Although I don't agree with not leaning; he is right. "Push left, lean left, go left". I recently helped a buddy out with the same problem. He just wasn't pushing hard enough in the turns. I had him start pushing in the direction he wanted to go while simultaneously pulling with the other hand. This helped him out tremendously. As stated above, stay in a lower gear, look at your exit, use your apexes, and accelerate out out of a curve. Just don't panic and always look where you want to go even if you aren't going there.



Oh yeah, go back and practice that curve. Once through it turn around and do it again. Then again.....you get the idea.

 

Trying to ride fast through a BLIND turn pulls real hard on my pucker string. If you are using everything your tires can give you and THEN find a rock, sand or an oil slick on the road there is no reserve traction to slow or weave and very little time to think about it. If you recognize the danger of over driving your headlights at night, this is exactly the same thing: over driving your line of sight.

Many years ago I went on a group ride with several guys from the office. In the group were 2 testosterone poisoned maniacs always trying to out do the others. They had long disappeared in the distance ahead of me when I came around one sharp, blind bend in the road and there was one of them in the ditch. As I slowed to find a place to turn around to help him out, I passed the other one, just a little farther down the road, but in the same ditch. They were lucky, only some minor damage to the scooters and no damage to themselves. Now, at 67 years old, I know that broken and bent parts are an avoidable expense and it takes a Loooong time to heal up the road rash.

No matter how it looks in the movies, the stunt guys practice over and over again until they get a particular stunt just right. If you are on an UNFAMILIAR piece of road, you are trying the "stunt" for the first time. Sure, you could get it faster and smoother with practice, but you are going around that curve once, not 20 times. Practice, take a course, be the best you can be but don't have unrealistic expectations. Enjoy the ride.

 

Caution is a good thing, for all riders no matter what their skill level is. Do Not over ride your skill level. Pushing it a bit will advance your skill level, being stupid will kill you. You can learn from it only if you live through it.

Start out on a straight road with no one else around and ride in and out of the lines on the road and don't miss any of them. When you can do that at 80 mph you will have learned something that might save your life one day.

 

I know the feeling...Been riding continuously for close to 50 years, I now take any "new to me" roads very carefully the first time. My courage went, many years ago, along with my hair. Lightweight sport bikes can be forgiving when ya get outta shape on a bend, HD's usually don't.

 

Further explanation: If you are trying to use your body weight to make the bike turn you're wasting your time. At the end of the day you're going to be exhausted because you are fighting the bike instead of riding it.

 

Before coming into that kind of curve there should be a "recommended speed" sign. I've found that the curves can usually be made easily if I'm doing 10 or 15 mph over that speed. More experienced riders can go even faster. I try to be near the center line to start a right hand bend and near the shoulder for a lefthander.

The biggest thing for me is leaning the bike far enough over while in a tight corner. I've had a few instances where I was caught by surprise with too much speed going in and had no choice but to push hard on the bars and lean the bike over. Each time, I was able to make the turn easily, although it scared the crap out of me a couple of times.

I think that leaning the bike over in a turn causes you to scrub a little speed which can give you a little breathing room.

Practice on curves you encounter regularly. You will be able to keep track of your progress of increasing your speed til you get it how you want it. Don't get overconfident but don't be scared of it. Practice makes perfect.

I've heard that the main reason a bike doesn't make a curve and winds up in the ditch isn't because the bike couldn't make the curve but because the rider didn't think he could. Push those bars, look as far through the turn as you can. Don't fixate, don't look ANYWHERE except around that curve. Trust yourself.

I'm not really an expert on this but I'm trying. The more I do it the more comfortable I become and the easier it is. Experience is your friend.

 

The line you take through a corner is important for safety and confidence. Set up on the outer radius of the turn and aim for the inner apex of the turn. On a right turn, start near the center line and set up your line to be near the fog line at the apex. On a leftie, move to the fog line entering the turn and head near the center line at the apex. Setting up that way allows you to see a little further into the turn and gives you the most road width to correct if the turn has a decreasing radius or if you need to scrub off some speed.

Look where you want to go and keep your eyes parallel to the horizon.

 

Skulls, I know how you feel. Now that I have 10k on my Ultra, I feel pretty comfortable on it. I feel like I know what I am doing, until I ride with someone really experienced. My buddy can cruise in the twisties at 80mph. He also races cars, and snowmobiles and has been riding Harley for 40 years. I meet him in the next town.

I don't want to end up like my son's buddy who was flying around turns last week, thinking he was Speed Racer. Until he met a deer, didn't have time to avoid it, hit the ditch and broke both arms. I like to have some tractional reserve, for unexpected gravel, slick spots, etc.. And time to avoid critters, and debris. Better late than never.

There were some good threads on this, and I bought a good book recommended on one of them.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/showt...ch#post8648932

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/189361...dir_mdp_mobile

 

Grabbing the brakes while leaned in a corner can have bad consequences, especially when getting on the front brake with front forks that have excessive dive. Looking ahead where you need/want to be in the lane is always good practice. Leaning is not going to save your ***... Yes, your bike need to lean in a corner, get it there by pushing on the right hand grip (right corner)

When Im hauling *** in a right hand corner and the road starts bending more than I expected, and/or I start drifting towards the center line I pull on the left hand grip. Might not work for everyone but it works great with my suspension setup.

Its ridiculous how people have ran off the road or crossed over the center line and didnt even come close to touching any hard parts or pegs.

If your not already doing it practice the push (or pull) routine while doing the recommended (posted) speed for the corner. When efficient it should be a piece of cake doing 20 mph over.

Never ride faster than your angle can fly.

 

Do a track day. Learn the limits of your bike and yourself. Practice, practice, practice! Always leave some "wiggle' room on the street! I was out in the foothills today and at 64 I'm not coming close to scraping stuff like I did 10-15 years ago. Ride to your limits!