Hey When getting proper lean (removing chicken strips) is there a benefit to your head not staying upright? Should it stay in line with your body, so at the same angle as the bike? Cheers
If Marques et al are anything to go by, your head needs to be near the top of the fork leg as you drop your shoulder below the handle bar. Good luck with that by the way, I'm not sure my body was ever that flexible and it most certainly isn't today. Andy
Rider choice. Some find keeping you head upright helps keep the lean angle less of a worry, while others like to dip it right in do it's closer to the ground. If you read the 'expert' books, they say lower your head. Rutter vs Davies
Tried it today on my favourite double roundabout/figure 8 and kept running wide. Maybe it's a practice thing.
Try tipping your head in then tilting it upright, so it's still lower (around the bar end or mirror) but your horizon is still flat. Think Shakey rides a bit like that..
Hanging your head/shoulders inside the turn is called the hook turn on CSS. One of the drills involves keeping the bike stable and moving your head further inside the bend.... you can tighten the line without leaning the bike any more. So, whilst you can ride with your head wherever you want, in theory you can turn tighter with less lean by hanging it further inside the bend. This is ultimately safer for most of us, and allows the real fast boys to turn even tighter when they are on the most lean the bike can give them.....
And the purpose of head is to drop the shoulder. Also aids looking thru the corner, which done find tough to do
Yep. Jolley has a lovely style on a bike, very modern sportsbike CSS, it works for him. Rutter twists his body so his upper is close to the bike. Shakey sits between the two in a way.
Exactly what Bradders says... whatever works for you... works! Most of us are not fast enough for our style to hinder whatever pace we have. I did CSS a week after passing my test, so that is what I know. The biggest thing, whatever your style is to be smooth and consistent. Also worth noting, track and road style are obviously different. If I lean off the bike like I do on track, I'm not going fast enough to lean the bike (I can steer with my body weight with the bikealmost upright, which just looks odd!). So most of the time on road it is more about leaning the bike than leaning off it.
