Cornering!

Put your weight on the bottom bracket on your outer pedal.

Obviously, don't break while into the turn.

That's about all I know/can think of.
Your ability to corner also depends on its bank. If the turn is pancake flat, you can't go as fast as you could if say, it were a velodrome-type bank.

i just got a Trek 5000 about 2 weeks ago,and i am fairly new to road biking... and let me say, once in a while i have accidentally hit the rear brake a little too hard and...oops! i haven't fallen, but i feel the rear tire lose traction and slide out slightly and rather quickly! i guess it just takes some getting used to.

Go to E-bay and buy "A Twist of the Wrist - II" by Keith Code. It's all about motorcycle racing, which is all about how to turn.

The ideas are all the same, just that you can't roll on 200 horsepower at the apex of the turn to drive out. That's one of the major problems with race bikes, you have so much power that you blow the traction at the rear and go down.

You will learn more about turning than you ever imagined though, how to enter, how to apex, how to drive out, and you can drive out of a turn even on a bicycle. You learn about fast entries, slow entries, and the difference each makes on your exit, plus a whole bunch of other stuff, which if you really want to know how to handle a two-wheeled vehicle will put you miles ahead of most of your friends.

Oh, don't buy the "TOW - I" it is REALLY bad.

Whit

JAPANic my advice is to go out and practice following some of your friends or opposition in as many races as possible. You will know you are getting better when u can get through a corner faster than the person in front. You use their speed as a guide then add just a tiny bit more...It also helps if you "lay off" a few feet entering the turn as this allows some room for error and also gives u some extra speed going in/coming out. The fact is, that if you are right on the wheel of the person in front, then when they brake will obviously be earlier than required for you (because you are a bike length behind your braking mark), but they will then be able to pedal earlier as the they are further through the turn than you are.....(i hope that makes sense).

Another point of note is that if you are pedalling through the apex then you are most probably going much slower than possible. I have hit my pedal on a number of occasions and so far it hasnt been the cause of a crash (but i have blown a tyre due to a torn sidewall on a cheap tyre). Hitting the pedal is obviously a sign of pedalling too early towards the exit of the corner, but also validates the point that if you are at full speed in a corner (depending on a number of factors; camber, crank length, bb height, pedal width etc) then you will hit your pedal.

The tyre issue shouldnt be a problem, as Bontragers that are on your bike should handle corners well in the dry as the slick tread gives quite good grip.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Whitney
Go to E-bay and buy "A Twist of the Wrist - II" by Keith Code. It's all about motorcycle racing, which is all about how to turn.

Excellent advice Whitney.

If your looking to improve your confidence in corners I would take a look at counter steering. It works exactly the same on a push bike as it does on a motorbike as all the same gyroscopic forces apply. If you dont ride a motorbike it will feel very odd at first but stick with it and it will do wonders.

A very basic explanation is that when you are up to speed (over about 15MPH) and want to turn left you push the left side of your handlebar away from you (gently does it at first) and your bike will start to turn in to the left. The opposite obviously applies to right turns.

This is a much smoother way to steer at speed and should see your cornering speed improve once you're used to the idea.

Oh and lay off the brakes before the bend, most people have a tendency to 'comfort brake' before bends just because it makes them feel better. This only loses you valuable corner speed, leaving you to work harder out of the bend to catch up.

I've attached a link to a much better explanation of counter steering.

http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/school-SectionFiveB.htm

Happy cycling,

Goldfishboy...

So how do you get comfortable on both sides? I for one can say that I feel much more at ease turning right (at relatively high speeds) than I am at going left. So how, aside from practicing left turns, should I become more comfortable?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by keydates
So how do you get comfortable on both sides?

It is natural for you to feel more comfortable turning one way or the other. Perhaps ambidextrous people don't have this problem, but the only way I know to overcome it, is to practise on the side your weaker on.

On the motorbike I'm significantly slower through left handers, probably because I get lots of practice going round roundabouts to the right.

Happy cycling,

Goldfishboy...

[QUOTE On the motorbike I'm significantly slower through left handers [/QUOTE]

Funny, I'm much faster through left handers. I have mulled over that for years (as well as trying to improve my right-handers) and I finally decided that it's all about binding up the throttle wrist when you are hanging off the bike to the right, as opposed to having a really straight shot at the throttle when you are hanging off to the left.

I can always get on the gas faster and harder in a left hander.

Funny thing is, I am much more confident cornering on the motorcycle than the bicycle, and I ride the same roads on both. I think the tiny cross section of the contact patch and the lack of damping really throw me off on the bicycle.

I'm also not wearing twenty pounds of leather and kevlar.

The similarities and the differences of motorcycles and bicycles is always interesting to me as I ride and I find it adds a great amount of pleasure to my bicycle riding.

Whit