Good point. Better to be safer than sorry for sure and taking a late apex will reduce the chances of running wide and will give you a bit more time to see through the corner. That being said, a common error is to turn the bike too early which can cause you to early apex and then run wide. I like your approach in that you take a deep late apex and as you learn the corner you adjust accordingly to where it needs to be. But how would you define what a good line is when cornering? Besides not running wide at the exit, what else lets you know whether the line you took was a good one or not?

 

A good line will just feel right when it's executed properly. All the imputs will quickly fall into place and need very little adjusting, if any. It's like a sandwich... Input all the right ingredients, balanced flavors, cut properly, and assembled just the right way will taste much better than one that has differences in the order of assembly or flat instead of pinched meat. It will completely change the taste of the sandwich output.

Everything has to come together to corner properly. The best line through is easy to see, it's all the little things together that can be difficult to instantly replicate efficiently each time. What's difficult and time consuming for mainly street riders is that we don't get to practice each corner as much as you do on a track day. On my canyon commute, i will have made more than 300 turns before I see the same turn again, with a day passing in the meantime. It's hard to remember the perfect attack for each one when there are that many. However, after 15 straight years of riding twice a day a road that is a destination ride for most riders, I think I'm pretty good at it.

Now, since we are discussing it, I made a conscious effort to analyze my lines that come pretty natural on said road. I found that I apex most corners well, but hold the turn a bit longer for a lower exit to set up the next turn. Most of them are right, left,right, left for 20 miles with not much distance between. Low exit sets up an quick outside entrance to the next one.

 

Cool. A good line defiantly FEELS right and as you aid, will not require any adjustments. That being said, you can tell you had a bad line by how many mid corner adjustments you had to make or where you ended up on the exit. What about your throttle control? What does good throttle control look like and is it dependant on the line? For example, can you have perfect throttle control if you line is bad?

 

Think this puts it in a nutshell, couple of years ago I remember Valentino Rossi coming off his bike , (front wheel tucked) and Casey Stoner saying that "His ambition was outweighed by his talent" words to that effect,Now if these guys can **** up ......