Cornering downhill

Andrew76 said:

Apologies if this has been covered!

I have read all about cornering, cornering downhill, and cornering on berms.

But! The track I did yesterday (being the novice that I am!) had smallish berms where the berm walls were made of pebbles formed by numerous riders forming this feature. I had a lot of trouble cornering - usually what would happen is that I would understeer at speed, and then my front wheel would be across the pebbles, and in trying to correct the understeer (using the handlebars rather than leaning) the front wheel basically stops dead and over the bars I go!

I need some advice on handling this sort of problem. I think that I need to steer only using weight transferral (not handlebars) and obviously not understeering at the start of the corner would help. I think I need to find the "right rut" and get my front wheel in it and then lean through the corner.

Any advice appreciated!

Its a late reply I know, but you might still read this-
Fast cornering requires positioning your weight over the bike well and leaning the frame, not yourself. I have read some write ups where professional riders talk about countersteering on the courner and using the lean to turn the bike.

But the best thing I have found to improve my speed cornering is to remove my hand from the front brake. It is very tempting to hit both brakes if you are taking too much speed into a corner and this is what causes all your understeer. Go for you life on the back brake, if you pull it too hard, the back will kick out, but you can use this to your advantage once your used to it.

Summary- Back brake only FTW!