Is there such a thing on a normal road ... ?

I am finding that drain covers, white lines, road surface are no issue at all ... its my ability and confidence which is the limiting factor ..

I decided today to go for a confidence boosting ride, been feeling lousy the past few days with illness and thought a decent ride would perk me up ..

There is a section of nice smooth fault free roundabouts and a couple of short straights, with one stop at a set of traffic lights ... if you are quick enough you can usually go through the traffic lights on green, such is the timing of them .. see attached, I have drawn the 'circuit' in red.

First 2 or 3 laps were gentle and steady to warm tyres build up a bit of confidence, and to pick the right kind of line ... the next 4 were terrifying, demoralising, nervous 50p'ing ..

I do not know what it is, the second I turn into a corner at more than gentle pace I get a panic and either stare at a target and go straight on or hit the brakes, which makes the bike stand up ...

I have Pirelli scorpion sync (42 rear - 36 front), which came standard with the bike. They are not a sticky tyre by any stretch but, they will take the bike around on its ear with the pegs scraping with no problem, ... just not with me on it. Hell Geordie Mick wore away half his footpeg ... and that's on a Uly! I do need some new tyres as mine are getting near the limit but the sides are brand new and have the shine still! I was thinking about some real sticky ones but to be honest, the same ones I have will do the job just fine and the placebo effect of having the stickiest rubber out still wont disguise a lack of ability and confidence. I know the width of chicken strip BS is rife and I only actually have about an inch which for me is not bad, this wasn't an exercise in reducing it, I just wanted to feel happy and comfortable at anything more that a 90 degree angle!

As some of you know I used to be the slowest rider here and since I bought the XB my riding has been transformed but when I turn into a corner all I can think of is the tyre is going to slip away, im going to lose the front, if I wind it on a touch the rear will step out ... all of which is probably bollocks, with this much torque going through the rear is should plant the rear very firmly to the road unless I nail is while leaning over... so why the feck cant I trust the bike and have confidence in the tyres its got... ?

I follow the likes of Mick, OF, Yoffie( ), Norm etc and they just tip in and roll out as smooth as silk, it looks so bloody easy but I just have this hot sweat and heart in the mouth 'Oh Shit' moments every single time I come up against a reasonably paced corner ... I get a target fixation and drift the opposite way. I have tried looking through the corner to drop my shoulder and head, counter steering, I have tried a small amount of power through the corner, a neutral throttle through it, no throttle through it etc ... I just cant get it out of my head that the front isn't going to go from under me or the rear is going to slide ..

The likes of Digger, sheepy etc go round without slowing down at all, without using brakes and survive just fine (some that follow take the occasional trip into fields!)... my bike should and probably will too with one of them riding it.

I have been reading and re reading the article by Nick Ienatsch called The Pace its a great read about being smooth, lane limits and cornering, its very inspirational but putting it into practice just scares the shit outta me!

Now, you will say ... get yourself some track days .. I would love too but they are expensive and I cant afford any, and the thought of dropping my bike in a corner makes me shudder

Dont post up piss takes and stupid suggestions please, this is seriously effecting my riding, coming to the point where I don't want to ride with anyone else in case I either crash trying to keep up or ride out of my comfort zone,As others race around the corners I amble around then make the gap up and a stupid death defying speed ... rinse and repeat on the next corner ..

Then riding alone sucks and I get bored, then angry because I cant do what I know the bike wants too. The bike is slowly gathering more and more dust as the inspiration to ride it gets less and less ... I know confidence is gained through getting miles under your belt and just practising but morale is low, Its a fantastic day today and I had to force myself to get the bike out of the garange, it really shouldn't be like that. ..

More of a rant born of frustration than a help post really, as no one will tell my brain your bike WILL go around that corner!

Can anyone else here relate to even a portion of the above or am I just abnormal!?

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"With square conduct, level steps, and upright intentions ..”

ash dont feel bad, its not just you.
i rode with a old frend last week and fu@k me i am so slow, he told me you were a fast rider when we were younger what the fu@k happened.
i told him i had no idea but maybe its lots of things.
age,responsibilities,the fact that i have lost 20 plus frends to bikes, etc all these thinks are in the back of my mind when on the road
come for a ride with me and we can hold up traffic together

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Do you want it right or right now ?

I do think you have a point in that I do think about the 'What if' scenario and I don't come home one day ... trouble is with the way I ride around corners, its probably making it more likely especially on a left hander and I drift right

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"With square conduct, level steps, and upright intentions ..”

Yup to all of that.

The thing for me is who cares? The more you think about cornering, though, the more you will (excuse the pun) spiral.

Go out for a ride and don't worry about going fast enough that it's important. Take a cruise, enjoy the countryside, enjoy the bike, take it slow enough that you don't even think about the corners. Get all thoughts of them out of your head. Go for a ride for the ride rather than to work on cornering technique.

Can I come and hold up traffic with the pair of you?

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

If you both ride side by side, that's both lanes blocked

Your rational makes perfect sense chap, it really does. I just want to be better at this aspect of riding, feeling very uncomfortable on my bike is a very unsettling feeling. If I rode for the rides sake and enjoyed myself at my pace in a group, I would arrive 3 hours later and all the burgers would be gone, and no one would want to ride with me again. I used to be called a mobile chicane!

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"With square conduct, level steps, and upright intentions ..”

its got to flow..........................baby

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Do you want it right or right now ?

you have to go at your pace i am not fast either but still come home with a smile on my face i know its nice to keep up but getting there and back is just as good

i used to have a a gsxr 1100 never whent mutch over 80 mph most ofthe time when others said its a waste your not useing it properly i just said i didnt get it to go fast i like the bike


therse also nothing like hind sight when you over cook it and say to yourself wish i hadnt done that

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WE AINT ALL THERE COZ WERE HERE

FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF DARK

I have only a stupid suggestion: learn German.

Read .

The guy who wrote it is a behavioural scientist, riding motorbikes for more than 60 years (!) and explains why people do what they do (on a bike) and how to do it right without struggling with human nature (and the bike, of course).

Now that you managed to read the book, it's time to further improve your German here. Great fun (especially when wet) and very informative also!

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"It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living."
Terry Pratchett

Thanks Gunter

I know its an irrational fear .. when I go and watch the classic boys corner at 80 and 90+ on skinny pram wheels, my modern. balanced bike will do it without thinking about it, but ... tricking the brain into agreeing is tough

Mac, with hindsight ability I dare say we would still be in the company of some dear friends, and I totally get what you (and Norm) have said about just getting on with enjoying my ride and not to worry about this too much, its just a fear I feel I have to conquer

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"With square conduct, level steps, and upright intentions ..”

Everyone I tend to ride with is quicker than me. I go at my own pace and enjoy the ride, whilst my mates often disappear through the bends. They always wait up by junctions etc or we agree where to meet back up again.

I lost the front end of my Firestorm on a badly resurfaced bend a few years ago and I've never fully got my confidence back since then. I still enjoy riding but at a much slower pace, nothing wrong with that in my book.

I'm booked on a Buell Performance Day at Mallory on 24 July. £99 on someone elses 1125R, with some tuition etc. I know people who have been on these before and they all say they are excellent value for money.

http://www.buellperformanceacademy.co.uk/index.aspx

im gonna say it

do a trackday or an evening session you dont have to go mad go at your own pace you wont crash its the best place to learn there aint nothing to crash into so u will concentrate on the bends i bet by the end of the day you will have no chicken strips

What I used to do with Mrs Adam was to get her to keep a constant but reasonably close distance from me and follow me through a bend. Speed wasn't important all but I used to hold fingers of my left hand up to show her what gear to be in and then ride around the corner giving it a whiff of throttle all the way through. If you enter the corner quite slow, then you have to accelerate a bit all the way through or you'll fall off into the corner Having the bike 'settled' like this gives a lot of confidence. Go and find a few corners that are safe and well surfaced and get familiar with them, that's another thing you won't have to worry about then.
Go and do the bends repeatedly but start off quite slowly and build it up from there. Avoid using the brakes as well and get used to cornering speeds you're happy with. Forget all that sticking your leg out bollox, Mike Hailwood never needed to do it (and I can't )

Take all the above with a pinch of salt, it may well be complete bollox

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

Sorry, Ash, I think you misunderstood me.

I'm not suggesting it as a general change in technique, just as a one off. Go out and enjoy the ride without the spooks that you are putting into your own head. If you keep worrying about them, they will keep getting worse, break the cycle (again, excuse the pun) by getting out and not giving a damn.

The problem with advice as to how to face an irrational fear is that it is about as useful as "pull yourself together" for the depressed. What you need to do is forget about your fear but as soon as someone says that, it will have the opposite effect.

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

I went to the rider training event at TVHD and Paul Lewis the guy giving the seminar had a really good analogy about attention span and riding a bike. It goes sort of like this.

'Imagine that all your attention is equal to the value of £5. When riding your bike you need as much of that £5 as possible. All the things in your head at the time become money spent eg. its raining = 50p, I may have left the door unlocked = 50p, my helmet is not done up tight enough = 50p etc. All those small things taking your mind off the task of riding your bike and lose your attention to the task. Therefore the best way to get the best out of your bike and riding is to try as best you can to block out all the wasted attention that is eating into your £5 and use all of it to just the riding.'

I do, and more so now with my XB (when the bastard isnt broken), go out riding to get away from stuff happening in everyday life and really focusing on the motions of riding. The idea of not spending useful attention span on other things really worked for me and I do find that now I can enjoy the 'escape' side of it more.

Give it a try, block out all the stuff happening around you (inc. fear of corners) and just 'be' with your bike. All the confidence and stability will come much easier after that.

Andrew

IMO you need to understand that your not the rider you were,your're older and realise your mortality,you lose friends,look at the impact on their families and it slows you down,it's natural,I used to be very fast, i'm not boasting,it was a fact,but I can't ride as fast as I used to because of the above ,and I'm fine with it.

But if you want to ride faster,try to relax and enjoy,don't attack a corner,just go out and ride eventually you will enjoy it and the speed will come,and if it doesn't at least you enjoyed the ride,being fast on the road is not important,getting home is.

some days are better than others for being in the "zone",without putting miles under your belt you won't find a rythem,may-be ride one of your mates bikes to see if yours has a handling issue,if you feel the front is gonna wash out, it might be a set-up issue,ask your mates to do the same with yours.,But putting yourself under pressure to be fast will slow you down as you will be tense and your movements on the bike will reflect that,so the bike won't feel planted.
And have a wank before you got out.it will settle you