Modern Vespa

Ever since I have been riding I have always been able to turn and curve to the right with almost no effort. Lefts on the other hand require much more effort and concentration.

I have heard many others say the same thing, but has anyone ever found a cause for this? Is it possibly related to being right-handed? Or does it simply take a ton of practice to improve the opposite turns?

I'm right handed and find the opposite is true ... lefts are easier.

Hmmm, that's interesting. Now I'm really stumped...LOL

Are we talking tight turns (hairpins or U-turns) or fast sweepers?

I'm fine both left and right turns, but when it comes to twisties, I have more trouble going left than right. My trouble is following the "outside - inside - outside" turning principal when another vehicle is coming around the bend - the "inside" part of my turn takes me closer to the vehicle and that causes me to be uncomfortable.

With rights, I can race through curves as well as make hairpin turns all without hardly thinking about it. On lefts I find that I have to think and concentrate as opposed to just doing it. For example, I tie my shoelaces without even thinking about what I'm doing - the best example I can think of.

For people who drive on the other side of the road I wonder if the opposite is true.

I have a harder time with left turns mostly because it was a left that I crashed on. Every now and then I'll be in the middle of a left turn and have a flashback.

I'm right handed and i also find lefts easier. I find uphill curves easier than down hill ones also.

See, this is what puzzles me. It's like I am feeling apprehensive but I have no reason to. I've never crashed or had a close call, maybe I did in a past life

It is for me. I think it has to do with the road camber. I prefer the left hand sweepers when I'm out near the centre of the road. I don't like right sweepers where 1) you're working against the camber and 2) you're close to the edge of the road where all the crud gets.

John W.

I just read an article on road camber, and this makes perfect sense! Now I just have to figure out how to counteract this.

Actually, you should be doing outside-outside-centre in a left-hand curve (US etc[1]) - for better visibility and acceleration once the road is seen to be clear. On a right-hander (US again) it should be sticking near to the centre line all the way, unless you can see a left curve is looming soon afterwards. I have to comment that the California Motorcycle handbook for one has some rather dangerous practices drawn in their diagrams...

[1] And vice-versa (left/right) in the UK, natch.

Its the same thing, be positive and do it. If you can turn one way you can turn the other. Turn off the little part of your brain that says that it is different or harder.
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lefts in the USA you can see father thru the turn than rights. Which for me makes them easier. Also if you were to happen to low side you would go the the outside of the turn. Now if you were to low side on a right you would slide to the oncoming lane. So for me I take rights a bit more cautiously.

do the outside -inside -outside technique is the easiest way to straighten the corner for minimal lean.

Interesting topic! I'm born left-handed but was taught (forced) to use right hand for certain things (writing for example) but many other things I use my left hand (mouse, trackpad, scissors, knife). I find lefthand turns easier than righthand turns. For me, I attribute this to because when the handlebar is turned to the right extreme, my throttle hand (the right hand) is so jammed to my body I have more trouble controlling it.

My take on it is that in the US, where we ride on the right, left turns are longer radius turns than right turns. Therefore you are turning harder or tighter to the right. The opposite in UK and other places. Are right turns easier there?


(I also think torque effect shows up to some degree. On various BMWs the bike would fall smoothly down into a left turn where you had to be more deliberate and attentive when turning right.)

I believe several issues are at play at once:

1: Road camber

2:Whether you are left, right handed or ambidextrous

3: Whether you are left or right side brain dominant (this is separate to being left or right handed and well worth looking up!)

4: Finally your balance. Most people lean very slightly to the left or right and do not even realise it. For example when you walk along a straight line do you drift to the left or right? Can you roller skate? If you can which leg to you lead with? This will have consequences when you lean on the bike in a turn and make you more comfortable with one over the other.

I am better at lefts than rights.
I am left handed a - southpaw
I live in the southern hemisphere
In New Zealand we drive on the left.

oh..and I'm right-brain dominant

I drive on the correct side of the road.

Right handed

Left turns easier.

Which way do they race speedway? Is it different around the world?

Australia goes left.

I think all speedway goes left - anticlockwise as speedway bikes and cars are some of the most asymmetrically configured racing vehicles there are. Lots of drivers compete internationally so I think they all go left.

6 x World Champ, Ivan Mauger (NZ) circa 1976 8)

Doing the 'inside' in the middle of a left turn could be a head-removal move.

And I *hate* oncoming riders who do that.

Outside-outside-straighten up to the centre ready for the next turn...

Interestingly, for any given curve, the curvature of the 'optimal' road-riding (as opposed to track) line is roughly the same in each direction.

Since a curve can be anything, I was really thinking about "turns" or 90 degree turns from an intersection. But I have felt the torque effect on curves in a repeatedly serpentine section of road too. I think it is part of the sensual effect of taking a BMW through a real snake.

This is just blatant advertising Boulty

Check out this forum conversation.
Riding questions / bike concerns

Sounds to me we are very similar with our lefts.
Did a lot of riding today and found that I wasn't doing what I was initially taught in looking through the entire turn and was likely not not at the right speed for the twist. Today's riding has been exponentially more enjoyable and I am beginning to think it just takes practice.

Outside / inside ... I am doing that all just fine around most the curves and the twists, but, as you will see in the other thread, last week I found that when I did anything on the left-hand side, I felt there was quite a bit of resistance.

I got the tires checked and filled to where they need to be and had other basic service done ... and that too, for me, gave me piece of mind to keep up the practicing.

Hope this helps, or at least realize you ain't alone on this one.

Can't turn left (Zoolander)