Question about lean

[Frozen8950]

Hey guys i have a question about leaning and stuff.

Ive never been out to the track so i dont know what a 'good lean' should feel like. I just jack around on the street until it 'feels' good.

I dont go over near far enough to drag my knee so dont give me any of that "only do that stuff at the track dude" comments.

Ok so on to the question. Sometimes on corners i will hang off the bike like i see people do in pictures and such and sometimes when i just lay the bike over i lean my body the opisite direction. Now i know in the MSF books they say to lean your body in the opisite direction but when i go pretty far down in a turn and i lay my body half off the bike in the direction of the turn it doesnt seem like im leaning the other direction of the bike.

like if i was leaning left and i lean my body left off the bike me and the bike are to the left. When im just over a little bit l lean the bike left and my body goes right a little bit.

Does any of this make sense? Im just afraid when i lean off my bike to the left and the bike is leaned left im going to fall over.

Im confused just talking about it

[Frozen8950]

All that and my english teacher would be proud.... ha!

[beanz]

You always lean with the bike.

You never Counter Balance(opposite lean) when riding. Counter blancing is only for walking speed turns.

i could tell you're a really new rider. just ride and get some more experience, you'll be fine.

[Frozen8950]

Most of the time i lean with the bike but sometimes when im just 'crusing'
and i make a slight left turn ill remain upright. I guess im not leaning the bike to the left and me to the right.

I guess that makes more sense.

[Frozen8950]

Ok so in sharp turns when i hang off the bike I should hang off all the way and not really have a fear of the bike falling over. I just feel with all my body weight on the side of the bike that is already leaned that far over would cause it to fall over completly

[Cever]

Trust me if the bike is planted in the turn, it's not gonna fall over. I hang off just about as far as I possibly can, I usually have bruises on the upper part of my calf from digging into the sub-frame, and I've yet to discover any problems with it.

In all honesty, I feel better hanging off than I do when I don't. Now it's just a reflex to shift over and settle in. Just make sure you are locked on good, I've seen a few inexperienced guys get in a bind by letting their outside anchor slip.

[Varg05R6]

By leaning into the turn you are able to keep the bike more upright, thus keeping more of the tires contact patch on the ground. The bike is far less likely to tip over with more rubber on the ground!

Also lowers the center of gravity

Is good...

[beanz]

Could be the way you ride that make the bike feel unstable to you.

Do you roll on into a corner and keep it on?

You have to be on the throttle to keep the bike stable

[motorthings]

Originally Posted by Varg05R6

By leaning into the turn you are able to keep the bike more upright, thus keeping more of the tires contact patch on the ground. The bike is far less likely to tip over with more rubber on the ground!

Also lowers the center of gravity

Is good...

The contact patch idea used to be valid with the older bias ply tires, but with the advent of radials, the contact patch really isn't any larger when the bike is more upright (look at your tires and the radius of the tread, and you'll see what i mean), unless you are at the point of riding off the edge of your tire (i.e. crashing), then you would be correct that having less lean gives a bigger patch.

the COG, though, is very true, and there are other good reasons for using less lean as well.

[s4m222]

are u supposed to weight the inside or outside peg in a turn... i remember outside but i want to be sure... ?