Cornering Technique

I've heard lighty drag your front brake to keep the front tire from climbing out of the rut. I can't tell what type of inconsistency you are dealing with.

Ummmm, no, just no

Umm yes. Works quite well actually.

Race your leg as high as you can consistently. Fwiw.

Circle rut! Do it over and over, it's like the karate kid, you don't think it's doing anything until you go back out riding again

I do better with left hand corners than right. Right corners even when there's a rut always give me fits.. I don't feel confident letting my foot swing away from the damn brake pedal for those precious few seconds.

umm Yes! Feathering the front brake when entering a rut or berm gives you more control and let's you carry more speed into and through the turn. you can feather the front brake while rolling on the throttle.
here I highly recommend this manual from Gary Semics it will make your practice much more efficient

They are both right, Jean Michel Bail was one of the guys I remember using the technique in corners and through the whoops as well.... just rear through whoops though

I believe he used (lightly drag) both front and rear so much he would boil the fluid and Honda built some crazy CF ducting to cool the calipers!

I can 100% vouch for this technique, especially if your issue is your front climbing out of the rut, it will help tuck the front a little and stay planted in the rut.
The other thing i felt helped me personally was making sure i was coming into the corner with enough of a sweeping angle, if i came in too straight on it was much harder to get the right lean angle on the bike and i would end up blowing straight up and out of it.

But practice, is usually the answer to most riding technique problems.

One thing that really helped me was just focusing on getting through the corner without dabbing a foot. Even if it means going a little bit slower, try to go through every rut controlled enough that your can keep your inside foot raised near the shroud and not sliding on the ground. It may feel slower at first, but this really helped me build my corner speed and be more consistent, rather than constantly either tipping over or standing the bike up mid-rut. Hope that helps a bit.

It's worth a try. But from what I understand it helps keep the front wheel planted in the rut. If your problem is falling over from to much angle I can't think of anything other than practice practice.
Another thing dragging the brake or even braking further into the corner will do is make the bike turn tighter. Just like how you slide the forks up and down you can use the brake to compress the suspension. You just have to be smooth with the release of the brake or the unloading of the suspension will upset the bike.
Go to racerx virtual trainer and read some of the articles they have it's good stuff
I also like what was said above^^wide entrance into the corner.

Yes, Matt Walker teaches this front brake dragging as one of his cornering techniques at his Moto X Compound.

The only thjng I can think of that hasn't been said is don't look directly in front of the bike. It's too late to do anything about it as it is. Look to the end of the rut or as far as you can see. You'll react to things without even realizing it. It gives your mind more time to process, thus mentally slowing things down for you which lends itself to riding smoother and being more consistent. Relaxing and flowing is way quicker than trying to over think and force something to happen, at least for me it is.

Front brake dragging works especially if you can do it while you are on the gas. Hard to do but effective, I think it was semics that talked about braking and accelerating points blending together. Technical and smooth.

Elbows up....weight the outside peg. Highly over rated.

Looking a head...not over rated.

Learn to rail em standing...and then sit later into the turn. You have to learn to adjust bike lean automatically. Look ahead. A great a safe way to practice is a small but very steep berm. More forgiving than a rut.

^^Look ahead best tip for ruts! Stay loose don't fight the bike...your in a rut it's going no where. I love a rutted corner, it's like having a guide for your wheels.

Brake, drop into the rut, lean it over and let it rip!

All about the front brake drag kid. Pros will use the front brake drag heavily at times. Practice is your best friend really. That Gary Semics book above can help a ton as well as the DVDs.

I've used the front brake technique at times. Mostly if I was coming into a corner a little hot and wanted to avoid a rebound bounce from my front suspension. Your wheel base changes when your suspension is compressed. Dragging the front brake a little will keep your front suspension from rebounding all the way and give you less of a deflect at the apex of the turn.

The best thing for turns is practice practice practice. I like to refresh my corner positions in the front yard on flat ground which just happens to be slick grass. I will go in a little circle , round and round in 1st and 2nd gear and play, how low can you go while doing both left and right turns. You will find a sweet spot that you can go much lower if you are in the correct riding position. If I'm doing a left turn, I'll go around until I'm comfortable and getting better then I will wheelie out and go to a right turn dropping the wheel to set up for the turn. I'll play around for about 5 minutes then start doing figure 8's, wheeling out of each turn to set up for the next. You can get pretty good at it. You can do it in both 1st and 2nd gear and notice how your body position changes just a little by being in a different gear. If you bust your ass, it really doesn't hurt that much because you are going slow, so practice your limits. The grass helps out because you will find the sweet spot that you are getting max traction with both your front and rear wheel. Do it enough so that when you go to the track, you will have muscle memory of your body positions and try it hit your body positions on the turns on the track. You get that down, then you just need to practice your ruts, entry and exit speed, braking points and power sliding sweepers. You will be much more consistent, plus it is pretty fun. Then learn a little bit about your suspension and how it works and works against you if you are deflecting in turns. Usually that is what causes inconsistency.

Someone needs to learn how to ride ruts. Throttle control , throttle control ,throttle control. Bobby Garrison taught me the front brake drag years ago and it works well. Makes the front end stick to the rut like glue. One other thing throttle control.

Make sure your carrying momentum.
Get your braking done while your still standing. point your outside elbow up. Get your inside leg as high as possible to avoid snagging it. Look out of the turn ahead of you. your entry should be a standing position leaned back with your legs bent to absorb the braking bumps. You kind of jump from that attack standing position to the sitting position forward on the seat and having your leg out. I hope maybe a couple of these helped, everyone has there own techniques that work for them

From a physics perspective, when you go around a corner you are actually accelerating (even if your velocity is constant). When a two wheeled vehicle is accelerated it wants to "stand up". Therefore, things to keep in mind;

Typically, if you get a good entrance the exit is easy.

A good entrance starts way before the corner. You can't expect a bike to come into a corner standing straight up and expect it to turn on a dime. If you find yourself washing or tucking the front at corner entrance, you're probably trying to steer the bike through the corner like a car. Two wheeled vehicles need to lean into the corner first, then you can apply some (very little) steering. This means following a line where you can establish some lean angle before getting into the corner. In many cases, counter steering for a brief moment can get you properly leaned over. Just push on the inside handlebar, lean the bike with your knees, and weight the inside peg. The bike will lean over and start turning to the inside. This is a matter of simply steering the front out from under the bike (it naturally wants to fall to the inside after that) and the gyroscopic precession of the front wheel forcing the bike to lean over (way too complicated to explain). Just vehicle dynamics. Once leaned to the desired angle, return to steering normally.

From turn-in to apex you need to keep braking. This loss of speed counteracts the natural cornering acceleration forces that tend to stand the bike up. Ideally, your speed will be slowest at the apex of the corner. Using the back brake is best as it also helps rotate the bike and if you lock it up no harm assuming you don't stall. The front will also work if used carefully (in a panic, most riders will use too much front and upset the balance of the bike, or wash/tuck the front end). It's difficult to keep on the back that deep into a corner, particular on right handers. But watch any good pro and you'll see them keep that right foot on the peg (brake) until they gas it and extend the leg (around apex). Some will actually "stab" the brake at the last moment to decelerate the bike and help them "drop" into the rut/corner.

From apex to exit is probably the easiest. Just remember physics. If you accelerate the bike it will want to stand up, so avoid gassing too hard. Just roll it on. Assuming a right-hander where you'll be late on the back brake, around apex begin lifting your inside leg from peg to the front in a steady motion, with the goal of having the leg reach maximum height at about 3/4 through the rut. This "acceleration" of you leg from low/middle bike to high/front bike will again counteract the tendency for the bike to standup before you intend. If you find yourself washing the front on exit you're probably not looking down the track far enough, have too much steering angle and not enough lean angle. The bike wants to go outside due to shallow lean angle but your steep steering angle says go inside. The poor front tire gets conflicting inputs and since the front wheel isn't pointed in the direction of travel it literally tries to stop spinning, like the front brake is being applied. That's "front end plow". If its a left-hander, many guys stick their inside leg out very early, sometimes at entry. In this case you can use it like a cantilever, lifting to hold the bike down and lowering to raise the bike up to maintain balance. Try not to dab, as that materially upsets the balance and can lead to your leg being dragged behind the peg line. This will cause your whole body to follow and you'll turn into the rut which typically leads to a plop (see below). Obviously, very deep ruts will dictate that you lift your leg sooner.

Try looking at the wall of the rut and not the inside of the rut. It's best to ride the wall anyway, as keeping the front wheel perfectly in the rut is difficult and if you slow down just a bit too much, you'll be scraping the sides of your knobbies on the inside part of the rut as the bike tries to "fall over" (just physics). When that happens the front wheel will "turn into" the inside and try to climb out of the rut to the inside. The result is usually a tucked front end and a fall midway through the corner. A "plop" fall as I call it. This occurs because the front tire contact to ground area shifts from the normal location to somewhere higher and to the side of the tire. When this happens your bikes front end geometry, specifically trail, goes to zero or negative. Without any trail you have no stability with the front end and it just "flops", in this case to the inside. Deep sand does the same thing going straight!

Speed. The faster you go the more centrifugal force will be generated. This will keep you planted firmly against the outside wall of the rut and you'll avoid the dreaded "plops". It has to be CONTROLED speed as described above, however.

Grip the bike with your legs. Your bike will react much more predictably in a corner when it doesn't have the combined rider/bike CG jumping all over the place. Use your upper body to physically lean the bike and change weight distribution.

Get forward but lean back. Whether you enter the corner sitting or semi standing (I think semi standing is best, but guys go fast either way), you'll probably have a slightly forward weight bias on the bars due to braking. However, at apex or before it's good to stay seated forward but lean back a bit to straighten your arms and take some weight off the front end. By this time you're well into the rut and don't need all that front end weight/bite. In addition, centrifugal force will be greatest at corner apex and you'll have a tendency to "slump" over the bars which doesn't help you control the bike. Leaning back slightly counters these forces and allows you to better control the bike with your upper body.

Remember, there is no right answer, just things to try.

A lot of misinformation in this thread.

1. Sit as far forward as possible. You want weight on the front wheel.

2. Extend your leg as far forward as you can. a). It puts more weight on the front end, and b) you can take a big step if the front wheel does slide. Point your toes so that your foot can slide across the ground.

3. Throttle control. Power picks the bike up and makes it run higher/wider/outside into the berm. Backing off lets the bike drop down lower/tighter/inside. You steer in berms with power (or lack of it, depending on whether you are high-siding or low-siding. See also point 4.

4. In berms* lean with the bike. Being central (leaning with the bike) allows you to use body English to either pick the bike up or force it more to the inside. Leaning your body inside and hence standing the bike up more vertical makes the bike run higher and wider if you're low-siding. Leaning the bike down (with your body more vertical) makes the bike turn tighter and lower in the berm if you're high-siding. Starting from a neutral/central position allows you either option. Starting from a position of bike leaned and your body more vertical restricts you from leaning the bike tighter into the turn if you need to do so.

*Note that leaning with the bike is the ticket in berms where you're not going to be sliding. On hard flat corners you need to lean the bike but keep your body more vertical, on the outside of the bike.

5. The general feeling is that you are leaning/falling down as the bike approaches the apex of the corner and then apply power to pick the bike up as you reach the apex. Not enough power will see you low-side. Too much power will make you high-side and run wide/high/over the berm.

6. Stand while braking (with weight back to give the rear wheel grip) and sit down just before the apex of the corner.

7. Elbows up. Re -grip the throttle (grip it more on the top of the grip rather than the back) so that when it's on your elbow is still up. You need to have access to power to pick the bike up and you can't do that if your right elbow is down when the throttle is turned.

Neutral:



Neutral, with a touch of body-English to send the bike lower in the turn.

I suck but I've found dragging the rear helps settle and track through a rutted turn... of course brake sliding and punting your buddy at the apex/exit is a whole lot more fun

Signed slo mufuker

The front brake thing is a red herring. Backing off drops you lower in the berm. Braking does the same, only more aggressively. If you're a C class rider I wouldn't recommend braking in a corner, especially with the front brake. You'll end up on your ear.

he wont get any fast by NOT trying new things.. Of course its not going to work for him at first, thats why he needs to work it and figure it out.

Cool. Feel free to corner with your front brake on then.