Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Harley has been around for awhile, he has this knack of riding super smooth, irrespective of how many beers he has consumed . Respect! 

Absolutely!

Harley Respect sir!

You have made my riding much safer and my bucket of experience is really filling up nicely while there is still lots of luck left in my bucket of Luck in the other hand.

I'm now no longer the corner straightening man but I'm riding the line, my trajectory is getting much smoother and my cornering is now faster.

Ferodo of course are a bit upset with you..... you've cheated them from their more regular income from me. I'l be needing new pads at longer intervals from now on.

Keeping the line make sence as you can see better through the corner. I have also started to add more pressure on the outside peg to push the tire down for better grip same as on gravel. what I'm not sure about is do you lean your body into the corner as a superbike or the bke. I tend to do the latter although common sence tells me the more upright the bike is the better grip it has.

any comments

I am also lacking serious confidence in cornering. It comes and goes where I feel better but next time I try I cock something up again and nearly run out of road.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Best way to improve your road skills is to attend a track school, its a safe environment and not only will your learn about your abilities but that of the bike as well. I have so often seen that many BMW and other dual sport riders are so focussed on off-road riding that they have forgotten how to ride on the road. Some techniques can be carried accross while others are just a no-no.

The next track school at Killarney is the 13th June, a morning session from 07:30 to 13:00.

If enough BMW riders attend I'll take my R1200R (as apposed to my GSXR) and lend a hand.

Thanks Max,

I have done only two track days and both were great.

I would seriously like to go to a track day with a tutor.

.....And then I went on the Country Trax intermediate Off-road riding course in Touwsrivier.

I am totally enjoying my new riding so much.

corners that used to give me heebies are now so simple..... I'm in danger of getting complacent.

Seriously. I can corner now at much higher speeds.

not only that, but smoothly with out feathering or braking.

It is the smoothness and ease that really make sit enjoyable.

From Country Trax, I learned how to really turn tight  by leaning out and way forward. This is in technical riding

i always leaned more backwards.

But now, with my weight way outboard and way up front over the front wheel, I am turning tightly, consistently and comfortably while looking way over my inside shoulder behind me.

I've now discovered new things the R1200GSA can do.

Never too old to learn, and never too old to break bad habits and acquire new ones.

I took a ride from Rooiels back to Gb and I was riding so smoothly, I began to catch up to bikes and pass them.

Okay admittedly it was not crazies on super bikes looking for a place to write themselves off, but well, generally bikes catch up to me in the Clarence Drive.

Make no mistake - cornering is not easy.  I suggest you do a track day, it will make a huge difference to your ability to corner - no matter how good you currently think you are.  What I found when I was at the track is that the fastest riders seem to slow right down when approaching a corner.  It's almost as if they stop right before the turn, then gradually accelerate around the turn.  Slow in, Fast out they call it.

The other bit of advice I got is "if you are battling to make a turn, try slowing down more at the start".

I was lucky to have Max ride behind me on one of our Oudtshoorn tours.  He picked up a number of my bad habits and put me on the right path.

I need this training as well - roll on spring and summer!

Dug up an old thread but it has some good advice in it...so thought I'd post here rather than starting a new one.

I thought I was ok in cornering and really enjoyed pushing it a bit more every time.  I was no Rossi but I could emergency swerve and go around tight traffic circles at a nice pace etc. Then one day, on a slight right hand turn, slipped on diesel, back wheel came around and I highsided. Luckily nothing badly hurt as it was in like second gear. Full Atgatt.

Now I got a 1200GS LC. About 3 weeks in.  Braking, and so on is fine but I find really tight corners...esp to the right - how I fell - I tense up but it also feels like...or I think it feels like...my front end want to loose traction. I need to lean / dip more...but i dont trust that I'm not going to loose the front. I think it almost did at one corner while lifting my wife, and thus now me being more careful. I am wondering if it's a combination of the fall and the now Telelever front and being a bigger bike that makes me nervous. I'm used to the nose dipping feeling and getting the feedback through the bars from regular suspension setups..
What I did last time when I just got back into biking on a 700 Transalp I also had it at first then I just went to a parking lot...full ATGATT...on a Sunday late afternoon...no one around and thought ok.. Now I'm gonna swerve and brake and get to know the bike. and if I fall- I fall. That boosted me a lot and I was fine from then on out.

I think I need to put the pot protectors / crashbars on and go do that with the GS. The funny thing is I was completely comfortable within the first 1 minute on a test ride and since I got it I am very comfortable on the bike w.r.t size and filtering, braking and lane splitting etc. I also KNOW these things can corner very well. Thus it ads to my frustration which I think is more of a mental block, but it might also be lack of skills no rearing it's head on a heavier bike.

It's the start from stop turn 90 degrees right that now has an imprint or something in my mind from falling. I'm HATING the feeling. From almost scraping a boot around circles on my knobby tired 800 to now this vibe. A mate of mine also said that I look tense on esp right hand turns and wondered what was up since we ride together often and he knows it's never been a problem before.

Other than going to a track-day - Any tips esp for the 1200gs? In the past i've watched Twist-of-the-wrist probably 7 or 8 times. Is there something different I need to know about the telellever? I've still got to take this beast offroad for more than 2KM but I'll reserve that when I have better tyres on. Currently road baised which should be even better than what i had on previous bikes (Knobblies)

How many Bar pressure do you guys run on the 1200gs' for the front tyre?

Interesting question Nox.  Do you also find (like I do) that when you think your front is going to lose traction, it ends up so?  (I find on the trials bike that a section I rode easily one day I start thinking the front is going to slip and then it does).

You may have answered your own question - with the telelever the front is not going to dip.  This actually increases traction because your suspension is not suddenly short of range.  Also the bike geometry won't change the way it does on a superbike say when the nose dips.

There is a lot of merit in getting some cones and practicing slow slalom with the cones just over a bikelength apart.  You can even do it on the lawn if you are worried about dropping the bike.

While you ponder crashbars, just get good tappet-cover protectors.  You will need them anyway, even with bars.

Yup...on previous bikes definitely. On here I can feel the traction is on edge. Havent dared push more. Someone told me yesterday "just trust it"but yeah.... need to first get some proper crashbars and a parking lot or something ;)

The Telever system on the Bigger BMW Bikes makes the bike far more safer as it does not pick up (stand up) as much as other Bikes and Smaller BMW's with two shocks up front so if you do all the wrong things ( as per twist of the wrist) the BM is far more forgiving.

Getting a bit more use to it now and a bit more comfortable :)

Since this thread is now revenant (brought back from the dead), I noticed this post and couldn't help but comment on it (hoe ken jy my?)  I am not picking out this poster, but addressing in public a common misconception propagated by good riders who know absolutely nothing about physics.

You cannot "push down" on a particular peg and hope to have any effect unless you have your other foot or an arm on something that is not the bike (like the earth, a car riding next to you etc).  All you might be doing is changing your physical relationship with the bike.  You cannot somehow exert more downward force on the tyre this way.  It is a fallacy.

You might be putting yourself in a better position on the bike for the task at hand, or maybe it is just psychological.

The rule I learnt is on tar you lean your body, but on gravel you keep your body upright and lean the bike more.  The fact is that unless your body and bike combination is leaning, the bike will not turn, or you will fall over to the outside.

On tar, you have more traction and can lean over much more at much higher speed.  So, to avoid scraping footpegs, you put your body on the inside so that the bike can be a bit more upright.

On gravel you have less traction, so scraping footpegs is less likely, but slipping out is more likely.  In this case it is better to be more on top of the bike.

Given that the bike tyres are quite rounded (profile-wise), I don't think you have that much more grip with the bike upright vs leaned.

And the word you are looking for is "sense".