Cycling UK Forum

I can see the head job view.
When i slow up to stop at lights say,i get the right foot unclipped and ready to touch down, and at the moment of stopping foot down and lean/turn slightly to the right.
So my brain is programmed that at very low speeds it is expecting me stop and to do that i always put the right foot down and lean to the right .When i try attempting a very slow speed but very tight left turn my brain says NO STUPID PUT YOUR RIGHT FOOT DOWN AND LEAN RIGHT

Reohn2
No injuries to talk of on left or right.

Could also be that i use clipless pedals , so i am use to unclipping the right foot ready,might try keeping the left out as well.

jezer wrote:Oh, and I forgot, I always have my rear brake lever on the right-hand side, continental style. Probably not best in UK but it works for me.

It means that when you indicate across the road (i.e. to turn right) you still have the nice powerful stopping brake available.

Personally I tend to have stopped indicating by the time I'm using brakes...

Indeboat wrote:Well that about sums it up ,i find turning tight to the right no problem,but when trying to turn tight to the left i have to put a foot down !
Something to do with balance ?
Does anyone else find this,or maybe turning right harder and left easy.
This is low speed u turns.
High speed on the road no problem.

Can i enquire whether your L/Handed or R/Handed . I'm L/Handed and find L/H turns easier than R/H ones . Plus i tend to favour using my left leg when i've stopped . I've always assumed that in my case,the brain is "wired" to favour the L/H side .

PaulCumbria wrote:Which foot do you normally put down when you stop? I put my left down, and I find it easier to turn tightly to the left - I think the two are connected.

I put my right foot down when i stop, i get on the bike from the right side. I'm right handed.

Yet i turn better on my left side.

MattyDeez wrote:I put my right foot down when i stop, i get on the bike from the right side. I'm right handed.

Yet i turn better on my left side.

Aah, well you're the exception that proves the rule, Matty

Indeboat wrote:Well that about sums it up ,i find turning tight to the right no problem,but when trying to turn tight to the left i have to put a foot down !
Something to do with balance ?
Does anyone else find this,or maybe turning right harder and left easy.
This is low speed u turns.
High speed on the road no problem.

One arm longer than the other?

I'm right handed and find I'm much more comfortable in left handers than right handers. I also tend to mount my bike from the left. Not quite sure what you do that is so different but I agree that its probably practice based. It's worth noting that everyone has a preference, even all the way up to motogp riders. The ones from anticlockwise dirt track racing backgrounds tend to go better on anticlockwise tracks than on clockwise ones (which is the more common way around)

Do you lead with your right leg forward? If so, this will make a left-hand turn easier than a right-hander.
The solution is to lead with the opposite leg to the turn (ie left-leg forward for a right-hand turn, right leg for a left-turn).
This assumes you are talking about a tight switchback turn.
For a wide sweeping turn you want to push down through the outer pedal, pointing your inner knee at the exit.
You should always be looking as far down the road or trail as you can.

I'm very right-handed and very right-legged and I mount almost invariably from the right and put my left food down.

I don't know, and I've never noticed, if I turn tighter to the left. It would make sense If I were to be better at left turns, but I've never tried to check.

I see a trip to a carpark on my next ride to see.

I learnt to ride in the UK, so I was taught to mount from the pavement, i .e. the left. I've done that ever since. Ditto when I put my foot down I do so the way I first learnt, UK pavement side, so that the bike leans away from the traffic (è pericoloso sporgersi, as it used to say on the train windows). Probably because of this I can turn much more tightly to the left than the right, because my left foot comes out of the pedal instinctively, whereas I have to think before popping it on the other side. If I take my attention off the road when riding I drift leftwards - not a good thing in France. When I'm coasting I usually have the left leg straight and the right one bent.

Anyone here get off the bike on the side opposite the one they get on, so that they have to walk round to remount?

I mount from the right which stems from years of old Scooter and Motorbike riding,standing on the right holding front brake on and kick starting from the right.

Yes the problem is on switchback type turns,very tight.

Today i went out to get some stuff from the local village and i tried putting my left foot down at the lights etc. felt very awkward and not at all balanced, just felt all wrong.
When i got back home i tried riding around the car park first left then right,both feet out of the clips and after a while left turns got better.

It would seem that the feedback at the moment is ,
Left foot down better left turns.
Right foot down better right turns.

My left leg is stronger than my right as well so i lead with it.

Deff head job.

Need to do more practice on tight lefts,keeping head up.

Interesting post this, as I'd thought about this previously, but no-one at the club had done so.

I mount from the left (and assumed this was the British way, from mounting the bike from pavements - not that we have any round here); and consequently, the right pedal is in the up position and I push off from there.
I am left-handed, but fairly ambidextrous and bat and kick right-handed.

However, I can turn tightly to the left but have difficulty making tight manouevres to the right (anti-Tory?).

Audax67 wrote:....Anyone here get off the bike on the side opposite the one they get on, so that they have to walk round to remount?

....you were joking?

I've recently learned to ride a uncicyle and for a long time had to go round in clockwise circles, just couldn't master turning left. The solution, lots of practice, I did my first tight-ish figure of eight today and now feel comfortable turning either way.

Mick F wrote:I'm very right-handed and very right-legged and I mount almost invariably from the right and put my left food down. I don't know, and I've never noticed, if I turn tighter to the left. It would make sense If I were to be better at left turns, but I've never tried to check.
I see a trip to a carpark on my next ride to see.

Tried it yesterday.

I called in at the local railway station where there's a flat bit of tarmac. I went round and round in both directions, did figure of eights, all in bottom gear.

No matter how slow I went, I could turn equally well both ways - and very tight turns they were. Having narrow dropped bars and being clipped in didn't help, but I was very pleased with my turning circles. Good job I don't have toe overlap!

I may go back soon with a piece of chalk and a tape measure ....................