I think I'll stick with my very well tried and proven methods, SFB. Thousands (literally) have been taught by us and it most definitely does work. If you think of cornering primarily in terms of the handlebars, rather than footwork, looking and body movement first you are missing quite a chunk of potential. Or it is possible I suppose that you are already doing these things but are just not aware of it.

btw, If you don't want to taken for a troll then don't type like one.

And pk-r – analysing it and thinking about it when you're not riding is exactly the right way to go about it.

I only notice the difference on really tight switchbacks I must admit, at speed, or on wider corners I can't tell the difference.

glenp, once again i fundamentally disagree with you.

and your encouragement of more people onto the surrey hill pees me off too.

pk-ripper – Member

Do you really notice that much difference? If you do, I'd say there's a fundamental problem rather than anything else.

er, exactly.

the fundamental difference being about 180degrees.

i only have to turn my cranks 90degrees to set myself for a left hander, and can do this in one smooth movement, but 270degrees for a righthander – so i've got to quickly unweight my left foot to get it backwards past tdc, and then apply the weight again when it's at the bottom of the stroke.

now i'm aware of it, i've got something to work with, and i'm getting much better at it.

i confess that in most right handers, i just pedal forwards, but this can get me into trouble if i try it on steep stuff when the back wheel is more or less locked out. so i'm trying to get the hang of both, and learning when to use either…

(numbers are approximate)

Sorry you're peed off, pk-r (genuinely). I've lived here all my life and I've never wanted to stop people coming and enjoying the lovely countryside that I've been fortunate enough to have been brought up in. What we do is a local business which helps the local economy.

You can fundamentally disagree with the method that I described, but the evidence doesn't really back you up. If there were a better way to tackle cornering we'd use it.

i agree with the principle glen, i just don't agree that it can be taught through anything other than practice, and the whole thing of "oh, i'm on the internet therefore i can learn it" is just daft. If someone's unable to find their way to do it naturally, that's what I find bizarre – it's riding ffs. it just happens.

Get out there and ride, have fun, ride with people and see what they do differently. then ride some more until you find what works for you as that'll be entirely subjective. Over-analysing it in a thread seems a bit lame.

If you think of cornering primarily in terms of the handlebars, rather than footwork, looking and body movement first you are missing quite a chunk of potential

I said "weight" first. As to footwork, I'm still of the opinion that is restricted to moving the pedals out of the way of the ground.

If you don't want to taken for a troll then don't type like one.

oh, you mean I have to agree to all this clueless guff ? "Steering with the pedals", right….

i just don't agree that it can be taught through anything other than practice

Ok then, say someone can't (for example) tie their shoes. They can practice all day long, but if they're doing the wrong thing then they may never get anywhere. If someone points out the right technique they could have it mastered quickly. Skills sessions seem a bit like that really, you can spend years trying, and probably getting there, or get someone to instantly show you where you're going wrong.

I wish I was good enough to not be able to benefit from skills training!

You see, there you go again. "Clueless". You're free to disagree, fine. But hell of a lot of people don't find it "guff".

And pk-ripper – no-one is saying that you can only read about it and thereby learn – but there is nothing strange at all in thinking about it before you practice it. There are a lot of people that want to learn how to be good smooth riders and not hurt themselves, and a little best practice can save a lot of pain. Not sure where you are from, by the way, to be so peed off about people coming to Surrey Hills – if you don't want people to come here you can start by not coming yourself, surely?

i only have to turn my cranks 90degrees to set myself for a left hander, and can do this in one smooth movement, but 270degrees for a righthander

I must admit I have no idea where my feet default to, so I suppose, if I'm freewheeling, it'll be where ever I left them after the last bend, or perhaps level if the ground is very rocky…

You see, there you go again. "Clueless". You're free to disagree, fine. But hell of a lot of people don't find it "guff".

but fact is not determined democratically…

I'm sure people can benefit from skills training, I just think that the ability to be able to corner both left and right isn't a skill per se, it's a fundamental of riding a bike.

I'm by no means a great rider, but i learnt that by myself when i was a child.

I'm right handed and footed, but lead with my left foot and feel better on left hand bends. right hands berms feel especially weird.

I absolutely benefit from reading technical advice and going to try it out. Some of it works for me, some of it doesnt. I am not a natural rider and I fall off quite a bit, but I am getting better.

Conversely, a riding partner of mine never falls off and he can look at you very strangely when any skills/ technique are mentioned. Taking little drops/ jumps for example, I still havnt found a repeatable safe technique (for me) that gives me confidence to tackle them all. When I quizzed my mate on his technique, his reply was "eh? Just ride off it…" he is what I would call a "natural"

edit, ok everyone falls off but you get my point

i typed out a long reply and it didnt post.
oh well.
loads of riders keep pedals level and are always more comfy one way than the other. most usually because of the closed d open body position the pedal position allows.
just got in from coaching and am menatlly too tired to type it again 🙁

Jedi, when that happens you can often get it back by clicking the "back" button on the browser (if you didn't close the window/tab). This didn't used to work, but has since the rewrite…

this problem can actually lead you into all sorts of issues and in one severe case a guy called mark beaumont lost the ability to corner in both directions – he only nipped out to the shops for some milk…

this problem can actually lead you into all sorts of issues and in one severe case a guy called mark beaumont lost the ability to corner in both directions – he only nipped out to the shops for some milk…

did he not try the back button either?