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For a lot of people going around a corner is a simplistic affair. You drive up to the corner, brake and turn in. That's it. As simple as burnt toast, but not very satisfying. If you put a small amount of thought into it though it could be a lot more rewarding and make you a safer rider.

Positioning:

For a start you need to think about where to be on the road before the corner. Best place to position yourself on the way into a left-hander is on the far right hand side of your lane. That way you can see through the corner earlier as there is less obstructing your vision. This is always an advantage as you can see hazards, and the way the corner runs or a second apex earlier. Then when you peel into your 'apex' (the place on the road at which you start to turn the bike) there is less danger of you running wide, i.e. you went too fast or turned too late and came out of the corner on the wrong side of the road (nasty). Try and avoid running wide at all times because once you start there's very little you can do about it. So we know if your go into a left-hander you need to be on the right side of your lane and alternatively if you're going into a right hander you need to be on the left hand side of your lane for the same reason. What this does is create a lot more 'room' for you in the corner. The more room you have leaves you with a lot more choices should there be a stopped car on the other side of the corner. It'll take a bit of practice but the more you do it the more sense it will make until you find you do it automatically.

Braking points:

Braking comes into this too. Bikes allow you to control both the front and the back brake independently. It's not a case of applying both brakes when you want to stop, though that will do the trick in most cases. What you do lose when doing this is control. You have more control with the front brake than you do with the back. Because the front wheel is 'in front' of everything else on the bike it means when braking you can still retain some level of control, i.e. turn if you have to. This is because everything else on the bike pivots off the front. Alternatively the back brake is not as useful for control under braking. When you apply the back brake the rear of the bike will squat. This
can be helpful for small corrections or stopping at low speeds but at
higher speed it is as useful as an ashtray. So basically you should be using the front brakes more than the back. The only time you wouldn't want to the use the front as much would be if it's wet, or there's gravel on the road, or anything else that might make you lose traction from the front wheel. This all tells us how what ratio of brakes to use but where do we use them? On a corner obviously. But where on the corner? If you come barreling into a corner and jam on the brakes at the apex you'll make a mess of the corner. Braking has to be done before the corner. If you have the bike leaned over and pull the brakes it'll want to go from being learned over to being upright. Therefore you'll have to fight the bike through the corner which will unsettle it. So braking needs to be done before you get to the apex. This is a natural and easy thing when going slowly, but takes a bit more practice to get right at speed. Take the time to practice on a stretch of windy road that you are familiar with. When you have mastered it you'll be finishing braking just as you peel into the apex. This will make the two tasks one fluid (hopefully) movement. So we know when to brake for a corner, and where to be on the road for the apex. What's next?

Throttle control:

Throttle. If you coast through a corner with the clutch in the bike will be flighty and maybe run a bit wide. There is nothing forcing grip from the tire because you're not under power, just weight and momentum. If you are under power it should track perfectly into whatever direction you point it. This is because the weight of bike and rider is pushing the tire's into the road and the engine is pushing the bike down the road. The more throttle the more force pushing into the road, hence the more grip. A lot of people roll off the throttle coming up to a corner, brake, clip the apex and jump back on the throttle. This transfers a lot of weight between the front and back of the bike, unsettling it. If you hold maybe ¼ power into a corner or whatever percentage you feel happy with depending on the corner the bike will hold a tighter line and 'feel' more stable. This is because there is less weight transfer which allows you to get on with going around the corner. The best thing about having a better 'feel' from the bike is that it gives you more confidence and makes you a better rider. Most of going fast on a bike is about confidence. If you can learn that at least you are significantly improving your riding ability and probably extending your life expectancy.

Thanks to Superfly for this article