Countersteering: push or pull?

[arcane12]

Hi guys.

Thought I'd post in here as it may be a newbie question, here goes.

I have been working on my riding, trying to analyse what I am doing to see where I can improve.

I have been reading about counter steering, and while I am obviously doing it, I was not consciously aware of what exactly I was doing.

The first thing I did was on a nice straight bit of road I pushed the handle a little bit. Ahah! So then next corner I came to I tried to focus my mind of what I was doing with my hands (While trying to still make it a nice turn!)

Here is what I found: Rather than pushing on the left side to turn left, I was pulling on the right side (mentally I think I tied it to pulling the bike over into the lean).

Is this a bad habit that I should look at retraining out before I run into trouble, or is it a case of courses for horses?

On a related note I also found myself shifting my weight a little to the right to counter balance the bike to lean it further (rather than leaning left into the left corner). It's hard to explain correctly, but I will give it another go if anyone thinks it important enough to examine in depth.

[duckonin]

Go and find a course. Good god and you must of even passed the basics. It is know wonder the licence system is rooted !!

[oneofsix]

Push or pull as long as you counter steer. I suspect you will end up pushing long term, just seems to be the nature of it.

As to shifting your weight the way you describe, I think you want to work on not doing that as you are countering the cornering and means you have to lean the bike further than would otherwise be needed.

Well that's my 2c worth anyhow

[sugilite:Me]

You mentioned you did it sub conciously previously, how was that working out before you started thinking about it so much?

[Fast Eddie]

the counter balancing comment stands out to me...

lean into the corner not away from it. move ur body more and bike less.

take a course!!

[GrayWolf]

Really, you need to get the 'basic's' well and truly embedded first. Counter steering AS YOU'VE ALREADY REALISED happens to some extent, anyway. Learn to read the road, camber, surface, how to look 'through' the corner, apexing, etc etc. Counter steering is one of those 'nice to know later, BUT an important technique' as well. You dont say how long you've been riding, so I am assuming from the post you're a relative newcomer.
BASICS, BASICS, BASICS.. when they are 'second nature' and you dont even really think about what you ae doing to ride/corner? Then start to look at the more advanced riding skills. Oh and as suggested, a good Instructor/mentor/Tutor goes a long way in learning.

[caspernz]

Push or pull? Either works, but I prefer to push the inside bar myself...

Counter balancing? Eeeekk!! Try that often enough and you'll crash, as it's the exact opposite of what you should be doing on a road bike during normal cornering...

In short, get onto a training course where the skills are disected and taught in isolation

Much easier than reading about it in hospital

[skippa1]

You mentioned you did it sub conciously previously, how was that working out before you started thinking about it so much?

the counter balancing comment stands out to me...

lean into the corner not away from it. move ur body more and bike less.

take a course!!

+1 on what they said.

[skippa1]

does it look right to you?

[hayd3n]

i prefer a gentle tugg

[Krayy]

i prefer a gentle tugg

While you're riding!?! That's impressive....I can't even get it out without squashing it against the tank

[hayd3n]

While you're riding!?! That's impressive....I can't even get it out without squashing it against the tank

even whilst countersteering

[george formby]

I can say from personal experience that if you try to counter steer by pulling on the right handle bar you run the risk of inadvertently opening the throttle which i found to be a startling & most unpleasant experience. If lamp posts can be startled then their were two of us agog.

Any hoo, steer with your head. look where you want to go & the bike will follow. No real need to hang off either side of the bike on the road, keep your bum on the seat.

[steve_t]

Push

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[MystikEagle]

Do a course. Pro rider was amazing and the best thing about it being on a track was that you could go around and do the same corners over and over. They give you the tools to work with, send you out to practice and follow you to make sure your doing it right. When explaining counter steering they did say it was easier on a cruiser to pull the outside bar because it will give you more leverage. Practice on a straight. That's how I got the hang of it...