LET’S TALK THROTTLE

Should you have a closed or positive throttle on a corner entry? The answer you’ll receive to that question depends on who you ask. And, also, to a certain degree, the type of corner. But let’s focus on a slow-to-medium speed bend and how your throttle control affects your corner entry.

Mark Furnival is a lifelong motorcyclist, former advanced police rider, and Rapid road and track coach, so we asked him to help clear things up.

“A lot of motorcycle instructors or other extracurricular riding organisations adopt the IPSGA approach,” Mark explains. “IPSGA stands for information, position, speed, gear, acceleration, and the belief is this achieves optimum stability. So when the first four are achieved, the rider returns to a steady throttle for the bend.

“Now, if you were to ask a pro racer how they enter a corner, the response would be very different. Of course, riding on the road is not the same as racing on a track, but the same theory can be applied.”

As talked about in our trail braking blog, racers are trying to maximise the time spent at full throttle, and brake and slow down as late as possible for the approaching corner. But that is not the only benefit to entering a bend on a closed throttle.

“IPSGA might be a safe and systematic way to ride to a certain standard, but it is not the only way,” Mark continues. “Racers entering on a closed throttle may achieve higher corner entry speed and it allows them to brake as late as possible, but it actually enhances stability, too.

“When turning a bike into a bend the tyre most at risk of losing grip is the one at the front, and weight plays a big role in traction; when we close the throttle we increase the weight on the front tyre, we ‘load’ the front, at the point it needs it most.

“In addition to increasing grip, the act of entering a corner on a closed throttle also improves the steering geometry, making it easy to pick a line, turn the bike, and achieve a crisp, clean steering action.”

There’s a simple way of showing how weight increases grip. Slide your finger gently across a surface and it’ll move without much resistance. Now push down as you do it and feel the difference.

So, armed with that knowledge, what do Rapid coaches do?

“In practice, most Rapid coaches ride beyond the basic IPSGA guide and opt to enter corners with the throttle closed. But that said, it depends on the bend. Tight, twisty corners entering off throttle allows the bike to settle before committing to rolling back on the power. A faster, open, flowing bend will often be negotiated with a positive throttle and a smooth roll on.”