Left Hand Curve Problem

[JGGUNS]

I have recently developed an uneasiness with regards to left hand curves. It's never been a problem before but over the last few months I just don't feel as comfortable in a left-hander as I have in the past. Nothing has happened out of the ordinary to cause the uneasiness. Maybe its just that subconciously I know that if I screw up a left hander and run it wide that there is no recovering it.

When picking a line on line on left hander I find myself wanting to stay to the extreme inside of the radius. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[twotonevert]

I used to be more comfortable with right handers as well. It wasnt until I was shown how to put a knee down did i figure it out. Go do a track day, you will forget about which way you are turning and just have fun.

Sent from my DROIDX using Forum Runner

 

[dadofthree]

Best of luck with it

 

[Trent]

Positioning, you'll want to shift around a bit and find some different parts of your body to get feedback from like the other butt cheek or the back of your thigh, inside of the knee... something that you didnt think about before. Make contact with the bike in a different place... Think about your elbow and where it is. Try different tensions in the grip, different parts of your fingers. Its there some place, take it easy and have fun getting there.

 

[Big Moe]

Are you left handed?

 

[JGGUNS]

Are you left handed?

No, right handed.

 

[Lucid]

I still feel more comfortable in right handers after several trackdays (not on a busa) and years of street corners. I need to get over this as well.

 

[karnage]

I am right handed and feel better with left turns.Weird.Always been that way since my bmx'ing days

 

[Big Moe]

No, right handed.

Hmmm, normally it would be harder to turn to ur right due to the brain trying to protect its dominate side. In this case I dunno, maybe its just mental????

 

[HillbillyTom]

I've had that issue in the past, but as the years and miles have went by, both ways "feel" pretty much the same.
Have you tried to speed up? Changed your expectations of how your riding? As a rule you don't loose the skill you have developed to that point, but attempt to move up in some way and surpass the current skill level, bringing on the new problem.
Running wide is never good, no matter which way your turning. And running wide is seldom brought on by actually going to fast, most of the time it is a pure and simple result of target fixation. Target fixation in a turn, IMO, is bought on by allowing yourself to align your line of vision with the front of your bike in a corner. If your looking through the corner (in a left for example, looking around the corner to the left of your bike) you will seldom have problems holding the needed line. If you shorten your line of sight up to look directly (or almost directly) over the front of your bike (at the edge of the road on the outside of the left hand corner), your screwed. That's when you start having problems holding a line, running wide, turning in too much, getting caught out and feeling uncomfortable turning the bike in general. Rights are shorter, blinder, more in and out affairs that cause you to focus more on the "event horizon' to the right of your bike and the edge of your available line of sight. Lefts are longer, more open, and require you to hold the line longer, giving you more time to allow your vision to swing back and fixate over the front of your bike, giving you the left turn problems. Keeping this from happening just takes seat time and mental focus, and the faster you go the more this comes into play.
Riding a motorcycle is sooo much a mental game. Relaxing on the bike, (even somewhat) proper body position, good line of sight practice, can all go a long way toward stopping any strange "feel" issues you may be having, and allow you to move along to a new level in your ability (and hopefully leaving the problems you were having behind).

My :2cents:.

 

[Big Moe]

I've had that issue in the past, but as the years and miles have went by, both ways "feel" pretty much the same.
Have you tried to speed up? Changed your expectations of how your riding? As a rule you don't loose the skill you have developed to that point, but attempt to move up in some way and surpass the current skill level, bringing on the new problem.
Running wide is never good, no matter which way your turning. And running wide is seldom brought on by actually going to fast, most of the time it is a pure and simple result of target fixation. Target fixation in a turn, IMO, is bought on by allowing yourself to align your line of vision with the front of your bike in a corner. If your looking through the corner (in a left for example, looking around the corner to the left of your bike) you will seldom have problems holding the needed line. If you shorten your line of sight up to look directly (or almost directly) over the front of your bike (at the edge of the road on the outside of the left hand corner), your screwed. That's when you start having problems holding a line, running wide, turning in too much, getting caught out and feeling uncomfortable turning the bike in general. Rights are shorter, blinder, more in and out affairs that cause you to focus more on the "event horizon' to the right of your bike and the edge of your available line of sight. Lefts are longer, more open, and require you to hold the line longer, giving you more time to allow your vision to swing back and fixate over the front of your bike, giving you the left turn problems. Keeping this from happening just takes seat time and mental focus, and the faster you go the more this comes into play.
Riding a motorcycle is sooo much a mental game. Relaxing on the bike, (even somewhat) proper body position, good line of sight practice, can all go a long way toward stopping any strange "feel" issues you may be having, and allow you to move along to a new level in your ability (and hopefully leaving the problems you were having behind).

My :2cents:.

That was an insightful read!

 

[b-dub_sr]

I have this problem in a car.... I can drift a around a left hand turn, keeping my left front tire pretty much the same distance from the yellow line throughout the turn. But right hand turns, I find myself very tense, in and out, dipping off the road sometimes..... And in doing pretty much the same thing as Trent said, I found that since that is the blind side and I couldn't see as well, I was not as relaxed.... I wasn't smooth with the throttle, I was leaving hand prints in the steering wheel practically... I havn't completely cured myself of it but thats because of lack of practice, from being overseas...

But I have no uneasiness in turns on the bike yet, Still practicing trying to get lower and faster.... Hope to get a trackday or two in while im home on vacation....


IMO, I would take what Trent and Hillbilly both said and put it together, Go out one day, if you can't to a track, pick a relatively curvey road and everytime you hit a left turn pick a body part to check. Check your head, make sure its low and looking thru the turn.... if thats right, check something else on the next turn and focus on making sure its in the right place.... chest off the tank, arm pit over it, hips, anchor leg, left leg/foot...... run thru everything until you pin point and get comfortable...




I AM NO TRACK COACH FOR DAYYYUMMM SURE AND MOST OF YOU HAVE BEEN RIDING LONGER THAN I HAVE BEEN ALIVE..... SO, CORRECT ME... DON'T FLAME ME !!! I LIKE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM !!! IT MAKES ME BETTER.....THIS IS JUST BEEN PASSED TO ME AND IT WORKED FOR ME AND MAYBE IT WILL WORK FOR HIM!!!!



GOODLUCK BROTHA LET US KNOW HOW IT WORKS OUT

 

[Tufbusa]

I think everyone has a preferred cornering side. Mine is left. I have no issues with right hand corners but I feel really comfy with LH turns. Probably because most of the tracks I have attended are left hand (Counter Clockwise) tracks.

 

[sherekhan]

One thing that might help if you don't have them on your bike are tank grips.

I notice that a lot of Busa riders don't have them on their bikes and they tend to have wider chicken breast on the tires than others.

Also Keith Code says that, if you position your head further to the outside mirrors in a corner and look through the corner your body will be more relaxed as you can see clearly where your going.

I had issues for a bit (staying more upright, than loose and off the bike) that stopped when I loosened up and could see where I was going better.

When I was tight the bike rode tight and nervous which made me tighter, which is bad on any bike but a killer on a larger bike like the Busa.

 

[peterbusa]

I also have an uneasiness going into left handed sweepers .Im going to try some of the suggestions offered here and hope it helps,thankyou,Mark(aka-Peterbusa)

 

[clydebusa]

All good points, stay loose, look to where you want to go and move in the seat. Push on the handle bars when cornering.

 

[JGGUNS]

I am glad to see that I am not the only one with left hander problems. My problem is not a function of lean angle. My rear is scrubbed edge to edge. I just don't feel as confident on a left hander. I have never blown a left hander I just don't have the same confidence to attack a left hander with the same aggression (on the street) that I do going to the right.

 

[05 Busa LE]

Never heard of this, and I'm curious why it happens. Could it be associated with the position of the levers (clutch, shifter, on left; throttle, both brakes, on right)?

 

[880jedi]

You can't be in "attack" mode unless you're 100% confident in you skill set, tires, and road conditions. There is a time and place to go fast, and there is a time and place to back off a few notches to allow for error and unforeseen hazards.

Most of the time your speed is the biggest factor, as both the inside and outside lines each have their benefits, and perils if things go sideways.

 

[ruder]

I developed a problem with lefties. It went on for months, until one day I showed a friend the lines on the local track. He remarked that I don't shift my hips the same as for right handers. Long story shortened, my back was out, hampering my left turns. Got my back fixed and the problem went away.