yes , this is about the best advice you can get.dont worry so much and look where you want to go in a curve not where you are at, the bike will follow your line of sight.

 

http://online2.msf-usa.org/msf/Default.aspx

Find a class in your area and take it.
You'll be suprised how much you learn.

 

This may sound funny. but consider going to a race track oriented riding course, like the one Keith Code runs (or used to run). It's going to be all about entering and exiting corners and dealing with other vehicles. You'll be there for a different reason than most, but I bet you will get a lot out of it.

 

My opinion, but threshold riding off a closed track is NOT impressive, it is irresponsible and dangerous. Those riders in the video are almost a statistic.


As far as the original poster...


Find a RidersEdge or Basic RiderCourse 2 (formerly called Experienced RiderCourse) and take it. Everything you are concerned about is easily reversed with proper instruction. You have to learn what to practice to get better.

 

I agree with everyone about taking an MSF course. I had ridden for years and taken all the safety training the Air Force requires. Then I got an assignment overseas and sold my Yamaha vowing that I would not get another bike until I could afford a Harley. Well it took 15 years before that happened and when I finally got my first hawg I took the beginner MSF course before I started riding. Then I took it again with my kids when they decided they wanted to start riding. I learned something good and valuable in both (I am good at going but my stopping needs work). I guess my biggest piece of advice is that while you don't really need to FEAR your bike, you definitely need to respect it and be aware of the dangers involved. I still catch myself doing stupid chit on occasion but I try to learn from my mistakes. So yes, counter steering should be second nature (lightly pushing on the bar in the direction you want to go) and enter the corners at your lowest speed and gradually accellerate through the corners.

Ride safe!

Layne

 

This basically what I was going to say. You HAVE to countersteer and, as importantly, you have to BELIEVE in the countersteer. When we were all younger and rode smaller lighter bikes we could steer by throwing our weight around and making the bike lean that way. The OP's post talks alot about leaning but not about pressing. When you realize that all you have to do is press lightly on the right handgrip to turn right and keep pressing to hold it in the sweeping curve, it becomes easy. If you start to doubt it and look where you DON'T want to go and then try to steer in the direction of the curve rather than countersteer, you will miss the turn. Concentrate on the countersteering until it becomes second nature. (And IGNORE anyone who tells you they don't countersteer. They do. They just do it without knowing they do it.)

The RLAP video and many advance courses are not useful here. They are all about low speed maneuvers where you actually DO steer in the direction of the turn. Over 15 mph, it's all countersteering.

 

Now that everyone has told you to look farther ahead and to take a class - here is some input for technique...
TURNS:

If you are turning left, press down on the left grip (not forward, or back, but strait down). It will take very little preassure to move the bike to the left. Do the same on the opposite grip to move right. This will begin to get you familiar with counter steering. As your speeds increases through the turns, you will eventually find yourself pushing forward and down on the left grip while going through a left sweeper. You are then steering "counter to your direction of travel" (counter steering).

Stop trying to lean with the bike until you have mastered counter steering. If anything, keep your body perpendicular to the road, and allow the bike to lean...if you are turning left into a sweeper, your butt should shift slightly to the right of the seat to allow bike lean without your body moving.

Once you get comfortable with the way the bike feels in the turns with counter steering and shifting your butt, you are ready for the next step... pinch the gas tank with your legs - instead of sliding your butt to the right while going through a left hander, simply press down and slightly forward on the left grip, and apply preassure to the gas tank with your right knee. This will keep your body inline with the bike, and induce bike lean while counter steering through the turn.

Now do all this while remembering to hug the right side of the road going into a left turn, apex later in the turn, and keep looking ahead to the exit of the turn and you will find you are running at least 20MPH faster than you are now.

BRAKING:
Use your front brake and assist with your rear. There is a reason you have two disks up front, and it isn't for looks. As brakes are applied, inertia keeps pushing the bike forward. If you are on the front brakes, this translates to downward preassure on the front wheel increasing the force of your wheel on the road. If you were on your back brakes, this would cause a drag on the wheel, and it would eventually brake free resulting in fish-tailing the rear end. You are not going to flip over the bars by applying the front brakes - you should however assist with the rear brakes to avoid tucking a front wheel under braking though.
Practice braking in an empty parking lot. Pick a spot, get upto 30 mph and try to stop on the spot - if its easy, try keeping on the gas longer or going faster - the point of this is to find your stopping distance and comfort level relative to the bike, and its braking performance.

Check back next week and we can go over lessons for wheelies and burnouts.... (jk)

 

Sifting through old threads out of hurricane boredom? I know I am.

 

Wow some excellent tips for riding here. My 2 cents would be what others have said....always look ahead of what you are doing and never to close to your bike. You brain will make the adjustments. Speed control entering and exiting curves is a big issue usually. Keep up the riding and try some of the suggestions listed and I'm sure you'll be fine

 

I'm right-handed and I'll admit to struggling at first with countersteering in left-hand turns. A trick that helped me was to try to really relax my right hand and arm through the turn. That forced me to rely on my left hand to provide all of the input and allowed me to develop the dexterity needed. I don't start focusing on my right-hand until I need to push on the right grip to get out of the lean.

Lee Parks, the author of Total Control, espouses the technique of completely relaxing your outside grip and arm and relying on pushing and pulling on the inside grip. I goofed with this a little bit, but I'm not comfortable pulling on the grips. I guess it's too much to think about. It's easier for me to just focus on push inputs.