Left Turn Or Right Turn: Which Is Your

Bad Side?
If turning left is easier than turning right, here’s why.

By Keith Code August 21, 2015

Scores of riders have sheepishly questioned me about a particularly perplexing problem: why
they struggle more making either right or left turns. It turns out that many riders have this
fear, and it’s frustrating. Imagine that half your turns are hampered by an unknown, seemingly
unapproachable anxiety having no apparent source and no apparent reasoning behind it.
Imagine you feared right turns and you lived in Nebraska where the only curves were
highway cloverleafs? Or you were a dirt-track racer who couldn’t turn left?

So-called “unidirectional phobia”—the perceived inability to make either right or left turns—
isn’t evidence of a mysterious brain malfunction. There are many reasons a rider might suffer
from this problem: a mental scar from crashing on one side or the other; confusion over the
mechanics of countersteering; or just a simple lack of practice. Fortunately, there are actual
technical solutions to this problem.

Confidence steering in any direction all begins with being a “good passenger” on your own
motorcycle. What does a good passenger do? Nothing—they just sit there and enjoy the ride,
following, not countering, the motions of the bike. A bad passenger counters the bike’s
movements, staying rigidly upright when the bike leans, pushing the bike away in corners
instead of moving in harmony with it, unintentionally countering the intended steering and
cornering motions. How do you fix this tendency in yourself?

Pushing the bike down and away to steer might seem intuitive—probably because it maintains
the body’s normally correct, upright relationship to the planet and its gravitational force. But
the more you try to remain upright, the more lean angle is required to get through a turn—
which lessens your control and increases the possibility of a crash. Why struggle when you
can counter this adverse effect by simply following the bike while you turn it? This might
even feel better to you and improve your confidence and control of the bike. There is also a
good possibility that this will open the door to conquering your directional fear, whichever
form that may take.

Simple parking-lot maneuvers can tell you a lot about how you turn. Find a parking lot and do
a quick side-to-side steering maneuver. Is the motion jerky, using brute force to stuff the bike
underneath you, instead of using efficient countersteering technique to get the bike to
smoothly change direction? You may also notice a hitch or rigidness in your body as you
approach what you consider maximum lean, or an exaggerated movement at the hips, or some
other attempt to keep the body upright. A general tenseness in the body is common when a
rider isn’t comfortable on the bike.

Practice alone isn’t enough to resolve the matter. Because our natural tendency is to maintain
an upright orientation to the world, it feels correct to turn a motorcycle that way. For this
reason, ask a friend to observe you turning in and offer suggestions; even better, hire a good
riding coach. I can assure you that the bad side will be more obvious to your coach than to
you.

Think carefully about your connection to the bike. Keep your upper body loose. Relax your
shoulders, and drop your elbows until your forearms are level with the tank. Sit back a few
inches, move your head one helmet width toward the inside, and point into the corner with
your chin. Get comfortable in the fully crouched position; make yourself one with the fuel
tank. Practice correct cornering technique in a parking lot, led by proper countersteering that
uses palm pressure, not muscle strength, to turn, reinforced with your body following the
natural motion of the bike.

By the way, if you consider yourself in this unidirectional category of rider, count your
blessings. Some riders have bidirectional phobia, and it’s only by their force of will and love
of freedom that they persist in riding at all!