I consider myself a fairly good motorcycle rider on the street. But i've never had the confidence to go through sweeping corners very fast on my sportbike. I've always been too scared to lean the bike over very far because it always felt unatural and "squirmy" to me. It's really started to bother my lately, so i started paying attention to my body position while i'm going through a fast sweeping turn. I really didn't know if it was good or bad, so i started looking for sportbike riding technique videos on YouTube, and came across several VERY informative videos from RideSmart featuring Ty Howard and several other instructors (search for "sportbike body position"). The instruction that these guys give their students helped me realize that i was riding the bike WRONG. Over the last two days, i've been practicing the body positioning for cornering that they explain and it's helped me tremendously with the speed and stability that i can go through a fast sweeping corner. I'm still not as fast as i know i could be since i'm virtually a newbie of this new riding style, but i'm having so much more fun on my sportbike now that i'm not interested in just simply riding around town anymore (i'll save that for my cruiser bike). I'll ride around town for a few minutes to get the tires warmed up, but then i hit the clover-leaf style interstate exchange that gives me plently of opportunity to go through long fast sweeping "S" turns. I think i've spent more time going through the clover-leaf exchange over the last few days than i've spent riding the bike on the street in the last few weeks! It's amazing how proper form will make a night and day difference!
