What is the correct way to turn at speed, say on a 90 degree turn ?

Only way I seem to be able to do it is to hit the rear brake & let the rear wheel skid out a little & then straighten up. I also get my outside pedal down and push down on it & try to lean in.

However, sure I have seen people taking fast 90 degree turns who don't even touch the brakes - how do you do that ? I have tried that and the bike wants to continue going the way it is already going.

Take it as wide as possible and trust your tires. Really lean the bike down. Ironically the faster you are going the more those side knobs will work, at least on good tires. me it feels a lot like turning on skis.



I personally can't lean my body and the bike, I tend to lean the bike seperately.

i tend to keep my center of gravity over the bike at all times... and just lean the bike... wide turn to the inside often times,.... or just plain old wide..


those knobs on the side do help too.. however just the other day i washed out cuz my tires were under inflated... because of that i broke my hanger

If the surface is fairly good you should be able to really lean into the turns.
But if it's loose rocks on sandstone you might have to take it a little slower.. been there, done that.. lol

It might help to get on some good smooth pavement and just experiment with carving imaginary turns without touching the brakes. Depending on how knobby your tires are, though, they might not grip the pavement super well at a steep angle.

And it you have street tires be careful not to whip back and forth. I actually managed to have my rear wheel end up alongside of me doing that in the street with my HolyRollers. I was also going down a hill and carving back and forth pretty quickly on a skinny road(and being generally stupid). Just make sure you dan't have anyone behind you while you're doing it. My friends peg on his BMX bike missed my head by only a few inches when i went down.

I've had pretty good luck with my holyrollers gripping the street at odd angles. Maybe you were just going too damn fast.. and the suspension probably screwed it up too.. lol

Push on and weight the outside pedal too. I also can't do a good combined lean especially at slower speeds. On higher speed turns I can remain more at one with the bike in hard turns.

Well, you want to go slightly slower in, have your outer pedal down to slam your weight into the bike. As you're carving it, stick your other foot down in case youre gonna fall. If you do slip, give that inner leg a kick, and immediately pump and pedal out of the turn.

If you want to go no brake rambo, I suggest the following...practise what I talked about above. Then, start doing that with no brakes, more speed, more leaning. You really need to drop your weight into the corner (stand as you approach teh corner, then unweight yourself by doing a semi jump, as you land, your bike has more pounds on the ground per inch squared), lean into that turn, exerting G's into that ground, and tear it up! Pump your bike on the way out (push forward wtih arms first, then legs)

Ideally suspension should help steering, if it is setup properly, the negative travel would allow for more contact longer on rough turns

There's alot...ALOT of schools of thought on this, but here's what I've learned:

You can either lean your body with the bike, lean the bike more than your body or lean your body more than your bike. Here's the ideal situations for each --

FAST, sticky turns - lean your body with the bike. This seems to help carry momentum and if you're going fast enough, you will really just do it naturally.

FAST, but loose turns - lean your bike more than your body. This helps to plant your weight more on the tires. Of course, you ALWAYS try to plant the outside pedal at 6 o'clock.

LOOSE, really loose turns - lean your body more than your bike. You may not even hardly lean the bike. This tends to help put momentum in the right spot, but keeps your tires at the maximum contact position/patch.

Now all this gets more complicated when you throw in roots, mud or improper braking.

BTW, braking and therefore setting up for the corner is just as important as going through it - most people say brake before you ever enter, some like to trail-brake or just kinda ease off as you pass through the corner. If you are really comfortable with your bike and the terrain, trail braking can be faster. But on those days with adverse conditons, getting tuned in before you go in will yield some faster moves.

1) Scrub some speed off before the turn, brake and release them before you even start to turn.

2) Outside pedal down, with your out side leg push the pedal into the ground (figuratively) as hard as possible.

3) Upper body should be over the bars, with both arms push the forks to the ground with more pressure on the outside arm. Some what like doing a chest press and applying as much pressure as you can so the front wheel is digging as deep as possible into the ground.

4) Elbows should be outwards and not under you.

5) Outside leg should be pushing inward on the top tube or seat.

6) From the waist down you should be leaning into the turn and from the waist up you should be centered over the bike. I will try and find a good pic and post it later.

7) Your tires can not be over inflated. We could not tell you what the proper psi should be because it depends on rider weight, the terrain and how the bike is set up.

8) DO NOT THINK ABOUT CRASHING!!! You are going to until you get the feel of how to do it.

9) Get a video of a DH race (not a freeride vid) and watch how the Pros do it. Good riders to check out, Sam Hill, Steve Pete, Cedric Gracia and Eric Carter.

10) PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Good luck

One more thing, you need to allow your bike to slip and slide under you and get used to that feeling. It can be unnerving especially at speed but it is normal.

DBD

Here is a good example of someone turning at speed. The pic in the other post below is the same just not as exagerated.



DBD

thanks for the advice guys - I will put in some practice - it ruins the fun to have to slown down to turn - also not much fun when I tried to do it faster & ended up in the trees.... I will take my clipless off to practice turns I think...