I took a motorcycle safety class

Was it www.msf-usa.org ? Accept no substitute.

"Bike lean is independant from body lean"

This applies more to swerving. Keeping the torso upright and allowing the bike to move under you lets the bike respond more quickly and helps you orient yourself. Also, it keeps the bike going straight instead of turning.

For slow speed turns, say below 8 mph, you should actually counterbalance by shifting your weight to the outside peg to balance the bike.

For normal turns, you should actually lean with the bike. If you lean against the bike, that's a dangerous habit to get into. What ends up happening is that in order for the bike to turn, it has to lean. By positioning yourself against the lean, the bike has to lean more to corner. The actual lean angle is your bike's lean angle plus or minus your lean angle, depending upon if you're leaning with or against it.

By leaning the bike more, you lose traction because the more you lean the less rubber you put down.

So the point is that you should actually lean more than the bike. The more you lean, the less the bike has to lean. The less the bike leans, the more rubber and traction you have. The more traction you have, the faster and safer you can go.

It's hard to judge, but when you watch racing, those guys are trying to go as fast as possible and lean the bike as little as possible. The less the bike lean the more rubber it can put down and the earlier they can get on the gas and accelerate out of the corner.

 

Thanks, that clears that up, back towards the pavement I go!

 

Good luck. Post up if you have any more questions.