Technique: Cornering at speed

6 comments
By Andy Cook, Cycling Plus | Friday, Jun 25, 2010 2.00pm

There’s nothing more satisfying than nailing the perfect line and speed through a corner. Coach Andy Cook has six top tips for the bendy bits

Hey good looking: Check around you on the approach for other riders and traffic. Keep your head up throughout the corner, looking ahead through the apex to where you want to be on the exit. This isn’t the time for checking out the scenery, because bikes tend to head where you’re looking.

Know your lines: Try to take the straightest possible line through the corner. If you’re happy you’ve got the road to yourself, move out to the middle of your lane on the approach. This will give you more margin for error once you’re in the corner and let you run wide on the exit without riding in the gutter or across the white line. 

Planning a sharp exit: Don’t start pedalling again until you’re through the corner and the bike is upright. If you’re on top of your game you should have changed into the right gear for powering out of the corner well before you turned into it. Once clear, start looking for the next corner and repeat the process.

Body form for you: Your shoulders should be relaxed and your elbows bent – stiffening up will make you over-correct, over-brake and less able to deal with mid-corner problems. For the lowest centre of gravity and best weight distribution, corner with your hands on the drops. That way, you’ll easily cover the brake levers with one or two fingers too.

Early brakes: Cover the brakes throughout the corner, but aim to do all your braking before you turn in. Freewheeling round the corner will make you faster and smoother, since the tyres only have to deal with cornering forces and not braking forces as well. Over-braking during the turn is likely to make your bike slide out, with potentially painful consequences.

Weight for it: Just before you turn in, lift your inside foot so the pedal is at 12 O’clock. As well as avoiding grounding the pedal as you lean the bike over in the corner, this will help you transfer weight to the foot on your outside pedal. It will also lower your centre of gravity on the bike and help it grip onto the road. You don’t want to put too much weight on your hands, but applying a little more pressure on your inside hand will help your bike turn in and track round the corner well.

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User Comments

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  • I read this article in Cycling Plus and thought it was pretty lame. Your advice on line is completely wrong. When approaching a right hander in the UK, why on Earth would I move to the middle of my lane upon approach? This has the double effect of tightening the corner and reducing ones view of the exit. If I can see round the bend and into the distance, why the heck wouldn't I cross the centre line?

    If you want to learn how to corner at speed, subscribe to a motorcycling magazine. Moto mags focus on cornering to the same degree that cycling publications obsess about climbing and diet.

    You guys should do a proper cornering article for cyclists! Spread the word about late apexing, the vanishing point, correct weighting, etc.

  • I agree with aw35slr, get your hands on Keith Code's 'Twist of the Wrist' books for superb cornering instruction.

  • @caw35slr

    The middle lane advice applies to all of the road systems that have driving on the right hand side of the road. This hasn't been a UK specific website for some time although they should have been much more specific with what sort of road network they are talking about here.

    Agreed about the motorcycle guides though.

  • @PJ88: should have said "...or a left hander in countries where you drive on the right". In either case I'm going to head towards toe curb before I start to turn in. Heading for the middle of my lane tightens the corner.

    @aji: ha! Keith Code. What a God!

  • @caw35slr

    If you're in a right handed driving system and thus can't cross into oncoming traffic to hit the furthest outside of a right handed curve, driving out right to the dividing line and then apexing as close to the geometric inside of the corner gives you the longest possible curve.

    I still agree the advice is bad though, since it doesn't apply to left curves in a right handed system or right curves in a left handed system. ;)

  • As a mountain biker I find death gripping in the drops and staying low and very loose helps. Works for me off road and transfers well to tarmac.

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