Countersteering

**Luckylegs** · 18th January 2008, 16:03

At the risk of taking this

and even though I know theres a dumb question thread somewhere.....

What steering technique is applied to getting a sidecar round a corner at a great rate of knots

...Yes Im that ignorant (I really dont know) and Yes Im a little

**FROSTY:Me** · 18th January 2008, 16:07

talk to kick and co-- Usually a man with strong arms that eats a lot of pies

**skidMark** · 18th January 2008, 16:09

whats a corner i just go fast in straight lines....and hop off for the turny bits.

ive been told recently it's not hopping off, it's crashing and the reason why is because i am going as fast in the corners as i am in the straights???

i dunno i don't understand these complimercated motormasickle thingys.

**FROSTY:Me** · 18th January 2008, 16:10

ANYHOO--- the point of the thread isnt to say counter steering is THE answer to all cornering questions. The point is to put it into laymans terms and have people experience it in isolation -sheesh

**jrandom** · 18th January 2008, 16:11

Sigh.

The reason, by the way, that countersteering only works 'at speed' is because:

A. when the wheel is turned a particular way and the bike's falling over on itself because of that, it

B. will just keep falling over until it hits the ground, unless

C. the wheels are spinning fast enough to exert enough gyroscopic force to hold it upright.

So when you're going slow, if you try to countersteer, the bike falls over and hits the ground.

When you're going fast, there's enough gyroscopic stability to pull the bike back upright in the face of either turning the front wheel, or unbalancing it weight-wise.

Spinning wheels want to pull a bike upright.

A turned front wheel makes the bike want to fall over toward the back of that wheel.

Moving weight side to side makes the bike want to fall over in the direction of the weight.

Going around corners at any speed is just a combination of the above three factors.

Right, I'm off home!

**Luckylegs** · 18th January 2008, 16:14

Originally Posted by jrandom

...Right, I'm off home!

At the speed of countersteering !!!!

**jrandom** · 18th January 2008, 16:16

Oh, yeah.

You know you're a biker if:

- Your propensity to get dragged into debates on the physics of countersteering causes you to miss a short time window of opportunity to shag your girlfriend before you have to go out for the evening!

God damn it.

Or maybe that's just how you know if you're a geek.

**skidMark** · 18th January 2008, 17:11

Originally Posted by FROSTY

ANYHOO--- the point of the thread isnt to say counter steering is THE answer to all cornering questions. The point is to put it into laymans terms and have people experience it in isolation -sheesh

oh cmon frosty this is kiwibiker, when has anything simple not turned into a raging discussion to the death.

**Badger8** · 18th January 2008, 17:17

Originally Posted by Luckylegs

At the risk of taking this

and even though I know theres a dumb question thread somewhere.....

What steering technique is applied to getting a sidecar round a corner at a great rate of knots

...Yes Im that ignorant (I really dont know) and Yes Im a little

A friend of mine from work rides a trike, and she has to steer it like a car. Assume it would be similar for a sidecar, but it'd pay to ask someone who rides one

Apparently the feel shifts a bit when she gets the inside wheel off the ground tho

**mitchilin** · 18th January 2008, 18:06

Originally Posted by Badger8

A friend of mine from work rides a trike, and she has to steer it like a car. Assume it would be similar for a sidecar, but it'd pay to ask someone who rides one

Apparently the feel shifts a bit when she gets the inside wheel off the ground tho

So if you get a car up on two wheels(like the French Hell Drivers did back in 1974) do you countersteer?

**cowpoos** · 18th January 2008, 18:55

Originally Posted by jrandom

Sigh.

yourself...and I...will get together...and methodically do an experiment or 20...I will provide the bike...and we will approch all this from every angle we can..and then do a theasis and post it on KB...along with how every test was conducted.

keen?

**Kickaha** · 18th January 2008, 19:19

Originally Posted by Badger8

A friend of mine from work rides a trike, and she has to steer it like a car. Assume it would be similar for a sidecar,

Yes it is, you go in the direction you turn

**FROSTY:Me** · 18th January 2008, 19:24

Serious question then kickaha.What does the swinger do?

**Kickaha** · 18th January 2008, 19:30

Originally Posted by FROSTY

Serious question then kickaha.What does the swinger do?

to put it very very basically he goes left on lefts, right on rights

**MisterD** · 18th January 2008, 19:31

Originally Posted by jrandom

Sigh.

The reason, by the way, that countersteering only works 'at speed' is because:

A. when the wheel is turned a particular way and the bike's falling over on itself because of that, it

B. will just keep falling over until it hits the ground, unless

C. the wheels are spinning fast enough to exert enough gyroscopic force to hold it upright.

So when you're going slow, if you try to countersteer, the bike falls over and hits the ground.

When you're going fast, there's enough gyroscopic stability to pull the bike back upright in the face of either turning the front wheel, or unbalancing it weight-wise.

Spinning wheels want to pull a bike upright.

A turned front wheel makes the bike want to fall over toward the back of that wheel.

Moving weight side to side makes the bike want to fall over in the direction of the weight.

Going around corners at any speed is just a combination of the above three factors.

Right, I'm off home!

And just in case you didn't follow that: gyroscope and countersteer