Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: Cornering, corner, line

Question
I've just finished reading Maximum Control (great book!) and wonder - as a new rider - should I practice the "outside-inside outside" method before going to the "outside - inside - inside method, or skip straight to it? As background - I road trails 40 years ago but am now returning to motorcycles in general and am new to the street. Thank you in advance.

MG

Answer
Thanks for reading my book!

I offered the inside line as a preferable alternative to the standard outside-inside-outside path of travel. It's okay to practice both (you should be familiar with both, at least) and it's also okay to skip straight to it.

In all cases the inside line gives you a better position for dealing with oncoming encroaching traffic, and in most cases it sets you up best for the next turn.

The primary reason for the outside-inside-outside line is that it effectively widens the radius of the curve somewhat--which is a principle well-equipped for the "safest" riding (minimizing lean angle and corner radius), but not necessarily for the most efficient riding. The outside-inside-outside line still puts you too close to encroaching traffic on right handers though, which is reason enough to avoid it altogether.

If it turns out the outside-inside-outside line is better for a particular turn or those particular circumstances, you can always start the turn planning for an inside line and just drift back out to the outside or roll on the throttle more to drift out (rear wheel steering!) or just give it slightly less of a steering input. This will happen most often on left-handers.

Best of luck on your new riding adventures! Let me know how it goes. I've gotten lots of good feedback on the inside line.

Pat Hahn