Cornering confidence

[Chrish]

Been on this a couple of times I found it excellent for training they use various tracks and do a course based around cornering

http://www.hoppridertraining.co.uk/

[Ckennedy]

The replys I had in the thread I put up about set weather riding has helped me in the wet and the dry. Though I d9 still struggle to get the top half of my body away from the centre of the bike. I think this is more of a confidence issue as I have checked all wheel bearing and wheel alignment and all is ok but when I do lean I can feel the bike "drop" when doing so. It must be ok I just need o get used to the feeling. I am I think going to get myself booked on one of them copper run courses. For the sake of 45quid its worth a try.

[benny hedges]

wind the throttle on after you are leaving the apex and dont give it a fistful.

uh?

crouton that. pin it lol!

[BigVeeGrin]

I do try to relax when going into a bend, but the panic sets in as I look at the grass verge at the side of the road or whatever, and I seize up and become stiff and awkward.......

mate this stood out to me - it kind of infers it is preying on your mind and that is focusing on the wrong thing. Focus on the right thing - entry speed within your current confidence level, look through the bend and to where the exit is and don't give a wombles about the hedge, onlooking cows etc etc. Throw in the tips from the other guys and after a while I'm sure it will come back to you. Important though is not to stress yourself and in your own time, plus you're not used to the bike at all yet I would guess.

good luck and yes, if ever I had the dosh I would be well up for a group day at Hopper, Haslam or similar

[Miztaziggy]

Yes totally preying on my mind

I just imagine how easily the front could slide and I could be head butting that lamp post or car as I go into the corner.

Doesn't help having a shiny new bike to be honest. Handles like a dream but I just imagine how it would look if I slid it in a corner and it makes me think the worst.

I'm definitely doing one of those courses though, that haslam one sounds mint. I have 2 friends up for it also so will make a good day out.

[firestorm996]

All good sound advice, be careful at the moment though as there is often bugger all grip on dry roads with the 3" coating of salt. Might as well be riding at Bonneville.

[lloydie]

A new shiny bike isn't the way to go when you confidence is low for the reason you mentioned above .

After my big off I have up on bikes for 6 years as I couldn't bring myself to put a leg over one .
When I did get back into bikes I got myself a jelly mould cbr600 (£100) and rode that to get rid of the bad gremlins .

im at the stage now where I look forward to the fast twisty bits and attack them as hard as I can (in the dry) having started out on a older (piece of crap/sh1t heap )I wasn't bothered if I did loose it down the road .

Just take your time and build up a relationship up between you and the bike . Their is no rush and no time limit and remember just have fun ..

[seb421]

I always had this problem going from the storm to the blade,
the storm feels a more neutral balanced bike even with the jacked rear end a lower USD Front End,
and the blade is a lot more front end biased and it turns in alot quicker than the storm,
You sort of sit in a storm but sit on a blade, it's like your riding on top of a missile with wheels,
You certainly get a lot more front end feed back from the blade too, great in summer but not in winter when the front end feel is almost gone

When it's cold it's scary on the blade as I literally can't feel the road like you can on the storm

in the cold the storm is Boss and I think any one on a storm could piss on a blade on a damp cold road, it feels that much more natural that you have more confidence

on the blade on a cold road I sometimes feel like I'm riding right on the edge of the grip even tho I know I'm not it just feels that way as you get so much feel from the front that when there isn't any you sh1t your pants and don't know where the limit is until it's gone

for a few weeks I can always take a corner faster on the storm until I've got used to the blade again once you got used to it it's a bloody weapon mate,

just keep loose on the bars and don't tense and I found you have to sort of be deliberate with the steering as it very much wants to go straight intill you bank it in,

I found my self moving around position wise more on the blade shuffling on the seat and hitching forward dropping a cheek over etc more than on the storm, the storm I could sort of keep my butt where it was but the blade encourages you to move your body you can feel it sort of rewards you for it

I've not tried the RR6-RR7 but should imagine it's not far off the RR3 handling wise as they say it's still a very familiar bike to the previous blades

Seen the new pics of your bike and it does look mint on the new pics, the graphics do look good it must have just been those original pics not showing them at their best.



Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[Stratman]

Whilst a race school might help, the lines on a track are not the right lines for safe road riding, there aren't white lines, manhole covers and oncoming traffic etc.

Do your local bike police do a "Safe Rider" or equivalent? Thought about joining your local IAM group? I did both and luckily the ride with the police was a wet afternoon and following their lines and listening to their advice was invaluable.

Forget about going fast - go smoothly, anticipate and relax. Get the right lines through not just the first bend but look ahead to the next. Do that and then the speed will come naturally.

[Miztaziggy]

Forget about going fast - go smoothly, anticipate and relax. Get the right lines through not just the first bend but look ahead to the next. Do that and then the speed will come naturally.

That's what I'm after mate, smooth.

Like they say, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

I don't necessarily want to be dangerously fast, just smooth and safe. Right now I'm twitchy and it doesn't feel safe.

I remember following flatline once and watching how smooth he rides. He doesn't ride amazingly fast but so smooth into and out of corners it makes it very quick indeed. Hard to keep up. Find myself hammering the straights to catch up all the time.

[Stratman]

Here's a tip then. Go out on a nice, twisty yet quiet road. Imagine that your brakes have failed and that you can't use them. Now, ride at a speed which you can manage to ride safely, using just gears and engine braking to slow you down. People who have ridden behind me have told me that my brake light isn't working. I tell them that it is, but I just haven't been braking!

If you need to scrub off a little speed, try using the rear brake to settle the suspension down. Grab the front brake and the bike stiffens up and the geometry changes, making it all a bit jerky - fine if you want to pile in on the front brake, flick it off and drop in dramatically, but that's not what you're after.

Hope that helps

[darkember]

The school or a track day is a great idea. The other things to look at are getting your suspension setup for your weight & tyre choice. When is comes to tyres there is the school of thought to get long lasting ones. Many of these however, will not give you the feedback or feel that you want. I used to own a Z750 several years ago and the day I got it it was shod with a set of Batlax which had lots of tread left, however I never had any confidence in tipping it into corners as there was very little feedback coming to me. I was then offered a set of part worn Corsair 3's only used once £130 fitted. The transformation was astonishing, the bike was a completely different animal. I was getting really good feel for the front end & that brought all the confidence back.

At present I have Batlax on the Storm although they seem to work better than they did on the Kwak I still dont care for them much & will soon be upgrading them to something far grippier. I prefer to have the planted feeling rather tyre longevity.

[StormingHonda]

I always had this problem going from the storm to the blade,
the storm feels a more neutral balanced bike even with the jacked rear end a lower USD Front End,
and the blade is a lot more front end biased and it turns in alot quicker than the storm,
You sort of sit in a storm but sit on a blade, it's like your riding on top of a missile with wheels,
You certainly get a lot more front end feed back from the blade too, great in summer but not in winter when the front end feel is almost gone

When it's cold it's scary on the blade as I literally can't feel the road like you can on the storm

in the cold the storm is Boss and I think any one on a storm could piss on a blade on a damp cold road, it feels that much more natural that you have more confidence

on the blade on a cold road I sometimes feel like I'm riding right on the edge of the grip even tho I know I'm not it just feels that way as you get so much feel from the front that when there isn't any you sh1t your pants and don't know where the limit is until it's gone

for a few weeks I can always take a corner faster on the storm until I've got used to the blade again once you got used to it it's a bloody weapon mate,

just keep loose on the bars and don't tense and I found you have to sort of be deliberate with the steering as it very much wants to go straight intill you bank it in,

I found my self moving around position wise more on the blade shuffling on the seat and hitching forward dropping a cheek over etc more than on the storm, the storm I could sort of keep my butt where it was but the blade encourages you to move your body you can feel it sort of rewards you for it

I've not tried the RR6-RR7 but should imagine it's not far off the RR3 handling wise as they say it's still a very familiar bike to the previous blades

Seen the new pics of your bike and it does look mint on the new pics, the graphics do look good it must have just been those original pics not showing them at their best.



Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

+1 I am finding cornering on the blade a real pain in the butt compaired to the storm, I had the forks sorted and its got a little better, but the 16" front end on my blade makes the bike feel nervous in this weather round bends, its quite frustrating.

[lloydie]

Turn the triangles in the rear linkage to drop the rear that will help with the front end tuck in this weather .
The 16" front is a good wheel if you can get a 120 tyre :-0 .
When I had my 95 blade the first few months I had front end tuck so I backed of the preload on the forks and shock as they were set for a rider of 20st .
This helped but fitting the 17" front made a massive improvement .

[Miztaziggy]

I'm pretty sure my front is a 17, is that not standard on the rr6?