How to corner on a motorcycle | Gain confidence & skill 

that could be down to the types of tyres on your motorbike or your suspension set up. we bought a kawasaki versys 650 new in 2021, i had been out of bikes for 10 years so didnt know better when buying the bike and using the stock dunlops were ok in the dry but i had little confidence in the rain with them, changed them for bridgestones and big improvement in my confidence. then just last week, riding in the rain, not feeling confident entering corners, the bike has 15k miles on it now, remembered a video from Dave Moss and that the front suspension should go down, up and stop when you stand next to the bike and walk it forward and pull the front brake. if it goes down, up, down, the suspension needs a bit of fine tuning as over time it wears out, the oil gets thinner, the screws are like taps to control the oil flow in the forks. so today i added some tension and it took away the down, up, down and it felt great to ride it again, i as a human was not compensating for the not the best suspension due to its age, it was now set closer to properly set up for me (Dave Moss says you should set the bike up for your weight as most people are different to the test rider that set the bike up for the manufacture). i will say i still to ride it in the rain as today was dry but i am confident it will feel better. little bit more advice, watch some advanced riding videos on reading the limit point, reg local has some good videos about that and it helps to estimate the corner ahead and what speed to enter it at.

I you stop trying to go round a corner or bend like a racing motorcyclist and just followed the curvature of any bend and paralleling it with the front end of our bike in sync then you will stay out of trouble. There is no secret at all to taking bend properly and safely. So maintain a safe slowing and stopping distance around that bend and if one is catching up with the limit point, the furthest point one can see ahead, about where both sides of the road meet, then if catching up with that limit point slow down as you are going far too fast. If however you are keeping up with the limit point or indeed its going away from you then you are riding it at its safest level. Simplessssss

Honestly, it'd be perfect - it's really a day of practicing, with experts watching and pulling you in for advice when needed. It'd do you no end of good! It's open to everyone, but if you're a Bennetts customer you can get a discount.

Are you in the right gear,you want instant response when you roll on or off the throttle,this was one of my problems,i was in too high a gear so when i tried to slow down the engine didn't slow which made me panic,when i got the right responsive gear,things got better straight away

@@paulmatthews7701 Being in the right gear is just as important as being at the right speed. Lower gears make a the bike more responsive and that helps one to steer round bends.. On a main road maybe 4th or 5th gear is ok but on narrower country road look at taking it down one or two gears and see how much better a bile will handel to bends. Also never slow when going round a bend as that makes the front end heavier and less controllable so always have a maintenance or slightly open or positive throttle on and that lifts up the front end and it makes the bike more responsive to handling. By the way don't believe the old wives tale that one cannot brake on a bend. Although the advice is to do all your braking before the bend its sometimes is necessary on the bend and so need to brake and if that happend use front and back but lightly and gently and as you slow you will straighten the bike up and one can use more brake due to a lesser lean angle. In order to do that successfully it should be taught on such a school as this. How to brake on bends is something rarely instructed on. You can do it whilst on a car park and on a dry day with a good surface lean, your bike over on a bend and then slowly try your brakes and see what effect it will have on your progress. slightly and lightly apply your brakes, repeat and learn how the bike responds to braking. NEVER EVER GRAB ONTO YOUR FRONT BRAKE . THAT WILL THROW YOU OFF. Always brake with progressive force slightly at first and building to a fist full and then easing off and relaxing to a stop If stopping in traffic always end up releasing the front brake and using the rear brake only and that will mean your bike won't jump up at you when your front forks relax after being compressed . So try it someday soon and see how you get on.

@@bennettsbikesocial do these courses still run

When is the next course day!

Maybe one day there'll be a BikeSocial US

It's not an underrated or overlooked skill but an advanced cornering technique.

@@Fearless154 well that would depend on the folks one rides with, wouldn't it .

@@Fearless154 Is it? I am a new rider but as I understand it trail braking is simply gradually releasing the brakes as you approach the apex. Maybe I am wrong but it just seems the natural way to corner to me as it makes the most efficient use of the brakes while minimising the risk of losing grip.

trail braking is a useful skill for when you get caught out reading a corner, but entering the corner at the correct speed in the first place is a better skill when on the roads.

CSS in the UK went bust (they might have reformed). I did the course about the time this video was made. If I remember the advertising correctly it did include CBT.

there are other ways to gain confidence safely but not having to go on a course. if you can find an empty car park you can practice low speed manoeuvres between the lines. i was lucky to ride off road before my cbt, i had an 80s yamaha xt 125 and doing the figure of 8, i stood up on the pegs and was showing off so then the instructor started kicking the cones closer together and i was still doing the figure of 8. low speed manoeuvres are good to practice first and get started with, from that you can build your bike control when you get to a higher speed as it gives you confidence at slow speed. assuming you have your full licence now as its 3 years later, you could look into advanced riding videos and use some of those tips to develop skills as well or take the course.

Couldn't agree more!

Ride slower then until u know the roads

@@ady2181 Not good enough. I am afraid. On a road regularly used we can become apathetic and complacent. As we have never experienced a problem on it before it doesn't mean that the next time there will not be one. So go round the bend always with caution and always assume the worst case scenario and that there is a problem before there becomes. one. Being prepared for the worst case scenario makes us safer riders. Not quite as fast as we might like to go but longer lived than others.

Glad you enjoyed it

I agree with most of your points! I also ride in terms of a reference point. I saw it on a video (forgot the name) and it's stuck with me ever since. To reiterate what you said and how I apply it: If the reference point (the furtherest I can see) in the corner is getting closer I continue to decelerate/trail brake. If the reference point maintains its distance, I maintain my speed (maintenance throttle) And If the reference point gets further away, I then can accelerate out of the corner. All this while applying these: Brake until I'm happy with 1) MY speed and 2) direction, And Only accelerate once I can 1) see the exit and 2) take away lean angle. Great to see someone else always utilises the "reference point" technique 😋 Awesome, simple tips that have made my rides a lot safer!

@@motordemic Nice one but as yet trail braking has not been approved in the UK. In the USA its only because of an awful lot of track training is done over there and the need to reduce collision/accidents on bends when using the "performance line" of the out/ in/ out, and go in faster than you would if you were using the much safer line paralleling the radius of the bend. As said its not used much or yet accepted for use in the UK. Personally I hope that trail braking never does become an accepted practise as to my mind enough racing riders come to grief on it whilst racing at high speeds on the track and I just don't want to see the carnage increased on our roads by its use or misuse or abuse or ignorance. As its a track method of taking bends I would like to se it remain there. Riding on the roads on bends is far far different than taking bends on the track with many more variables and dangers etc.

​@judgedredd49 I would encourage you to watch some high quality tutorials such as Nick from Champ School with his 100 points of grip video, and any of the trail braking teaching of Canyon Chasers. I truly believe through research and constantly evolving my riding style that trail braking is indispensable for speed, fun and safety.

Gearing changes according to speed and speed changes according to your level

Depend on the speed and the corner lol.

I'd reccomend not going in to first if you are a new rider... If you don't match your engine speed to your actual speed you could lock up back wheel, also 2nd will be more forgiving on the throttle

Try the figure of 8 in large empty car park (Sunday morning) This will give you best indication how much you can push it. Usually it’s more than we think

Cant put a price on safety, £100 could be the difference between you stacking it on a corner or cornering safely and not crashing.

1 gear, not necessarily 1st and its is only the first session.

my problem is that there is none around here xd

@@CrisyugoOficial Tell me about it.

Oh for the days of quality load music. Sorcery on the CPC464 was my favourite.

@@bennettsbikesocial genius reply 😂😂 , personally I didn’t mind the loud music 😉

There wont be idiots like you on them then 👍

Hahahaha

@Mike W because everything is set to get expensive and people won't have money to spend on motorcycles

@@cagednm69 Yep... it's already worse than it was.

Brexit will not happen!!!!!

Not sure if we were watching the same video because the points you raised is essentially what was covered by the instructor. Eg turning in late to see what is around the corner such as hazards etc and give yourself room to exit wide.

@@a-chail9720 That fine on an open road or race track or on a car park but in many instance in the Uk on country roads its a blind bend with hedges either side so one cannot actually see any apex until on the bend and going at whatever entry speed one has maintained.. Too often some biker enter a bend too fast and they lose it due to an excess of speed that they can't shed, fright when they realise that they are going too fast or hit something or fixate on an item they should not be looking at. The entry speed is one of the most important issues. yes there are others but get this wrong and it can become a mess Its in relation to the first golden rule of safety that one must always be able to stop in the distance seen to be clear and on one's own side of the road. Entering a bend and choosing the speed is of paramount importance. If all that one can see of the tarmac to the kerb or hedge on a right hand bend is say 60 ft then one has to be able to stop in that distance so that means one enters the bend at 20 mph which is by the 2 second rule. Too often bikers take a road that has a 60 mph limit and endeavour to ride it as fast as they can and in doing so carrier round blind bends assuming that there is no obstruction on the other side and that can lead them into trouble. They can get away with it so that going faster become the norm and then they don't realise the danger that they put themselves in and cant believe it when they come to grief.

judgedredd49 Nice to see some common sense spoken on here. I just started my IAM Advanced Rider Course and there seems to be a constant emphasis on “making progress”. On my second observed run in the group the other day, I found myself becoming more and more uncomfortable with the speed I was having to carry into and out of corners in order to keep up. On a twisty country road, I knew none of us could really stop in the distance we could see to be clear. All it needs is a slow moving tractor, horse, dog walker or group of cyclists just round the bend and you are history. Not to mention on the corner itself, gravel, manure, sand and roadkill: all of which I saw on our route. So I took a deep breath, slowed down, gave myself a nice big safety margin and enjoyed the rest of the ride. On arrival at the next rendezvous point, I could see the puzzled look on the instructor’s face, but I was relaxed, unstressed and alive. If people behind you want to hit apexes and accelerate towards exit points, just slow down, wave them through and smile. Remember, the largest proportion of motorcycle fatalities occur on corners with no other vehicle involved.

@@josephlarmor550 Well said, my friend. Completely agree.

@@benjamincs1 Benjamin and Charles. Glad to read your views . I have advocated for some years that our training on bends wants to be seriously looked at and if necessary re written. Historically our present guide was written for police training motoring schools and in the 1930.s when there were only some 4 million vehicles on our roads. We now have more than 10 times that number. Then there was absolutely no speed limits out on any country roads but only a 30 mph around towns and cities etc. So in those days everything goes and anyone could drive or ride at whatever speed they desired and one the vehicle was capable of. As there were no speed limits there was no offence of speeding on them . All that changed about the mid 1960's with the building of new motorways and the introduction of the national speed limit of 70 mph which in the early 70's was changed to 60 mph on all country roads except motorways and dual carriageways. So now we are, or should be trained. not at speeds over 100 mp as could be possible before but at speeds on all our country roads and at speeds not in excess of those new limits. Unfortunately we are still suffering from speed being a primary activity of motorcycling or car driving on our roads and that should no longer be the case. We are always taught that the speed limit is not a target to be obtained at all times but it seems that our experience in training, certainly for advanced riding skills fails in that regards and it would appear that the faster that one can take a bend makes one a better of safer rider and that is certainly not the case. One may ask the question, just why is that and the simple answer is that when the first police bible came out in the 1930's and subsequently the first police roadcrafts were published for cars in the mid 50's and for motorcycles in the mid 60's there were as previously mentioned no speed limits and therefore the police would have to be trained at higher speeds in order to pursue an offender or criminal or miscreant driver or to attend somewhere that they were needed to be in order to possibly attend at the the scene of an accident and possibly save lives et So historically some training was done for fast and urgent progress being made by police officers and prior to the new speed limits civilians would also be trained at those higher speeds.That should no longer be the case as since then the speed limits have come into being and we need only ask civilian drivers and riders to obey the new speed limits no matter what the circumstances of the roads are. Yes police and emergency drivers and riders still need to be trained at those higher speeds but we do not need to. Unfortunately this is still not mirrored in some of the practises and procedures for riding instructed to and by the emergency services but which we should not be party to. Overtakes, bends, use of the full width of the road are several things that should be looked at together with the overall attitude toward the making of progress and other related matters. All of which if seen to be no longer relevant for the training of civilians should help to make motorcycling and indeed the use of all vehicles on the road a safer matter I would finish by saying that there are two modes of riding by the police. The first one is in performing general patrol duties where one is on a bike and on certain pre determined roads for nearly all day and therefore one doesn't need to rush anywhere. Of keeping up with traffic and not needing to overtake them etc, is the way to go. The second mode is riding at excessive speeds that the police have to do in order to perform their duties and make faster progress to an incident or in pursuit of someone. These are the two modes of riding and each need their own skills. practises and procedures and I would like to think that civilians would be trained to that first standard of safety for longevity of life on our now crowded roads and in no way to the second one.