So ive been out practicing, I can get into ruts perfect and go through them. Once i get to the hard packed turns I cant even put my foot next to the front wheel because i always have to catch myself before i crash. So what is the proper way to take one of these turns? Could it be my suspension, linkage, triple clamps, tires? I ride a 09 crf250r

Are you using Kenda tires?  Lol!

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd suggest getting on top of the bike and weight the outside (like flat tracking) rather than leaning in and sticking your foot forward like you do in a rut.

you want to kind of drift around the corner if your going fast, it feels sketchy at first, if you let off the throttle that's when your front end will slide out if you keep on the gas the rear will kick out and stay out and continue to drift. if your suspension isnt setup right that would work against you, along with bad tires and such

Sounds like you aren't getting enough weight on the front end.

Sit on the front of the seat, as much forward as possible. Lean the bike over to whichever way you are turning, say left. Push your left arm down a little, and keep your right elbow up. Since it's hard pack, I would drag your brakes, Just push down a little on the brakes in the turn, and use the clutch. Why do you lean the bike over? To get as much traction on as much of the wheel as possible.

It could very well be the tires, what kind do you have? Hard tires are the best or hard pack terrain. I run intermediates (MX51). Worn down tires are bad also.

Lastly, you cannon let off the throttle, you are either on the brakes or on the gas. You don't want to do any of your braking in the turn. If you stay on the throttle, you won't lose the front end.

are you standing while breaking? try standing till you are done breaking then sitting down.

Im using mx51's. So i should pretty much be sitting on the tank, with no foot out weighting the outside peg.

Tony477g, on 08 May 2012 - 12:54 PM, said:

OOOOOH, ur foot should be out. Just not far out in front of the bike like going through a rut. Ur foot will be more on the side of you, not sticking straight out ahead of you. If ur foot is more at the side, you should be able to catch yourself if the rear slides out. Just watch some people go across some flat corners (on tv, the internet, or at the track). Their foot isn't out as far as it would be if they were going through a rut.

kind of like these guys

kx910, on 08 May 2012 - 04:22 PM, said:

it's true that you hold your foot up differently then when you go through a rut. I'm not going to get into rut technique, but the notion that for flat corners you should put your foot out is wrong. Because your not leaning the bike as far as you would in a rut, you don't have to keep it as high up, but you still want to keep it in. When you put it to far to the side it throws off balance and starts getting dangled.....

^^^   I agree completely.

People get confused all the time at the reasoning for doing body movements.

Every situation has its own body movements associated with it. In big bowl corners, beautiful ruts and corners you can go fast through, you can carry more speed. Keeping that inside leg up and moving that weight to the front of the bike, does help a bit with the over-all handling of the package through those conditions. However, that is when you have a grippy surface to work with. If you don't have a good grippy track to work with, then your inside leg needs to be closer to the ground to help catch you. I honestly have found that the leg dangle that is associated with newbies, is done a lot by pro's as well. Obviously noobs do it because they don't know any better, but pro's do it because they need it and "kick-off" several times per lap.

So the technique on hard pack is to literally have that inside leg near the ground, sometimes just brushing the ground, so when you need it, its there. Over time, you will get more confident and figure out how hard you can push the bike around.

In terms of the OP's issue...

The MX51 is crap, it understeers badly, so that could be a small part of the problem. On hardpack you need a MX71 front, its a hard pack tire.

Also, you've gotta use the rear end to steer it, not the front end. Get that rear slidin' around and don't put a shit load of weight on the front because it will want to slide out on you.

Edited by tye1138, 08 May 2012 - 09:51 PM.

Ok now im getting two sides where some of you are saying load the front and others say dont. Im probably going to get the mx31 cause ive also got it in my mind that the 51 up front sucks. One thing ive been able to do was pull the clutch in stomp the back brake and turn and accelerate out, but only works on sharp 180 degree turns not the long sweeping ones(of course).

Die_trying, on 08 May 2012 - 04:34 PM, said:

I thought you were only supposed to do that on bowl corners and sweepers. On tight flat corners, wouldn't that mess you up to have ur foot far up front? I'm not saying to dangle ur foot directly on the side of you, I'm just saying that ur inside leg won't be so far in that ur hugging the radiator shroud. Even in that Los Angeles supercross video above, they have their leg farther out on some of those flat corners. That was a good race BTW. I was a little dissapointed with Wilson. It's too bad he got hurt beforehand. I'm really hoping that Villopoto and Reed will be able to race the outdoors (and stewart if he wants to). I'm kinda doubting that Reed will come back. I think that he's just going to manage his race team, and Justin Barcia will pretty much take his place as the other guy to challenge dungey and villopoto.

Edited by kx910, 08 May 2012 - 06:06 PM.

all those guys are squeezing their shrouds and still have their foot as far in as is comfortable and will give reasonable leverage. On rutted corners riders lean with the bike a lot more and use radial/normal acceleration to hold them selves up. On flat corners like the one in the video which usually have larger radius's, you can see them leaning the bike over while they stay above it more upright. Because they are upright over a leaned over bike, it changes where the shroud is in relation to the leg and doesn't allow them to put it as far inward. There is also the leverage issue if you have to dab a foot with the bike leaned over, it's a balancing act between having enough leverage to keep the bike up but not have it to far out or get away from you. I highly doubt you are getting the lean angle that they are going through flat corners, i know i don't.

You 'steer with the rear' while still keeping the front end planted.

Tony477g, on 08 May 2012 - 05:18 PM, said:

Yep, thats the trick! As said right above, steer with that rear! Keep that inside leg ready!

Watch Dungy ride on a hard pack track, he does it all right.

Die_trying, on 08 May 2012 - 06:44 PM, said:

Well, you know how to explain it better than I can. I guess ur leg is still on the radiator shroud, but I was thinking that you were trying to say to have ur leg pointed almost straight out in front of you while spueezing against the very front of the radiator shroud. Like the guy in this video at 37 seconds.


I got over that leg dangling thing a long time ago. Well, you should explain everything to the OP. He's the one that needs to know this info.

Edited by kx910, 08 May 2012 - 08:23 PM.

MX31 is a soft terrain compound. MX71 is hard.

Sam914, on 08 May 2012 - 09:01 PM, said:

Woops, your right sorry... I stopped using Dunlops 2 years ago, they suck compared to the competition today.

Heh, I like this video... I love his line in the middle where he says to use the clutch when entering bumpy corners because the engine breaking messes with the suspension! heh, I'm like, BRO time for a rekluse or a 2 smoker! LOL

you still want your leg as close to strait in front of you as you can get.