Curves and mountains

[wvninjamom]

I'm at 1000 miles riding. My biggest issues are curves and mountains, and we have a lot of both in WV: many curves on mountains. Every once in a while I feel like I lose my confidence in the curve and back off on the throttle when I probably didn't need to. Does anyone have any advice on this? Also, I seem to be bogging down coming out of steep, sharp uphill curves. I think I may not be downshifting enough. Any advice on shifting and which gear I should probably be in?

[Jiggles]

Enjoy the ride and don't push yourself too hard

[Alex]

If you let the RPM's fall much below 6k, there isn't much oomph left on this bike. When trying to accelerate uphill, making sure you're in a gear that has the engine somewhere between 7k and 10k and it will have more than enough get-up-and-go to work reasonably well.

No magic trick to gain confidence in corners. Best long-term safety strategy is not to be scaring oneself on the bike, so if you are uncomfortable with the speed, the road, or anything else, work your way up to it slowly until you become more comfortable. But - make sure you're learning things along the way as well. If you find yourself in corners quicker than you're comfortable with, and are braking late or rolling off the gas rather than gently rolling on the gas, remember that and deal with it in the very next corner by entering slower.

[alex.s]

confidence comes from knowing what is going to happen.

look farther ahead through the turn. brake earlier so you can power through the turn. backing off the throttle does nothing to help you and infact sends you wide if you are anywhere close to your traction limit. knowing how far the bike can really lean helps wonders with turning confidence. most people stop at about half lean, but the bike will go much farther. unless you are scraping your peg or exhaust, you can lean (lean == turn) harder. when you are comfortable with your sighting and leaning, you can start pushing it harder by hanging your body off the inside of the bike. this gets your center of mass lower and toward the inside and makes it so you can turn harder with less lean angle.

[Stingray1000]

If you're comfortable, you're fine.... You'll get there. You'll see your speed increase and increase ir you may not notice it at all, like all before me said, don't push beyond your limits. If you weren't comfortable you probably did the right thing. Don't ride beyond your comfort level.

[ally99]

Originally Posted by wvninjamom

I'm at 1000 miles riding. My biggest issues are curves and mountains, and we have a lot of both in WV: many curves on mountains. Every once in a while I feel like I lose my confidence in the curve and back off on the throttle when I probably didn't need to. Does anyone have any advice on this? Also, I seem to be bogging down coming out of steep, sharp uphill curves. I think I may not be downshifting enough. Any advice on shifting and which gear I should probably be in?

Ok, I've ridden thousands of mountain miles and recently started riding twisty tracks, and I've had the same (and MYRIAD more) questions as you are having, so feel free to ask away.
First of all, great reading here:
http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...ight=cornering

Second, buy Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist II (or at least watch the video if you can find the DVD, but the book is an easier reference tool). MANY of your cornering questions will be answered in this book.

Third, our bike has such short gears compared to bigger bikes that shifting for corners and elevation changes is an extra challenge, but it's fun! By looking ahead and predicting elevation changes, you should downshift for uphills or upshift for downhills prior to beginning your lean into a corner. Your goal is to stay in the bike's "sweet spot" RMP range so that it will continue to pull you steadily through the corner without hitting the rev limiter until you are out of the corner and ready to upshift. In mountain cornering situations, I typically stay in 3rd and 4th gears, but I will go down to 2nd or up to 5th depending on the corner.
By setting a good entry speed going into a corner, you're able to stay off the brakes and roll steadily on the throttle throughout the turn. This action keeps your bike the most stable regardless of any other factors you may encounter.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have other questions!

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by wvninjamom

..........Every once in a while I feel like I lose my confidence in the curve and back off on the throttle when I probably didn't need to.............

What you feel is a perception of lack of space.
That perception could be real or imaginary.
Either one triggers the survival reaction of slowing down to create more space.
However, what seems to be correct for your mind is not correct for the proper performance of the bike and it has the potential of making you loose control.

It seems contradictory, but that is the way it is: our mental software was not designed for riding motorcycles, but for walking and running.

You don't know what your bike can actually do; hence, you are paying attention to "reaching the limit" and "how the bike reacts", while you should be paying attention to the proper techniques for cornering and downshifting.

For both, you need to plan and decide your actions before you reach the points, in a successive way.
That is the reason for the advises about proper entry speed, looking far into the turn, keep rpm's up, etc.
You need to learn to think ahead of the bike: you will lead and the bike will obey.

Code Keith's books explain these techniques very well.
Check this article:

http://forums.superbikeschool.com/in...?showtopic=579

[RedOctober]

Bogging down: Keep your 250 revved high at all times. Minimum 10K RPMs. This way when you lean into the turn and start accelerating again the bike will respond much faster and in the powerband on the drive out. This, obviously, also depends on how you take your corners. If you just roll off the throttle, lean in and then wait until you get to the apex to apply throttle again...that's not going to work very well (or at all).

Confidence: Seat time And making sure you're doing it right to begin with. Don't listen to your squid friends who drag hardparts and hang their entire ass off the seat to look cool and drag a knee. Best thing you can do is do a track day with instructors who will oversee and evaluate everything you do. Best $200 you'll ever spend.
Also depends on just how much you're trying to do in a turn. Are you trying to hang off or not? If you are and your body position is not good or you're not used to it, it will feel weird and uncomfortable and you will spend some time thinking about it instead of looking ahead through the turn. I've seen this happen to myself and others...on the track, instructor wants me to work on BP, lines, speed into the corner, drive out of the corner. That's a lot of things to work on all at once, and if you don't do one right other things might suffer too (BP wrong = wrong lean = rider might get scared = speed will be off = line is affected). So...work on one thing at a time. If you find yourself taking too long to lean into a turn because you're trying to shift your butt, drop elbow, head...don't. There is nothing really wrong with taking turns inline with the bike (as long as you're not crossed up) at the appropriate speed (not at the same speed you've done it before). This will help you build confidence if you do it gradually. You're only at 1k miles riding.