Fast experienced motorcycle riders?

Question

Have you conquered your fear of speed especially around corners or is there some fear in reserve? Have you ever had the trouble of considering that there may be loose gravel, oil or a deep pot hole around blind corners causing you to close the throttle?

Answer 1

if u dont respect the bike, it will school u in this area rather harshly. an old timer once told me, 'first time u think u've mastered the bike, and the 1st time u think u know it all, that will be the day the bike puts u on the ground.'
u could know the road inside and out all the way down to how many tar snakes per mile is on the road...but sooner or later, there's gonna be a lethal surprize u didnt expect in that same corner u typically put it into a peg scraping turn.
a little bit of fear is a sign u still respect the bike's power, and it's potential to kill u if u screw up.

Answer 2

Some good answers here

Fear is sometimes good. It keeps you from writing check your butt cant cash!

With experience your fear or reservation about going fast will decrease.

For example my favorite road is Latigo Canyon in Malibu. I know that road forwards and backwards, day and night. I know where the gravel corners are. I know the blind corners and where most driveways are. I will blast up and down that road and leave most of my friends in the dust.

I wont ride with that speed on other roads that I am less familar with. I ride more cautious or have a little fear of crashing due to my lack of time riding that road.

Remember going stupid fast on the street is like playing Russian Roulette, one day it will catch up with you. If you want to be Nicky Hayden in the Canyons, your an idiot! Man up buy the right safety gear and take it to the track. The track is where the real speed demons go!

IMHO the track is a drug once you taste it, you want it again and again. At Laguna Seca, coming out of turn 11, wide open throttle up the straight hitting 160, blast through turn 1 then brake hard, downshift take 2-3 then WOT again. Thats a adrenaline fix you cant get on the street, so dont even try. The more time you spend on the track you will find you will spend less time going stupid fast on the street.

Answer 3

When I was new to Sportbikes (15 years ago) I thought that adrenalin = fast.
I learned over time that Adrenalin = outside your limits and you know it.

If you ride for the adrenaline you are riding with emotion and you are not that good. You also will find yourself injured and possibly dead.

Skill is what makes you ‘actually’ fast. The fastest street rider is usually a slow racer. The fast street rider generally doesn’t have the skills just the nerve. When you are in the zone and hauling azz you don’t have fear it is bliss. It feels like you can do no wrong. Fear causes accident and usually indicates error.

I recommend taking track day classes. They should teach body position, corner entry speeds, and other skills required to go fast. You will also quickly learn the difference between a ‘squid’ (Squirrely Kid) and a real rider.

Find someone who really knows what they are talking about (a good instructor) and listen to them, always question what everyone has to say; there is a lot of miss information about riding out there.

Where your gear. I recommend full 1-piece leathers on real rides, whenever we go to hit twisties in the country everyone wears leathers. It is just smart.

So the answer to your question is get the skills you need and go to a track to practice.
Speed will come after that.

Answer 4

you never conquer your fear, infact you should ride with the fear that you may be the best rider in the world and some idiot can swirve across a lane and kill you. what you do is gain experince and anticipate things which at this point i think i have, and you should always considered pot holes and loose gravel. just know to slow down and go around it, and dont feel confident just because your an expirence rider youcan go fast through corners because there are unknows in traffic so you always want to be carefull.

Answer 5

On public roads you always have to consider debris on the road, oils, bicylclist, pedestrians, animals and worse of all... big trucks or busses in your lane.

Fear is bad and will get you killed almost as fast as lack of respect.

Find yourself a good road with good corner visibility.
Ride the curves once to check for above bad things. then continue to re-ride it bumping your speed up.
Don't forget to lean into the turn and push those handlebars out of the turn to lean her down in hard.

Best advice also would be to search up or ask around for a "Track Day" they well worth their money. You spend an entire day or weekend on a race track with a professional rider who teaches and supervises a group of riders.

I never push HARD through a blind corner, some may call me a wuss, but on public roads there is just too many DEADLY suprises waiting for us out there.

Keep the shiny side up!

Answer 6

I think fear and common sense both play a part here. I just happened to learn first hand in 1983 both. I lost my scoot on a curve. SPEED played a BIG PART, just as COMMON SENSE. I didn't HAVE EITHER one. I do now. I was out of it for over six hours with a priest standing by my side. I guess it wasn't my time as I am still here. But on curves ever since YES I do let up on the throttle. As it is said, when you think you have the bike mastered, watch out as it is going to teach you a new trick.

Answer 7

I thought once that I had conquered this fear, but then I wiped out and this was painful. Afterward I thought that I was never really afraid of speed or cornering but of wrecking and pain. I think that when we loose this fear then we become dangerous for ourselves and others. I was also say that maybe fear is part of reason, and that when we ride we take calculated risks, and fear and reason are part of the calculation.

Answer 8

Not fear. I use caution, good sense and keen observation coupled with knowledge of my limits. I ride rural roads a lot. Besides holes and gravel, there are wet leaves, pine needles, and the occasional animal.

Answer 9

You should never really feel 100% fearless on a bike. As soon as you do you could make a serious mistake. Corners were the worst for me. You never know what's around the other side.
To answer your question...Try to know that roads that your always travel. If you are out of your comfort zone...take it easy.

Answer 10

Fear = Adrenaline. That's why I go fast into a blind corner and bungy jump.