Wot a pillock (me)

[Chris]

In reality I think the speed I was going was fine, I just freaked about the physics and the sharpness of the corner and boom, I'd gone.

What I get from this sentence is that the speed was fine for the bike and it could have made the turn BUT you were going too fast for YOU. Just because the bike can make a turn at a certain speed doesn't mean it should be at the limit all the time. It is good to find where abouts the limit is etc but that is for learning on a racetrack/ training track day like california superbike school.

My advice would be to save your money for a little while though and just slow down overall. If you want to go faster then give yourself time and get miles under your belt and build up the speed slowly so that you don't have those freak out moments. Keep watching the twist of the wrist and any other bike riding info you can and go out and try things SLOWLY and build up the speed SLOWLY. Just because you get a corner right at 30 and your technique is perfect the same corner at 40 or 50 or 60 might be possible for the bike but it will feel very different and your technique might not be able to cope. So if you do the corner 100 times and gradually build up the speed then your technique will grow and adapt as the speed increases.

Take your time and enjoy being out on the bike, keep the speed down everywhere and you'll not end up freaking out when a corner tightens up on you or a car does something unexpected around you or the lights change but you can't stop in time or a kid runs out in front of you... with good technique all these situations can be avoided or dealt with without going rubber side up but if you haven't taken the time to learn the principles of how the bike reacts to inputs then it''ll chuck you off.

Being relaxed is difficult when you get a fright or feel uncomfortable but it is so important, it helps you stay smooth with your inputs to the bike (throttle, lean angle of both bike and rider, pressure on pegs, steering, braking pressure etc). Using smooth inputs won't unsettle the bike and will mean the tyres aren't having to work so hard even if they are leaned right over.

Sorry for the tomb to read.

Take care and take it easy.  8)

Chris