cornering

blablablacksheep

Just a quick question i riding a hardtail and trying to learn hwo to corner.

mainly tight corners or switch backs i beelive they called.

i know that when you corner you should straight your outside leg to the corner and bend the leg inside of the corner, but i find on some corners by doing this my bike goes sideways and i fall over on my side :oops:

how can i corner tightly or bendy corners properly without falling off the bike/falling over on the inside part of the corner?

.blitz

blablablacksheep wrote:

how can i corner tightly or bendy corners properly without falling off the bike/falling over on the inside part of the corner?

Lock the back wheel on the brakes and let it skid towards the outside of the corner.

AndyBike

Try taking a diferent line comming out wide before and into the first 90 deg. part of the corner and you should cut in closer on the second half carrying throu more speed.

Put you weight throu the outside pedal and unweight/come off the seat

Are you comming off the trail if you dont lean over i.e. going too fast for the line your taking?

Daz555

.blitz wrote:

blablablacksheep wrote:

how can i corner tightly or bendy corners properly without falling off the bike/falling over on the inside part of the corner?

Lock the back wheel on the brakes and let it skid towards the outside of the corner.

Ooohh, skidding on the trails - that could start a debate.

abductee

I had a real problem getting round tight corners until someone pointed out my bad style. Here's what I think I have learnt but it might not be 100% right.

Get your braking done before the corner. Brakes in the corner (particularly front) means trouble.

Outside pedal down unless its a berm and then pedals more level otherwise you will catch it on the slope of the berm. the reason for putting the outside leg down is to lower your centre of gravity. Also crouch your body to the bike to enhance the effect. Don't stress if the corners are coming too quick you will not be able to drop your outside leg in time but do it when you can.

be relaxed on the bike. It will corner better if you don't tense up

the edge of the tyre has a smaller radius than the centre. To roll without either the centre or edge scrubbing The bike needs to lean at the correct angle for the radius of the turn.

On the flat tight corners lean the bike into the corner more than your body to make it steer don't try to steer by turning the bars (as you would when going very slow). On a bigger radius or a berm centre your weight above the bike (on a berm the tyre is perpendicular to the ground and wont scrub). On fast big radius corners you lean into the corner more than the bike to keep the bike upright but that only really applies to motorbikes on a race track.

move your body around on the bike don't just sit on the seat

Weight distribution fore and aft you need to weight the front wheel enough to stop it from sliding see the video on youtube "Bike Drift Ha! Ha! Ha!" weight well over the front and the back end will come out weight too far back - oh dear no steering.

Push the wheels down (pump) into the ground as you corner where the surface is firm and get the turning done whilst you can then unweight the bike and don't steer where its loose or bumpy.

Look for any edges or trail features that you can use as a berm to keep you on track

If it slides a bit don't panic and stiffen up or brake, go with it

You need confidence to go fast so build up your speed slowly. Don't go mad before you feel comfortable with it and fall off otherwise you will knock your confidence.

Anonymous

on banked or bermed corners, it will feel completely un-natural : but you might need to be going a bit faster. if you are cranked right over on your bike but not going fast enough, you could drop the bike,

another thing to think about is if cornering on the flat, shift your weight forwards to kep traction on the front wheel, the back will pretty much always follow. whilst doing this, keep your weight on the outside leg (something it sounds like you are already doing,) then you can use the inside leg to dab on the ground if the bike gets a bit lairy.

standard things to consider are:

-to keep your head up and look at the exit
-do your braking before the corner
-if you do have to brake in a corner, use the rear brake
-remain relaxed on the bike and keep your knees and arms bent

Steve Legend

The other thing I was taught was to look at your exit. If you're looking at your front wheel or the tree you're in trouble. You naturally go where you look.

So yeah, spot the entry on the approach but look at your exit when you get to the corner.

It's harder than it sounds esp if it goes wrong! :P

The Northern Monkey

Use your back brake to bring the rear wheel round. May involve a bit of skidding, but it brings you round much quicker on tight switch backs - especially when your really going for it.

I'll see if I can find a vid of Steve Peat doing it (possibly on seasons or roam, can't remember) but its probably the quickest and most controlled way of doing it. (if you can control your brake properly that is).

Remember - Rear for Steer, Front to stop.

abductee

Like Daz alluded to skidding at trail centres will be frowned upon. The trial would get ripped up in no time if everyone did it

The Northern Monkey

Dont see why.

Steve Romaniuk - 2mins 33seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-2Ju0DE4bw

Thats more of a berm than a switchback but you get the idea... play it a few times and watch the technique

Anonymous

skidding is never acceptable, it ruins trails for everyone else, i think what occured on the clip you showed was actually a very short drift.

i'll concede i could well be wrong but i doubt anyone would expect to go any quicker by braking and causing a skid in the middle of a turn.

The Northern Monkey

yea I think thats what I mean really... a drift. However you do have to use the rear brake to initiate it.
I've done it a few times when pushing hard and being caught out by a sudden berm, but only really ones that are very tight. (and usually weathered to sh*t anyways - the looser they are the more likely you'll loose the rear end a tad).

Definitely not something for proper berms though, they should be powered through... I think the MBUK techniques DVD had a good section in how to tackle berms.
here, I uploaded it for you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFOGCxwApFw

Anonymous

a drift is initiated and continued with a shift in body weight and speed, its what makes the difference between a drift and a skid.

in a drift, the wheels are still turning, in a skid the wheel locks up. it is the locked up wheel which causes trail damage and also, when your back wheel is locked, you're not actually in real control.
ive got that vid, tis very good.

The Northern Monkey

I guess I could mean a combination then... using the brake, along with a quick shift in body weight at speed

Aye, got all the vids from the uploaded to my pc so I don't need the disk. can up the rest if anyone is interested

Anonymous

it doesnt matter how you dice it, brakes = skid, skid = wrong :roll:

blablablacksheep

so on a sharp corner then to recap:

try not to skid.

keep outer foot down innder up if possible or if not lvl.



question should i try keep body wieght to outer side of corner or over the saddle?

my problem was that as i entered the corner and dropped outer leg i thrn basically very uncool as well, just fell flat down :roll:

i think problem might of been not keeping weight over the saddly/middle of bike and lent into the inside of the corner when i shouldnt of.

also think i didnt put enough wieght on the outside leg, to much on the inside and thus fell over onto the innerside of corner.

question....

on switch back/very tight stuff it would seem skidding the back wheel might be only option other than to ride very slowly though it.

Anonymous

switch backs: go faster and crank over further and you will be suprised how well you get round.

when cornering you can shift your weight so you stay upright even though the bike is cranked over, i'll try and find a pic.

blablablacksheep

thanks for picture if thats how you ment to do it then i know where i went wrong..

imagine that picture but me on the other side of the bike lol. no wonder i fell over. i didnt relise the bike can lean one way you can lean other and still remain stable

Anonymous

glad the pic helps,

dont get me wrong, i know what we are supposed to do on our bikes as i have read all of the articles and seen all of the dvds but i am such a coward and ride so slowly that i probably couldnt put all of the theory into practice

grantway

If going Downhill and comining fast into a say sharp left hand corner
I brake into slight skid left and weight over front and drope down a gear then
put right foot down and weight on left hand bar and get through turn, then up a gear and pedal off.

Going fast into a corner with Sand, Shingle say best is to go out wide
and pull on back brake and pull a slight skid and hang out right/left leg
to balance you through the turn.