left curves

I've seen a kawasaki with throttle, brake lever, clutch lever,
indicator, horn and kill switch all on the left handlebar.
http://thisstupidurl.com/kawa.jpg

Nev..

 

This is a very good point. I've never quite bought the old "throttle
hand" argument, but I'm not sure why.

Now that I think about it, I've always been more comfortable sliding out
the rear wheel on a pushbike when turning left. I guess it's something
you get used to when young, but I seem to recall that most people swung
the other way.

I still say it's camber (especially on dirt roads) though.

- soakes

 

I still say its mind over matter

mh

 

The only place I really 'hurry along' is at track days and the camber of
the race tracks I ride is such that it's a constant whether I'm turning
to the left or the right.

That is to say the tracks are actually slightly banked to help travel
through the corners rather than cambered.

I don't travel fast enough on the road to notice a preference for
direction of cornering only on the track does the issue arise.


G-S

 

Used to be a rider in Melbourne years ago called "Hook" of all things, who
had all controls on one side

 

All that given Geoff, but mainly, the topic was about road conditions, not
track work
I only mentioned a track because they are designed for faster travel around
bends and the design is banked or cambered, whichever terminology you wish
to use

 

IMHO banking and cambered are too different things

banking is where the road surface starts down low on the inside of the
bend and increases upwards to the outside of the bend

Camber is where the centre of the road is the highest point and the
road surface decreases down to both sides of the road.


therefore on a banked turn, it doesn't matter which way you travel,
both the left and the right turns will be aided by the banking

in a cambered turn, in one direction you will be aided from the
positive camber, in the the other you will hindered by the negative
camber


I could be wrong, but I think its makes a big difference in this
subject

MH

 

Local Harley rider has a left appendage which locks onto the handlebars
clutch is right handed and he does perfectly fine although when he
does a release and then clips the h00k on it gets looks

 

Thinking about when I rode a pushie, I was unable to do a powerslide
(put inside foot down, use it as anchor, flick back wheel out, spray
people with dirt) or whatever you wanted to call it right handed but
left handed is no problem.

I suspect it's a combination of factors, such as the throttle (I think
it may be at most minor) and oncoming traffic (bit more than minor) but
as another issue, roundabouts are all right handers, I have no dramas
with them - will happily lean over far enough to scrape my boots on a
roundabout but give me the same thing on a normal corner and I am not as
comfy as the roundabout. Most left handers I will scrape the boot happily.

 

On a flat track I scrap both equally , road camber does have a lot of
effect though (no chicken strips but)

 

I must be wierd because I prefer turning right. Might be because our local
racetrack has 7 rights and only one left.

Fraser

 

I've seen two levers like that on stunt bikes. One for the rear brake. But
never a clutch. Guess you learn something new ever day. Good on the one
armed owner for still riding. : )

Fraser

 

That's a good point. I always felt more comfortable on my pushie turning
left as well. No throttle hand there.

What about you Zebee?

 

How do you get back to the start? Most tracks have 4 more rights than lefts
or vice versa.

Theo

 

Google earth barbagello raceway. Surely you've done a track day there Theo?

Fraser

 

I think what you have described as camber is actually the crowning of
the road surface and the camber is dependant on the lean angle of the
bike and the slope of the road surface - negative or positive camber.


Nev..

 

...and no bad arm. Rego plate was ARM-001
He had a prosthetic which he strapped to his right shoulder which
clipped on to the right bar.

Nev..

 

7 slight right bends and a very left hand bend will do it. Draw an "L"
then connect the top of the L to the bottom of the L heading clockwise
from the bottom of the L to the top.
Phillip Island only has 2 more lefts than rights but some of the 'turns'
(T5 and T7) are barely more than a few degrees realignment of the road
and others (T2) are greater than 180°. Not all turns are created equal
it seems.

Nev..

 

If that's the case (and I'm not saying it's not) then what I said was
referring to the 'crowning' / 'banking' difference between road and
track and not the 'camber', but given those terminology changes I still
think what I said applies.

G-S

 

Nope, camber is as per that description. What most people refer to as
camber is banking. A road surface can have both camber and banking.
The vernacular has replaced banking with camber but is technically
incorrect.

Think of wing camber on an aircraft. It is what creates lift. The
upper surface has a raised profile in the middle compared to the lower
surface. The pressure difference as the air flows over the upper
surface and has to go faster gives lift under the lower surface
</physics lesson>

Camber is used on roads to clear water. Banking is used to keep
g-forces vertical rather than lateral.

HTH