Riding The Twisties

[Krieg]

Ok, I have been on the board for a while now and must say I appreciate all the info I have gained from my fellow Busa riders out there. After thinking about a couple of recent posts that have delt with specific skills for riding the twisties I came up with and idea. How about a thread where we can all post our insights into riding twisties. Come on guys give everyone the benifit of your secrets of speed.

As a general rule of thumb I take corners in the twisties 20mph to 25mph faster than the posted curve speed.

 

[Ononewheel]

1. Body position. Move your entire torso, not just your but. Your knee should hit the ground before your peg, and you want your upper body in a position that your are pretty much looking through your mirror.

2. Throttle control. Always accelerate through curves. Try to accelearte just enough to put 60% of the bikes weight on the rear tire.

3. If you must scrub off some speed in a curve, maintain throttle and apply rear brake slightly.

4. comit to a curve do not panic and drive straight of the road on the brakes. COMIT!

5 Look where you want to go.. through the curve.

6. invest in track time. You will learn more about your bikes and your limits in one day than you would learn in 20 years on the street. Making you a safer and better street rider.

 

[BulletTrain]

5 Look where you want to go.. through the curve.

That's a biggie. I found yesterday that I could pull MUCH tighter u-turns and figure 8's if I looked back over my shoulder and where I wanted to go as I started the maneuver. If I watched my path or what the bike was doin' (lean angle mainly) or fixated on something like a painted line I ran WAY wider every single time. You gotta just trust yer bike and ignore what it's doin' (visually anyway) and just look where you want to go.

Lookin' where you wanna go and counter steering has to be two of the most valuabe techniques I've picked up from this board.

 

[BulletTrain]

Here's a link to a page I found recently. It's "Keith's Corner" on www.superbikeschool.com. There's a LOT of excellent info in the articles on this page. Check it out...

Keith's Corner

 

[Krieg]

1.  Body position.  Move your entire torso, not just your but.  Your knee should hit the ground before your peg, and you want your upper body in a position that your are pretty much looking through your mirror.

2.  Throttle control.  Always accelerate through curves.  Try to accelearte just enough to put 60% of the bikes weight on the rear tire.

3. If you must scrub off some speed in a curve, maintain throttle and apply rear brake slightly.

4. comit to a curve do not panic and drive straight of the road on the brakes.  COMIT!

5 Look where you want to go.. through the curve.

6. invest in track time.  You will learn more about your bikes and your limits in one day than you would learn in 20 years on the street.  Making you a safer and better street rider.

Excelent tips! Thanks.

 

[Ononewheel]

1.  Body position.  Move your entire torso, not just your but.  Your knee should hit the ground before your peg, and you want your upper body in a position that your are pretty much looking through your mirror.

2.  Throttle control.  Always accelerate through curves.  Try to accelearte just enough to put 60% of the bikes weight on the rear tire.

3. If you must scrub off some speed in a curve, maintain throttle and apply rear brake slightly.

4. comit to a curve do not panic and drive straight of the road on the brakes.  COMIT!

5 Look where you want to go.. through the curve.

6. invest in track time.  You will learn more about your bikes and your limits in one day than you would learn in 20 years on the street.  Making you a safer and better street rider.

Excelent tips! Thanks.

Sweet!. Thats what works for me. Everyone is different though.

 

[Racer 222]

You also have to set the bike up properly. Your susupension has to be set especially. The stock front springs on the busa SUCK and if you are really interested in cornering you will need to get the forks redone.

Marc

 

[sweeper]

This comes from another site, but most of the guys there are very good mature riders. There are a couple of good discussions going on that address "corner limits" and other "how tos." I'm always trying to learn from others and try to share whenever I can.

Hope you find this link helpful

http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22

 

[onetimedownbusa]

learn your bike and even if it sucks. i went fron having an inch of no use on the tire to literally total tire use on a lowered busa just by following a chick on a 600 for a half hour.(get out and ride with better riders and you can learn by following)along with the other ideas above

 

[Krieg]

This comes from another site, but most of the guys there are very good mature riders.  There are a couple of good discussions going on that address "corner limits" and other "how tos."   I'm always trying to learn from others and try to share whenever I can.

Hope you find this link helpful

http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22

Great info on the link. Thanks for posting it!

 

[Mikey D]

Another way to say it is keep as much weight as far inside as possible. That is, keep the weight as close a possible to the pivot point of the radius of the turn you are making.

In a theoretical perfect turn your weight would be centered at the middle of the radius and the bike would swing around.


Awww hell, just go ride it!

 

[Krieg]

Here's a link to a page I found recently. It's "Keith's Corner" on www.superbikeschool.com. There's a LOT of excellent info in the articles on this page. Check it out...

Keith's Corner

Thanks for the link BT. Code knows his sheise. This is the sort of reference material I was hoping to get in one location on the board for the novice riders.

 

[Krieg]

Here is a good link I just found. Check it out.

http://www.trackdod.org/TrackDoD%20Novice%20Guide.pdf

 

[Gpirelli]

Ditto what everyone said, very good advice. Let me just add: When leaned over, put weight on the outside peg, this will increase traction and you won't have to lean as much. I think I might just be re-wording what Mikey D is saying, so sorry if I stepped on your toes man

 

[WarBaby]

Good advice above!

Shifting butt/torso/body to the inside of the turn moves the bike's combined center of gravity in the direction of the turn and lessens the amount of lean required for any given turn radius/speed. It REALLY helps. Take care when knee-dragging though. If you must touch your knee, just "kiss" the road with it. Hard knee dragging reduces traction by "unloading" the tires as a third contact point. Unloading the tires is not so good at extreme lean angles. If over-committed (too hot into a turn), lean more. It's better to go down low-side than high-side.

 

[Bronto]

Just to add to list of twistie techniques. Conventional teachings, using the brakes before entering the turn and not while in the turn. Just learn to do braking in a curve also.
It's something to practice at slow speeds at first. Rider throwing more weight and coutersteering against the force of a Standup from using the brakes.
A list of disastrous conditions from Highsiding to limited traction during cornering some is being for braking. So learn not to use much braking and apply it lightly at first and increase.
Not so much a style of taking a corner. Added skill to brake to make minor speed adjustments. Comes in handy when the unexpsected is around a blind corner.
Have found many don't know trail braking. You have couple of R1s on your butt following your lines. You pull a trail brake on them it scares the poop out of em

They don't follow so close after that. So also have responsibility to warn on easier corners have this added cornering technique.

 

[moondog]

First rule of good twisties riding...get your ass in shape!!! If your doing it right, your going to feel it. After a spirited romp in the country I feel like I have been to the gym. Four main areas to work: legs, butt (if your doing it right, your ass is going to spend little time planted directly on the seat), abs, and back. Weight forward but only light pressure on the grips, looking kind of like a jockey. Manipulate the tank with your knees. Body position is everything....it's what makes the rest easy. Smoothness and commitment have to be there, once your committed to the corner you need to follow through. This is why a guy needs to start easy and practice much....or just plan on having an extra set of plastic around. This is knee draggin' country around here, had to learn fast. Even though our mighty busas aren't the best twisty machines, once you get the hang of it the weight can add a smoothness and grace to the ride. One more thing, GEAR UP!!!!!!! all of it....no matter how hot it is.

 

[NearDeath]

Slow into the turn, commit to the turn, accelerate through the turn... Don't panic, just look left, go left; look right, go right... Look through the turn, not in front of you... If the turn is tighter then what you anticipated, keep looking through the turn and pushing through the turn. Most will never ride at their bikes limitations and you would be surprised how far she will lean when necessary.

If you panic, you are going to drop it... If you take your eyes off the "through turn", you are going to drop it...

I have been getting better and better at this and I have been working on it a while...

CLoud

 

[zukracer]

umm, yeah what everyone has said so far. I'd also say make sure your bike is 100% before you head out (ie. tire pressure is correct). And always ride within your own limits. I've seen too many guys get in big time trouble trying to keep up with riders that either A) know the roads better or B) are just better riders out in the twisties. Folks will respect you more for riding your pace than risking everyone's life trying to keep up

 

[Mikey D]

Another thought...

Counter steering is where it is at on the Busa. Push the inside bar away from you and you will be SHOCKED at how low you can lean and how much trouble you can get out of!