Ninja 400 Motorcycle Tips How To Corner Safer

Did you know that 66.6% of single vehicle motorcycle accidents occurred due to rider error? But what if I told you this was caused by a slot in a fall from over braking or running wide on a curve due to excess speed or under cornering? So how can we reduce the risk associated with this statistic? Well the simple answer is counter steering. In this video we're going to look at the counter steering phenomenon and simplify it and take a look at how speed determines body position when counter steering. Also be sure to stick around until the end because I have a simple cornering technique with live footage that I practice on a real road in SoCal. And when it's combined with the proper usage of counter steering it'll make cornering easier, make you a safer rider, and give you more confidence on the open road. I'm SoCalRiderB, let's go. So what is counter steering and how does it work? Well there's two definitions. There's the nerd definition, right, which is super hard for me to understand. And then there's the simple plain english get on the bike let's do it definition. I'm gonna give you both. All right here's the nerd definition. Counter steering is to negotiate a turn successfully the combined center of mass of the rider and the single track vehicle must first be leaned in the direction of the turn. And steering briefly in the opposite direction causes that lean. The rider's action of counter steering is sometimes referred to as giving a steering command. Now here's everything we just talked about in like super simple plain english. If you want to go left, look left, push left, lean left, look right, push right, lean right. I'm going to show you exactly how this works on two motorcycles. Two motorcycles. But this is the part of the video where I want to pause and dedicate this portion of the video to Top Shelf. I'm throwing that screenshot up in the video. Top Shelf thought it was going to take me a year to get to upgrade my 400 to a 1000 or 650. Bam! I already got a 1000. He didn't even know. He thought it was going to take me a year. It only took me actually not even a month. Now I got some issues with my 1000 though. You know I bought it from the factory. The suspension is a little stiff and even though I never crashed it, my brake caliper is not even in alignment. I don't know what's up with Suzuki. Maybe I could talk to them and they'll warranty this out. I don't know. This is shout out to Top Shelf. I already got my Gixxer 1000. Didn't even take me that long. I thought Top Shelf might like that. Anyways, so yeah, it's super simple. Check this out. If you want to go right, you're going to look right, you're going to push right, you're going to lean right, which is going to make you go right. Same thing. If we want to go left, we're going to look left, we're going to push left, which is going to lean left and go left. Look, push, lean. Now it's that simple. Now one thing I want to talk about with this counter steering is it can be simplified into a quote like saying, look, push, lean. Look, push, lean. Look, push, lean. Look, push, lean. If I want to go left, what's going to happen is when I'm looking left and I decide to push left, my wheel is going to turn to the right, which is going to cause the weight of my bike to shift to the left and then cause my wheel to turn left with me. Now you can do this on your real bike. Get on your bike, take your kickstand off, right? Take your kickstand off, flat foot your bike if you can, and push. If you want to go left, push left on your handlebar, you're going to notice that your wheel's going to dip or going to turn right and your bike's going to end up dipping left and then when you're moving, right, when you're moving at speeds, now this part you won't feel, but when you're on the road and you're moving at a high rate of speed or above 15 miles an hour, the gyroscopic effect of the wheel to correct itself is going to make the wheel come back that way. Super simple. Get on your bike and try it right now. Push right, the wheel's going to turn left. While you're sitting on your bike, you're going to feel your bike dip left and at road speeds above 15 miles an hour, that wheel and the gyroscopic effect and physics and all that crap that I don't understand is going to make that wheel correct and go this way. If you're riding your bike at 15 miles or less, you want your body position to be upright. If you're at a speed higher than 15 miles an hour and you're counter-steering, you want your body to lean in alignment. More intense speeds, our lean angle on our body is greater than the bike and that's where people get the knee down. I don't do that, I'm not that experienced, but that's how that works. Here's a simple technique to always take corners safely while using counter-steering. It's really simple. It's called SPAT, speed, position, aiming, turning. SPAT, speed, position, aim, turning. So the speed is referring to how fast, how fast we are entering a corner, right? Are we coming in like this? Are we coming in like that? Position is referring to our lane position, okay? So with position, we're thinking about a concept known as out-in-out or also known as apexing. And the reason we want to be on the outside of a turn if we're going right is because it gives us greater visibility around that corner. It allows us to lean into the arc of the turn and reduce the potential of running wide and hitting that ugly statistic of 66.6 percent. Now, aiming is where are your head and eyes aiming? Because remember, where you look on the bike is where you go on the bike. And the turn is the counter-steering technique that we just discussed, which is also our cult-like saying of look, push, lean. Look, push, lean. Look, push, lean, okay? And if we do that, the T for turn, okay, the T for turning becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we enter the corner with a speed that allows for constant or an increased throttle, which means we don't have to brake in the turn, we've positioned ourselves for the out-in-out and we're aiming with our head and our eyes to look through the turn, we will turn in a safer and more consistent manner. So when we enter a turn, here's what we should be thinking. Speed, position, aim, turn. And when you turn, you should be thinking look, push, lean. Look, push, lean. Look, push, lean. So now I want you to check out some footage of me using this technique on some easy twisty roads in SoCal. I want you to pay attention to my speed as I hit the turns. Listen to the throttle or the exhaust. You're going to hear the speed of the bike decrease. And I want you to see that the key here is to not hit the brakes or go slower in the turns, because that's a more advanced technique known as trail braking, which is not what we're doing here until we're more experienced, right, and trained to do so. So notice my position also will move from the middle of the road to out, then in and back out. So that's counter-steering in a simple technique of how to corner using the speed, position, aim, turn technique. And just remember that our cult sayings are speed, position, aim, turn, and look, push, lean. Program yourself, speed, position, aim, turn, speed, position, aim, turn, and then look, push, lean, look, push, lean, and you'll be taking turns more effectively with no problems. All right, here we go. Check this footage out. Here we go. Speed, position, aim, turn, look left, push left, lean left, go left, speed, good, position, aim, turn, look right, lean right, push right, go right, look left, push left, lean left, go left. Here we go. Speed, position, aim, turn, look right, push right, lean right, go right. Immediately hitting the outer, coming right back in, look left, push left, lean left, go left, speed, position, aim, turn, same thing. Speed, position, aim, Aim, turn, look left, push left, lean left, go left. Keepin' that throttle control the same, let's go baby. I'm at 50, comin' in to a 20. Speed, droppin' it, position, outer. Aim, turnin' the head, turn, look right, push right, lean right, go right. Here we go. Lookin' through the turn, look left, push left, lean left, go left, keepin' throttle consistent. Not comin' off of it, not increasin' it. Same thing. Speed, position, aim, turn, look left, push left, lean left, go left, increase throttle. Speed, position, aim, turn, look right, push right, lean right, go right.