It's not a problem, it is a lack of understanding. Improving your understanding will increase your skill and give you confidence.

First of all - don't be embarrassed. Alive and embarrassed is better than a dead hero.

OK, advising someone on their riding can be very dangerous without seeing them, helping them understand and most importantly showing them. But I'll give it a go....


First off all, it is not your body that controls the lean of the bike. It is your steering. Without knowing, when you enter a corner, you actually steer the wrong way - except for certain conditions, you cannot steer a bike around a corner fast, it is very different to a car (or quad).

When you enter a corner you will steer towards the outside of the corner, this (through a whole load of physics theories) will cause the bike to lean into the corner - we call it positive steering (you will also hear the term 'counter steer'). The more you steer out of the corner, the more the bike will lean into, and the tighter the turn will become.

You need to learn this. The best way, find a quiet road with long sweeping corners that you can see to be clear. approach the corner in a road position that you feel comfortable with and keep you body upright and as stiff as you can. As you approach the corner push one side of the handlebars (the side in the direction you wish to travel), so if it a bend to the right, push the right bar forward. You will feel the bike start to lean and turn to the right. On left bends, push the left bar.

The more you push the bars = tighter cornering.

Start gently, and remember to push the bars for corners, you will find that you are turning the bike tighter, therefore you will be able to corner faster.


IMPORTANT - Do not just try to go fast round corners for the sake of it, the next steps are much more important ....

Position

This is the singular most important part of cornering.

You should enter a corner as far to the outside as is safe (depending on which side of the road you ride, remember vehicles could be coming the other way!)

Speed - Never go faster than you feel comfortable with.

You need to get the entry speed right, start off slow and increase as your cornering confidence grows.

Watch the vanishing point - this is the view along the road where the left side of the road and the right side meet, or form a point. This is the vanishing point. The Vanishing point tells you how fast to go.

As the vanishing point moves away from you, you can accelerate, as the point comes closer to you, you slow down (in corner, if you get your speed wrong,you can use your rear brake gently to slow, this also has the effect of 'tightening' the corner, or making the bike turn a little quicker).

So far so good.....

When you enter a corner, look for the exit point, the piece of road you want to ride out of the corner on. Use your Positive Steering to turn the bike. As the bike turns, you need to increase the throttle a little to compensate for the loss in speed due to corner forces (the science/physics thing)

There is a phenomenon called 'Target Fixation' whereby the bike will go where you look. It is something we can use if we get into trouble - look at the gap and look hard if you are loosing control, you will end up where you look!.

We can also use Target Fixation to improve our cornering. As you turn in the corner, look at the exit point, you will go there.

Exiting

You need to exit the corner in the right road position for the next corner. If this is a straight, then position yourself for the straight. Different circumstances will dictate the safe place to exit the corner.

Bringing it all together

1. As you approach the corner - Get into the right road position
2. Look for the Vanishing Point, adjust your speed so you have no need to brake mid corner
3. Use Positive Steering to turn the bike in the corner, looking at your exit point
4. Start to increase your speed as the bike turns, gently at first - you will improve with practice
5. When the bike straightens upright, you can give it maximum power
6. Line yourself up for your next corner

These are techniques given at an advanced level, which is why it is dangerous to use them without instruction. Start slowly and you will become more confident and much smoother in your cornering. You will find that you can corner fast without actually going fast. The most important part is your position before the corner, get that right and your cornering will be very quick, get it wrong and you'll loose speed, loos stability , slow down or maybe even crash!!

What I've briefly explained above has lots of things missing, and would take a lot of hours instruction to get right. Give it a go, come back and tell us how you've improved your skill and confidence.

Ride Safe.

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.