Any rider can go fast in a straight line but the fastest riders can carry speed into, through and out of a corner. It's not magic, but a technique that can be learned and perfected. This video gives some good tips.

How To Corner on a Motorcycle

To those new to riding, cornering on a motorcycle can be a daunting prospect. It's not that the motorcycle can't do it, it's because the rider isn't using the right techniques.

A big stumbling block is trusting the tyres to grip. The easy way of getting rid of that impression is to get some track training with an expert instructor. There, on a perfect surface and with nothing coming the other way, you can understand just how much grip motorcycle tyres actually have. Also, you'll learn about what we call 'vision', i.e. knowing where to look when cornering.

That might sound strange but there is a lot of truth in the saying, 'look there, go there.' A lot of novice riders suffer from what is called target fixation. They enter a corner too fast and, instead of looking round the corner, they look at the object they think they are going to hit with the result that they do hit it!

Then there are body position and counter-steering techniques, not to mention use of throttle. No less an authority as Kenny Roberts says, quite rightly, that if you are on the throttle in a corner, you will never lose the front end in a slide. It takes time and confidence to apply this technique but it does work.

This video goes through each technique in simple, easy to understand terms but, of course, there is no substitute for getting out there and practising. If you can get to a track, then all the better. Don't think that because you're at a track, the only thing you will be learning is to go fast: it 's not that at all. It's about learning the extent of the motorcycle's ability, and your own. With the right techniques, you'll be a better rider than you ever thought possible.

The really important thing to remember, however, is to ride at your own pace, not the pace that someone else sets or the pace that you think you ought to ride in order to impress your fellow riders. Rather get to the end of the ride and have a laugh about it over a few beers than scaring yourself silly.