5 Tips for Cornering with Your Motorcycle

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Cornering on a motorcycle is a real test of skill for any rider. If you’re on a sport bike, it’s a challenge on the race track, and outside of a closed course, it’s difficult for any biker on the open road. To help you nail it down, Cycle Trader is sharing five tips for cornering on your motorcycle.

What to Know About Cornering

Cornering on a race track requires mastering the entry, apex, and exit on your bike. However, while on the road, you have to be prepared for riding conditions, obstacles, and traffic. Here are several tips for cornering.

1. Maintain High Visibility While Cornering

The sooner you see things happening on your motorcycle, the better the chance you have of planning your reaction to the situation on the road. For example, if a car coming towards you on the bend crosses the center line in your path, instinct may tell you to stay in your lane and steer around the vehicle. But with more visibility on the road, you give yourself the option to make a decision to change lanes to maneuver around the car. Maintaining high visibility by looking ahead of you and scanning the road gives you more time to react and make a fast decision on your motorcycle while taking a corner.

2. Slow Down When Cornering

Quickly gripping the road on a new or used cruiser or any type of bike can give you a rush. However, when taking a corner you need to slow down and follow the speed limit to keep safe and maintain control over your bike. The correct cornering speed is based on what you’re comfortable with as you take the bend, one that puts the least amount of stress on yourself and your bike, while giving you time to react. Keep in consideration the riding terrain—a smooth corner with high visibility, dry surface, and no other traffic can be easier to take than a sharp hairpin with gravel and a bumpy apex. Make adjustments and slow down based on these riding situations.

3. Position Yourself for Cornering

While you always want the proper riding posture as you drive, getting in the right position on the road will improve your visibility when taking corners. When it comes to your lane positioning, you should be wide at the entry of the corner, middle of your lane at the apex, and wide on the exit if you’re riding on a public road. However, other factors will come into play, including the road condition, avoiding gutters on the side of the road, and debris. While the centerline of the street might be an attractive “racing line” as you take the corner, you’ll have less area in front of your bike to make a turn, plus this exposes you to oncoming traffic.

4. Anticipate When Cornering

Even though it’s impossible to predict every scenario on the road when you take a corner, anticipate what may be ahead to give yourself more time to make an adjustment on your motorcycle. You can actually take steps beforehand to better prepare yourself. For example, use a tinted visor on a low-sun day that helps keep you focused on the road, or waterproof gear like a rain suit or jacket on a wet day so you’re not cold and wet as you ride. You could make adjustments to your motorcycle, such as new tires and balance for a smoother ride. Or, it could mean anticipating a car ahead of you may brake suddenly, or leaving backing out of a driveway as you take the bend.

5. Practice Cornering

There’s no way to know exactly what may be around a corner, but you can still stay ahead of the curve by practicing this skill and getting familiar with the conditions on your route. Try the corner at different times of day and night, and throughout the year. This will give you a better idea of what changes you need to make when encountering traffic, bad weather, or road debris. You’ll get more experience riding and more comfortable cornering, which will improve your abilities on your motorcycle and let you enjoy the experience.

Maintain high visibility by looking ahead on the road so you can make adjustments as you ride, slow down and position yourself as you corner, and keep at it with practice. The more you ride and make yourself familiar on your bike, the better you’ll get at cornering. And if you’re ready to purchase your next new or used motorcycle, be sure to see all the nationwide listings online at CycleTrader.com.