Counter-steering question?

Question

i'm a new rider with 900 miles on my bike,im still a little nervous in the curves.the instructor from honda told me about counter-steering,ive tried it,works ok.old school bikers i talk to say to just ride however i feel comfortable and that the whole counter thing is b.s.,who's right????

Answer 1

at below 120 mph you actually pull/or push on the handlebar that is opposite of the direction of the curve. To test this theory;

1. find a nice road with no intersections for about 2 miles.

2. go about 50 mph

3.Gently pull on right handlebar while slightly leaning left.

4.try with left handlebar, leaning right

You'll get the fore-mentioned results.

REMEMBER, GENTLY AND GRADUALLY !!!!!!

I wouldn't want you to have an accident!!!!!!!!!!

At low speed you turn the bars in the direction of the turn.

Old school bikers have been doing it for so long that they don't even notice what they're doing. It becomes a conditioned response

Answer 2

try any new way someone shows you and deside for yourself what is right you r the only 1 in control of your bike.

Answer 3

Time to do a racetrack based training course to get you technique right in a safe environment. There are many track based courses pitched at newish riders.

Countersteering works but feels more comfortable if you just push with the hand you are leaning toward rather than pull with the other. Give it a try.

Answer 4

Visit:

http://www.superbikeschool.com/

This guy, Keith Code, built a special bike to prove whether counter steering worked or not. I've ridden it, and you could too if you went on his riding school.

My suggestion here is ride a road you're familiar with, and really try the counter steering thing. I think it should be counter steer and lean - you have to do both at once. It works best at higher speeds, ( you can't practice in a car park or on city streets) and it feels goddam unnatural at first. I vividly remember the first time I tried it, because it feels like you're trying to steer off the road. Instead, what happens is the bike immediately drops into the lean angle you want. That's why racers use it - watch some u-tube clips of bike racing, and watch how quickly those guys go from upright to full lean knee on the deck. Only possible with countersteering. I use it all the time on the road. On the track, I tend not to countersteer hard enough ( you need to get pretty physical at 100mph+ to get the bike to steer at all) so my turn in is slow and thus my laptimes crappy.

I know you're not interested in this track stuff - I am only talking about it to show you how this is something the very best riders rely on.

I don;t think your old school bikers are wrong. Rather that studying the physics of riding is fairly new - 30 years ago, even though people did it, no-one talked about counter-steering.

Answer 5

It is not b.s., and it is critical to your safety that you both learn the technique, trust it, trust the bike, and use the Four step curve process:

1. Slow Down

2. Look at the finish point of the curve

3. Press (counter-steer) in the direction of the turn

4. Roll on throttle (slowly, smoothly)

Answer 6

If you are getting around the corners okay, you're doing it right.

When you're riding your bike, you lean forward and put some weight on the handlebars.  When you want to turn, you shift a little weight to the inside handlebar and the bike turns in that direction.  Just like you learned when you were a little kid, you don't -turn- the handlebars, you just -lean-.

Well say you're turning right.  You put a little more weight on the right handlebar, and that's pushing the handlebars to the LEFT, but you are turning RIGHT.  That's countersteering!