Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 46 total)
  • Do you find turning left or right easier than the other?
  • PlopNofear
    Free Member

    I find that I can turn left easier/ with more control than I can turn right. I don’t know why. Any others?

    njee20
    Free Member

    Brain dominance innit.

    I find turning right easier, I also find stopping with my left foot down harder.

    I’ll wager most people prefer turning left and are right handed…

    _tom_
    Free Member

    I’m left foot forward and 180 clockwise so I’ve always found right corners to feel more natural. Oh and right handed/footed.

    GW
    Free Member

    Nothing to do with being left or right handed. You ‘should’ turn away from your natural leading foot better than the other way brcause your hips ate already facing that way.
    as for spins, your trailing foot pushes you dictating whether clockwise or anti is eadier.
    there are exceptions to these rules but they’re freakishly uncommon.

    kudos100
    Free Member

    IME It is also easier to weight the outside pedal with your lead foot.

    richmtb
    Full Member

    I’m left foot forward and 180 clockwise so I’ve always found right corners to feel more natural. Oh and right handed/footed.

    Ditto!

    I’ll rail right handed berms without thinking about it. Left handed berms I’m always much more tentative. I guess It something I conciously need to practice

    oscillatewildly
    Free Member

    yep – noticed this on tight switchbacks climbing, one side i just turn naturally and the opposite side i literally have to use my brain just engage the movement, its really bizarre – as njee said it will be dominance of the brain id expect, it doesnt affect me going left or right when descending – just when climbing tight sections of switchback

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    The OP earlier:

    Edit: Damn you Cap’n!

    GW
    Free Member

    Kudos, how so?
    your rearward foot is generally slightly lower than the leading one (or should be) and dropping your rear foot is always quicker (because of the freewheel mechanism)

    GW
    Free Member

    Njee is wrong.

    thecarbonmonkey
    Free Member

    You can try riding with your feet switch to get more used to it and this get better at turning to your weaker side. Otherwise concentrate on the key elements of turning – outside pedal down, drop the inside shoulder, look through the corner and practice at medium speed before building this up into your normal riding.

    Alternatively book yourself some one to one skills coaching with a qualified coach

    http://Www.carbon-monkey.co.uk

    njee20
    Free Member

    Njee is wrong.

    🙄 No, I’m not. You just don’t understand/didn’t read what I said.

    You ‘should’ turn away from your natural leading foot better than the other way brcause your hips ate already facing that way.

    Why do you think you have a ‘natural’ leading foot? There is a link between brain dominance and hand/foot dominance.

    You can retrain this, just as you can teach yourself to write with both hands, but you have a natural tendency to one side.

    druidh
    Free Member

    I always had the same problem with motorbikes. The left footage would be scraped, never the right. It just felt too uncomfortable leaning over that far.

    I’m right-handed btw.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    Only on a snowboard!

    scunny
    Free Member

    All to do with dominant legs. I’ve over come it on the MTB and i’m pretty ambedextrious now (riding bmx and learning to spin both ways helps, if you can do it).

    I was shocked when i was having my motorcycle lessons though, for the first few hours it was terrifying trying to turn a 600 into a corner from standing still.

    Edit: This forums obsession with ‘skills coaching’ is getting a bit daft. No, you don’t need coaching to do it. Just go an practise.

    GW
    Free Member

    Forward (riding) foot is NOT always the same as your left/right handedness.

    If you can’t cope with being WRONG maybe try to refrain from typing out stuff you have no clue about?
    😉

    _tom_
    Free Member

    Edit: This forums obsession with ‘skills coaching’ is getting a bit daft. No, you don’t need coaching to do it. Just go an practise.

    +1, not that I didn’t benefit massively from my coaching day but it seems to be mentioned in every thread now!

    rootes1
    Full Member

    I find that I can turn left easier/ with more control than I can turn right. I don’t know why. Any others?

    can’t as bad as on one of these things..

    wrecker
    Free Member

    I’m right handed/footed and don’t like turning left as much. Am I odd? It always feels clumsy, unbalanced and that I’m too high. Pretty much all of my mistakes are made when turning left.

    kudos100
    Free Member

    Kudos, how so?
    your rearward foot is generally slightly lower than the leading one (or should be) and dropping your rear foot is always quicker (because of the freewheel mechanism)

    Quicker yes, but it feels easier to get the weight thought the tyres with my lead foot. Stronger and more stable perhaps?

    GW
    Free Member

    Fair enough. I’m the opposite and turn my cranks backwards as much as forwards on some descents. It’s nice we’re not all the same 8)

    Here’s something to think about tho.
    If you want to late brake into say a tight steep turn where the entrance is rough and you need your feet level, you actually won’t be able to get your front foot down while braking.

    convert
    Full Member

    Nver really noticed it mountain biking but windsurfing I was really quite good on Starboard tack and RUBBISH on port (left handed). I was forever getting myself in trouble in proper rough conditions leaving the beach on Starboard loving it and going far too far out then crapping myself on the way back.

    fuzzhead
    Free Member

    Right-handed, left foot is chocolate foot. Prefer turning left on a bike and a board (skate, surf, snow). Feels better driving off my right foot, if that makes sense.
    HTH?

    clubber
    Free Member

    I’m ambidextrous and do all sorts of things the ‘wrong’ way.

    I prefer turning left. I’m a left foot forwarder.

    jameso
    Full Member

    You ‘should’ turn away from your natural leading foot better than the other way brcause your hips ate already facing that way.

    Spot on – my RH switchback ability improved no end when I had this pointed out to me (normally right ft fwd). Being comfortable with either foot forward can help loads on tricky descents.

    njee20
    Free Member

    Forward (riding) foot is NOT always the same as your left/right handedness.

    Why? You’re telling me I’m wrong, but it seems to be so you can stroke your colossal ego.

    How many people will kick a ball with the same foot they ‘lead’ with? Step onto a chair with? Stand on an object?

    Do you think that’s coincidence?

    Most people will be left or right hand/foot/eye/ear dominant (all the same side). Not all people, a mixture being lateralisation, but most.

    There are exceptions, but like it or not, that is the case. For the reasons you said (natural body positioning) most will find turning the opposite way easier.

    Now please tell me why that is wrong?

    stevehine
    Full Member

    If you want to late brake into say a tight steep turn where the entrance is rough and you need your feet level, you actually won’t be able to get your front foot down while braking.

    Only if you lock up on the approach.. your wheels are still turning; right ?

    D0NK
    Full Member

    sorry to disappoint njee and GW but I’m right footed, ride left foot forward, prefer turning left and spin the back end (well endo not spin) around to my right so pulling with my rear foot not pushing. Think that goes against what both of you are saying (difficult to tell tho)

    But yeah I’m probably just a freak.

    I presumed better left turning was due to more practice carving left handers on the road, lots of opportunity to turn left into side roads and such not so many sharp right handers, not without slowing down and checking for traffic and stuff.

    avdave2
    Full Member

    I both find turning left easier and always fall off to the left as well

    ChrisL
    Full Member

    Forward (riding) foot is NOT always the same as your left/right handedness.

    I’m left handed and footed, but when MTBing usually lead with my right foot. That means I agree with something GW said. I feel dirty! 🙁

    On the other hand I’m not convinced I actually turn left any better than I turn right.

    kudos100
    Free Member

    Fair enough. I’m the opposite and turn my cranks backwards as much as forwards on some descents. It’s nice we’re not all the same

    Here’s something to think about tho.
    If you want to late brake into say a tight steep turn where the entrance is rough and you need your feet level, you actually won’t be able to get your front foot down while braking.

    I see what you are saying. I don’t think about footwork enough. Should do really as it is so key.

    Still trying to get my head around weighting the outside foot a tad when hitting the apex of a turn. Long corners, no problem as a drop all the weight onto my outside foot. Tight/quick corners are tricky as I find dropping the outside pedal all the way doesn’t work as well and is too slow.

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    cynic-al – Member
    Only on a snowboard!

    used to until I spent a week learning to ride switch. both feel as natural now.

    andrewh
    Free Member

    I can side-hop letf, but not right.
    Turning seems about the same though.

    loum
    Free Member

    First one to demonstrate an interwebz U-turn proves they know their stuff. 😉

    thecarbonmonkey
    Free Member

    The link between hand and lead foot is dubious, I’m yet another left foot forward right handed rider and there are huge numbers of riders like me. Spin tricks are so much a head game that you can often re train your natural tendancy to spin either way, re training for flowing through sections is extremely hard to do unless done right from when a rider first starts out but cornering should be easier to re learn as you drop the outside pedal regardless of which foot forward you ride.

    As for the comments on coaching – I’m new to the forum but have been a skills coach for 10+ years and believe wholeheartedly coaching develops far more than practice. Any doubters are welcome to go spend a day practicing and then come on a coaching day with me and see when they progress more.

    slowrider
    Free Member

    GW definitely talking a lot of sense here, im left handed, right footed, but corner more comfortably to my right because i ride with my left foot forward. ditto on cranking backwards to get the correct foot down, though i do a bit of both if im honest.

    donk, clubber, i hereby certify your freakishness 😛

    randomjeremy
    Free Member

    I’m right handed, board stance regular, bag over left shoulder, find turning right on a bike much easier than turning left. Left foot forward, if skidding on a bike, the rear wheel takes a clockwise arc.

    gwaelod
    Free Member

    PlopNofear – Member

    I find that I can turn left easier/ with more control than I can turn right. I don’t know why. Any others?

    what about if you go to the southern hemisphere…can you turn right easier then.

    GW
    Free Member

    Makes perfect sense to do both, it’s quicker/easier to drop the front foot on faster corners where you are not braking.
    DONK – you haven’t gone against anything I said (wee bit of a freak with my footwork here aswell 😉 )
    Chris – you simply lack the confidence to assess your own riding, no biggie and fairly common TBF. You could do worse than listen/agree with me from time to time. 😉

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 46 total)

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