I have no idea why, but I'm so much fast turning right. I can't turn left good at all. Any ideas?

Is your name Zoolander?

 jwoodruff07, on 20 July 2012 - 09:09 PM, said:

Do you use the rear brake?

So, when you go into a left hand turn, rather than turning left, you're gonna want to turn right, 270 degrees or so.

Are you left handed ?

i have the same problem except i have a hard time turning right. i think my problem is for about 10 years my track was an oval so i only turned left. try a figure 8 it helped me alot

Typically left hand turns are considered easier than right hand turns. As others have hinted, having the rear brake accessible and being able to drag the brake through the turn makes the left hand turn easier. On right handers the breaking has to be done earlier.

 jazzbro, on 21 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

Haha, very funny!

I'm the same as McAwesome, I can't turn right as good as left. When I was a young fella riding push bikes and when I ride road too I like left better than right.

My suggestion would be to keep practicing left handers. Keep doing them and you'll get more comfy. push it a little bit more as you feel more comfy. I think a lot of people like turning one way more than the other.

 jazzbro, on 21 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

HAHAHA thats awesome!

I also turn faster going right.  There are two reasons why.

1.  As a novice, confidence means a lot.  My right leg is a lot stronger and more coordinated.  Even though I rarely put a foot down...I am a lot more confident in the right foot to save things...so I am more confident going right.  
2.  When you transition from braking while standing, to braking while sitting, it is a lot easier going right...especially if you start to lean the bike early.  You can not lean as early going left because when you transition from standing to sitting, you no longer have an outside peg to weight.  Proper technique has your foot off the peg to brake.  When people say 'weight the outside peg'...what they are also saying is lean the bike more than you lean your body (you can not 'overlean' the bike without weight on the outside peg....you will get pulled over and off).

Try doing circle drills left with no overlean / no weight on the outside peg.  To do a circle turn drill with no weight on the peg....you have to play around with your foot position...and you dont want to be on the brake.... So ...place your foot on the peg...like it was the brake (heel high)...and put minimal pressure like it was an eggshell.   This helped my left hand corner entry....because I developed comfort entering the corner with my body in line with bike, and no weight on the peg, while braking.

Edited by Blutarsky, 23 July 2012 - 05:12 PM.

 jwoodruff07, on 20 July 2012 - 09:09 PM, said:

Yes, most riders have one way for turning that's better than the other. I was the same as you for a long, long time, having trouble in left corners. I beleive my problem came from a sever injury I had to my left leg. For over 6 months I couldn't put my left leg out for a corner. This was because I had a very large calcium deposit growing between my quad muscles. I should have taken some time off but I kept racing anyway. I learned how to do left corners without depending on my inside leg. Even after my leg healed my left corners were still weak. I had to figure out what I was doing in right corners, then retrain, reprogram my techniques for going to the left and make sure I was doing everything the same as to the right. Of course there is the thing with the rear brake being on the right but other than that it's the same.

I hope this helps.
GS

 Blutarsky, on 23 July 2012 - 05:03 PM, said:

Individual physical limitations of riders, is a rough thing. I mean, if you can't stab with both feet... hmm, thats gonna be a problem. Having strong legs to catch crashes before they happen, is a critical element to going quicker. If your constantly having to back-off, in order to not loose the front or rear because your concerned about using that leg for whatever reason, it will slow you down.

When doing drills, I purposely try to loose the rear or front and stab, to get "stabbing" experience and understand the limit of traction.

 Blutarsky, on 23 July 2012 - 05:03 PM, said:

Lets face it, most people over-use the rear brake. Once you enter the corner, before you even sit down, you can be off it and have your outside foot on the peg. Learning how to transition from the lever to the peg or from the lever to your inside leg up and ready to catch the bike, are critical skills. If you exit the corner without your outside foot on the peg, you are loosing traction. You can very easily keep your foot on the peg and use the rear brake, if you set up the rear brake properly. However, being more on the balls of your feet to get your butt off the seat for leaning the bike into the corner, that is hard to do when on the arches of your feet.

Edited by tye1138, 25 July 2012 - 10:38 AM.

tye,

I do not agree about the 'over using' the rear brake...at least on flat corners...which are the building block of other corners.  I see very few people use the rear brake well on fast flat corner entries.  I see lots of people lock up the rear coming into slower corners...which is what you may be talking about.  I see people mis use the rear brake...not over use it.

This is one area I have spent a LOT of time on this summer....as I had access to a 3rd gear flat dry turn track.  My reccomendation to do a left hand circle drill with light pressure on the peg was a drill to help learn left hand corner entry using the rear brake to help the bike turn.  The drill is to help learn to catch rear oversteer with the body more in line with the bike....ie a "taller bike".  Going right....it is much easier to set the bike in the corner with the rear brake, because you can 'overlean' the bike more, and adjust bike lean more quickly.  I find it a LOT easier to catch corner entry oversteer going right due to this.  The braking foot is inside...so it does not limit how you weight the outside peg.  Going left...entry is harder because you must take your foot off the peg to control the rear brake.  This means you have to keep your body angle more in line with the bike.   It is trickier to control the turn with the brake in the early part of the corner...going left...because the bike feels a lot taller going left...and you have to be quicker to catch it.  You also do not have the same leverage on the bike to quickly adjust it to catch corner entry oversteer.

A good way to develope the skill of catching corner entry oversteer going left...is doing circle drill left, with very light pressure on the right-outside peg.  In an actual LH corner, once you get on the gas....your foot comes off the brake and ball of the foot goes onto the peg.  I agree that having your foot off the peg on exit would really make a mess of things.  I never recommended that at all....

My own flat corner technique is to over lean the bike pretty early going into right turns.  The corner of the seat/tank is along the butt crack as soon as I turn in.  The first half of the turn...I am really using the brake to help the bike turn.  Going left...I can not really get over the side of the bike till I start to get on the gas....because I can not weight the outside peg as soon....till I stop using the rear brake.

Edited by Blutarsky, 25 July 2012 - 12:40 PM.

 Blutarsky, on 25 July 2012 - 12:02 PM, said:

Flat corners with no berms, no ruts, nothing to lean against, are actually pretty difficult to find around here. Usually after first watering in the morning, there will be ruts in the flat corners. I agree that learning how to rail flat corners (flat tracking) is important, but its honestly the easiest form of cornering. Its also a very different type of cornering then dealing with berms and ruts, which make up the majority of corners on a motocross course.

 Blutarsky, on 25 July 2012 - 12:02 PM, said:

I don't know how you got to those results, but from talking with pro's, watching them ride a lot and trying different techniques myself, I'd have to say your comment here is the opposite of what I've learned. When you enter a left corner on the rear brake, you can pin the brake, use it as leverage, stay on it and pin the throttle on exit, only moving your foot to the peg before the next obstacle. This technique keeps the rear settled, it allows the rider to manage the power laid onto the ground MUCH easier as well. I remember watching RV in supercross from the sidelines of the track on the flat long bowl corner at Anaheim one. I was 30 feet from him, watching his technique. He had that rear brake pinned, he used the lever as leverage and he was leaned over so much, it was disgusting. From that day on, I noticed a pattern in supercross, they started with left hand flat corners and anytime there was a long corner, it was pretty much always going left. That was built-into the track layout because the designers are ex-motocross racers and understand how much easier it is for riders to go left on those big long corners.

In right handers, you don't have the ability to use the rear brake to help control traction. You don't have the rear brake to help settle the chassis either. The moment you transition between rear brake and getting your foot up, you've just totally unsettled the chassis and don't have the same control over the traction on exit. This might not be entirely evident on a 4 stroke because they have so much engine braking, but on a lil 2 stroke, its abundantly clear.

 Blutarsky, on 25 July 2012 - 12:02 PM, said:

I think the reason why you can take left handers better then right handers is, you haven't yet figured out the rear brake dragging trick yet. Once you get that, once you find that extra traction, there is a whole new world that will open and you'll be able to lean the bike over SOOO much more in left handers because the bike will be so much more planted.

Just to reiterate my point, check out the right foot. Off the peg, using the rear brake to manage the power put on the ground... yet still railin'.

Edited by tye1138, 25 July 2012 - 01:34 PM.

Interesting...  It this is such a fundamental technique...I wonder why Gary and others never mention it....  They always talk about transitioning to the peg as you get on the throttle.  But I can see how it would work.  If you have ever done turn track practice on a smaller bike...you know how well they corner...because the cases are a few inches lower.  Dragging the brake will lower the center and rear of the bike....lowering the CG...and improving grip....  Much to learn still!  Also...does this technique must absolutely chew up rear brake pads....??  Seems like it would.

Edited by Blutarsky, 25 July 2012 - 10:01 PM.

Ya know, I learned how to ride through watching current/modern professional riders. I studied everything they do and realized everything they do is so automatic, its hard to put everything down on paper. So techniques like this particular one, are for sure part of a hand-full of tricks that may never be mentioned by anyone. I have yet to hear anyone properly explain it, though I'd expect it to be in Shane Watt's DVD's somewhere.

How the trick works is actually not necessarily about lowering the CG at all, its actually about managing power output. Think about the difference between actuating a pedal like a gas or brake pedal in a car vs that same action in the palm of your hand with the twist throttle. Its a lot easier to be smoother with the car's throttle on the floor, then it is to be smooth with the twist throttle of a motorcycle. In situations where grip is limited and you wish to maintain the maximum speed possible, you can continuously stab the ground, saving little crashes as your rear end fishes for grip OR you can use the rear brake to modulate the power output. Since most people are already on the rear brake entering the corner, you just continue to use the brake through the corner and on exit as well, to modulate the power delivery. A side effect is keeping the rear end from getting unsettled as you transition from brake to throttle.

Honestly, I've been using the EBC pads forever and they haven't been chewed up. I've been told the stock pads get worn out quick, but I have never had stock pads. You hear fast riders complain about stock rear brakes not working and getting chewed up quickly, this technique is for sure of the reasons.

Edited by tye1138, 25 July 2012 - 11:01 PM.