Right hand turns

[therok229]

After riding for 20 years, I still hate right turns Wife is more comfy in them.

 

[kneedraggeroldy]

Like this?

:wtf THIS is a whole nother breed of riders....just amazing race is the Isle of Man.....on the bucket list to go see one of these :teeth

 

[vaara]

When I rented a bike in New Zealand a few years ago, the guy specifically recommended practicing right-hand U-turns, since we so rarely need to do them in this country.

As far as SF is concerned, if you want to level-up your right-hand turning after a stop, you could do worse than practice turning right from 17th St. onto Roosevelt Way. Very tricky because the geometry of the turn and, especially, the topography.

 

[Beanzy]

For the life of me I can never get comfortable with right hand turns in the mountains. Couple reasons. Most right hand turns are blind. If there is gravel in the road most likely that side. If you happen to low side then you slide into on coming traffic. I’ve been a motorcyclist for 10+ years and still can’t feel comfortable. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Stop worrying, stop thinking. Turn with your chin and shoulders leaning towards the inside mirror. This manuever will help in turning in curves and in seeing beyond the turn. Take the turn outside-inside-outside. And practice in a parking lot initiating a turn, sitting up, and then emergency braking.

Better yet, take an intermediate riding course with the CMSP. I recommend Pacific Motorcycle Training. I took their IRC class recently and it taught me how much more I need to learn as a rider.

 

[Starpower]

I'm right handed and have always found R-turns uncomfortable. The theory I came up with is that subconsciously I'm guarding my dominate side. Some of the already stated makes sense to some and perhaps I'm full of it (ok, I'm full of it mostly). However, no one else mentioned this so I'm tossing it out there as I'm the same way on the track.

 

[motomania2007]

I'm right handed and have always found R-turns uncomfortable. The theory I came up with is that subconsciously I'm guarding my dominate side. Some of the already stated makes sense to some and perhaps I'm full of it (ok, I'm full of it mostly). However, no one else mentioned this so I'm tossing it out there as I'm the same way on the track.

That's probably part of it however, in an informal review I have asked numerous of my students that have problems with left or right which dominant hand they are and haven't gotten anything close to a consensus sometimes left-handed people have more difficulty with right-hand turns and some times right-handed people have more difficulty with left-hand turns...

I think the most important thing to realize is that if you were weaker on one direction or the other you need to work on your technique in that direction more so that you are no longer weaker.

I've also found that students that have difficulty with right-hand turns are often riding too stiffly and when your arms are too stiff and you turn right you tend to roll on throttle if your arms and shoulders are relaxed and you turn right you tend not to do that therefore if you are riding stiffly you turn right the bike accelerates More than you probably intended and therefore it makes you more nervous in a right-hand corner. And more nervousness leads to more stiffness which leads to more acceleration You can see how this is a negative feedback loop.

 

[fiteg]

I ride tight lines whenever possible. For me it is the safest. This means sticking to the fog line at all times in the canyons. This may be counterintuitive, but it lessens the risk of oncoming traffic, and I have room to the outside if I encounter obstacles on my line. Also forces cornering discipline and maintaining revs, which keeps the bike happy.

Just my 2 cents, lots of times I've been glad I did.

 

[ThinkFast]

For the life of me I can never get comfortable with right hand turns in the mountains. Couple reasons. Most right hand turns are blind. If there is gravel in the road most likely that side. If you happen to low side then you slide into on coming traffic. I’ve been a motorcyclist for 10+ years and still can’t feel comfortable. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Hey OP - how are you doing with your right handers? Been practicing? Anything working?

 

[DesiDucati]

So what I’ve gathered here is that right turns are more dangerous on the hills due to blind spots and left turns are more dangerous on the streets because other cars turning don’t see you and the motorcycle hits their door?

 

[NoTraffic]

So what I’ve gathered here is that right turns are more dangerous on the hills due to blind spots and left turns are more dangerous on the streets because other cars turning don’t see you and the motorcycle hits their door?

One can argue that there are both blind spots at left and right turns. It's just a matter of how well you can get on your brakes and or have other sight lines to steer the bike. You can have a blind left going 65mph or a blind right going 35mph, it's all situational.

Cars turning left into oncoming traffic has always been one of the highest causes of non-fault motorcycle accidents because the driver either did not see them or could not estimate the speed of travel (usually faster).