Countersteering and leaning

[quickbuck]

1. Passive...by leaning, or applying peg pressure, or by knee pressure on the tank

I really struggle with these because of this.

[discotex]

I really struggle with these because of this.

I want a go on the slide bike

[TerminalAddict]

....It is possible to lean a bike and continue in a straight line (you must use body position as a counterweight) BUT give the 'downhill' bar a nudge forward and the bike will then commence turning in the direction the bike is leaning.

just playing "devils advocate" here .. and waiting for some vodka to wear off .. BUT ...

I agree with you 100% no doubt, but does the opposite apply?
if you lean in one direction, and continue straight using body position as a counter weight, then give the 'UPHILL' bar a nudge .. will the bike turn? and in what direction?

too much science for me to know .. but I'll ponder it for a while

[TerminalAddict]

I are the oarsome thread killa .. muwahahahaha

[MSTRS:Me]

I are the oarsome thread killa .. muwahahahaha

No you're not....
Keith Code's final paragraph says it all, succinctly, accurately and incontrovertibly.
Steering a motorcycle results from the process of pushing the inside bar forward, the same angle and direction the forks rotate in the steering head bearings. You can also pull on the outside bar. You can do both push and pull. That is what turns it, that is all that turns it with any degree of accuracy, efficiency, quickness or smoothness. That and only that, No B.S.
And as for your 'devil's advocate'...the countersteer on the bars initiates the turn. If the bike is leaning the wrong for the turn, push/pull the appropriate bar and the bike will reconfigure itself and comply.

[Leyton]

I know this thread is mighty old now but hey..

Get your crappyest bike or cheap fiddy CC trash bike, Find a nice soft grassy hill and get some speed up.

Stay bolt upright, Gentaly push one of the bars away from you and see what happens

Expect a turn coming, followed by natural lean, followed by WTF? Oh thats counterstearing.

It also works while you are in the curve, left hand for example, Push on the right bar and it will bring you up streight and set you up for another curve to the right and so on.

Play with it safely on a cycle or something that you will have enough confidence to try it on. Once you have figured out what counterstearing is.. you can forget it Most people do it naturaly. On the track you weight shift then use counterstearing to drop you into a corner.

If you watch a small kid riding a bike you will notice he/she is counterstearing from a very young age without even thinking about it

Goodluck!

[quickbuck]

.......

If you watch a small kid riding a bike you will notice he/she is counterstearing from a very young age without even thinking about it

Goodluck!

Agree with all that you said... But as a kid at a very young age I tended to break my bikes... Yup. Well, used to get lots of punctures.

So I would spin up the wheel and walk around the house turning it into the rooms I was entering....
To do this I needed to put the input 90 degrees from the result.... Hence Counter-steering.

Much cheaper than dropping dads brand spanking new 1976 Honda XL125

[Leyton]

Agree with all that you said... But as a kid at a very young age I tended to break my bikes... Yup. Well, used to get lots of punctures.

So I would spin up the wheel and walk around the house turning it into the rooms I was entering....
To do this I needed to put the input 90 degrees from the result.... Hence Counter-steering.

Much cheaper than dropping dads brand spanking new 1976 Honda XL125

Hahaha, You also have a decent valid point :P Yeah kids dont really worry about crapping off :P

[quickbuck]

Hahaha, You also have a decent valid point :P Yeah kids dont really worry about crapping off :P

Sooo ture that!
Didn't wear helmets until we were 15!

And boy we did push the farm bikes to the limit... and beyond!

[quickbuck]

I want a go on the slide bike

Heck yeah!
As long as it doesn't try to fire me back to my house like my CBR tried to do....

[Leyton]

That certainly looks fun! I heard they are coming to NZ from another post on this forum

[PrincessBandit]

Well I don't know what I'm doing wrong then, because I feel the gentle sway through my hips not my upper body when the bike does it's lovely
'swervy' thing.

[quickbuck]

Well I don't know what I'm doing wrong then, because I feel the gentle sway through my hips not my upper body when the bike does it's lovely
'swervy' thing.

Ahhh, Thanks for that. I know what you can try now.

You have to actually drop your shoulder into the corner, and tilt your head to keep your eyes level.
your bike will turn as you are dropping your shoulder in.. Yes, automatically counter-steer as you are propping yourself up against the inside bar.

Check out my photo folder of the NS1 to see what I mean...

[Pascal]

Alright, three months into riding now and I suppose it is time for me to report back.

First off, thank you everyone for all the advise and comments here.

I've been trying this, consciously at first and perhaps overthinking it a bit, but once the practice / reinforcement set in it's amazing how natural it becomes. And it's amazing how easily you can turn doing this. I still don't understand the science behind it, but that's not necessary for me.

All I can say it's amazing how effective and easily you can turn doing it. But Mom was right in the beginning, best to practice it slowly and gently. I started off coming down Mt Albert road where they have the gentle undulation of the road around the bicycle lanes. (Near Sandringham road) It's an easy place to start practicing it with very, very gentle curves to get the feel for it.

But once you get into it, just ... wow! Now I want a bike that doesn't actually scrape pegs through corners!

[smitty]

I know this thread is mighty old now but hey..

Get your crappyest bike or cheap fiddy CC trash bike, Find a nice soft grassy hill and get some speed up.

Stay bolt upright, Gentaly push one of the bars away from you and see what happens

Expect a turn coming, followed by natural lean, followed by WTF? Oh thats counterstearing.

It also works while you are in the curve, left hand for example, Push on the right bar and it will bring you up streight and set you up for another curve to the right and so on.

Play with it safely on a cycle or something that you will have enough confidence to try it on. Once you have figured out what counterstearing is.. you can forget it Most people do it naturaly. On the track you weight shift then use counterstearing to drop you into a corner.

If you watch a small kid riding a bike you will notice he/she is counterstearing from a very young age without even thinking about it

Goodluck!

Like you say, its done without thinking about it. Learners on a 250 or kids on a bicycle will countersteer without reading how to do it. Some learners will naturally be afraid to lean their bikes far enough. It takes time for some learners to trust their tyres so they can lean far enough into a curve.

Someone above said that you can lean a bike and still go in a straight line, well I tried that awhile back and no way I could keep going straight. When I leaned the bike a little, the bike no longer went straight. I did this on a straight dry rural road with no traffic by the way.