I bought a Suzuki GSX R1400, and I already looked at the article about the GSX-R1400. But I still have a question...

Tight corners, especially 90 degree turns, blow my mind. I always end up rolling off far more than necessary. What can I do?

You can't force confidence, and worrying about your speed won't make you more confident, it will put you more on edge. Worse, chasing speed could lead to going far too fast into a tight corner in a attempt to make it out the other side.

So rather than worrying about how fast you're going, concentrate on how you're sitting on the bike and where you're looking. You want to stay relaxed, with you're inside shoulder dropped and your head turned into the corner while you really focus on where the corner's going. As you become more comfortable and confident, getting better at matching your speed to these tight turns, you'll gradually get faster. Just don't rush it.

This problem is quite common. In fact, two of the riders I trained this week asked for help on this very subject. In my experience, riders tend to have more hairy moments in tight corners than they do in fast ones.

The tighter the bend the more precise your speed needs to be on the way in, being 10 km/h out for a 40 km/h bend doesn't sound like a lot, but the line you have to take through the corner is enormous. The governing factor here is simply physics.

Double the velocity (speed) of a mass (bike and rider) and you quadruple its kinetic energy. So double the speed and quadruple the radius on which you have to turn.

Another problem we have is that tight corners are always difficult to asses, the point at which we can accurately asses the corner may well not be until we're right on top it or even, sometimes, turning into it. Corners of any description rarely have a constant radius and tighter bends are more likely to have a varying radius, rarely with the tight part of the corner at the start.

Corners that cannot be accurately assessed before the entry point require us to have the techniques to change speed in the corner. Learning how to trail throttle and to trail brake into corners can make a significant difference to your confidence as it gives you the tools to be able to cope with these situations.

In the meantime, it is much better to roll off more than is necessary and not worry about it. At least you're safe, and in any case, if you are slightly slower into the corner, you'll be able to take a much better exit line and get on the acceleration earlier.