bud

Member
Jun 29, 1999
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In most corners on my woods single track, I am finding I am doing quicker times if I stand the whole way.

Problem is I have to take my inside foot off the peg or else it gets knocked off in the corner ruts. This looks and feels pretty ungainly. Any input on whether it's worth practising this technique? :)

I guess in theory, I should only have to lift my foot a few inches off the peg to keep it from getting knocked off..
 

Anssi

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May 20, 2001
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I don't think practising to lift your foot off the peg while standing is something you'd want to develop as a primary cornering technique. You will lose some amount of control and will have to hit the peg when you bring your foot back down.

How about just trying to manipulate how you keep your foot on the peg, i.e. toes up, just reducing the weight when that peg is in danger of catching the ground? In some corners you will probably be faster sitting.
 

Jaybird

Apprentice Goon
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Mar 16, 2001
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First, I'm not much of a woods rider, but on rutted corners once you have completed your braking and you enter the corner you need to immediately sit and lift you inside leg toes up and weight the front wheel. You should also let the rut help you stay there and lean both the bike and your body to the inside. Remember to place alot of weight on the outside peg during all this. Just be concious of pushing on it through the turn with your outside foot. And be on the gas! Not so much you loose traction but a nice even roll-on.
Letting off whilst in the turn this way could cause you to high-side, or at least the front could come out of the rut. You want to keep it in the rut and let it hold you.
 

Fred T

Mi. Trail Riders
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Mar 23, 2001
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Originally posted by bud
In most corners on my woods single track, I am finding I am doing quicker times if I stand the whole way.

Problem is I have to take my inside foot off the peg or else it gets knocked off in the corner ruts. This looks and feels pretty ungainly. Any input on whether it's worth practising this technique? :)

I guess in theory, I should only have to lift my foot a few inches off the peg to keep it from getting knocked off..

Bud, I understand exactly your position on this because I've been trying to achieve this on my KDX for a year! My problem was that if I was agressive in the corner and on the pegs the front felt nervous and unsecure so I ended up slowing a little and sitting on the tank through the corner. I knew that I could be faster if I could stay on the pegs because of better flow with the bike and a lower center of gravity vs weight on the seat. You probably have to sit for a moment on tight corners to compress the suspension and get the bike to stick and then launch out of the corner but on many corners I agree that standing through them will be fastest. I suppose that if you keep on the balls of your feet and slightly lift the foot off the inside peg you are just helping to weigh the outside pegs which should help cornering stability as long as you are leaning far enough into the sorner. IMHO I think for woods riding it is worth a shot because I'm going to be working on it now that I finally got my bike set up to where it will do this through the corners with out wallowing. I found my problem had to do with finding the right combination of sag, front fork spring size,fork dampenig and rebound combination. I think I'm real close now -just need a bit more testing. Good luck!
 

Offroadr

Ready to bang some trees!
Jan 4, 2000
5,227
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Bud, your right that standing on singletrack is the best way to go fast but IMO its not in the corners. The exact reason you go faster in the straights is what hurts you in the turns. Standing on the pegs lightens the bike and allows it to flow under you. If you do this when cornering the bike is light as Fred explains. If the corner is an easy, sweeping corner, stay standing and turn the bike under you. If its a tight or rutted corner Your technique hurts you more than it helps, sit and take the corner then stand back up when you exit the corner.

On tight corners in the woods, I turn with the back wheel, i.e. brake sliding. Its really popular here in the US but not outside.

Good luck
 

bud

Member
Jun 29, 1999
433
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Thanks guys. I should have said that I have been sitting thru these corners, and spending a fair bit of time getting my sit-down cornering in ruts as good as it could be. When I tried standing almost the whole way recently, I was faster.

I think it's because my transition from standing-sitting-standing was losing me time, very little, but it mounts up over 50 corners or so :).
 

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