Basic Sporty Cornering

So my first bike was a '78 Suzuki GS750. I took the MSF course last July, put 4000 miles on the thing in two seasons, decided I had learned all I could from it and picked up a new veefer on Saturday. Needless to say this bike is.....different. Cornering on the Suzuki consisted of the following steps:

1. Use your 33 year old bicycle brakes to decrease speed 98% before the turn.

2. Lean the five hundred pound, massively top-heavy bike over 15 degrees.

3. Pray to all that is good and holy that the 1" wide bias-ply bicycle tires don't fold up under the rims through the SHEER FORCE of taking a turn at 12.8 mph.

4.Once in the upright and locked position, engage the unbelievable SEVENTY THREE HORSEPOWERS and catch up to the eleventeen cars that passed you on the double yellow in the turn.

Yeah.

So I'm planning on taking the Experienced RiderCourse in the spring with the veefer, but in the meantime I'd like to practice some basic technique for some slightly sportier cornering. Any good videos/advice out there?

 

Don't have any videos but I have a few tips I can give you. Get all your braking done before you enter the 5th other use your butt crack as and measuring tool and put it on the edge of the seat get your knee in the pocket on the tank drop your shoulder as if you were looking around a corner. That's about it for now the sixth gens are pretty heavy but well balanced its definitely a huge step for the GS750.

 

That's a funny post Crescentius! I seldom offer people advice on riding, since I still have a lot to learn myself. But I'll throw these few basics out to you, since there's obviously a big difference between the old and the new bike.

1. Remember to just ride your own ride. You certainly sound smart enough to grasp this, but don't let the new technology sitting between your legs give you a false sense. Sure, the VFR is a faster, better, safer ride, but you get the idea.

2. Make sure you remember the basics - picking your line, when to break, rolling on the throttle, looking through your turn (I still screw this one up), etc. Being that your on a more competent bike, that may lead to going a bit faster. Things change when you go from 12.8mph to 30.2mph in that same turn your accustomed to taking.

The course sounds like a great idea.

And where at in the Hudson Valley? There's a few of us here in Jersey that head up your way every now and then, although its starting to get cold outside with some snow predicted this weekend (yes, even in N/W Jersey they are predicting some snow). Ugh.

 

all the above are excellent points, this is just my two cents but I had a hard time from people telling how I should ride than just figuring it out. Mybe your not the same way that I am.

 

I remember Wes Coolie on his GS1000 in 78 smoking around Roadamerica. Trust me he was at 45 degrees lean angle or more. The Suzuki at that time was regarded as on of the best handling 1000's.

The road bikes that I enjoy are mostly from the 70's and early 80's. Most I purchased new. Ei SR500 RD350 RZ350 VFR750mk2.

Do they handle as well as new bikes, no but in the hands of a good rider they can lean over far enough.

Enjoy your new bike but don't dis the old school machines.

 

To the extent that no amount of reading or watching videos or talking to other riders can ever take the place of actual time in the saddle, I agree with you. But like anything we do that involves some level of technique and skill, much can be learned, errors can be avoided, safety improved, frustrations lessened, and time saved by learning from various sources in addition to the absolute necessity of doing. I suspect you may not realize yourself how much you've actually benefitted from things like books, videos, discussions and, dare I say it, motorcycle forums.

With that said, one of my favorite motorcycling books is "Sport Riding Techniques" by Nick Ianetsch. I remember reading his discussion on the "vanishing point" in corners and then putting it in practice and being truly amazed with how it all came together, made perfect sense, and improved my riding tremendously. Could I have figured it out on my own? I hope so but it probably would have taken a long time, a lot of trial and error, and hopefully no major cornering screw ups. I say, learn from as many (credible) sources as you can and then ride, ride, ride.

 

Thanks for all the great responses guys! Looks like I have some reading to do . The Total Control course looks pretty darn interesting as a follow up for the ERC too.

I'm actually located in Poughkeepsie Pliskin, just over an hour from the Jersey line. I get down to Bear Mountain SP every once in a while, but only recently heard of a nice ride in Harriman, haven't been down that loop yet though. Crap weather here right now but it's Supposed to be decent on Friday/Sunday so I'm going to try getting some riding in this weekend. I'd definitely be up for some traveling companions if it works out! :smile:

I mostly kid about the Zook camo, I actually really loved that bike, and there's some awesome history behind that particular model (the bike basically saved the company from bankruptcy after the disaster that was the RE5 and later spawned almost a decade of legendary bikes, including the GS1100E). I even took some corners pretty quick on that bike, and leaned pretty darn far over too, but suddenly jumping twenty five YEARS ahead in tech is pretty much shock treatment for me.

The GS 750 was DAMN scary when you pushed it anywhere near it's limits (I got the thing to 85 ONCE and NEVER AGAIN) and I had the front end get a bit wobbly in more than one turn. The veefer by comparison almosty literally does everything for you, I just want to start out with the right technique before I start building confidence doing the wrong thing and get punished for it later.

 

We know of a few loops in the BM and Harriman area. Plenty of riding around that way. Sadly, it looks like our fun/aggressive riding is coming to an end. I just checked the weather and its supposed to be 28F tomorrow, and then 4 to 6 inches of snow on Saturday. That's some bullshit!

But if we sneak out for a ride up there, we'll definitely let you know. If not, bring on the spring!

 

Wow! Some lake effect business or somesuch I guess. Forecast here is for 47 and sunny tomorrow, less than a quarter inch of snow Saturday, and 50 degrees and sunny Sunday. Supposed to be warmer Monday-Tuesday.

Anywho, defintely shoot me a PM or something if you're going riding and don't mind dragging a noob around!

 

No I have realized of much forums,riders, videos, and track time has improved my skills I was implying its was harder for me to take what I learned and put it to use I guess do to old habits but everyone learns differently of faster then others.

Crescentius, your on the right path read up and take the course be safe and keep the shiny side up.

 

Shiny side up - definitely.

Code's books - yup (he's the guy behind the California Superbike School which I attended back in the early 80's)

Nick's book - a good one as well.

Two things to remember always: 1) LOOK where you want to go, because wherever you look, that's where you will go (don't fixate on that guardrail, or you'll hit it!) and 2) SMOOTH is FAST. Even at lower than warp speeds, be smooth with all of your inputs. Throttle, brakes, turn-in, all of them should be smooth.

Learn what you can by reading. Take the courses you can take. Then ride - and practice everything whenever you have the opportunity.

 

No real riding tips here (but I do agree that smooth is probably the most important thing when riding near the limit) If you want to improve, and do it quickly....get thee to as many track days as you can. Look online at any track within distance of you and check their schedules...Most tracks are rented all the time to various groups, many of which are motorcycle groups...sometime just a bunch of friends, sometimes clubs, sometimes lapping organizations, schools, etc. Find out who's in charge, sign up...organize your own track rental day with your buddies...

You can learn more in one day at the track than you'll learn in a year on the streets and highways. You will probably be amazed at how much faster you can take a corner. As the day progresses you will see your corner speed go way up......

Street 'racing' is really silly. After you have been to the track, where everyone is going the same direction, where you have corner workers and clear sight lines, where you can try the same corners over and over till you have to come in early from fatigue at the end of the day, with a big stupid grin on your face....and new-found cornering skills....you will probably laugh at the thought of how +fast+ you used to think you were, next time you are on a mountain road....Hopefully, you'll notch way back and enjoy the scenery and save your 90%+ riding speeds for the track next time.
Don Hanson

 

definitely agree guys. to me what makes a great corner is smooth - everything smooth. smoothly slowing down, smooth entry, and smooth exit back on the power. nothing like it:tongue:

 

Okay, I know I was the one who brought up smooth in this thread...

Having said that, I had a friend (way back in 'the day') who was a pretty decent street rider. He decided he wanted to try racing, so I brought him to the track. He crashed his Katana three times on day 1 and never came back. He just couldn't fathom how 'violent' it was. WFO, followed by compress-your-wrists braking, followed by on-your-knee lean angle, and repeat.

Not that a track day is the same as racing, of course.