you doing Downshifting in a corner??? LOL! I always liked to pull on the bars when I'm countersteering, but I do push too.. it kind of goes with the flow with me. If I hang off, I have a tendancy to pull on the bars anyway..Well, come to think about it, when I run into corners, I try to be in the correct gear, and I'm 2 fingering the clutch lever for upshifts coming out, so I have a grip on the bars, or I upshift with out the clutch. I find that the TLR sometimes doesn't like to be upshifted that way, I've found some neutrals, that don't belong! And I haven't been into this motor to back cut any gears. But I never intended to race the bike, so why bother! I'm just a has been, and I like going to races, and watch Derek wear out HIS tires now! LOL

[Edited on 4/9/02 by TLRMan]

[benVFR]

LOL. I wasn't downshifting IN the corner. I was downshifting as I was braking, right before I turned in.

On the way home last night I made an effort to push on the right bar instead of pulling on the left and it helped quite a bit. I didn't seem to have any trouble controlling the throttle. I'm going to keep practicing that until I do it automatically. Then I can keep my hand on the clutch if I need too.

Thanks for the help, it's pretty weird but just writing this stuff out helped me figure out what I was doing wrong.

Ben