Cornering motocross and other scenarios

Cornering motocross and other scenarios Subscribe Pub Share

Continued from Cornering.

Sit-down cornering (motocross)

After hard-braking into the corner, you transfer your weight forward and sit (on the tank) very far forward. At the same time, you lift your inside foot, up and in front. This leg is not really there to assist if you loose balance, but to make sure you put as much weight as possible on the front wheel.

The sequence is:

braking hard coming into the corner
- body well back on the bike to compensate for braking
smooth transition into the cornering position
- body well forward and on the outside of the bike
- butt on the outside edge of the seat near the tank
- inside foot forward and out of the corner
weigh the outside peg
- knee locked into the tank/frame
as you reach the apex
- quickly point the bike the other way and
- get on te gas and accelerate out of the corner

In motocross cornering, the turns are generally wide, with lots of room and a berm. The berm can help you both "stop" the bike faster as well as carry more speed around the turn.

Being smooth as you transition from standing, at the end of braking, to sitting forward is critical, as not to "upset" the bike⁺⁺.

How mich of a V-shape you make the turn (with a quick change of direction at the apex) versus more of a U-shape depends on the context.

Sit-down cornering (enduro)

In the woods, you don't really want to put your foot down or forward when cornering - just leave it in the peg. It may be grabbed by stumps or branches or a nasty squirrel.

Otherwise, this cornering is the same as the MX version, except in the woods there is much less room, there are usually trees limiting movement on the inside and focus is on carrying as much speed through the turn and "flowing" more than brake-accelerate.

In the woods it is much more common to be standing on the bike in turns.

Sharp corners

In a sharp corner, where you can keep your speed up, you can slide the rear brake into the corner.

As you approach the corner, slow down to an appropriate speed, while standing, with your weight well back. As you enter the corner, lean the bike inside and lock the rear. you need to control the slide so that it is sufficient to get you pointed the right way, but no more or the rear will come around.

As soon as the bike is pointed the right way, stop the slide and get on the gas. You can also combine this with a power slide, where you power slide the bike at the end.

Read more about it under Brake steering.