Unofficial Contest: Trickiest Local Corners!!!

[lonesoldier84]

Entries will be judged based on the following criteria:

1) The more unexpected the difficulty of the corner is, the more "tricky" the corner will be judged to be.

2) The more challenging the corner is, the more "tricky" the corner will be judged to be.

3) The more complex the corner is, the more "tricky" the corner will be judged to be.

4) The more visibility is hampered, causing things like loose-debris/stalled cars/corner itself/traffic/your visibility to others to become horrendously dangerous, the more "tricky" the corner will be judged to be.

5) The more the corner combines elements 1-5 above, the more "tricky" the corner will be judged to be.

Note: you can enter a sequence of corners if they form one on-going maneuvre.

Use google earth to show the corner from a birds eye view. Hit "print-screen" and then open paint and right click and paste. Save as a JPEG and upload to this thread.

Good luck to all the entries!!!

 

[lonesoldier84]

I think this one's pretty bad. Its the traffic circle @ 98ave and about 85st or so in Edmonton. You think it's at least KIND of round. Then you get to the egg-shaped tips of the circle and if you're already at a quick enough speed....might find yourself in over your head.

 

[lonesoldier84]

whitemud westbound turning off to terwillegar in Edmonton, worst (best? perspective ) decreasing radius turn in the city. I always try to include this in a day's ride if I can help it.

 

[cv_rider]

Neat idea for a thread! This one really licks balls here in the Bay Area. I've had my biggest O'Sheet moment here.

It's bad turning onto Palomares from Niles Canyon, either way. It's worst coming East (from the left). Here, you make a left turn onto Palomares. There are two dangers here:
- You are turning left across a road that is mostly hidden in front of you behind a sweeping left hander that is going under a bridge. You can only see cars about a second or two before they are upon you, and they are going about 50 mph out from under the bridge. My scary moment was that as soon as I committed to making the left turn, a car popped up from under the bridge. Not sure if I was really moving yet, but I'd mentally decided to go, so I went. I got across without the car needing to slow for me, but it was my first hot flash.
- The second problem is that if it isn't clear to make that left, you need to stop and wait for it to clear. There is no turning lane. You either sit in the middle, blocking traffic, or sit in the median, hoping cars passing on either side don't take you out. The cars coming from behind are coming around a corner at 50 mph and not expecting to see a motorcycle sitting at a stop in the middle of the road. Perfect invitation for a rear-ender.

When I come down this road, if that left turn to Palomares isn't clear for me to just lean into it and go without stopping, I just pass by and continue on down Niles Canyon.

 

[lonesoldier84]

damn. that sounds pretty brutal. I hate few things more than I hate waiting to turn with 3 ton objects RIPPING by me on either side. Makes me feel so tiny and vulnerable.

 

[DefyInertia]

The turn

• Relatively steep up hill turn
  
• Non-constant radius
  
• It follows a quick relatively straight shoot, allowing you to pick upu some speed going in
  
• There is a completely blind gravel pull out on the inside, therefore:
  
• ----gravel in the road
  
• ----good chance to t-bone someone
  
• There is a guardrail and cliff on the outside
  
• There are many oversized vehicles that take this road (RV's etc.)

Coming into it

What you see from the opposite direction (southbound lane)

 

[lonesoldier84]

holy ****.

Defy pulls into the lead. He is looking like the man to beat at present. You are completely blind to how sharp that corner is going to be. Wow.

 

[DefyInertia]

holy ****.

Defy pulls into the lead. He is looking like the man to beat at present. You are completely blind to how sharp that corner is going to be. Wow.

I always roll through that corner slowing even though I'm generally tearing that entire area up...I slow right down for this one b/c you never know who might be stopped on the other side.

The view is just THAT good

 

[BroHay]

interchange in Albuquerque, NM 1-40(east/west) Coors (north/south) left of screen is north....



If you are going onto the interstate -- it forces you to agressively merge into traffic. If you are exiting, cars are trying to move over to make turns at the upcoming light. But if you have open roads....well then it is a different story....

Adam

 

[stryken]

holy ****.

Defy pulls into the lead. He is looking like the man to beat at present. You are completely blind to how sharp that corner is going to be. Wow.

That's one of those turns where the butt puckers and you are counter steering, leaning and quietly praying all at the same time and all with equal importance. Then when its all over you get that dopey smile on your face and think to yourself how cool that must have looked. Or maybe that's just me?

 

[lonesoldier84]

That's one of those turns where the butt puckers and you are counter steering, leaning and quietly praying all at the same time and all with equal importance. Then when its all over you get that dopey smile on your face and think to yourself how cool that must have looked. Or maybe that's just me?

hahah, nope, that would be every last person who has and will post in this thread

 

[Wavex]

I would put Palomar Mountain (South grade) on top of the most difficult roads I've ridden in Socal... Here is the global view: Palomar Mountain, California - Google Maps

Here are 3 different sections of the road:

 

[lonesoldier84]

wow. there are times i get the impression there are better riding roads out there than we have in alberta....this is one of those times.

thanks for breaking my heart wavex. thanks buddy.

 

[RJ2112]

This one sucks me in every time I ride it. Looks like a sweeping left hander, goes accross a bridge and then becomes a decreasing radius turn with an off camber element to it. Very difficult to decrease speed by the time you see there's a problem.

 

[Airhead]

The turn

• Relatively steep up hill turn
  
• Non-constant radius
  
• It follows a quick relatively straight shoot, allowing you to pick upu some speed going in
  
• There is a completely blind gravel pull out on the inside, therefore:
  
• ----gravel in the road
  
• ----good chance to t-bone someone
  
• There is a guardrail and cliff on the outside
  
• There are many oversized vehicles that take this road (RV's etc.)

Haha I recognized that turn instantly! That was the first turn I ever scraped foot peg feelers on.

 

[krushnuts]

In Brisbane, the locals can get their fix in quite a few ways by visiting Mt Nebo/Mt Beauty and beyond. There's a LOT of picnic traffic on the week ends. All kinds of cars ranging from boy racers in their Subaru Imrezas, Fams in their AWD/4WD right up to peeps taking their Ferraris/Lambourginis for a burl.

Mt Nebo Rd is the best part, full of tight turns with positive camber, and an 80kph speed limit for the most part! No need to speed to hit the twisties at whatever pace you like. This connects up with Mt Beauty which is much the same, but the roads aren't as good quality (more gravel/leaves on the road/mud slides, etc), plus the speed limit has been reduced in this area down to 60-70kph. After passing through this you end up in one of my fav spots, the road to split yard creek. Which is jam packed full of long sweeping bends in the road which one can really stretch the FZ6 legs and are mostly far too tempting to stay under the speed limit!! :spank::spank:

Unfortunately this area attracts it's fair share of :squid: and there is at least 1 fatality per week. Lots of the corners have cliffs/steep drops off their outside edges with no guard rails. Needless to say the police are ever present.

 

[Funkmaxtor]

This is Gold Mine Road. This corner is at the top of a mountain. It is a blind descending corner (at least the direction we ride it) with an elevation change of over 100 feet in a rather short distance.

 

[n1one]

This is Gold Mine Road. This corner is at the top of a mountain. It is a blind descending corner (at least the direction we ride it) with an elevation change of over 100 feet in a rather short distance.

WOW that's a big drop off!

 

[Motogiro]

Okay. Here's my entree. This is South and East Grade going up/down Palomar Mountain and yes this is the mountain the famous Palomar Observatory is on.

There has been much controversy regarding the amount of traffic from motosport activity here on any given weekend. When you talk about difficulty here it spans sand, rock, visibility and oil. Yes oil. There are reports that locals have spilled oil as to injure of worse. Not to mention someone opening their own crankcase in a crash. Difficulty is majorly increased by additional factors such as crashes (about 2 per day on weekends) and then there's law enforcement because this is a major revenue event on weekends. Let's add very fast riders on blind turns who may slide out for any number of reasons. One more constant to be added to the algorithm is motosport photographers. Great guys out there risking life and limb to make a living. They can take your attention for that split second you should be watching and processing other vital data not to mention the ego factor. You'll have people that see that camera and are going to try and make an impression.

South Grade is nicknamed the "Tight Side" There are decreasing radius hairpins. Well I don't think I have to say much. Check it out on Google Earth.

My son (he rides) will be visiting from back east and we'll be riding it this Sunday.

Here's a couple of shots from the "Tight Side"

Cliff

Edit: Duh! I missed Wavex's post!?! Well I bet Wavex and I meet for a ride anyway.....It's an awesome ride and every time I ride it I find a place that I don't clear on the FZ6........:rockon:

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Remember, the degree of difficulty of the road is not just the corners itself, but the grade of the roadway as well and traffic, it's not one way. That's what makes Palomor Mountain so challenging. You have the extreme set of twisties with decreasing radius turns, but you also have to ride it going up and downhill, and there is HUGE difference between the two.