I guess Im just used to everyday riding in the street, but whenever Im railing the turns my body is way too upright and im just centered on the bike...for some reason leaning forward just feels awkward to me, like Im pushing my arms too far forward, do I need to scoot my ass back? Also I know my feet are duck footed, that's since then been fixed :hammer

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/bobbby/DSC02937-1.jpg

It is hard to tell from the pic provided, but you seem to be "stiff arming" the bars. Make an effort to bend your elbows as this will help you with steering. It will be easier to critique your riding and perhaps offer advice if you had some video footage.:cheers

try new body positions with the bike on the stand and then go out and try them.

I always tell new riders to loosen up their upper bodies when they're cornering. Move your upper body and use it to help you turn the bike. And on top of that scoot your ass off the seat a little bit, and gradually ease your whole body off to the side of the bike. It will feel awkward at first, and you will FEEL like you're really far off the seat but you're most likely not. Just keep working on it.

r u on the wrong side of the road :nono

r u on the wrong side of the road :nono

It's a one way road :punk

It's a one way road :punk

Wow truly a one way road? Where is this at?

There's a road around my area that has no center line marked.... but cars can go either direction.... and people use up the whole road whether they're on bikes or cars; so its scary as hell. If the road you're on is truly one way then that's freakin badass.

Its the Red Rock Loop in Las Vegas, NV...impossible to do on nice weekends due to heavy slow traffic (its a scenic route here) but its a true one way road and on the weekdays its awesome. Its a 13 mile stretch that has some killer sweepers and hard turns, lots of blinds, lots of riders go down here...lot of inexperienced riders come because everyone else rides here and take one of the hard corners or blinds too hot...great place though.


Also; update on my body position, im now leaning forward and my ass is off the bike and knee is out, head is forward and shoulds squared, my enter and exit speed has increased noticibly...ill get some pics and/or video up asap.

At that angle, if you would of scoot your butt off a little bit, you would be dragging knee.

get your ass off the seat and lean that shoulder down into the turn

try and support yourself with your legs and core of your body, it takes a while to get used to it but when you've got it down its a lot easier to be "looser", move around on the bike and be comfortable in general. I found leaning forward over the tank and scooting back from the tank maybe a fist-width helps.

It's been a while for me too, almost 6 years since I was riding the curves, but i remember being a little nervous that if I was to lean and get up off the tank I was putting myself at risk of a lowside or worse.

However, after a while of "loosening up" I think you start to realize that the forces that be really want to keep the bike upright. If you lean it, you seem to force the bike into a curve, but if you accellerate it wants to go upright again. It may have been a false sense of saftey, but it felt to me like leaning hard wasn't as scary as i thought it would be, because I knew if i throttled a little and just relaxed, the bike would naturally come back to it's center.

I am just now reading all these posts, to see if I can learn soemthing I didn't know. I know when i hopped on this new 04 I got it scared the shit out of me again, so i have a season of learning this year. Just thought I would put that in.

Don't be nervous, would have been the short version of that post :-)

When I was doing a trackday I did the same thing. The instructor said " Imagine that someone has ripped out your spinal chord and u have no spine anymore but still have all yo functions"

Worked a treat for me.

Thanks everyone for the help! I can now drag knee =D No more jeans while riding!