Cornering on a Road Bike.

[yenrod]

When I used to ride lots on an MTB I'd corner mostly by staying vertical thus ensuring weight bears down on the leaning bike/edge of the tyre.

Is this the same for a Road Bike

 

[RedBike]

I don't think it's possible to keep the bike vertical in the quicker / tighter bends?

Put the outside pedal down and keep your weight on it. Keep your torso low to keep your centre of gravity low and lean the bike more than yourself.

 

[Moonlight]

I read somewhere that when you first get a road bike you should lean the bike more than yourself, and then when you are confident you should lean with the bike. Make sure your tires have some decent tread before you start leaning to the extreme, and remember it's a lot more differcult when it's wet.

I'm insecure about leaning with my front tire as it's the orginal Halfraud's Kenda, but my back is nice Kevlar, so I push it more.

 

[dodgy]

I don't think Yenrod is saying he corned with the bike vertical, I think he's saying he cornered upright with the MTB leaning.

Dave.

 

[Steve Austin]

MTB cornering is different to road cornering.
on the road you lean the bike more. Off-road leaning causes the tyres to slip out. not fun.

On the road. Keep your weight low, over the front and lean the bike. trust the tyres

 

[Smokin Joe]

Relax your grip on the bars and steer with your eyes. Just keep them on the point where you want to be positioned as you exit the bend and everything else will follow naturally, including whatever angle of lean you need. If you are running wide move your gaze to the inside of the bend, if you are too tight look outwards.

Works a treat.

 

[peanut]

like Joe says you need a very relaxed grip with a road bike, almost fingertip the opposite to off rioading I should imagine.
.If you grip tightly you'll prevent the bike making essential minute adjustments for bumps and surface irregularities.
Remember to choose your line through the corner well in advance and get into the correct position before you start entering the corner.
The last thing you want to do is make any sudden change in the steering whilst cornering or you will definitly come off ,especially in the wet.

Off road you have lots of room to go wide if you get your angle or speed wrong. On the road you'll be on the wrong side facing oncoming traffic.

Whilst your steering angle and speed and surface stay the same you are quite safe its when one of those factors change due to braking, steering, or change in surface that you run the risk of losing it as the `slip' angle of the tyre changes.

 

[mickle]

It's a fascinating subject. Ask most people what happens when you turn the handlebars to the left they'll tell you that the bike will turn left. We do it so often that we don't think about it. What we actually do is turn the bars to the right to turn left. It's this dynamic which is the biggest hurdle people have when learning to ride on two wheels. To turn left we turn the bars to the right which moves our centre of gravity away from the centre line of the bike and we lean into the corner. It's called counter steering and the faster the corner/ tighter the bend the more we have to counter steer. Not enough counter steer will find us drifting to the outside of the bend, ultimately running out of road as your centre of gravity moves back towards the bike, known to motorcyclists as 'highsiding'. Really understanding the dynamics of counter steering is the key to fast cornering and the ability (and courage) to apply more in a corner the sign of a great bike handler.

It's easy to demonstrate the principle, with a clear space and at a moderate speed push on one side of the bars. push on the left grip, you'll move to the left. Do the same in a corner and your turn radius will tighten up.

 

[Joe24]

I was told by one of th old folks in the club to "Look into the courner and the bike will follow" It works, and you can keep a line going around. I lean in alot into a courners. But Mickle, you have given me something to try, so i now feel the need to go give it a go.
Moonlight, never had a problem with my Kenda on the front slipping, and i lent it in hard when it was very wet. The back tyre would move about abit, but the front gripped. Not sure if it was both or just one, but they made alot of noise on tight courners.

 

[dodgy]

I was trying to explain the concept of counter steering to a non cyclist at work, he simply would not have it that you turn right to go left It's even more exaggerated on a motorbike, you simply don't get around some corners unless you do counter steer.

Dave.

 

[Mr Pig]

I friend I used to cycle with often would lean in corners far more than I ever had the bottle to. I've ran off the road before, cornering too fast and not having the courage to tighten the steering more. I've never heard of counter-steering. Anything that gave me more confidence/skill in corners would be good.

 

[LLB]

It's a fascinating subject. Ask most people what happens when you turn the handlebars to the left they'll tell you that the bike will turn left. We do it so often that we don't think about it. What we actually do is turn the bars to the right to turn left. It's this dynamic which is the biggest hurdle people have when learning to ride on two wheels. To turn left we turn the bars to the right which moves our centre of gravity away from the centre line of the bike and we lean into the corner. It's called counter steering and the faster the corner/ tighter the bend the more we have to counter steer. Not enough counter steer will find us drifting to the outside of the bend, ultimately running out of road as your centre of gravity moves back towards the bike, known to motorcyclists as 'highsiding'. Really understanding the dynamics of counter steering is the key to fast cornering and the ability (and courage) to apply more in a corner the sign of a great bike handler.

It's easy to demonstrate the principle, with a clear space and at a moderate speed push on one side of the bars. push on the left grip, you'll move to the left. Do the same in a corner and your turn radius will tighten up.

The California superbike school use a demonstrator to prove this countersteering principle.

When on the m/cycle, I practice it every time I go out, and couldn't corner like this without it. The knee down position is done to lower the COG

The difference with a m/cycle is that when cornering fast, you ride through it with either a neutral, or light positive throttle to balance the weight distribution so not to load up the front tyre excessively which is not always possible with a cycle so when you coast through a corner, you are always loading up the front end, so more risk of a lowside or front end washout.

 

[John the Monkey]

Moonlight, never had a problem with my Kenda on the front slipping, and i lent it in hard when it was very wet.

Found that with the Kendas too - for all their faults puncture and durability wise, they were sticky.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Err...yes and no to much of the above.

Read all about it...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/descending.html

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

 

[Destry]

I've always felt that I never steered using the handlebars at all, always just leaned one way or the other, but now I will watch out for this counter-steering malarkey! I'm sure the esteemed Sheldon Brown is right that you should always keep yourself centred over the frame.

By the way, you don't need tread on road tyres -- tread is there to prevent aquaplaning, which happens to wheels travelling in the wet at around 60 mph. If you aren't going to reach that sort of speed (you aren't, are you?), you just want as much rubber in contact with the road as possible, so any tread at all will actually lessen the amount of grip you get from your tyres. Tyres with shaped shoulders are the worst.

If you are riding on any surface which is softer than rubber, though, then you do need tread.

Cheers,

Tom