I was riding at the local MX track last week and riding with/against a guy, that was faster than me. He said that I was faster coming out of the corners, jumped better than him, and we were about the same on the straight-aways, but that I slowed down way too soon going into corners, and thats where he was making up his time. He also said that I needed to lay the bike over in the turn more and use my front brake to help the front end bite. Does anyone have any comments or pointers for me? Thanks in advance.
How to get into corners faster...
- Thread starter LaRider20
- Start date
xenasdaddy
Sponsoring Member
- Apr 8, 2001
- 58
- 0
get a honda!! just kidding buddy. i think that 8 year old was just being nice to you! just kidding again. i am interested in this too as i am just slow everywhere.
xd
xd
My advice would be to find braking points.
What I mean by this is to pick out an object exactly on, or near, the spot where you think you should be braking, and brake when ever you pass by it. Whether it be a hay bale, a rock, or a small clump of dirt off to the side of the track, it will all work.
As for helping with the front end to get more bite, Keep on that throttle! Even if you are just slightly rolling the throttle, it will keep the front end in place better.
What I mean by this is to pick out an object exactly on, or near, the spot where you think you should be braking, and brake when ever you pass by it. Whether it be a hay bale, a rock, or a small clump of dirt off to the side of the track, it will all work.
As for helping with the front end to get more bite, Keep on that throttle! Even if you are just slightly rolling the throttle, it will keep the front end in place better.
Dirtbiker1165505
Member
- Jan 12, 2001
- 44
- 0
All I do is (when i'm doing good) is Get a little slower on the throttle than i come to the berm and give it more throttle.:)
mechantloup
Member
- Feb 5, 2001
- 55
- 0
Grass track !!!
My corner speed increased incredibly after i begun practicing on a Euro-style grasstrack like they ride in the world enduro championship .....going fast on flat,grassy corner is way harder than you may think ...Enduro w.championship grass track are usually just a series of various radius corner laid in a field ,to make a fast time riders have to maintain high corner speed .
A friend of mine showed me a video of one of these race ,the first rider you see in the first corner is Juah Salminen,as was sure he would blow the first corner because he was going real fast ,he rode it efortlessly at a incredible speed ,all through the tape these guys where cornering real hard and fast so it gave me the idea to give that kind of tack a try...
Get a look at these sites :
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~kalkku/kopla/kari/eindex.html
http://www.ericbernard.com/
http://www.giosala.com/link/lnk.htm
If you don't believe me ask Shane Watts..........:)
My corner speed increased incredibly after i begun practicing on a Euro-style grasstrack like they ride in the world enduro championship .....going fast on flat,grassy corner is way harder than you may think ...Enduro w.championship grass track are usually just a series of various radius corner laid in a field ,to make a fast time riders have to maintain high corner speed .
A friend of mine showed me a video of one of these race ,the first rider you see in the first corner is Juah Salminen,as was sure he would blow the first corner because he was going real fast ,he rode it efortlessly at a incredible speed ,all through the tape these guys where cornering real hard and fast so it gave me the idea to give that kind of tack a try...
Get a look at these sites :
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~kalkku/kopla/kari/eindex.html
http://www.ericbernard.com/
http://www.giosala.com/link/lnk.htm
If you don't believe me ask Shane Watts..........:)
Incidentally, Juha Salminen belongs to the same club as I do, and I occasionally see him practise on the local tracks. I have never seen anybody that much in control of a motorcycle, and I have seen some riders, including Eric Geboers and Georges Jobe in their heyday on the CR500 in Ruskeasanta, possibly the best track in the World for 500cc bikes.
If you happen to get passed by Salminen out of a turn, you may kinda hang with him as long as you are both WFO, but when you hit your braking spot, he just keeps going like there was nothing but straight track ahead.
PS. Salminen just finished 12th in the 250 MX GP in Belgium, and that was no fluke. BTW, he was also the Finnish trials champion earlier, and is still one of the top ones when he chooses to compete.
If you happen to get passed by Salminen out of a turn, you may kinda hang with him as long as you are both WFO, but when you hit your braking spot, he just keeps going like there was nothing but straight track ahead.
PS. Salminen just finished 12th in the 250 MX GP in Belgium, and that was no fluke. BTW, he was also the Finnish trials champion earlier, and is still one of the top ones when he chooses to compete.
mechantloup
Member
- Feb 5, 2001
- 55
- 0
Euro enduro
My french friends practice in a "enduro center"wich is to say a privately owned land with lots of various trail,it feature a bed and breakfast,a camping,a garage to work on the bike and a timing service on some week end when there is no race.You may also rent the service of an instructor/guide (national level competitor ) and a mechanic.There is numerous place like that in France ,some club even own some...you have to pay to ride,of course!!!There is also some public land to ride on but vrey little compared to north America.
My french friends practice in a "enduro center"wich is to say a privately owned land with lots of various trail,it feature a bed and breakfast,a camping,a garage to work on the bike and a timing service on some week end when there is no race.You may also rent the service of an instructor/guide (national level competitor ) and a mechanic.There is numerous place like that in France ,some club even own some...you have to pay to ride,of course!!!There is also some public land to ride on but vrey little compared to north America.
I had the same problem and have fixed this way.
First find a place where you can practice braking that is at least a 300 feet long straight. Then place a stick or some kind of marker at 150 feet from the start marker. Go to the start line and accelerate hard until you reach the marker, at the instant you pass the marker brake hard until you stop (the first times don´t brake to the limit, just get the feel) continue to brake a little harder and place a marker where you are stopping. Then as you progress you will be placing the full stop marker closer and closer to the braking marker. As you increase the braking force you will find that 1-you will begin to get tired faster (braking hard consumes a lot of energy) 2-you will be closer to crash due to excessive braking (front wheel washout). Try not to crash, brake with the bike perfectly straight, all you weight over the rear wheel and using the front brake hard (70/30), but if you do crash then try to roll.
At this point you may ask how this will help you, but think that a turn entry is nothing but the place where you are stopping and you may find, like I did, that I was capable of braking A LOT better in the excercise than when I was on the track, just picture yourself that if you can brake when going at full throttle in 3rd. in 30 feet (just for example) then at the track you can make your braking point at 30 feet of the apex. At first this is scary and you will feel that you will kill yourself entering a turn that fast but you'll find that you will brake just in time.
One of the things to remember is that you must NEVER COAST you must be either BRAKING or ACCELERATING.
Presto! instant better lap times.
There is a lot more to braking than this but is a starting point.
Hope this helps, it sure did to me.
Excuse my english.
:)
First find a place where you can practice braking that is at least a 300 feet long straight. Then place a stick or some kind of marker at 150 feet from the start marker. Go to the start line and accelerate hard until you reach the marker, at the instant you pass the marker brake hard until you stop (the first times don´t brake to the limit, just get the feel) continue to brake a little harder and place a marker where you are stopping. Then as you progress you will be placing the full stop marker closer and closer to the braking marker. As you increase the braking force you will find that 1-you will begin to get tired faster (braking hard consumes a lot of energy) 2-you will be closer to crash due to excessive braking (front wheel washout). Try not to crash, brake with the bike perfectly straight, all you weight over the rear wheel and using the front brake hard (70/30), but if you do crash then try to roll.
At this point you may ask how this will help you, but think that a turn entry is nothing but the place where you are stopping and you may find, like I did, that I was capable of braking A LOT better in the excercise than when I was on the track, just picture yourself that if you can brake when going at full throttle in 3rd. in 30 feet (just for example) then at the track you can make your braking point at 30 feet of the apex. At first this is scary and you will feel that you will kill yourself entering a turn that fast but you'll find that you will brake just in time.
One of the things to remember is that you must NEVER COAST you must be either BRAKING or ACCELERATING.
Presto! instant better lap times.
There is a lot more to braking than this but is a starting point.
Hope this helps, it sure did to me.
Excuse my english.
:)
fmfkx125372
Member
- Feb 1, 2001
- 226
- 0
AMEN BROTHER!!! Greatest feeling in the world when you get it right!!:p
FMX_novice
Member
- Jan 5, 2001
- 161
- 0
I was practicing today at an oval (not flat) track near my house. Tts actually a drainage ditch and on the side you can turn laps. Theres one corner there thats tight, and i kept braking for the sweeper before it which i should just be leaning for. Then i took a big stick and stuck it further and further closer to the turn past the sweeper and finally i found a point that i needed to really use up all of the braking power to slow down and turn if the corner is smooth ill keep my buttcrack on the highside of the seat near the middle. It its rough i stand about 2 inches off the seat with my outside foot on the peg and the inside leg pointed at the front tire, that way the rebound doesnt get you outta shape and make you blip the throttle too much. Make a braking marker and keep moving it until you realize if you brake 3 inches later your gonna be flying over the berm and back it off a few feet so you can have a little bit of breathing room.
