Leg dangling is only done by riders who haven't blown their knee out.    The basic idea is that you ideally don't ever want your foot to touch the ground.  If it does, it's a mistake.  I agree with the previous poster who said you want to get it forward still on flat corners, just not as high and tight as in a rutted turn.  And, in flat corners, weighting the outside peg is critical.

Alright ill go test out all these theory's. What i think i was doing was going in and i would forget to weight the outside peg, put my head over the handlebars and dangle my leg. Now ill try to have more control. Anything on the suspension that i should try? I got it revalved and springed for my weight and set it up to where i liked, but if i need a few clicks somewhere thats good too. also clamps and linkage no use in this situation?

Tony477g, on 09 May 2012 - 02:45 PM, said:

Weighting the peg helps the rear, doesn't help the front that much. I also think putting a crap load of weight on the front when going through a very slippery bowl corner, ain't the smartest idea. Use the rear to steer my friend, flat track it and you'll be able to maintain pace.

Your suspension settings would have to be WAY out of whack for it to make a difference on hardpack. Usually flat hard pack is the easiest thing for the suspension to do.

is your bike sprung for your weight?  in the past i"ve had bikes knife under me and the solution was to either add compression damping on the forks or go to a heavier spring.  Try 2-3 clicks in on the comp and see if that makes a difference....

Ill try with the weight farther back a bit, I dont know if it makes a difference but im on a 4 stroke. yep sprung for my weight, which way is "in"?(Im dumb when it comes to working on my bike)

Tony477g, on 09 May 2012 - 03:19 PM, said:

Did you have a mechanic work on ur suspension? If not, and since you don't know which way is "in", I would suggest getting a service manual, or looking up the stock suspension settings online. When I first got my bike, I thought that the suspension was ok, but it was seriously messed up. I just had to reset the clickers, sag, etc to the stock settings, then work from there.

Edited by kx910, 09 May 2012 - 03:30 PM.

Tony477g, on 09 May 2012 - 03:19 PM, said:

Just for shitz and giggles can you tell us the bike, year, make everything about it.?

Edited by tye1138, 09 May 2012 - 04:47 PM.

Factory connection did my suspension valving and springs. I dont know which way to turn "in" but i know about the soft and harder settings with the screw driver stuff like that. Fineline suspension gave me a free dvd on how to set up the suspension correctly.http://www.finelinesuspension.com/ The bike is an 09 crf250r. Only things ive done to it is the suspension, pegs, handlebars stuff like that, i also shaved the seat cause im pretty short.

Tony, you really need to get famiiar with your suspension set up. Your forks have 2 adjustments you can easily do.  The compression effects the rate your forks compress , rebound effects the rate at which they extend. Springs and valving can be changed too, but let an experienced tuner deal with that.
It would be a good idea to get a pad and pen, and write down what your settings are. That way if you make an adjustment you don't like, you can return to where you started. Turning the adjustment knob ''in'' or clockwise, count the clicks till it stops. Do this gently, and do not force it to turn beyond the last click. You can do damage internally. Once you've counted the clicks, go counterclockwise out to your original point.
Do the same for rebound. Do this for both forks.
Then move on to the shock. The shock has 3 external adjustments. On the top it has 2 compression adjustments. The small internal clicker is low speed ( think small bumps or small movements of your rear wheel ) the outer nut is for hi speed ( think large hits or travel to your rear wheel ). The 3rd adjustment on the shock is the rebound. It is the clicker located usually on the lower right of the shock, near the linkage.
For the low speed compression and the rebound, turn the clicker clockwise and count the number of clicks. Write the # down. Then return them to their original settings. For the hi speed knob, there is no detent pin to ''click''. It should just turn smoothly. Use a sharpie and mark one point of the nut. Then turn it clockwise and count how many turns in it goes. Try to be accurate down to the 1/4 turn. Write the turns down then return it to the original position. You now have a baseline of your suspension settings. When making changes start out with 4-5 clicks in or out. Ride it and decide if it made an improvement, worse or neutral. Only make one change at a time so you know what is causing the outcome. Once you are in the ball park you can fine tune with 1-2 clicks or 1/2 and 1/4 turns.
Best idea would be to get a manual to find out what your bike's factory setting is.
This is just a very general guide. Theres lots of guys on here that have a lot of knowledge and experience with suspension tuning.
I'm not a big aftermarket guy, I like to get my bike running well then get the suspension dialed in to my preference and then run it...

Dirt Addict, on 09 May 2012 - 04:30 PM, said:

that is what i wanted to know^^ I know of everything you said i just dont know which way is in/clockwise, for some reason i always forget. The video i posted above tells you all about what to do with the suspension

Edited by Tony477g, 09 May 2012 - 04:35 PM.

Turning it in closes the valve which allows less oil to pass through, making it stiffer.

Back to tires......

Have you changed tires yet. That is half the problem for you ( I think )

And Tye, the MX 51 does not suck, it has a place and hard terrain isn't it. Maybe your style two years ago when you used it wasn't conducive. i know a lot of riders who's technique changed as they grew as riders and went back to tires they hated when they had weaker technique who love them now.

i have mx51's front and back on two bikes.......

Thumper35, on 09 May 2012 - 08:33 PM, said:

Not to bring up this subject because its been hashed out to death, but the MX51 front has understeer issues. Its a design flaw, Dunlop has admitted it (and are fixing it), riders who switch to the 71 or 31 all of a sudden don't have those issues anymore. MXA did a nice article about these issues a few years back explaining them and gave the MX51 front a "failing" grade, calling it a worthless front tire on ANY surface. People "assume" just because the professionals ride with Dunlop tires that what you get on the shelf is what they use and its not true.

Since moving to Bridgestones and now Pirelli's, I've never had those understeer issues of the MX51. I've tried soft/medium and Hard compounds for both brands and have been very satisfied with them compared to the MX51. The Bridgestone 404 being the best all-around tire on the market, hands down. The Pirelli MX32 being the best loam/sand tire in the world, same tire Roczen used to win his championship in Europe.

Yes, the Dunlop's steer well, but when its constantly pushing out on you, it gets unnerving and on some surfaces like sand, where the bike is always pushing anyway, its not that noticable. But on harder surfaces or loamy surfaces, you can feel it push and I've had numerous crashes from the 51 front that were the tire just sliding out on me for no reason. I honestly thought it was me, but switching to another tire, resolved all the issues.

If you do a google search, you will find nothing BUT complaints about the tire. I always suggest to people who have cornering/steering issues and MX51's to first take the tire and throw it away, then put on a decent tire and get back to me. So far, everyone who has done this, has been much happier.

Edited by tye1138, 09 May 2012 - 09:20 PM.

Die_trying, on 09 May 2012 - 09:03 PM, said:

I run them as well. But being where i live, i also have a second set of wheels ready to go with 71 front and a 31 rear. The weather can change a track here in half an afternoon.

MXA gave the 51 four stars in the review. They also said the Honda CRF 250 R sucks. I don't think  they told that to the best 2 riders in the lites class. Maybe they will start to lose if they find out. It's easy to read crap and spit it out as gospel.

Edited by Thumper35, 09 May 2012 - 09:43 PM.

Thumper35, on 09 May 2012 - 09:41 PM, said:

Actually, they gave the 51 REAR 4 stars. The front doesn't work:

MXA, on 09 May 2012 - 09:41 PM, said:

I mean honestly, why would you run a tire that got such a scathing review, when there are SO many better tires on the market?

If you tried a Pirelli MX32, you would NEVER ride anything else again. That Pirelli totally re-defined what it feels like to ride motocross for me.

Edited by tye1138, 09 May 2012 - 10:17 PM.

No thread jack: Just curious, but what do you guys mean when you say the front end "Knifes"? I need to get more up on my lingo

I already know I've probably knifed the front end every time I ride, but maybe if I find out what it meant I could better understand what may cause it, and OP when you mean hard packed turns are you talking about FLAT corners where the dirt is hard packed or hard packed turns that still have a berm, lip, rut, of some kind to go into?

Also guys, just to add to the thread, my experienced riding buddy says to always enter a rut or berm on the outside of it and just let the front wheel "fall" into the rut as you go, as opposed to straight in straight out the rut, or coming to the inside and laying the front in...I trust him, but at the same time, he's slower than I am, and that's saying a lot. I've never exactly seen him nail a berm or rutted corner.

ridleyredraider, on 08 May 2012 - 06:32 AM, said:

I thought you were ALWAYS supposed to get up on the side of the seat and more importantly put all your weight on the outside peg in ANY turn whether flat corner, berm, rut, hard packed or loose dirt???? Once I started doing it my turning confidence went way up and it felt so much better. I also try to keep my body straight up and down @ 90 degrees so even though the bike's laid over I am sitting up on the side of the seat, and as I move to that position I am standing on that outside peg to get over there, thus weighing it even more...Is that not right in all corners? Or in ruts do you actually wanna stay in the middle of the seat and lean in without weighing out side peg, and just simply stick your foot out? Sorry, I get so confused because MX tips are so infinite and broad for sooo many different types or situations in turning, so it's easy to get confused but I figure at least I can find out the truth and add some solid information to the thread by asking...

BlackCR25098, on 09 May 2012 - 10:43 PM, said:

I don't know everything, but what I do know is that you should be weighting the outside peg in all corners. And in ruts, you should try and keep the angle of your body at the same angle of your bike. If you notice, the pro's aren't on the edge of their seat when going through ruts, they are pretty much at the same angle as the bike. But I don't know about trying to sit on the edge of your seat in flat corners. I always try to stay at the same angle as the bike. I might lean the bike over a little more than my body in flat corners, but only if I feel I need to (I do this mostly in really hard pack corners where I feel like I have no traction).

Edited by kx910, 09 May 2012 - 11:29 PM.