|   Cornering and the front tire | Fast feet
Nov 7, 2002 8:52 AM | | On turns where your front tire slips or washes out, is it the tires fault or really about 99.9% of the time a problem with the cornering technique? |
| yes | shiggy
Nov 7, 2002 8:57 AM | | Because different tires can need (slightly) different techniques. Varies with the bike, speed and surface, too. |
| re: Cornering and the front tire | fz4vgq
Nov 7, 2002 9:12 AM | | Both but probably more technique than tire. But a poor front tire won't ever let you push yourself far enough to develop good technique. my post further down on "fav. front XC tire" kinda explains how bad some tires are. I've been riding XC for close to ten years and have never had a problem with a front tire traction in general until i tried an IRC Mythos front 2.1. that tire just plain sucks for most of my conditions, it literally feels like my front end is on ice through corners. |
| Dont you know? ALWAYS blame your equipment. (nm) | Mossy
Nov 7, 2002 10:07 AM | | |
| Yep Mythos 2.1 Frt....Bad Tire (nm) | KStone
Nov 7, 2002 11:40 AM | | |
| The Mythos Washout | Cube
Nov 9, 2002 7:26 PM | | The Mythos XC is bad tire. The stupid thing washs out if you look at it wrong. This is well known in the mountain bike world. They push these tires at bike stores but don't buy it, you will regret it as I did and everyone else I know who ran them. It should be called the Mythos Washout. |
| What do you like for front tire? NM | S-Works
Nov 7, 2002 7:21 PM | | NM |
| Can be either | laffeaux
Nov 7, 2002 11:06 AM | | If you're just starting out, it's probably technique. However equipment can make a difference, and should be blammed in any case.
I've ridden the same trails with the same bike and different front tires, and there is a pretty big difference. This spring a bought a Michelin Front S tire, and I've never had the front end wash out so much. I removed it after several months of riding and went back to the front tire that I usually run. My wash out problem was solved. |
| I blamed the sandy trail, but really it was me | GlowBoy
Nov 7, 2002 12:21 PM | | At Barbie Camp 2 weekends ago, I had 2 hard falls on the same day due to washing out in deep sand on curves. Since I was running a good tire for sandy conditions (Alligator 2.0 at 30 psi front), and I was in Central Oregon, I blamed the sand. Maybe true, but really, I should have been able to avoid it if I'd been shifting my weight a little further back (which I should have been doing anyway since it was a downhill trail).
- Dan |
| I shift my weight forward | shiggy
Nov 7, 2002 12:27 PM | | Then lean and use my hips to steer. If I turn the bars the wheel plows. If my weight is too far back the bike just goes straight. |
| yup, sometimes i will unclip inside foot and put it near the | EricTheRed
Nov 7, 2002 3:01 PM | | axel of the front wheel. it weights the front well so it doesn't want to slip out.
-e |
| re: Cornering and the front tire | busydog
Nov 7, 2002 1:26 PM | | I've noticed that even tires that are good in sand/loose conditions seem to have a magic point where the tread still looks good (I don't mean worn to near smooth, but maybe 60% wear down on the knobs), and cornering performance starts to suffer pretty noticeable.
Also have noticed the occasional rider who has a front specific tire mounted and running backwards and wondering why it doesn't corner right. |
| most common mistakes. | xl_cheese
Nov 7, 2002 3:32 PM | | never brake through a turn- brake before. If you find yourself braking through a turn let go of those brakes and you'll zip right throught it.
another tip is to lean your bike through the turn but not let yourself lean with it. keep you weight on top of the bike. So when you're leaning the bike you're in a sense pushing it away from you. |
| weighting vs. tire types | Fast feet
Nov 7, 2002 5:30 PM | | A few good ideas posted here, and I was curious about what some would say about weighting the front end.
I do quite a bit of cornering on descents on a road bike and I've discovered my MTB skills have improved by allowing the bike to lean and corner using it's contact patches just like on the road. The physics are the same and the bike will corner best when your center of gravity is balanced between the wheels, and your upper body and shoulders are relaxed. This is not what happens when you try to weight the front end on the MTB, your weight affects the steering and you end up pushing the front tire. Shifting your weight to the rear also will allow the front to slip except it does it by unweighting the front wheel. A balanced center of gravity weights both tires equally and the turning happens at the center of the bike rather than just behind the axle or the steering head (depending on how much the weight is shifted foward).
I grew up racing dirt motorcycles cornering with my foot out in front of the front axle like an outrigger, that's why I used motorcycle skills on MTB's in the beginning. I began to wonder why it didn't work the same, and I realized that maybe it's because the weight of the motorcycle is greater than the rider while on a bicycle the opposite is true. Therefore, body center of gravity has a bigger effect and keeping the tire adhesion as equal as possible works the best.
Also, pedaling around corners, or at least past the apex helps too. Coasting and just "motorcycling" (sticking the leg out, climbing and weighting the front end) the bicycle through the turns seems counter-productive in my view. |
| I say I weight the front end but... | shiggy
Nov 7, 2002 6:08 PM | | ...in practice it ends up being pretty centered. The tendency is to have your weight too far back. By thinking "weight forward" I get "weight balanced."
If I shift my weight a little farther forward I can pivot the bike around the front wheel. The rear wheel does not actually side, but it feels like it does sometimes.
You are correct in your technique. |
| Agreed | kristian
Nov 8, 2002 6:31 AM | | When I switched to the Boxxer, I was having problems keeping control/speed on some of the twistier trails at Keystone. Since the front wheel is further out and since the bike is so much slacker, I've really focused on weighting the front tire (which in practice is really just centering my weight better between front and rear). After a few days up there it finally clicked and I felt like I was railing around the corners. |
| some ideas | aeon
Nov 7, 2002 11:03 PM | | Yes, some tires just aren't good in some conditions. Also, a more square profile is said to bite in more in loose conditions.
I would say don't weight the front, especially in downhills. You really don't want to be on the front anytime in a downhill. Keep your weight on your pedals (standing) get back behind the seat. Keep arms and knees relaxed, and lean into the turn rather than turning the wheel. Crouch to get your centre of gravity low. Same idea with the bike: a low BB will turn easier.
Brake before the turn, enter and leave the turn as wide as possible. Use the terrain to your advantage: berms, worn tracks etc. Try to stay out of loose stuff or bumps when you're leaning. If you have a choice, go over the imbeded larger rocks rather than small loose stuff.
It's basically a mix of the three things: your tires, your technique, and your line. |
| re: Cornering and the front tire | Mikerj
Nov 8, 2002 10:52 AM | | One technique not mentioned that seems to help me is to really weight the out side pedal going around the turn. Of course the outside pedal should be at about 6:00.
Mike |
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