Yo Paul! Plenty of rad tips going on here. You've probably got loads of people giving hunners of different conflicting bits of advice. Some people drop pedals and it works, some don't, some weight inside hand when cornering, some don't. Key thing is try everything and find what works for you. BUT, in general you're absolutely correct that your biggest mistake is your tendency to squat down with your legs and push your chest back with your arms. Some things to try out to help remedy this are: • Try and maintain light pressure in your hands when changing direction. • Try and keep your head directly over the bars when changing direction. •Try and run your legs almost straight as your default position then only bend them when required. •Try and always reset the legs to almost straight when the trail allows to stop you defaulting to the squat. • When pumping the bike into a turn DON'T pump with the arms, try pumping just with your legs. Feels like you're going to push yourself out the front door but what it does is stops you leaning back and settles you into an "attacking" position ready for the next turn. It's VERY hard to concisely put what you should be doing into words as everyone has a different understanding of certain words and phrases. Play with some of the above in a safe environment and use what works for you. In my opinion there's not a lot of point in doing the "fancy" stuff until you get your weight distribution sorted. Then you can go nuts. Give it 2 years and you can be Paul the Semi Professional. 😉😂
Just what I was thinking. Fascinating to watch Casper work out how his student was thinking, and trying to find a way to get his teaching across. Nice kid and good video.
I like your joke but no kidding, this was confusing. No one knows how to articulate verbally how we walk or do a million other things, so how can anyone verbalize how to corner on a bicycle, when the physicists can't tell us how we even balance on one? But we can learn by watching right and wrong ways of doing things. I wish these videos were all slow motion with several split screens from many angles.
Hi, really interresting. I'm a ski instructor and i'm back on mtb since 3 years now. And i passed my level2 mtb leaderchip on the way of mtb coaching level2. In fact to summarise the turn you done on this video, it's an exact copy of a ski turn we call carving ski. The main thing is : "you have to dissociate upper body and legs". The target is to fix your balance on your outside foot. To do this: A/ move your knees inside the turn, and turn your hips to come above the outside foot B/ in the same time you push your knees forward and do the same with your arms and hands and focus on the outside , to help imagine you drawn your turn with the outside hand, like that your shoulders will anticipate the turn 2/ reverse your hips 3/ don't look down but fix the exit of your line 4/ to be nn attack position and get the shoulder above the Handel bar, you have to move inside your belly button, push your knees forward and bend your ankles. In fact that's strickly an apply of carving ski turn😉😉 Thanks for your videos i love it... and i apologise for my english i'm french...
@@colinberry276 - Biking is like skiing only if you ski and/or bike incorrectly or at a low-intermediate level on over-groomed trails. BTW - ski instructors generally start teaching beginners, and after a few years, they can be assigned the low-intermediates. Most ski instructors are upper-intermediates. If a skier sticks to only what a resort instructor taught him, he will be a terminal intermediate. Same goes for MTB instruction. For example: Experts skiers do not concentrate on putting their weight on the outside ski; they keep their weight balanced on both skis. The idea is to get both skis carving. This is critical in powder skiing. The expert skier keeps his momentum generally down the fall line. OTOH, a mountain biker generally rides meandering trails where the direction of momentum must change. Expert MTB cornering technique depends on several variables, but the main concept is that the rider varies his body's relationship with the bike, and the bike's relationship with the trail, in order to change the direction of momentum of both to remain upright and on the trail. So, what Théo de La Soujeole writes (I think) may work fine in some situations, but will definitely fail in others. It is my experience that his point A/ is wrong for skiing, but sometimes correct for biking - except for consciously turning your hips; point B/ is wrong for both skiing and biking - but for different reasons; point 2/ is generally wrong for biking - you want to snap back to a neutral-ready position; point 4/ I don't really understand. Hip and knee flexion/extension is important in both sports, but keeping the knees deeply flexed is not good for either. Forward-leaning bias in skiing unweights the ski tails and so helps low-intermediates skid their turns. It it not used by experts. Weighting to the rear is never good in skiing. OTOH, shifting the weight backward on the bike via a hip-hinge is a super-important technique that is not used in skiing. Also, in MTB the ankles are often in dorsiflexion whereas in skiing the ankles are never in dorsiflexion.
So true, keep the upper body upright to keep your centre of gravity central, and lean the bike (or skis) into the corner to carve around with pressure on the outside foot to keep grip (or drive the edge of the ski in)
WOW, read up on counter steering theory for motorcycles - I found it applies to MTB as well. In the theory you're pushing the inside bar (actually) forward, so that the undercarriage flicks out AWAY from (to the outside of) the curve (you momentarily steer to the outside of the curve), then immediately lessen the pressure to start controlling the turn. Keep applying loose (controlled) pressure on the inside bar to control the turn. It works magically on a motorbike and I found it works on my MTB as well with a few modifications (lots more more finesse for one).
Actually, it's more like "then immediately **replace the forward push with straight down pressure** to start controlling the turn (in longer turns, your weight will shift onto it too as you lean over, so beware)"
Underrated comment, more need to read this. The faster you go and the heavier the bike, the more this applies. People coming from a pedal bike and even dirt bike background have a hard time with street bikes and track days for this reason. The problem (or advantage) to pedal bikes is that the rider is easily 4 times heavier than the machine, so rider weight shift (subtle ones at that), can lean the bike, masking the true mechanics of what’s going on-and a lot of misconception on how to turn any 2 wheel, single track vehicle, namely countersteering.
Yeah, I agree ..and, I found the opposite true too - that people will try to tell you your bicycle riding skills won't help you on a motorbike, and that is patently untrue. Nothing taught me how to cope with a short two wheel slide, other than having done it numerous times cresting slick clay trails in the rain on my MTB (wheels sliding around within the trough of the trail) ..no brakes, smooth pedaling until you make it to point past the clay where there is control. It happened within two years of motorbike riding, and my reflexes took over, and I was able to recognise the oil patch, relax and slip-slide through to the other side where there was traction. Both these scenarios happen(ed) on fairly level ground so the key was relaxing and no sudden inputs. Mid-corner would be a different story on both bikes. The biggest diff I found learning motorbikes is the width of the tyres ...a raised (off tyre-centre) patch of bitumen, really uneven road (left to right) or even mounting a slight lip at a shallow angle, can throw the motorbike off-line greatly (it actually tries to tip you and the bike in the other direction) ... you have to muscle things on uneven ground to go where you want to. Also, having been a bicycle courier, I was already comfortable in traffic on 2 wheels.
This is indeed what’s missing in the video. Lots of stuff on how to perhaps steer, but nobody seems to know why. Counter steering is really the main means to lean the bike and all the other techniques are used to position the relative weight of the rider and bike at a certain point to enable either a small turn radius or more ground clearance. Once you figure out the physics it all becomes easier to understand and to train.
By a country mile, this is the best and most technical tutorial on cornering. If you want to improve your cornering watch this. Kasper might be young but he is a very good teacher! Thank you....
Damn you can tell this guy was a high end slalom/GS skier. So much translates over from ski racing to mtb downhill. Especially with turning - the separation of body from bike (i.e. the bike leaning into the turn while your body stays much more upright) is such a basic and important ski technique. It allows you to turn much more rapidly and efficiently from turn to turn not to mention greatly lessens the chance of skidding out. Unfortunately I discovered mtb way too late in life but I’ll never forget that first downhill run on a full suspension rental. I was immediately hooked for life. “This is what I’ve been missing all these years in the warm months. It’s so much like skiing!” I used to dream for winter to come. Now I can honestly say I enjoy mtb more. I’m constantly learning and improving in mtb. In skiing I plateaued (at a high level) many years ago. One thing still does beat the best downhill mtb run however - bottomless virgin powder on a blue bird morning after a stormy night dumping tons of pow. There’s no feeling like it - maybe a big glassy wave surfing a gorgeous break. But I don’t surf.
Exactly! That's angulation & seperation! The very same for biking and skiing! Only difference: when skiing, you wanna always keep your torso pointing straight down the hill, whilst when biking, you wanna steer with your torso, so, turn your torso, where you wanna go! For Kaspar's teaching skills: What he is doing and what he's saying doesn't match up! (1) he's is clearly turning his torso into turns, allthough he teaches not to do so, (2) he is dropping his outside foot to get more weight on it, but teaches not to do so, (3) He's pointing his inside (and also the outside!) knee into the turn, whilst he's speaking of turning the knee out! (dipping both knees to the inside for angulation is just the right thing!!). If that guy was a pro skier, then I guess the difference between railing a bike and railing skis through turns, i.e. the difference that I pointed out first, might be the cause for all of his confusion, when trying to put it into words.. Just watch 9:02 to 9:06 - he is changing leading and trailing foot, from one turn to the other, always weighting the trailing=outside foot!! And how much he is twisting his upper body into turns and dipping both knees to the inside! This is 100% perfect cornering technique for flat (!) turns! But just way different from what he teaches Paul..
This video popped up on my recommended again after a few years. I remember it being helpful the first time and watching it again I find that I understand it differently than when I watched it 2 years ago. I think the specifics about body position are hard to teach because they change throughout the turn and are also dependent on cornering speed. What should be taught is what the body positions are trying to achieve - using your body weight to press your front and rear tires into the ground. There should be a feeling of weight on both tires. The more your weight is in line with the direction your tires are pressed into the ground, the more grip they will have. In order to turn at higher speed without feeling like you are going to tip over to the outside, you will naturally lean. When you lean, you will naturally find the body positions occur. Your inside arm drops to account for the lean, your inside knee bends to make way for the top tube leaning over. I think the one thing that is harder to intuitively feel (until you experience a wash out) is to have too much weight on the inside while leaning. It is much safe to bias the weight slightly to the outside. That went to the comment Kasper made about feeling pressure on your outside palm vs your inside one. Your weight should be biased more to the touch points on top of the bike while it is leaning. That way if there's a loss of traction you can remain on top of the bike instead of the tires washing out and you falling to the inside.
Watching this video has made a huge improvement in my riding. I just finished shredding my local trail rarely using the brakes for corners. I used to approach fast corners timidly, knowing I needed to angle the bike but always braking at the last second. Now I approach the corner in an aggressive stance; knees, elbows bent. Just like Kasper said my chest is lower to the bike and I feel coiled up ready to attack the turn. The rest really comes naturally. The stance alone gives me so much more control in the turn that it makes the rest easy. Turning the bike at a further angle feels like a natural extension at that point.
Aside from the great content, I really just enjoy the dynamic between Kasper and Paul. You guys are hilarious together. And great editing. Especially the moments you each say will get edited out but get left in.
I came across this video by accident while looking for videos for how to take corners fast & safely on my TREK Hybrid bike. I used to cycle around as my main commute years ago so my speed gradually increased. That was a Raleigh racer & I was well used to taking corners fast on that. I got back on the bike February this year (I'm 49 years old), but, all the drop bar bikes were crossbars & that put me right off. I don't feel secure taking corners as fast on the flat bars as I did on the drop bars. Now I know what I was doing wrong. Will be practicing these in the park. Very informative video. Subscribing & hitting the bell.
It's always good to know that what makes your bike change it's direction is the input on the handlebar, not how much you lean the bike. I mean, rotating your handlebar is what should make you lean, not the inverse. This becomes evident if you compare how hard Kasper turns the handlebar compared to Paul, maybe that's what was so hard to discover. I actually figured out this in Twist of the Wrist (for motorcycles). I don't know if my beliefs are true but i've verified the advantages of thinking about turning the handlebar before leaning the bike on hard corners. Hope it helps!
This is the best cornering video I have ever watched! I watched it many times. It was very confusing at first, but as I practiced and getting better, everything starts to make sense, and I learn something new every time I watch it again! Thanks heaps
Back for my 4th viewing, this one just keeps on giving! "Your step one is what you want to be doing later in the turn, you have to build" is definitely making more sense. plus coming back to Cathro tossing in some gems in the comments doesn't hurt.
Point the inside knee IN. It's the inside knee since it's the one inside the turn. Then it also must be pointing "inside" into the turn. If you point the inside knee out it's pointing out, away from the turn.
Love the vids but always annoyed by the term "punter" for no real reason. I asked my co-worker in Hull what it meant and he only knew it as a gambler. Google says its a prostitutes client, customer or member of an audience... Since you refer to yourself as "Paul the Punter" - which definition would you use to describe yourself then? LOL
Scott Strickland haha yeah I did NOT know about the Australian version until about a year ago. It’s a term we used to use at the bike park I worked at to describe the tourists. But later on I realised what guts it takes to show up and just try a sport like mountain biking, so that’s where it came from.
That is a really good video. With your video i can compare my cornering and what i do wrong and i have the chance to change it! And you have mostly the same questions like us. Why? We are also no professionals 😄(but like a professional....?!?😄) Please more videos like this. Maybe jumping, steeps something like this. THANK YOU
This style of how-to is by far the best I've seen. Usually it's an expert explaining how-to, but a pro watching an average rider and critiquing on the spot gave me a few Eureka! moments.
After practicing all these classic tips a lot I found the thing that really helped me was thinking about keeping my outside knee forward. It's like resisting the turn forces, but thinking about it in those terms helped me a lot. I've also heard lots of people say to weight the inside grip, I think it came from Moto where weighting the inside is needed due to the bike mass. But someone explained the difference in a really instructive way once and it really helped me too: if you stand next to your bike, with it leaned over and push down on the inside grip the front wheel will slide out and the bike will fall. Alternatively if you push down on the outside grip the front tire will have traction and the bike won't fall. Try it!
@@TheBigBloakHimself which thought was helpful for you? When you're doing everything right, the outside knee forward really helps. I don't even know if I move my knee 1 cm forward, but somehow it makes me lock into turns and have a lot more front wheel traction confidence.
This is a video of Paul the Punter teaching a talented and accomplished pro how to teach his skills to others. Unique and entertaining twist on a tutorial video!
Thanks for this video! I strongly relate; I did some lessons with a super talented younger rider myself and a it felt a lot like this video; he was struggling a bit to find ways to communicate what he does so naturally, but we made progress. I've been working on my turning myself and found the "outside arm" thing really clicked for me. Focusing on my outside arm had a number of advantages: more leverage, more range of motion to provide more ability to modulate, and more emphasis on getting my weight on the outside of the turn instead of leaned into the turn. Keep up the good work!
Just wanted to say that since watching this video a few weeks ago my cornering has improved immensely it's all starting click for me. I've been riding 2 to 3 times a week for 2 years now and thought I was already good at cornering, I was wrong.. Cheers!
Lucky it only took you two years to come across this resource. The hard thing for me was unlearning 20 years of bad habits. No other riding clinic or coaching I've had in the past did so much to improve my riding. Thanks Kasper and Paul for sharing these cornering insights. Been practicing them every outing, 2 to 3 times a week for over a month now. Focusing on just one thing at a time helps tremendously. Cheers guys!
Really learned a few things in this video. Had never heard the tip of keeping weight a little more on the higher outside bar rather than pushing the inside bar down. Seems like your center of gravity should be aligned somewhere over the outside half of the bar with the bike leaned over. Makes sense - that's where the tire contact patch is.
Literally the first video I have ever seen that actually explains how to blast corners properly and not just talking about line and opening up a corner... More of these please Paul... Plus it's good fun watching you struggle, just like I will when I try this 😂
Naturally from motocross I do alot of this already but it's good to have it explained like this. Sometimes I dont know why I'm doing something on the bike, i just naturally do it. Like the level pedals in corners was one thing I had to learn that wasnt natural to me.
I saw immediate improvements in my riding after watching this video once and each time I've been out since, my turning is getting better and better. Thanks!
I actually went out yesterday with the intent of trying some of these cornering tips. By the end of the ride, I was able to consistently slide the rear tire out, without the front washing out. Turns out all you need is to completely disregard personal safety!
If I may elaborate on one thing, in trying to hinge instead of squat, rather than dropping the butt, think of pushing the butt back. In order to maintain balance with a neutral spine and vertical shins you'll naturally hinge. Practise it off the bike to get the hinge movement pattern down (ie a Romanian deadlift but just to the knees), then apply it on the bike. Great video!
This is actually super helpful. I learned to corner the same way you did. Dropping my outside foot and twisting my hips. As a result, I've always felt like I lose speed when trying to switch back and forth rapidly. I'm definitely going to apply these techniques 🤘
I think twisting the hips is ok, as long as you twist it to the direction where you wanna go, I think what Paul needs to do is the body and bike separation, relax and don't brake on the turn.
@@PaulThePunter Hi Paul - Not a JEDI but better riders are telling me if the trail has berms ride pedals flat if loose gravel / no catch berm ride out side pedal down. What's working for you?
This is a nice healthy mutually beneficial partnership , as Kasper teaches you how to ride , hes learning how to teach , you can almost see him storing info on how to explain things better as he goes along. Its fascinating stuff. Good job.
I found this a really helpful video. I tended to push the bike down with my inside arm, and this works to a point. But I tries following Kasper's advice of just relaxing the inside arm (maybe just a light push to get the bike leaning a bit) But really focusing on using the outside arm to lean the bike and drive the front wheel into the turn seems to give me more grip and make me turn quicker - its quite a re-learning process as I was so used to using my inside arm more. But Im sure there is a benefit with using the outside arm and focusing on that - especially on flat corners. You can sort of twist your outside wrist (lifting little finger and pushing down with thumb to initiate the turn, or slight push with inside arm) but once the bike starts to lean, drive the outside arm towards the centre of the turn almost parallel , or along the axis of the bars. Bit difficult to explain and its a bit of a weird feeling at first but really seems to make you turn quicker and provide more front wheel traction - I'd be interested to hear if it works for anyone else!
Ive had some form of basic coaching before. It was totally different to this approach. I liked this more because it was a developing pro who doesnt regularly coach trying to describe the way it works for him. Not a scripted routine chat to a group of novices at differing levels. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Low speed cornering is a whole new world indeed. The bulk of my mtb years were spent finding and working on high speed, low traction corners, and "cornering" nowadays seems to be all about low speed and high traction, which requires a different and specific set of techniques.
Best advice I ever heard. That would sum all this up perfectly: “lay your bike down around corners”. That’s it. The rest of this comes naturally when you do that.
learned that the hard way with very non grippy tires over gravel, funny thing is the second time i hit that corner i naturally leaned the bike underneath me and it felt better, now after watching this video it confirmed that i was on the right track, also switched to grippier tires and holy shiet it feels like i could lean the bike flat against the ground without slipping XD
As you lean the bike , someone once told me to point your hips towards where you want to go, it’s amazing how the other stuff( body weight , arms , legs , ) feels more natural then
Coming from a ski and snowboard background the key is in the hips, knees and tipping the bike! LOOK AT THE OUTSIDE KNEE! It is pointing TOWARD the corner and right at the line between the knee, head tube and corner line, or just inside the head tube a few degrees to the inside. The INSIDE knee is pointing to the direction and slightly to the inside of the apex of the corner and "leading" the whole body. This in combination with the bike tip (dab) and slight dropping of the body (squat) forces the weight of the body into the tires, which is basically a 75-85 degree line. Boi-mechanics. There is more going on and with keeping petals more level, this allows for more efficient BIKE movement, by dropping the outside heel on every corner it slows the bike movement and puts your body weight outside the sweet spot and wastes time and mechanical advantage you can gain in keeping the petals level and driving with BOTH knees, Where the knees go the hips will point! and the bike goes!
As everyone has said, awesome video, has also helped me heaps. Can you address something that is never talked about but makes a huge difference....? Timing. As in turning in too late or too early, when to start rotating through and controlling the pressure. I find this is often the difference between railing and grabbing a handful of brake but never realise it at the time. For me it feels like I almost have to go past the corner before initiating the turn, which is a compensation for many years of setting up and turning in too early. Keep up the great vids..... oh and remember to sing through the corner too....
i think it's pretty funny that this guy is so practiced that it comes completely naturally to him and he can't even explain his technique in words anymore. much respect
I can honestly say I wasn't looking for this information, but I'm glad I now have this information. This was really good; I hope y'all can do more like this
Balancing over the bars feels weird at first but after one gets used to it, your technical skills improve immensely. Kasper did a good job of explaining the details of the cornering technique here. Easy to understand. Great video.
glad someone finally brought up the level-pedals thing... I've learned the hard way, that dropping your outside foot all the way down (instead of a weight shift with heel drop) just makes your bike want to stand up instead of lean in the turn... This kid has tons of talent...
It always depends on the type of corner. In slaloms like they were practicing dropping isn't worth it. When you have a flat corner pressure on the outside foot and outside hand will keep the bike down when you're in the right position. Speed also plays a factor too and how much grip you need. Dropping a foot will get you more grip, but if its a really quick turn keeping your feet level will make sure you don't clip the ground and screw around with feet dropping.
@@JamesStoup you definitely ARE an expert rider, but i disagree...because this is the internet :') lol jk... great advice! I had a coach tell me the outside foot thing... and how dropping it all the way makes the bike want to stand up instead of keep the healthy lean... He said to think of it as more of a weight shift that causes the foot to drop (a little bit).... instead of the other way around: dropping the foot all the way to get the weight shift.... I don't know if it makes sense in writing, but it seems to help me on the trail... *also, we don't see many berms around my parts hahaha
@@TheCrashingDad It does, but it depends where your weight is too. If all your weight is in your feet, then outside foot will bring the bike up. But where your weight is changes a lot throughout a corner. You don't get into 1 position and hold it the whole way through. For example, weighting the front into the turn with an outside foot down initiates the corner. Then as you apex and exit the corner, weight shifts to the outside foot standing the bike upright and unweights the front. Just like pumping a roller, except on it's side. Do it with enough power and you start to BRAAAPP and rip some knobs off your tires.
I finally understand what I've been doing wrong. My coach used to tell me to move forward. Bc I was squatting as soon as I approach steep corner. Hinge like doing deadlift instead of squatting. It all makes sense why my hip flexor burns when I ride downhill w more berms and jumps. Too much squatting. Thanks for keep squatting so I know I'm not the only one doing that. Lean bike and resist squatting. Good point. Thanks.
Learning to teach is as great as learning to bike. Great rough draft teaching and biking and will really check these techniques out. Thanks for keeping all the footage you did.
I am no expert. :) But I probably can help with what was suggested in this video. The hips needs to face the turn. It helps with the knee idea that was suggested. The body remains vertical to help with stability. The bike needs to lean. I take that the inside arm needs to be extended but yet relaxed, because the outside arm steers during the turn. One thing that I am not sure. I believe that the centre of gravity needs to be somewhat rearward as the speed is increased. Take care all. See you in the trails.
Enjoyed the video...wicked good rider as your instructor. One thing that I've SEEN work well for this and other skills learning...are still pictures. You were struggling with initiating the bike lean, which was leading to awkward body positions as you tried to force the bike to do what you thought it should be doing. Get a still shot of a great rider just as he heads into the turn. Then have someone photograph you, and work on it until your body position mimics theirs. For a LONG time I kept hearing guys who were helping me corner say, "You're getting stood up...stay lower." So I kept squatting with my legs. It wasn't until I went to a clinic with PERFECT form still shots to compare to, that I realized getting lower meant more BODY lean forward, chin up...but out over the bars, so you keep the front wheel weighted. It seems like a lower center of gravity would mean more connection to the bike, but at that point you lose your leverage and there's no bike/body separation. I fought and fought to lose that bad habit...and still am. Also..you mentioned pushing down with your inside arm. Think about that. If you do that, you're actually pushing the front wheel to the outside (out from under you), and the more the bike is leaned, the more it has that affect. With the right body position, you will push down evenly as your weight is on TOP of the bike, and eventually gain the confidence to push down with your OUTSIDE arm.
Great video, Casper is an excellent tutor. Its hard for great riders to conceptualise what they do and explain it to lesser riders. I think he did a great job with you Paul. Cornering is a real weakness of mine and this video will help.....I hope 😉
Good catch! I think in the cone drill runs the change of direction is just too fast so it would not make sense to drop the outside foot. Would be interesting to hear what Casper thinks about dropping the foot in longer turns. At least in theory it makes sense to me to do so...
Nice! Felt like I was learning with Paul and because kasper was using him as an example and really trying to break down what Paul was doing it really helped me look at my turns and see that I’m not really leaning my bike into the turn and just my body is leaning lol
Ive started "dabbing and turning my knees into corners, it's given me way more confidence cornering, have to put the rest together. Very helpful video.
I think what he is trying to convey is that you want to weight the outside of the bike so that your tires are flattened out and back onto the tread vs if you weight the lower hand your riding side wall. A very good tip I was told is, while stationary, practice standing upright while your bike holds a 45 degree (or steeperl angle and go back and forth left to right. Look at your tires or record them during the process. You'll see that it remains on the tread more than if you just tilt you and you bike against a wall. Also the nature of MTB is usually short consecutive back to back turns. So being upright allows your bike to do the whipping vs trying to throw the entire force of your weight side to side.
I can jump over and drop anything but as soon as I hit those berms and switchbacks I'm squeezing brakes. This video finally flipped the switch. Thank you!
I'm pretty sure that it's mostly about as simple things as "point your knee out", which is the absolute elementary basis (looks for me, will try it out) and most of it is automatic/will follow. and cheers to kaspar, what a funny and hearty kid with no big ego attitudes like all those dull-grinned cool redbull indoctrinated dumb-cheeks. more of it, so funny and educational!
I tried these tips, trying to weight more with the outside arm. My arms were much more sore at the end of the ride (they're typically never sore). How hard are you guys pushing down? definitely keeping the outside elbow up and inside relaxed / more straight has helped though, allows the bike to lean more
Most of your weight should not be on the bars. When pumping in a turn focus on pushing the bulk of your weight down into your legs. I believe what he was trying to say, was that what pressure you are applying to the bars, should be focused to the outside arm to help keep your center of balance. It's mainly important to remember that, when turning, you'll be riding on the edge of your tires so you want your weight to be centered over that contact point to avoid sliding out.
Seems that both the student and the teacher learned something here. The student learned a new skill. The teacher learned that teaching something that he himself finds easy is actually very hard.
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Yo Paul! Plenty of rad tips going on here. You've probably got loads of people giving hunners of different conflicting bits of advice. Some people drop pedals and it works, some don't, some weight inside hand when cornering, some don't. Key thing is try everything and find what works for you. BUT, in general you're absolutely correct that your biggest mistake is your tendency to squat down with your legs and push your chest back with your arms. Some things to try out to help remedy this are:
• Try and maintain light pressure in your hands when changing direction.
• Try and keep your head directly over the bars when changing direction.
•Try and run your legs almost straight as your default position then only bend them when required.
•Try and always reset the legs to almost straight when the trail allows to stop you defaulting to the squat.
• When pumping the bike into a turn DON'T pump with the arms, try pumping just with your legs. Feels like you're going to push yourself out the front door but what it does is stops you leaning back and settles you into an "attacking" position ready for the next turn.
It's VERY hard to concisely put what you should be doing into words as everyone has a different understanding of certain words and phrases. Play with some of the above in a safe environment and use what works for you. In my opinion there's not a lot of point in doing the "fancy" stuff until you get your weight distribution sorted. Then you can go nuts. Give it 2 years and you can be Paul the Semi Professional. 😉😂
Cheers Cathro! Those are some solid tips, I appreciate the gold :). I'll definitely be giving those leg tips a go 🤙
Top tips....good to know...👍
Everyone just read that piece in your voice.
Free tips from Cathro! Want to try hit you up for some coaching in the new year Ben if you're still doing it?
Coaching is on pause while I’m working on the new CathroVision project. Pretty much full time training and negotiating contracts at the minute!
both were students and teachers. one learning how to teach better, and the other learning how to ride better.
Just what I was thinking. Fascinating to watch Casper work out how his student was thinking, and trying to find a way to get his teaching across. Nice kid and good video.
that's how old people comment
I'm so confused. No more turns for me. Straight trails only for now on!
I like your joke but no kidding, this was confusing. No one knows how to articulate verbally how we walk or do a million other things, so how can anyone verbalize how to corner on a bicycle, when the physicists can't tell us how we even balance on one? But we can learn by watching right and wrong ways of doing things. I wish these videos were all slow motion with several split screens from many angles.
New Forest Therapy volcano riding!
right turns only for me :D , trick is , find a trail with only right turns :D
Hi, really interresting. I'm a ski instructor and i'm back on mtb since 3 years now. And i passed my level2 mtb leaderchip on the way of mtb coaching level2.
In fact to summarise the turn you done on this video, it's an exact copy of a ski turn we call carving ski.
The main thing is :
"you have to dissociate upper body and legs".
The target is to fix your balance on your outside foot. To do this:
A/ move your knees inside the turn, and turn your hips to come above the outside foot
B/ in the same time you push your knees forward and do the same with your arms and hands and focus on the outside , to help imagine you drawn your turn with the outside hand, like that your shoulders will anticipate the turn
2/ reverse your hips
3/ don't look down but fix the exit of your line
4/ to be nn attack position and get the shoulder above the Handel bar, you have to move inside your belly button, push your knees forward and bend your ankles.
In fact that's strickly an apply of carving ski turn😉😉
Thanks for your videos i love it... and i apologise for my english i'm french...
Actually, that's pretty good thanks. The more I learn the more, the more I hear how the thinking for cornering is like skiing. Helpful.
@@colinberry276 - Biking is like skiing only if you ski and/or bike incorrectly or at a low-intermediate level on over-groomed trails. BTW - ski instructors generally start teaching beginners, and after a few years, they can be assigned the low-intermediates. Most ski instructors are upper-intermediates. If a skier sticks to only what a resort instructor taught him, he will be a terminal intermediate. Same goes for MTB instruction.
For example: Experts skiers do not concentrate on putting their weight on the outside ski; they keep their weight balanced on both skis. The idea is to get both skis carving. This is critical in powder skiing. The expert skier keeps his momentum generally down the fall line. OTOH, a mountain biker generally rides meandering trails where the direction of momentum must change. Expert MTB cornering technique depends on several variables, but the main concept is that the rider varies his body's relationship with the bike, and the bike's relationship with the trail, in order to change the direction of momentum of both to remain upright and on the trail.
So, what Théo de La Soujeole writes (I think) may work fine in some situations, but will definitely fail in others. It is my experience that his point A/ is wrong for skiing, but sometimes correct for biking - except for consciously turning your hips; point B/ is wrong for both skiing and biking - but for different reasons; point 2/ is generally wrong for biking - you want to snap back to a neutral-ready position; point 4/ I don't really understand. Hip and knee flexion/extension is important in both sports, but keeping the knees deeply flexed is not good for either. Forward-leaning bias in skiing unweights the ski tails and so helps low-intermediates skid their turns. It it not used by experts. Weighting to the rear is never good in skiing. OTOH, shifting the weight backward on the bike via a hip-hinge is a super-important technique that is not used in skiing. Also, in MTB the ankles are often in dorsiflexion whereas in skiing the ankles are never in dorsiflexion.
So true, keep the upper body upright to keep your centre of gravity central, and lean the bike (or skis) into the corner to carve around with pressure on the outside foot to keep grip (or drive the edge of the ski in)
WOW, read up on counter steering theory for motorcycles - I found it applies to MTB as well. In the theory you're pushing the inside bar (actually) forward, so that the undercarriage flicks out AWAY from (to the outside of) the curve (you momentarily steer to the outside of the curve), then immediately lessen the pressure to start controlling the turn. Keep applying loose (controlled) pressure on the inside bar to control the turn. It works magically on a motorbike and I found it works on my MTB as well with a few modifications (lots more more finesse for one).
Actually, it's more like
"then immediately **replace the forward push with straight down pressure** to start controlling the turn (in longer turns, your weight will shift onto it too as you lean over, so beware)"
Underrated comment, more need to read this. The faster you go and the heavier the bike, the more this applies. People coming from a pedal bike and even dirt bike background have a hard time with street bikes and track days for this reason.
The problem (or advantage) to pedal bikes is that the rider is easily 4 times heavier than the machine, so rider weight shift (subtle ones at that), can lean the bike, masking the true mechanics of what’s going on-and a lot of misconception on how to turn any 2 wheel, single track vehicle, namely countersteering.
Yeah, I agree ..and, I found the opposite true too - that people will try to tell you your bicycle riding skills won't help you on a motorbike, and that is patently untrue. Nothing taught me how to cope with a short two wheel slide, other than having done it numerous times cresting slick clay trails in the rain on my MTB (wheels sliding around within the trough of the trail) ..no brakes, smooth pedaling until you make it to point past the clay where there is control.
It happened within two years of motorbike riding, and my reflexes took over, and I was able to recognise the oil patch, relax and slip-slide through to the other side where there was traction.
Both these scenarios happen(ed) on fairly level ground so the key was relaxing and no sudden inputs. Mid-corner would be a different story on both bikes.
The biggest diff I found learning motorbikes is the width of the tyres ...a raised (off tyre-centre) patch of bitumen, really uneven road (left to right) or even mounting a slight lip at a shallow angle, can throw the motorbike off-line greatly (it actually tries to tip you and the bike in the other direction) ... you have to muscle things on uneven ground to go where you want to.
Also, having been a bicycle courier, I was already comfortable in traffic on 2 wheels.
Interesting. But does he do that? Maybe without knowing.
This is indeed what’s missing in the video. Lots of stuff on how to perhaps steer, but nobody seems to know why. Counter steering is really the main means to lean the bike and all the other techniques are used to position the relative weight of the rider and bike at a certain point to enable either a small turn radius or more ground clearance. Once you figure out the physics it all becomes easier to understand and to train.
5:12 Sign of a great instructor:
Asks: "How do you interpret what I said?"
Yep. Just brilliant.
Instructors should ask this question more often and listen to the answer.. fantastic
Preceded by “what are you thinking right now...”
Really impressively thoughtful for someone that young.
By a country mile, this is the best and most technical tutorial on cornering. If you want to improve your cornering watch this. Kasper might be young but he is a very good teacher! Thank you....
Damn you can tell this guy was a high end slalom/GS skier. So much translates over from ski racing to mtb downhill. Especially with turning - the separation of body from bike (i.e. the bike leaning into the turn while your body stays much more upright) is such a basic and important ski technique. It allows you to turn much more rapidly and efficiently from turn to turn not to mention greatly lessens the chance of skidding out. Unfortunately I discovered mtb way too late in life but I’ll never forget that first downhill run on a full suspension rental. I was immediately hooked for life. “This is what I’ve been missing all these years in the warm months. It’s so much like skiing!” I used to dream for winter to come. Now I can honestly say I enjoy mtb more. I’m constantly learning and improving in mtb. In skiing I plateaued (at a high level) many years ago. One thing still does beat the best downhill mtb run however - bottomless virgin powder on a blue bird morning after a stormy night dumping tons of pow. There’s no feeling like it - maybe a big glassy wave surfing a gorgeous break. But I don’t surf.
Exactly! That's angulation & seperation! The very same for biking and skiing! Only difference: when skiing, you wanna always keep your torso pointing straight down the hill, whilst when biking, you wanna steer with your torso, so, turn your torso, where you wanna go! For Kaspar's teaching skills: What he is doing and what he's saying doesn't match up! (1) he's is clearly turning his torso into turns, allthough he teaches not to do so, (2) he is dropping his outside foot to get more weight on it, but teaches not to do so, (3) He's pointing his inside (and also the outside!) knee into the turn, whilst he's speaking of turning the knee out! (dipping both knees to the inside for angulation is just the right thing!!). If that guy was a pro skier, then I guess the difference between railing a bike and railing skis through turns, i.e. the difference that I pointed out first, might be the cause for all of his confusion, when trying to put it into words.. Just watch 9:02 to 9:06 - he is changing leading and trailing foot, from one turn to the other, always weighting the trailing=outside foot!! And how much he is twisting his upper body into turns and dipping both knees to the inside! This is 100% perfect cornering technique for flat (!) turns! But just way different from what he teaches Paul..
tirol trailhead: Agree 100% :)
Penny just dropped for me. Just like skiing... I can do this!
Best turning info I've found out there so far... can't wait to give it a go my next ride. I do all the mistakes you were doing in turns.
Watching you both learn a new skill was great and helpful too! It emphasized how hard it is for someone to explain what comes naturally.
This video popped up on my recommended again after a few years. I remember it being helpful the first time and watching it again I find that I understand it differently than when I watched it 2 years ago.
I think the specifics about body position are hard to teach because they change throughout the turn and are also dependent on cornering speed. What should be taught is what the body positions are trying to achieve - using your body weight to press your front and rear tires into the ground. There should be a feeling of weight on both tires. The more your weight is in line with the direction your tires are pressed into the ground, the more grip they will have. In order to turn at higher speed without feeling like you are going to tip over to the outside, you will naturally lean. When you lean, you will naturally find the body positions occur. Your inside arm drops to account for the lean, your inside knee bends to make way for the top tube leaning over.
I think the one thing that is harder to intuitively feel (until you experience a wash out) is to have too much weight on the inside while leaning. It is much safe to bias the weight slightly to the outside. That went to the comment Kasper made about feeling pressure on your outside palm vs your inside one. Your weight should be biased more to the touch points on top of the bike while it is leaning. That way if there's a loss of traction you can remain on top of the bike instead of the tires washing out and you falling to the inside.
Great chemistry between you two. Hoping for more from you guys
Casper is a fun guy. You should do more videos with him.
He's a bit mean. But i guess that's what it takes to be fast. I love that Paul is such a patient student.
@@Marcoose81 he didn't come across as mean to me but the contrary...
@@Marcoose81 You don't know mean (and this comment isn't meant to be).
12:57
Dog shredding trails
in Squamish you don't even recognize
Four Paw drive with Four paw steering and endless energy :D only drawback is easily distracted by treats or squirrel :D
Watching this video has made a huge improvement in my riding. I just finished shredding my local trail rarely using the brakes for corners.
I used to approach fast corners timidly, knowing I needed to angle the bike but always braking at the last second.
Now I approach the corner in an aggressive stance; knees, elbows bent. Just like Kasper said my chest is lower to the bike and I feel coiled up ready to attack the turn.
The rest really comes naturally. The stance alone gives me so much more control in the turn that it makes the rest easy. Turning the bike at a further angle feels like a natural extension at that point.
Aside from the great content, I really just enjoy the dynamic between Kasper and Paul. You guys are hilarious together. And great editing. Especially the moments you each say will get edited out but get left in.
I came across this video by accident while looking for videos for how to take corners fast & safely on my TREK Hybrid bike. I used to cycle around as my main commute years ago so my speed gradually increased. That was a Raleigh racer & I was well used to taking corners fast on that. I got back on the bike February this year (I'm 49 years old), but, all the drop bar bikes were crossbars & that put me right off. I don't feel secure taking corners as fast on the flat bars as I did on the drop bars. Now I know what I was doing wrong. Will be practicing these in the park. Very informative video. Subscribing & hitting the bell.
It's always good to know that what makes your bike change it's direction is the input on the handlebar, not how much you lean the bike. I mean, rotating your handlebar is what should make you lean, not the inverse. This becomes evident if you compare how hard Kasper turns the handlebar compared to Paul, maybe that's what was so hard to discover.
I actually figured out this in Twist of the Wrist (for motorcycles). I don't know if my beliefs are true but i've verified the advantages of thinking about turning the handlebar before leaning the bike on hard corners. Hope it helps!
This is the best cornering video I have ever watched! I watched it many times. It was very confusing at first, but as I practiced and getting better, everything starts to make sense, and I learn something new every time I watch it again! Thanks heaps
Back for my 4th viewing, this one just keeps on giving! "Your step one is what you want to be doing later in the turn, you have to build" is definitely making more sense. plus coming back to Cathro tossing in some gems in the comments doesn't hurt.
Point the inside knee IN. It's the inside knee since it's the one inside the turn. Then it also must be pointing "inside" into the turn. If you point the inside knee out it's pointing out, away from the turn.
How good were these tips?! Unfortunately the code is now expired, but check out the OneUp parts we use here: bit.ly/oneupPunter20
Love the vids but always annoyed by the term "punter" for no real reason. I asked my co-worker in Hull what it meant and he only knew it as a gambler. Google says its a prostitutes client, customer or member of an audience...
Since you refer to yourself as "Paul the Punter" - which definition would you use to describe yourself then? LOL
Scott Strickland haha yeah I did NOT know about the Australian version until about a year ago. It’s a term we used to use at the bike park I worked at to describe the tourists. But later on I realised what guts it takes to show up and just try a sport like mountain biking, so that’s where it came from.
That is a really good video. With your video i can compare my cornering and what i do wrong and i have the chance to change it! And you have mostly the same questions like us. Why? We are also no professionals 😄(but like a professional....?!?😄) Please more videos like this. Maybe jumping, steeps something like this. THANK YOU
This style of how-to is by far the best I've seen.
Usually it's an expert explaining how-to, but a pro watching an average rider and critiquing on the spot gave me a few Eureka! moments.
Yeah dude, your vids are on point lately.
I think I got more out of this than any cornering video I've seen. Cheers, Paul!
This is the best cornering tutorial/clinic video that I have ever seen by a lot
After practicing all these classic tips a lot I found the thing that really helped me was thinking about keeping my outside knee forward. It's like resisting the turn forces, but thinking about it in those terms helped me a lot.
I've also heard lots of people say to weight the inside grip, I think it came from Moto where weighting the inside is needed due to the bike mass. But someone explained the difference in a really instructive way once and it really helped me too: if you stand next to your bike, with it leaned over and push down on the inside grip the front wheel will slide out and the bike will fall. Alternatively if you push down on the outside grip the front tire will have traction and the bike won't fall. Try it!
Never thought of it like that. Thanks!
@@TheBigBloakHimself which thought was helpful for you? When you're doing everything right, the outside knee forward really helps. I don't even know if I move my knee 1 cm forward, but somehow it makes me lock into turns and have a lot more front wheel traction confidence.
Correct! The outside grip you should apply the most pressure to retain the front wheel grip.
This is a video of Paul the Punter teaching a talented and accomplished pro how to teach his skills to others. Unique and entertaining twist on a tutorial video!
Thanks for this video! I strongly relate; I did some lessons with a super talented younger rider myself and a it felt a lot like this video; he was struggling a bit to find ways to communicate what he does so naturally, but we made progress. I've been working on my turning myself and found the "outside arm" thing really clicked for me. Focusing on my outside arm had a number of advantages: more leverage, more range of motion to provide more ability to modulate, and more emphasis on getting my weight on the outside of the turn instead of leaned into the turn. Keep up the good work!
Just wanted to say that since watching this video a few weeks ago my cornering has improved immensely it's all starting click for me. I've been riding 2 to 3 times a week for 2 years now and thought I was already good at cornering, I was wrong.. Cheers!
Lucky it only took you two years to come across this resource. The hard thing for me was unlearning 20 years of bad habits. No other riding clinic or coaching I've had in the past did so much to improve my riding. Thanks Kasper and Paul for sharing these cornering insights. Been practicing them every outing, 2 to 3 times a week for over a month now. Focusing on just one thing at a time helps tremendously. Cheers guys!
Really learned a few things in this video. Had never heard the tip of keeping weight a little more on the higher outside bar rather than pushing the inside bar down. Seems like your center of gravity should be aligned somewhere over the outside half of the bar with the bike leaned over. Makes sense - that's where the tire contact patch is.
The not twisting your hips thing is a revelation for me! Straight away, I can corner much better!!! Thank You.
This needs to be an ongoing series I love this.
Literally the first video I have ever seen that actually explains how to blast corners properly and not just talking about line and opening up a corner... More of these please Paul... Plus it's good fun watching you struggle, just like I will when I try this 😂
Sweeeeeet - stoked you enjoyed!
Naturally from motocross I do alot of this already but it's good to have it explained like this. Sometimes I dont know why I'm doing something on the bike, i just naturally do it. Like the level pedals in corners was one thing I had to learn that wasnt natural to me.
I saw immediate improvements in my riding after watching this video once and each time I've been out since, my turning is getting better and better. Thanks!
I actually went out yesterday with the intent of trying some of these cornering tips. By the end of the ride, I was able to consistently slide the rear tire out, without the front washing out. Turns out all you need is to completely disregard personal safety!
Jon Sanchez huh haaaaaaaaa!
I know one thing that helps me is pressing the seat into my inside thigh in the turn- just as a marker that the bike is angled.
100% Epic/Best. First the core...and arms and legs and everything else will follow.
I like to start without pushing it to far and then i progress to angle it further and pump harder
If I may elaborate on one thing, in trying to hinge instead of squat, rather than dropping the butt, think of pushing the butt back. In order to maintain balance with a neutral spine and vertical shins you'll naturally hinge. Practise it off the bike to get the hinge movement pattern down (ie a Romanian deadlift but just to the knees), then apply it on the bike. Great video!
This is actually super helpful. I learned to corner the same way you did. Dropping my outside foot and twisting my hips. As a result, I've always felt like I lose speed when trying to switch back and forth rapidly. I'm definitely going to apply these techniques 🤘
Boo yah!
I think twisting the hips is ok, as long as you twist it to the direction where you wanna go, I think what Paul needs to do is the body and bike separation, relax and don't brake on the turn.
On a flat corner, you have to twist and drop your outside foot. On a berm, you want to do exactly like the video says to do.
@@PaulThePunter Hi Paul - Not a JEDI but better riders are telling me if the trail has berms ride pedals flat if loose gravel / no catch berm ride out side pedal down. What's working for you?
Cornering is definitely my nemesis. And big jumps. Steeps too.
Just take it one step at a time :)
@@PaulThePunter all you had to say is "one steep at a time" 😔
This is a nice healthy mutually beneficial partnership , as Kasper teaches you how to ride , hes learning how to teach , you can almost see him storing info on how to explain things better as he goes along. Its fascinating stuff. Good job.
I found this a really helpful video. I tended to push the bike down with my inside arm, and this works to a point. But I tries following Kasper's advice of just relaxing the inside arm (maybe just a light push to get the bike leaning a bit) But really focusing on using the outside arm to lean the bike and drive the front wheel into the turn seems to give me more grip and make me turn quicker - its quite a re-learning process as I was so used to using my inside arm more. But Im sure there is a benefit with using the outside arm and focusing on that - especially on flat corners. You can sort of twist your outside wrist (lifting little finger and pushing down with thumb to initiate the turn, or slight push with inside arm) but once the bike starts to lean, drive the outside arm towards the centre of the turn almost parallel , or along the axis of the bars. Bit difficult to explain and its a bit of a weird feeling at first but really seems to make you turn quicker and provide more front wheel traction - I'd be interested to hear if it works for anyone else!
Cheers mate ill give this a try!
If you want front wheel traction in corners get a proper xc bike with steep head angle.
Ive had some form of basic coaching before. It was totally different to this approach. I liked this more because it was a developing pro who doesnt regularly coach trying to describe the way it works for him. Not a scripted routine chat to a group of novices at differing levels. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Low speed cornering is a whole new world indeed. The bulk of my mtb years were spent finding and working on high speed, low traction corners, and "cornering" nowadays seems to be all about low speed and high traction, which requires a different and specific set of techniques.
Best advice I ever heard. That would sum all this up perfectly: “lay your bike down around corners”. That’s it. The rest of this comes naturally when you do that.
Thanks Paul I was literally practicing this just today. Tired of sliding out... Lean the bike, not my body. (Trust the side knobs.)
learned that the hard way with very non grippy tires over gravel, funny thing is the second time i hit that corner i naturally leaned the bike underneath me and it felt better, now after watching this video it confirmed that i was on the right track, also switched to grippier tires and holy shiet it feels like i could lean the bike flat against the ground without slipping XD
The Kasper kid roasting you was so funny 🤣🤣. Really good cornering video, probably the best I've seen. 👍👍
Haha cheers Ken! We had so much fun.
As you lean the bike , someone once told me to point your hips towards where you want to go, it’s amazing how the other stuff( body weight , arms , legs , ) feels more natural then
Coming from a ski and snowboard background the key is in the hips, knees and tipping the bike! LOOK AT THE OUTSIDE KNEE! It is pointing TOWARD the corner and right at the line between the knee, head tube and corner line, or just inside the head tube a few degrees to the inside. The INSIDE knee is pointing to the direction and slightly to the inside of the apex of the corner and "leading" the whole body. This in combination with the bike tip (dab) and slight dropping of the body (squat) forces the weight of the body into the tires, which is basically a 75-85 degree line. Boi-mechanics. There is more going on and with keeping petals more level, this allows for more efficient BIKE movement, by dropping the outside heel on every corner it slows the bike movement and puts your body weight outside the sweet spot and wastes time and mechanical advantage you can gain in keeping the petals level and driving with BOTH knees, Where the knees go the hips will point! and the bike goes!
Cornering is definitely something I need a crap-load of work on. Thanks for the tips from Casper and Ben.
As everyone has said, awesome video, has also helped me heaps. Can you address something that is never talked about but makes a huge difference....? Timing. As in turning in too late or too early, when to start rotating through and controlling the pressure. I find this is often the difference between railing and grabbing a handful of brake but never realise it at the time. For me it feels like I almost have to go past the corner before initiating the turn, which is a compensation for many years of setting up and turning in too early. Keep up the great vids..... oh and remember to sing through the corner too....
Macky Mountain same for me.
Can't wait for my next ride...hoping my Strava times will increase after applying these tips! Thanks for the great vid.
i think it's pretty funny that this guy is so practiced that it comes completely naturally to him and he can't even explain his technique in words anymore. much respect
The Kyle & April channel did a great video on cornering. Worth checking out if you want some advice.
I can honestly say I wasn't looking for this information, but I'm glad I now have this information. This was really good; I hope y'all can do more like this
Balancing over the bars feels weird at first but after one gets used to it, your technical skills improve immensely. Kasper did a good job of explaining the details of the cornering technique here. Easy to understand. Great video.
glad someone finally brought up the level-pedals thing... I've learned the hard way, that dropping your outside foot all the way down (instead of a weight shift with heel drop) just makes your bike want to stand up instead of lean in the turn...
This kid has tons of talent...
That's a pretty solid way of characterising it dawg! Yeah Kasper is a ripper.
It always depends on the type of corner. In slaloms like they were practicing dropping isn't worth it. When you have a flat corner pressure on the outside foot and outside hand will keep the bike down when you're in the right position. Speed also plays a factor too and how much grip you need. Dropping a foot will get you more grip, but if its a really quick turn keeping your feet level will make sure you don't clip the ground and screw around with feet dropping.
@@JamesStoup you definitely ARE an expert rider, but i disagree...because this is the internet :') lol jk... great advice!
I had a coach tell me the outside foot thing... and how dropping it all the way makes the bike want to stand up instead of keep the healthy lean... He said to think of it as more of a weight shift that causes the foot to drop (a little bit).... instead of the other way around: dropping the foot all the way to get the weight shift.... I don't know if it makes sense in writing, but it seems to help me on the trail...
*also, we don't see many berms around my parts hahaha
@@TheCrashingDad It does, but it depends where your weight is too. If all your weight is in your feet, then outside foot will bring the bike up. But where your weight is changes a lot throughout a corner. You don't get into 1 position and hold it the whole way through. For example, weighting the front into the turn with an outside foot down initiates the corner. Then as you apex and exit the corner, weight shifts to the outside foot standing the bike upright and unweights the front. Just like pumping a roller, except on it's side. Do it with enough power and you start to BRAAAPP and rip some knobs off your tires.
@@JamesStoup duuude..
We need to ride so I can learn all these nuances from you 🤘🏼...
I finally understand what I've been doing wrong. My coach used to tell me to move forward. Bc I was squatting as soon as I approach steep corner. Hinge like doing deadlift instead of squatting. It all makes sense why my hip flexor burns when I ride downhill w more berms and jumps. Too much squatting. Thanks for keep squatting so I know I'm not the only one doing that. Lean bike and resist squatting. Good point. Thanks.
Learned more in15 mins than many many other videos on cornering. Keep rocking🎸🥁
9:54 this is what you came here for
Those stupid videos.
Whoever clicks on it wants to see something useful, sees their whole day..
Learning to teach is as great as learning to bike. Great rough draft teaching and biking and will really check these techniques out. Thanks for keeping all the footage you did.
I am no expert. :) But I probably can help with what was suggested in this video. The hips needs to face the turn. It helps with the knee idea that was suggested. The body remains vertical to help with stability. The bike needs to lean. I take that the inside arm needs to be extended but yet relaxed, because the outside arm steers during the turn. One thing that I am not sure. I believe that the centre of gravity needs to be somewhat rearward as the speed is increased. Take care all. See you in the trails.
Perfect demonstration of how one truly “learns” something when they can communicate and teach it.
Enjoyed the video...wicked good rider as your instructor. One thing that I've SEEN work well for this and other skills learning...are still pictures. You were struggling with initiating the bike lean, which was leading to awkward body positions as you tried to force the bike to do what you thought it should be doing. Get a still shot of a great rider just as he heads into the turn. Then have someone photograph you, and work on it until your body position mimics theirs. For a LONG time I kept hearing guys who were helping me corner say, "You're getting stood up...stay lower." So I kept squatting with my legs. It wasn't until I went to a clinic with PERFECT form still shots to compare to, that I realized getting lower meant more BODY lean forward, chin up...but out over the bars, so you keep the front wheel weighted. It seems like a lower center of gravity would mean more connection to the bike, but at that point you lose your leverage and there's no bike/body separation. I fought and fought to lose that bad habit...and still am.
Also..you mentioned pushing down with your inside arm. Think about that. If you do that, you're actually pushing the front wheel to the outside (out from under you), and the more the bike is leaned, the more it has that affect. With the right body position, you will push down evenly as your weight is on TOP of the bike, and eventually gain the confidence to push down with your OUTSIDE arm.
This is like watching Mr. Meseeks teach Jerry how to golf.
Some good tips for practice corners! Thanks for sharing Paul👍👍
What an awesome video - this gives so much more to go away, think about and try than pretty much all the "how to corner" videos I've seen!
4:53 that dog learned something today :D Looks like he was more curious what's happening there than his owner.
I’ve been trying to figure this out for the last month and I think this video will really help
Paul, thanks for all your video work. I enjoy your interaction with the pros.
"A very rapid individual" I like it.
That was the best cornering tutorial I've ever watched.
The most simplified detailed cornering tutorial I've seen!
Great video, Casper is an excellent tutor. Its hard for great riders to conceptualise what they do and explain it to lesser riders.
I think he did a great job with you Paul.
Cornering is a real weakness of mine and this video will help.....I hope 😉
He sure did Phil! Hope you enjoy the tips.
finally some proper advice guidance on cornering, thank you so much,
9:09 "We've boiled it down to Paul drops his outside pedal...." Thats the exact same thing you did in the clip starting 9:00.
Showing him what he was doing wrong maybe?
@@Wargwarn I just checked he actually did that in others... it helps making sure you put you weight on the outside of the turn so you don't fall in
Good catch! I think in the cone drill runs the change of direction is just too fast so it would not make sense to drop the outside foot. Would be interesting to hear what Casper thinks about dropping the foot in longer turns. At least in theory it makes sense to me to do so...
Nice! Felt like I was learning with Paul and because kasper was using him as an example and really trying to break down what Paul was doing it really helped me look at my turns and see that I’m not really leaning my bike into the turn and just my body is leaning lol
Ive started "dabbing and turning my knees into corners, it's given me way more confidence cornering, have to put the rest together. Very helpful video.
Caspers a nice guy. Unpretentious, and csn ride bikes. I needed to see these tips too. Cheers!
That was a fun instructional video. The kid had a good sense of humor and awareness. I got a lot out of it, thanks!
This was IMMENSELY helpful! I am going to go practice this immediately
Sweet!
I think what he is trying to convey is that you want to weight the outside of the bike so that your tires are flattened out and back onto the tread vs if you weight the lower hand your riding side wall.
A very good tip I was told is, while stationary, practice standing upright while your bike holds a 45 degree (or steeperl angle and go back and forth left to right.
Look at your tires or record them during the process. You'll see that it remains on the tread more than if you just tilt you and you bike against a wall.
Also the nature of MTB is usually short consecutive back to back turns. So being upright allows your bike to do the whipping vs trying to throw the entire force of your weight side to side.
You really got it at the end there. You can hear the difference in the tires gripping
@13:00, cutest puppy whipping down the trail.
THAT was a great vid! Been looking for tips like this for ages. I’m gonna practice these tips myself now. Thanks Paul.
Sweet! Have fun Pete
The cornering trick is also helpful for dealing with ice and lowering your concussion risk on wipeout
This is a fascinating demonstration of unconscious competence and conscious incompetence.
I can jump over and drop anything but as soon as I hit those berms and switchbacks I'm squeezing brakes. This video finally flipped the switch. Thank you!
I'm pretty sure that it's mostly about as simple things as "point your knee out", which is the absolute elementary basis (looks for me, will try it out) and most of it is automatic/will follow.
and cheers to kaspar, what a funny and hearty kid with no big ego attitudes like all those dull-grinned cool redbull indoctrinated dumb-cheeks.
more of it, so funny and educational!
What the fuck is a "dumb cheek"
Great content - and you guys are so much fun to watch.
Man your videos are right on for my skill level! Everyone of them is helpful
No probs!
13:00 that dog cornered perfectly
Tried this on some switchbacks today out on the trail. Obviously much slower than him but it really helped my cornering.
Thanks for the advice! will try it on the trails
You'd never guess this guy shreds as hard as he does by the way he talks
Good chemistry for whatever reason; it was fun to watch.
The dialogue here makes this the best mtb instructional video I’ve seen. The kids honesty makes me laugh.
I tried these tips, trying to weight more with the outside arm. My arms were much more sore at the end of the ride (they're typically never sore). How hard are you guys pushing down? definitely keeping the outside elbow up and inside relaxed / more straight has helped though, allows the bike to lean more
Most of your weight should not be on the bars. When pumping in a turn focus on pushing the bulk of your weight down into your legs. I believe what he was trying to say, was that what pressure you are applying to the bars, should be focused to the outside arm to help keep your center of balance. It's mainly important to remember that, when turning, you'll be riding on the edge of your tires so you want your weight to be centered over that contact point to avoid sliding out.
Great cornering tips! Like DH skiing, keep your body pointing downhill, while cornering on flat turns. I think I get it now. Thanks!
Actually it's the opposite. Your body should turn inside. It's similar in that you still try to keep your weight over where you have traction
I think that dropper post is gonna be under my xmas tree this year 😁👌
Seems that both the student and the teacher learned something here. The student learned a new skill. The teacher learned that teaching something that he himself finds easy is actually very hard.