motorcycle hard to lean and turn?

If you haven't already. Take a new rider class. MSF in the U.S.

Once you're up over 15mph you need to countersteer to get the bike to turn. This means turn the bars right if you want to make a left turn. All it takes is a small push on the bars. Leaning wont make the bike turn. It will help you when you get faster, but for now, don't stress over it. Just don't fight the bike.

Also, your bike might be a bit much for a beginner.

Apart from the counter-steering suggestions another good tip is to look where you want to go, sounds foolish actually works. "Twist of the Wrist" by Keith Code is worth reading (I think there is a dvd as well) but cannot beat qualified instruction. Don't whatever you do take any advice that includes braking while in a corner get all your braking done before you enter a corner, applying the brakes (front or rear) mid-corner will tend to lift you up out of the lean. Rear brakes are useful in wet weather (in conjunction with front – about 70:30 in favour of the front), for slow speed manouevres and while stopped at a junction (so the muppet who drives into the back of you will push you forward, rather than lifting the rear wheel which will happen if you just use the front). There is a good reason that most bikes, and all sportsbikes, have bigger discs (or rotors) and more pads at the front – that is where all of the braking is done in dry weather.

Well Chris, it could be a couple of things. First, if you already know how to ride and what it should feel like, check the air pressure in both your tires.That can make a huge difference.

If you are a new rider, I think you may be making the mistake of leaning the opposite way(but you don't realize it). You think you are actually leaning, but you are not. The best way is to have a friend follow you and watch you in the turns. If that's what you are doing, just be more observant and practice.

Hope this helps!

oK first of all check the tire pressure and make sure its at max psi.

Check the tire pressure when you haven't ridden it like in the morning after its been sitting. Look on the sidewall of front tire and look for MAX PSI and right that down it will be a 2 digit number such as 36 or 41 etc.. something like that.

Then don't put air into over that but get it right at that number.

Some times your front tire psi setting will be different max psi than rear most of the time so check each tire on the side. You'll see it written really small look again for MAX PSI

Now..when it comes to turning there is turning and then counter steering which is weird but true.

Lets say you are in the parking lot moping along real slow and you want the bike to turn to the left in a circle..what you would do in this case is push on the right handle bar and the left handlebar comes towards you and thus the bike turns to the left.

HOwever it actually changes when you are going at speed. Try this next time when nobody is around like on a long gradual curve where you can go about 40-50 mph but with no cars around.

Here is what you do. Lets say the curve is like this capital C below

C

And you are the little . going into the turn at C.

C. <- your the dot see it? You are now going to go into the turn and loop around to the top of the C

What you do is as you are approaching the wide turn you actually do the opposite of a slow speed turn. What you do to turn right and loop around the C here is you slightly push forward, just slightly and the bike will lean into the turn kinda leaning right and what this does is turn you INTO the corner.

Do not push hard on the right handlebar but ever so gently slightly push until you feel yourself leaning into the corner and then what happens is you hold it steady there and you go through the turn.

At high speeds you never ever turn the same as you do at low speeds.

Now..this is at speed and another good place to test this is at a very sharp corner but a slow corner such as a freeway on ramp. Lets say the freeway again is a C turn and you are the . at the bottom of the C such as this C.

As you go into the corner slightly press forward on the right handlebar and again it will lean just a tad into the corner and you hold it steady while turning.

At our MSF motorcycle class some of the girls were freaking out when the teacher was explaining this it was like reverse science to them lol...but its something that has to be experienced rather than read.

Now on my bike at low speeds like turning in a parking lot, my steering wheel also turns into my leg so I have to hold the steering also...its normal some sport bikes are like that.

See Video below it talks about it You have to cut and paste it in your browser..cut and paste the link below into your browser.

Actually I wouldn't expect that on a sport bike, but as long as it isn't caused by an under inflated front tire, I know exactly what you're talking about. And no, it's not you or your riding skill. Had a Suzuki Intruder with quite a bit of rake (caster) and trail. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I think this will explain it. Choppers have a lot of rake with their fork at a very flat angle.

Rake is the distance measure between where the front wheel catually touches the ground and a point ahead of the wheel where the forks are pointing at were you to sight along the tubes in a straight line. Lots of rake tends to make the bike want to keep going in a straight line because the front wheel is actually being "pulled" by the fork rather than pushed.

Bikes with lots of rake and trail tend to want to fall into a turn when riding. Take a bike with extended forks (not necessarily chopped) and park it on its sidestand. The front wheel will fall to the left, often with a bang.

I won't go into detail, but Harley was ingenious in having different angles on the fork and the steering stem on dressers. Lots of rake makes them straight line steady but lesser amounts of trail makes them easy to ride at slow speeds and without falling into turns.

I'd expect your bike to have more or less neutral steering. Have you put a lower profile rear tire on or higher profile on front? Put on shorter shocks to lower the seat? All of that could affect things. Other wise, as mentioned, when putting around slowly, keep your body upright and let the bike do the turning. Take my word for it, when you have a 960 pound bike like mine, you get VERY good at learning how to lean with turning around in a parking lot.

Like toso13 says dont try to lean it. As you go into a turn it leans on it's own. The bike may be to much for a person just learning how to ride

You are probably describing "oversteer", where the bike wants to turn more radically than you want to. I am familiar with this. My girlfriend's Virago 250 does the same thing. It might just be a characteristic of the bike, OR, it could need a steering damper adjustment, OR, the steering head bolt might need to be tightened. I would ask a dealer service deparment to look at it.

i'd inspect the bearings and torque on the steering goose neck and the rear wheel swing arm.

u must be going really slow. speed it up and bank a corner have fun those bikes are tight. Start doing upperbody work outs. Bicep and tricep

Try this - slide your hips in the direction you want to turn.