If you are a new rider or a rider who wants to continue to grow (That should be all of us ;) ) and you are not a Member at MCrider you are missing out on the best part of MCrider. Go to www.MCrider.com/Member and get access to the Forums and Field Guide. - The Forum is an active, friendly place where riders share riding tips, ideas, travel photos, and show off their new motorcycles. Riders and instructors from all over the world are active on the forums and ready to share in the adventure with you. - The Field Guide is a section of the forums that have very specific training exercises that you can work on in any open parking lot to develop your riding skills. In addition to these resources, you can discuss every MCrider video, suggest future training videos, read and share gear reviews, and more. By becoming a member you help support MCrider and keep the weekly videos coming but you also get access to a world of riders who share tips and techniques to help us all enjoy the ride and increase our skills. www.MCrider.com/Member
Thank You Kevin. As a new street-pleasure rider I've been watching your videos to learn the basics, and have recomended MCrider to LOTS of people at differing rider levels. My boyfriend taught me how to ride my motorcycle, but he's not a teacher and there's so much to learn to be safe and have fun! Love the short video format because I can stay focused on one lesson, instead of trying to absorb to much and not retaining it. Motorcycles can be deadly, I'm taking it slow and practicing in safe conditions!
Kevin, intentionally turning my head has absolutely improved my cornering ability. Not just cornering, but tight right hand turns from a stop, I always turned too wide. I would stay in my lane, but I would use the whole lane. I used to do exactly what you said, turned my head a little bit and “rolled” my eyes into the turn instead. Now, my head is on a swivel, my cornering confidence has improved dramatically. Thank you so much for this and all your videos. God bless.
Thanks so much for doing this. You guys do such a great job with these videos! I turned 50 and purchased my first motorcycle. I enjoy learning from your videos, I know it's making me a better rider. God bless you.
Just thought to drop a note and say Thank You for making well produced informative content for free, great contribution to safety and a great add on for new riders like myself!! Keep up the good work!!
You know I never did get that business about turning your head where you want to go until I watched this video again. Now it makes sense. At first I thought what difference does it make to do that unless you got like a super huge nose or something that acts like a sail to help you along. I mean my head moving toward the left or right is gonna have no effect on the balance of the motorcycle or anything. I even thought about equilibrium and such because I know they say you should keep your eyes level as well. Then I tried just looking to my left and right simply standing there and realized that your vision gets distorted that way. It seemed like I was seeing double in some way. But either way if you look far enough to the right or left and the try closing or covering each eye, you'll find that the bridge of your nose (speaking of big noses 😋), will hide the view from one of your eyes making it so you're not getting any depth of field in the direction you actually need to go. So that's gotta be the reason behind this after all. I mean I'm all for the look where you wanna go thing, but the turn your head to do it as well really bothered me. Thanks for all you do. I recommend your channel to everyone I come across 👍 God bless.
Great tips! I've been riding for about a month and have been struggling looking through the turn. I really like the "pointing your nose" technique. Going to try that out today.
My 2 cents on this: I think the primary emphasis is always about looking where you want the bike to go, not looking at where you are at the moment. Think of it as eye/hand (or in this case eye/body) coordination... we automatically adjust body movements to follow the path our eyes are leading to. When I was learning to ski I was always being told to look down the mountain... not at the tips of my skis. Once I started doing that my body took over and my turns smoothed themselves out. We also do this automatically on a bicycle... the surest way to hit that pothole is to stare at it as we approach it... we just automatically steer to where we are looking. When walking on a balance beam (or the curb or any narrow path) you need to look ahead to the end, not down at your feet. I think the emphasis with the physical head turn is two-fold: in those MSF classes most of us are wearing a visor and/or sunglasses that hide our eyes so the exaggerated head turn reinforces and demonstrates the instructions to look where we want to go... the instructors wanted physical "proof" that we weren't staring down right in front of the bike. Secondly, I do believe that the physical head turn helps us lean into the turn, as we tend to drop the inside shoulder ever so slightly when we crank our head around. While the head turn is a good practice, I do think the major emphasis is on looking ahead where you want the bike to go... it's surprising how much our body takes over to make that happen. Thoughts?
hi, I'm in South Africa and we ride on the left side of the road and the roads are not always in a good condition. love your videos and am learning new skills. thank you.
When I was young, my father taught me to use this same technique when going down a straight road too. He said always be looking well down the road so you know what's coming up and the car ( or motorcycle ) will find where your looking automatically.
I've been biking for a number of years but always enjoy refreshing/learning the craft. Great video, thanks for uploading. Really looking forward to the counter steering video :-)
MCrider Your videos have become my best friend as I have learned so much from you. I appreciate it very much. Here in California, lane splitting is allowed. I however refrain from doing so. What are your thoughts on lane splitting and am I right by not talking up that practice?
Mc , I watch all your videos all the time, great instructions for safety and performance. I would like you to consider making a very special set of videos designed for the passenger on a large touring bike, things to do to help person on control of the bike, things that they should not do. I will give this to the many in the Chris Caliente goldwing group who ride many types of bikes. I think my passenger would benefit greatly, me as well. Just a thought , I hope you will consider.thanks for all you do, stay safe keep doing the great videos you are doing, from you brother in Perryton Texas.
I'll offer a contrary opinion. Yes it's important to look ahead to assess the curve radius and look for hazards, but we recreational riders are not taking corners are 110 MPH. So, when a corner is more than 90 degrees and I "look where I want to go", swivel my head to touch my shoulder, I end up on the center line or in the other lane, i.e. following where I'm looking. I feel 100% more comfortable looking where I actually want to go, which is down the middle of the road 10-30 yards ahead, while tracing the curve of the route with my eyes every couple of seconds. This is my personal experience as someone who learned to ride 4 years ago at the age of 54. Since I've adopted 'my' technique, I'm much more confident in my cornering. This may not work for everyone, but it sure as hell worked for me.
Wow, that is exactly how i feel too. Maybe it is because we are relatively new riders, but the looking through the corner is a little confusing to me. Where is the spot I am supposed to be looking at, especially when the end of the corner is obscured or just doesn't end. Heck, if it is a hairpin corner and I look through the corner I will be off road left in no time.
The drone shots are awesome and I think do a great job of showing things while your describe what you're doing. Even a little lower altitude so the brake lights show. (But watch out for old glory flag poles!)
Speaking of steering, I tend to steer the bike more by what I call "ass-rolling" -- subtle weight shifting. Something I think I just started doing naturally when I started (dirt bikes as a teenager). At this point, I find that I'm better off NOT thinking about it too much! :-D
At my MSF course one of the instructors told his students to turn their head like they just saw the most attractive guy or girl ever. He had them turn their head and go "DAAAAAAAANG!" as they cornered. I thought it was hilarious and effective.
From 3:08 I note you're filming with a drone. Is someone steering that from somewhere or have you got some sort of connection to it from your bike? Makes for great footage.
I'm one of those eye ball guys.... The main issue I have with looking through the turns is there is traffic. I find traffic in front of me randomly breaking a higher threat then full out turning my head. I also have a odd tendency to lose my line and drift a little when doing a full head turn curve. Add the drift + cars and I don't feel like i can safely do it. Suggestions???
+SD Cruiser I guess I would ask you how turning just your eyes in to the turn helps you keep a better watch on cars potentially pulling in front of you?
Well on a freeway interchange for example. Most of those have a pretty long sweeping turn or kind of turn in on themselves to go back the other direction. If I turn my head to look through the turns I get a "disconnect" feeling of being able to safely and quickly responded to someone punching on a break. I do keep a decent travel distance between me and the cars but when you are driving 40 or 50 a quick stopped car you need all the time you can get. I had the same issue in the MSF course, was yelled at to look through the turn, however the bike in front of me was dropping below the course speed and had a tendency to break a lot. Turning my head I always felt like I would end up rear ending the guy. I guess that is my biggest issue. With my head only slightly turned (very minor mind you) I feel as though I can still look through the turn with my eyes while still having a good view of the traffic directly in front of me. I know its not proper and I have tried to break the habit. Like you, I ride a Super T, so I'm by no means trying to cut turns at 100mph :)
+SD Cruiser I'm not sure how to give advice w/o seeing what is going on. But, look back at the start of this video and every MotoGP rider had a different degree of head turn. Everyone takes the fundamentals and adapts them to their riding style, as long as you can still meet the requirement that the fundamental was trying to teach. The primary reason for turning your head is smoother corners and the ability to see hazards just on the other side of the corner. Can't say for sure w/o seeing you ride but if you can see through the corner and potential hazards now you may be fine. Doesn't hurt to practice turning your head more in situations where you know the corner is free of traffic. It did not feel natural to me for quite some time.
Sounds like you're overcompensating in cases where you don't want to turn. That's something that happens to me as well and the only real solution is to keep those looks shorter and/or practice maintaining a straight line while looking. Obviously, keep the practice to places without traffic and other road users.
Kevin Great Video. Off the subject. it seems your left pupil is dialated, and your right one is pin point. Being a paramedic I am concerned about your health. This is usually not a good thing. You OK?
+John Guillet LOL, Hey John I appreciate the comment. It's an old baseball injury, I got hit with a pitch and blew the eye socket out many years ago. Other than the random voices in my head who tell me to do things I am OK. Joking aside I do appreciate your concern. I need to do a video just on my eye though, your the 3rd or 4th person that has asked me about it. Having bright lights in my face exaggerates the lopsided pupil effect. Have a good one brother, Kevin
If you are a new rider or a rider who wants to continue to grow (That should be all of us ;) ) and you are not a Member at MCrider you are missing out on the best part of MCrider. Go to www.MCrider.com/Member and get access to the Forums and Field Guide.
- The Forum is an active, friendly place where riders share riding tips, ideas, travel photos, and show off their new motorcycles. Riders and instructors from all over the world are active on the forums and ready to share in the adventure with you.
- The Field Guide is a section of the forums that have very specific training exercises that you can work on in any open parking lot to develop your riding skills.
In addition to these resources, you can discuss every MCrider video, suggest future training videos, read and share gear reviews, and more.
By becoming a member you help support MCrider and keep the weekly videos coming but you also get access to a world of riders who share tips and techniques to help us all enjoy the ride and increase our skills.
www.MCrider.com/Member
Thank You Kevin. As a new street-pleasure rider I've been watching your videos to learn the basics, and have recomended MCrider to LOTS of people at differing rider levels. My boyfriend taught me how to ride my motorcycle, but he's not a teacher and there's so much to learn to be safe and have fun! Love the short video format because I can stay focused on one lesson, instead of trying to absorb to much and not retaining it. Motorcycles can be deadly, I'm taking it slow and practicing in safe conditions!
Kevin, intentionally turning my head has absolutely improved my cornering ability. Not just cornering, but tight right hand turns from a stop, I always turned too wide. I would stay in my lane, but I would use the whole lane. I used to do exactly what you said, turned my head a little bit and “rolled” my eyes into the turn instead. Now, my head is on a swivel, my cornering confidence has improved dramatically. Thank you so much for this and all your videos. God bless.
Great to hear Joseph. 👍🏻👍🏻🏍
Thanks so much for doing this. You guys do such a great job with these videos! I turned 50 and purchased my first motorcycle. I enjoy learning from your videos, I know it's making me a better rider. God bless you.
Darn kid get off my lawn.
I turned 68 and bought my first Harley.
Just thought to drop a note and say Thank You for making well produced informative content for free, great contribution to safety and a great add on for new riders like myself!! Keep up the good work!!
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Love that shot with the drone. Great visual example of lane positioning during the cornering
You know I never did get that business about turning your head where you want to go until I watched this video again. Now it makes sense. At first I thought what difference does it make to do that unless you got like a super huge nose or something that acts like a sail to help you along. I mean my head moving toward the left or right is gonna have no effect on the balance of the motorcycle or anything. I even thought about equilibrium and such because I know they say you should keep your eyes level as well. Then I tried just looking to my left and right simply standing there and realized that your vision gets distorted that way. It seemed like I was seeing double in some way. But either way if you look far enough to the right or left and the try closing or covering each eye, you'll find that the bridge of your nose (speaking of big noses 😋), will hide the view from one of your eyes making it so you're not getting any depth of field in the direction you actually need to go. So that's gotta be the reason behind this after all.
I mean I'm all for the look where you wanna go thing, but the turn your head to do it as well really bothered me. Thanks for all you do. I recommend your channel to everyone I come across 👍
God bless.
Great tip......."point your nose!" Awesome...
Great tips! I've been riding for about a month and have been struggling looking through the turn. I really like the "pointing your nose" technique. Going to try that out today.
+mynusss Thanks for the comment. Once you get the hang of it it will feel much more natural.
My 2 cents on this: I think the primary emphasis is always about looking where you want the bike to go, not looking at where you are at the moment. Think of it as eye/hand (or in this case eye/body) coordination... we automatically adjust body movements to follow the path our eyes are leading to. When I was learning to ski I was always being told to look down the mountain... not at the tips of my skis. Once I started doing that my body took over and my turns smoothed themselves out. We also do this automatically on a bicycle... the surest way to hit that pothole is to stare at it as we approach it... we just automatically steer to where we are looking. When walking on a balance beam (or the curb or any narrow path) you need to look ahead to the end, not down at your feet. I think the emphasis with the physical head turn is two-fold: in those MSF classes most of us are wearing a visor and/or sunglasses that hide our eyes so the exaggerated head turn reinforces and demonstrates the instructions to look where we want to go... the instructors wanted physical "proof" that we weren't staring down right in front of the bike. Secondly, I do believe that the physical head turn helps us lean into the turn, as we tend to drop the inside shoulder ever so slightly when we crank our head around. While the head turn is a good practice, I do think the major emphasis is on looking ahead where you want the bike to go... it's surprising how much our body takes over to make that happen. Thoughts?
hi, I'm in South Africa and we ride on the left side of the road and the roads are not always in a good condition. love your videos and am learning new skills. thank you.
When I was young, my father taught me to use this same technique when going down a straight road too. He said always be looking well down the road so you know what's coming up and the car ( or motorcycle ) will find where your looking automatically.
Awesome technique, Thanks It's helped my conference in cornering immensely.
This is perfect. Thank you!
Nice countryside because it reminds of the Texas Panhandle and southeaster NM, by old stomping grounds.
I've been biking for a number of years but always enjoy refreshing/learning the craft. Great video, thanks for uploading. Really looking forward to the counter steering video :-)
+DervMan Thanks DervMan, I try to be a lifelong learner myself.
MCrider Your videos have become my best friend as I have learned so much from you. I appreciate it very much. Here in California, lane splitting is allowed. I however refrain from doing so. What are your thoughts on lane splitting and am I right by not talking up that practice?
Love the drone shots! Awesome job Kevin
Mc , I watch all your videos all the time, great instructions for safety and performance. I would like you to consider making a very special set of videos designed for the passenger on a large touring bike, things to do to help person on control of the bike, things that they should not do. I will give this to the many in the Chris Caliente goldwing group who ride many types of bikes. I think my passenger would benefit greatly, me as well. Just a thought , I hope you will consider.thanks for all you do, stay safe keep doing the great videos you are doing, from you brother in Perryton Texas.
Thanks Sir. !! Great vídeos as always!!
Great Vid. Did the big white dog chase you every time?? Lol.
Keep up the good work!
I'll offer a contrary opinion. Yes it's important to look ahead to assess the curve radius and look for hazards, but we recreational riders are not taking corners are 110 MPH. So, when a corner is more than 90 degrees and I "look where I want to go", swivel my head to touch my shoulder, I end up on the center line or in the other lane, i.e. following where I'm looking. I feel 100% more comfortable looking where I actually want to go, which is down the middle of the road 10-30 yards ahead, while tracing the curve of the route with my eyes every couple of seconds.
This is my personal experience as someone who learned to ride 4 years ago at the age of 54. Since I've adopted 'my' technique, I'm much more confident in my cornering. This may not work for everyone, but it sure as hell worked for me.
That sounds like a novice technique. Once you've got more experience, looking all the way through the turn will seem much more natural.
Hey, call it what you want, it keeps me out of the ditches.
Call it what you want, it keeps me out of the ditches.
Wow, that is exactly how i feel too. Maybe it is because we are relatively new riders, but the looking through the corner is a little confusing to me. Where is the spot I am supposed to be looking at, especially when the end of the corner is obscured or just doesn't end. Heck, if it is a hairpin corner and I look through the corner I will be off road left in no time.
The drone shots are awesome and I think do a great job of showing things while your describe what you're doing. Even a little lower altitude so the brake lights show. (But watch out for old glory flag poles!)
Nice drone shot!
Hey man! I appreciate your pupilla's unequilities. You have mydriasis at one pupilla. Are you in a good health position?
Kevin - do you ever wonder about how many accidents are being avoided (and possibly lives preserved) by making these videos available?
+Frank Costanzo I do, makes me 😊. Thanks for the comment, Kevin.
Speaking of steering, I tend to steer the bike more by what I call "ass-rolling" -- subtle weight shifting. Something I think I just started doing naturally when I started (dirt bikes as a teenager). At this point, I find that I'm better off NOT thinking about it too much! :-D
At my MSF course one of the instructors told his students to turn their head like they just saw the most attractive guy or girl ever. He had them turn their head and go "DAAAAAAAANG!" as they cornered. I thought it was hilarious and effective.
From 3:08 I note you're filming with a drone. Is someone steering that from somewhere or have you got some sort of connection to it from your bike? Makes for great footage.
If any one has the opportunity to go to racing school go . I learned more at that school than any where else .
I'm one of those eye ball guys.... The main issue I have with looking through the turns is there is traffic. I find traffic in front of me randomly breaking a higher threat then full out turning my head. I also have a odd tendency to lose my line and drift a little when doing a full head turn curve.
Add the drift + cars and I don't feel like i can safely do it. Suggestions???
+SD Cruiser I guess I would ask you how turning just your eyes in to the turn helps you keep a better watch on cars potentially pulling in front of you?
Well on a freeway interchange for example. Most of those have a pretty long sweeping turn or kind of turn in on themselves to go back the other direction. If I turn my head to look through the turns I get a "disconnect" feeling of being able to safely and quickly responded to someone punching on a break. I do keep a decent travel distance between me and the cars but when you are driving 40 or 50 a quick stopped car you need all the time you can get. I had the same issue in the MSF course, was yelled at to look through the turn, however the bike in front of me was dropping below the course speed and had a tendency to break a lot. Turning my head I always felt like I would end up rear ending the guy.
I guess that is my biggest issue. With my head only slightly turned (very minor mind you) I feel as though I can still look through the turn with my eyes while still having a good view of the traffic directly in front of me. I know its not proper and I have tried to break the habit. Like you, I ride a Super T, so I'm by no means trying to cut turns at 100mph :)
+SD Cruiser I'm not sure how to give advice w/o seeing what is going on. But, look back at the start of this video and every MotoGP rider had a different degree of head turn. Everyone takes the fundamentals and adapts them to their riding style, as long as you can still meet the requirement that the fundamental was trying to teach. The primary reason for turning your head is smoother corners and the ability to see hazards just on the other side of the corner. Can't say for sure w/o seeing you ride but if you can see through the corner and potential hazards now you may be fine. Doesn't hurt to practice turning your head more in situations where you know the corner is free of traffic. It did not feel natural to me for quite some time.
Sounds like you're overcompensating in cases where you don't want to turn. That's something that happens to me as well and the only real solution is to keep those looks shorter and/or practice maintaining a straight line while looking. Obviously, keep the practice to places without traffic and other road users.
Drone buzzing flagpole at 4:04 :D
Kevin Great Video. Off the subject. it seems your left pupil is dialated, and your right one is pin point. Being a paramedic I am concerned about your health. This is usually not a good thing. You OK?
+John Guillet LOL, Hey John I appreciate the comment. It's an old baseball injury, I got hit with a pitch and blew the eye socket out many years ago. Other than the random voices in my head who tell me to do things I am OK. Joking aside I do appreciate your concern. I need to do a video just on my eye though, your the 3rd or 4th person that has asked me about it. Having bright lights in my face exaggerates the lopsided pupil effect. Have a good one brother, Kevin
What drone do you use ? @MCrider?
look where you want to go