Hey guys, well i have just finished a track day (first one in probably 7yrs) and have realized i have developed a bit of a problem. I have lost alot of confidence and lean angle on my right side. I'm not even close to getting my knee down on the right, but am super comfortable on the left (half wore down a new slider). The majority of my spiratic riding has been through the twisties for the last several years, and usually on roads that i don't know very well which in short means that i haven't had my knees down for quite some time. Due to this, my problem on the right has gone pretty much unnoticed until now. I always remember my right side as being my more favored side and was usually a little quicker in rights.

Just curious if any of you have come across the same problem and if so, how you overcame it.

BTW, i have analysed all of the photos taken at the ride day (comparing body position, lean angle etc), and even did some practicing on the bike (on the rear stand) when i got home so the girlfriend could take more pics, and everything looks very similar.


Max

I have lost alot of confidence and lean angle on my right side.
Max

Practice!

Pick your fav stretch of road (spur?) and lap it.

In oz you will find RH corners faster as they have a larger radius which makes scraping more difficult.

You can also pick 1 corner, and just practice that one corner. Work on your knee scraping, get a mate to take pic's or vids. Review your posture and make changes, repeat until you get it right, then work on your entry, apex and acceleration point.

This is something I need to redo myself as I watched a mate crash (who passed away as a result) and some noob trying to prove himself a month ago crashed infront of me. Not only that I have done nothing but pillion since- So I havent ridden the same for a couple of months now..

Hey guys, well i have just finished a track day (first one in probably 7yrs) and have realized i have developed a bit of a problem. I have lost alot of confidence and lean angle on my right side. I'm not even close to getting my knee down on the right, but am super comfortable on the left (half wore down a new slider). The majority of my spiratic riding has been through the twisties for the last several years, and usually on roads that i don't know very well which in short means that i haven't had my knees down for quite some time. Due to this, my problem on the right has gone pretty much unnoticed until now. I always remember my right side as being my more favored side and was usually a little quicker in rights.

Just curious if any of you have come across the same problem and if so, how you overcame it.

BTW, i have analysed all of the photos taken at the ride day (comparing body position, lean angle etc), and even did some practicing on the bike (on the rear stand) when i got home so the girlfriend could take more pics, and everything looks very similar.


Max

this question pops up every now and then. i give the same advice every time.
So. Most probably you are right handed. so going into lefts you are holding on the bike with your good hand and leg so everything is fine. Going into rights thou you are holding on the bike with your left hand and leg which are not your good ones thus the disconfort. Try to hang less on the right corners until you get confortable with it and then move on gradually. this is what i did.
if you try this pls tell me if it works for you.

I have the exact same problem.... I think the biggest contributor to it is the fact that if you lowside you slide into oncoming traffic, not to mention I like to hug the inside so its unnatural for me to lean that far going right.

As other said find a safe place with run off and no traffic and just keep going at it. And there are tracks that have more right turns than left.... sign up for a trackday and see if you get any improvements after. That's what I'm going to do.

So. Most probably you are right handed. so going into lefts you are holding on the bike with your good hand and leg so everything is fine. Going into rights thou you are holding on the bike with your left hand and leg which are not your good ones thus the disconfort. if you try this pls tell me if it works for you.

No offence to anyone else, but that has got to be the most intelligent answer to the question, ever. For the record, i'm a personal trainer and i happen to know that my right side (upper and lower body) is stronger than my left. I of all people should have thought of this when the problem popped up.

When i was at the track day, i had a good chat to the Keith Code instructor who was there and even he couldn't give me any worthy advice or thoughts as to why my problem has occured.

So thanks Tasman, i'm off to the gym to get myself sorted. I'll keep you posted on the progress when i get back to the track in a week or two.


Max

No offence to anyone else, but that has got to be the most intelligent answer to the question, ever. For the record, i'm a personal trainer and i happen to know that my right side (upper and lower body) is stronger than my left. I of all people should have thought of this when the problem popped up.

When i was at the track day, i had a good chat to the Keith Code instructor who was there and even he couldn't give me any worthy advice or thoughts as to why my problem has occured.

So thanks Tasman, i'm off to the gym to get myself sorted. I'll keep you posted on the progress when i get back to the track in a week or two.


Max

I think you misunderstood Tasman though..... it really has nothing to do with strength. Unless you ride with a death grip on the bars its not like you're holding your body with that hand.... even if say you're turning left and you take your left hand off the bar, your right hand should be relaxed.

Some people I know who are right handed are better at right hand turns. Me on the other hand is better at left handers but I'm also right handed.

I think for everybody the reason is different, that's why its so hard for an instructor to pin point and tell you exactly why you're better at the right or better at the left.

As mentioned earlier for me, I suck at right handers because I have a tendency to hug the wall around turns (ride on right side of the road in the U.S.) and I also have a tendency to throw my head and upper body really far off to the side. So its natural for me to not want to lean that far over. As for some of my buddies they used the same logic for sucking at left handers... but for them its because they don't want to get their head taken off by oncoming traffic.

No offence to anyone else, but that has got to be the most intelligent answer to the question, ever. For the record, i'm a personal trainer and i happen to know that my right side (upper and lower body) is stronger than my left. I of all people should have thought of this when the problem popped up.

When i was at the track day, i had a good chat to the Keith Code instructor who was there and even he couldn't give me any worthy advice or thoughts as to why my problem has occured.

So thanks Tasman, i'm off to the gym to get myself sorted. I'll keep you posted on the progress when i get back to the track in a week or two.


Max

:thumbup
I am glad that you got the point. keep me posted. The gym thou will not solve your problem as i said "Try to hang less on the right corners until you get confortable with it and then move on gradually"

I think you misunderstood Tasman though..... it really has nothing to do with strength. Unless you ride with a death grip on the bars its not like you're holding your body with that hand.... even if say you're turning left and you take your left hand off the bar, your right hand should be relaxed.

What i took from Tasman was strength in relation to the lower body, not upper body. One thing i really noticed was that on right hand turns, i had no weight on the outside peg. I was basically supporting myself entirely on the inside peg. On left hand turns it was the opposite. I happen to know that the strength in my right leg is quite a bit more than in my left leg. Regardsless of how hard i tried, i found it really hard to weight up the outside peg in right hand turns, i just couldn't apply any consistent pressure.

For me this results in a very strange feeling. In those right handers, it almost feels as though i'm going to fall off the inside of the bike when leaning over. I can easily lift my left leg off the peg and wave it around. This is obviously not something i should be able to do.

I'll spend the next few weeks balancing out the lower body in the gym, so that when i'm back out no the track i should be able to apply weight naturally, without thinking about it.


I'll keep you guys posted.


Max

Its true, if you cant lock on with your left leg to hold your weight, it will effect righ handers, but more so on track days or towards the end of a long ride.

Unless you damaged your left leg in an accident, you should still have enough strength/stamina to atleast do the first couple of sessions, then tire from there.

It will be interesting to see, I dont think going to the gym will help all that much, I think saddle time will help more. I feel I use a bit of my core muscles as well as shoulder and a bit of arm to steer