bicycle_girl

Anyone know any writings online about how to take a corner? I am left in the dark about this. Thanks Kati

SSP

From the Sheldon Brown web site:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html#leaning

However, I disagree with his advice to "lean with the bike". I prefer to keep my body slightly more upright and push the bike over into the turn. I feel like this keeps my center of gravity centered better over the tires, and allows for quick changes in direction by adjusting the angle of the lean (something that's not as easy when your body is leaned over in line with the bike).

seely

Yeah I disagree with Sheldon on this too... my cornering has vastly improved if I lean OUT of the turn and keep my inside leg pressed firmly against the top tube. I feel you maintain more control and stability this way, and typically maintain better traction through the turn. Thats my completely unproven opinion though, and is mostly gauged using my highly accurate Butt-O-Meter to calculate the physics of it all.

SSP

I seem to vary my technique depending on the type of turn. If it's a long "sweeper" with good visibility through the turn, I tend to lean with the bike and get my chest down near the top tube to stay aero, and point my inside knee through the turn.

But, when it gets tight and fast, or when you can't see around the corner, I keep my body more centered over the tires than the top tube by pushing the bike down into the corner. This allows for very rapid changes of direction (especially to the outside of the turn) by simply reducing the downward pressure on the bars. It's amazing how you can make the bike move quickly left or right while in a high speed turn by just flicking the inside bar down or up. I've used this technique to avoid potholes and cracks at 40+ mph and still have all of my skin (although, my SO think's I've lost most of my marbles ).

don d.

There are quite a few theories tossed around about cornering. Suffice to say there are a few absolutes that you should know and learn.

1. Brake before the corner, not in it. It is always safer to brake while the bike is traveling in a straight line.

2. Learn through practice at what angle of lean you can resume pedaling w/o scraping your pedal on the ground, then get the bike back to this angle as quickly as possible coming out of a corner. Often you will only be able to go into a corner as fast as the other riders around you. A big part of successful cornering is accelerating out of the corner as quickly as possible. This is where you can gain ground on less aggressive riders. Practice accelerating HARD out of corners. If you can attack out of a corner, you can create gaps. If you can create gaps, you can eventually win races.

3. Remember that tire adhesion is the key to staying upright on the bike. Tire adhesion is increased the more upright a bike stays. Therefore, practice shifting your upper body, shoulders, etc... before leaning the bike. You will be amazed at what this can add to faster cornering. Keeping the bike upright while shifting upper body weight is especially important on wet roads, gravel, and off camber corners.

4. Buy videos of bike races and watch how the pros do it. Watch how they drop an elbow to lower their upper body to one side. Watch the lines they take. A race like Amstel Gold with alot of corners would be good.

5. Finally, you will become a much better cornerer if you are unafraid to crash. This is why they are called fearless bike handlers.

MrEWorm

Do a google search of "counter steering" and similar terms. Motorcycle sites have got the best information on this phenomenom. A great description of counter steering is at https://www.msgroup.org/TIP048.html . Of special interest, is the section devoted to camber thrust.
Ride safe