Positioning and steering
The issue of whilst lines keep the bike stable is a topic that comes up fairly regularly. On one recent debate, one comment that was made:
“Traditional belief for a right hand bend is to be as far over to the left of the road as possible. However, by doing this, surely you are commiting to the earliest turn in as possible? (As you are following the outside curvature of the road).
So, to get the most out of the deep in, late turn technique, surely you need to be as close to the centre line as you can be in order to commit to a deep turn in (i.e. squaring the corner off as much as possible)? Which goes against the basic “keep left for a good view” approach.
So, how can you make both these approaches to road riding as compatible as possible?”
There are as I see it three possible approaches to a bend (we’ll stick to a 90 deg BS constant radius right hander for the moment…):
1) the basic training “constant radius” approach: where you simply mimic the shape of the bend, usually just left of centre of your lane to keep the DSA examiner happy. Of course, once you’ve passed your test, you can shift this line anywhere you want in the lane – out a bit further to reduce the lean angle for the same speed, or inward if there is a hazard you want to avoid to the outside of the corner (perhaps spilled diesel, or a sharp bend on a narrow road). As you simply maintain a constant position through the corner between the left/right sides of the lane, so long as you can steer the bike, it’s easy to follow smoothly and it’s reasonably safe with respect to keeping you away from hazards, so long as you don’t hug the kerb on a left hander or the white line on a right hander.
2) the sweeping, maximum radius approach: where you start as wide as you can, hit a mid-turn apex on the opposite side of the lane and exit as wide as you can. This is the line commonly described in older riding guides. The problem is that on most bends which turn more than about 45 degs, you turn before you see the exit which means there’s a serious risk of turning in too early and run wide on the exit. You’re still turning the bike upright late in the turn which means good steering accuracy and avoidance of target fixation is necessary. And it takes you close to hazards mid-turn, whether on the inside of a left hander (junctions, openings), or the outside of a right hander (oncoming traffic), and worse, your emergency response is to pick the bike up which pushes you wide in the turn – difficult to recover from as you need to turn the bike even harder now. It’s also tempting to use the wider line to carry more speed, which negates any theoretical value to the wider line that according to many experts “doesn’t work our tyres so hard”
3) the deep in, quick steer, turn tight line approach: where you keep the bike as upright as long as possible, turn slow and hard way past the apex, and get the bike upright as soon as possible after pointing the bike in the right direction.
Now, with the last approach, deep in, quick steer, turn tight approach, it’s true that if you use a single steering input, then you have to keep to the centre-line on a right hander – or tight to the kerb on a left hander. The problem is that although that might let you turn deep in the corner, you put yourself into a worse position than using the sweeping, maximum radius line – close to oncoming traffic when facing a right hand bend, and in the worst position to see around a left hander.
However, a compromise can get the best of both worlds. You can start in the wide position, but instead of turning towards an apex, you simply stay on the wide line that matches the radius of a bend, so that’s “constant radius approach”. To do that, you make your first steering input. You then add a second, later steer that tightens the line. What controls where you turn tighter is your view – where you get a clear sight of the exit – where you will have the bike upright and can get on the throttle again. This is what I call the “Point and Squirt” technique.
There are plenty of advantages. The wide, follow-the-radius line in the first part of the bend (sometimes called the tracking line) gives you a good view and still makes the most of the radius of the bend thus letting you minimise lean angle. Importantly, it avoids the risk of turning early where the exit is out of sight, and hitting the apex too early, with the consequence of running wide later in the turn.
By staying on a wide line, any hazard you meet is most likely to make you TIGHTEN your line – it’s then relatively straightforward to correct and recover your original line. When you reach the exit where the bike is upright and pointed where you want to go next, you’re there sooner than the rider on the sweeping line, who’s still heading for the hedge at the same point.
Most riders use lazy steering, so the bike takes an age to go from upright to chosen lean angle, and then back again – if you think about it, that “maximum radius” line doesn’t make for a constant radius line – because the bike doesn’t take up the chosen lean angle instantly – but a parabola with maximum lean angle mid-turn.
Using a deep, “quick” steer, line, the time spent getting the bike to the chosen lean angle is minimised. You can easily separate braking from steering forces which gives the tyres an easier time -if you can use the longer periods where the bike is upright to be more positive use of brakes and throttle into and out of the corner, that in turn allows lower mid-turn speed, without being slower overall through the turn!
But… that doesn’t mean I’ll use this technique on every bend.
There are opportunities to use the line that gives the latest, deepest turning point – for instance when you come across a tight right hander immediately after a more gentle left – you may well be carrying too much speed and out of position for the second part of the complex. Getting positively on the brakes is almost certainly better than trying to switch position back to the left and then carry that speed round the corner.
In traffic, I’m more likely to use the constant radius line, either slightly left or slightly right of centre depending on the direction of the bend and the view past traffic ahead, thus only using the middle third of the lane – this allows me to dominate the turn with regard to following vehicles that may be crowding me whilst still giving some advantage of view through the turn.
The line I rarely use is the maximum radius, sweeping line, unless the view is absolutely clear. Hint – can you see the road surface where you plan to go? There might be no vehicles that impede a wide radius turn, but what if there is diesel spilled on the exit line?
And finally, on very fast sweepers where you’re riding at a legal speed way below what you could actually manage round the bend, there’s not a lot of point in any kind of deep in, late turn line.
