Skills school: The perfect line

PART ONE: CORNERING

Cornering is one of the greatest joys on two wheels – for many of us, it’s the best part of riding. So, how can you perfect your technique?

WITH DAVE HEWSON CHIEF TRACK COACH
Dave’s done a 123mph lap of the TT, rides an Aprilia Tuono V4 on the road, and is crew chief for Rapid Honda’s British Superbike

Welcome to MCN’s Riding Masterclass, with Rapid Training. Over the next eight weeks, the experts at Rapid will show you how to develop skills that could significantly improve your speed, safety and enjoyment. Read all eight – and practise the tips in between – and you could end the summer riding better than you ever imagined. If you want to see these cornering techniques in action, just scan the QR code to watch a handy three-minute video version, too.

Each session is based on Rapid’s hugely successful road and track coaching programme, which combines the knowledge of their British Superbike and TT riders with their team of elite police-trained coaches. This week we’re considering cornering lines, which obviously have a huge impact on your speed and safety.

Beware the racing line

The classic racing line turns in early, apexes around the midpoint of the bend, and uses the full width of the road (or track) on exit. In theory, it’s the quickest way around a corner but on the road it’s usually a very bad idea.

Most roads are lined with hedges, trees and walls, so if you take a racing line you’ll have to turn in before you can see the exit – you can’t look across the corner like racers do at Silverstone. This means you’re gambling on a) the exit not tightening up and b) there isn’t a broken-down tractor plonked on it. The other disadvantage is that you spend so much time at full lean.

Besides increasing risk, it also means you can’t accelerate because your rear tyre’s too busy stopping you sliding sideways. That’s a major disadvantage on modern machines with plenty of power. So, the racing line is out.

Far better is the late apex line. Here, you go into the corner slightly slower and stick to the outside until you see the exit. If it’s clear, you then turn the bike quickly until the bike is pointing at the exit, then lift the bike up and deploy all that horsepower.

Because of the lower entry speed, many people think the late apex line is slower than the racing line, but it definitely isn’t in the real world. The racing line will gain a rider a couple of bike lengths into the corner, but as they arc round with loads of lean, you’ll have turned your bike at the late apex and be hard on the gas. Depending on the speed of the corner, you can easily pull 10 bike lengths.

Read more on how to perfect your technique in the latest issue of MCN, head to stores to grab your copy now, or subscribe to MCN so you can keep up with MCN’s Riding Masterclass every week.