Learning to corner

[Water Warrior 2]

For sure an ill running bike would mess with your confidence when cornering. A low speed 90 degree corner would be very frightening if the engine even had a hiccup at the wrong moment.
Please allow me to correct a habit you have. You stated shifting your weight from one foot to the other while stopped. Your weight should be on your left foot with the right foot on the brake. If you get bumped from behind you have less chance of going down with just rear brake applied. Both hands should be in a go position just in case you have to get out of Dodge in a hurry. This is taught in riding lessons for good reason.

[dentheman]

Thanks for the reminder, now I do recall it from class. I have been using the front brake when at a stop.

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by dentheman

Thanks for the reminder, now I do recall it from class. I have been using the front brake when at a stop.

I did the same thing for decades. It wasn't until I was taught the proper way by an instructor in 2007. Suddenly my Vstrom became a lot easier to ride and handle in low speed situations. I always liked the responsiveness of the front brake but the final stop was a bit upsetting to the balance of the bike when the front end dropped a bit and then rebounded. I found with a little practice that the rear brake lets the bike come to a gentle stop and the left foot down is an automatic movement now.

[mrlmd1]

Not to be overly critical, just adding advice and some knowledge (?).

In those 2 pics posted by JWR, the body position is wrong. If you look at the pics, the rider's weight is pushing the bike down, into a higher lean angle than is necessary, as he is trying to maintain a more upright body position.
The correct approach would be for the rider's body on the bike to be more over to the inside of the turn, maybe sliding a butt check over, shoulder towards the inside handlebar, leaning over more, putting more of his weight to the inside of the turn, keeping the bike in a more upright position which means better traction on the road.The body should be leaning, head upright, causing the bike to lean less = better traction, higher speed through the turn. Check out some pics of riders racing - no need for knee down, just body weight to the inside, don't try to or fight to stay upright, that is wrong. And look where you want to go, not down on the road. Look down = go down.

[Water Warrior 2]

Good catch on the riding position. You are absolutely correct. I am or at least was a prime example of trying to keep my body upright in curves. I finally saw the light and started to lean my body into the curve with some almost startling results. The Vstrom will turn in so much more that the usual speed I was going was far too slow. Learning curve here we come. I spent a few afternoons on my favorite set of known twisties just practicing the body weight shift and gained a lot of confidence in my ability and buckets more confidence in the bike itself. Just leaning forward to the inside mirror on a curve will shift a lot of weight and plant the bike very well on the road surface. Now what I need is a GZ on the same twisties. Lynda always liked the GZ for it's cornering ability while just tilting her head to stay upright and keeping her body inline with the bike. Had she started shifting her weight on some of the back roads I very well might have been playing catch up a lot. The GZ could probably out manuever the Vstrom with aggressive riding. It's not just a case of more power but the total ability of each bike.
A good example of cornering and weight shifting made me giggle a bunch. I was playing cat and mouse with a fellow rider(Kevin) on a 600 sport bike. I was the slow fat cat in the straight but caught up to him in every curve and sometimes passed him when there were 2 lanes and lots of room. My practicing was paying off while Kevin had only learned how to go fast in a straight line. Kevin never did learn to corner well and a few of us were relieved when he stopped riding a bike and bought a quad to play with.