Going Left? Then Steer Right! - Countersteer

[VEGASRIDER]

This isn't stressed near enough in MSF courses. The instructor [in my case] kept yelling, "press & roll, press & roll" during one of our exercises. As one reader astutely pointed out in an earlier response, at low speeds [as in an MSF class], the bike tracks the way the yoke is turned, hence no counter steer.

I first experienced this phenomena during my second or third time out on the road after getting my license. It's a tough subject to attack as the last thing you'd want is to introduce too much speed in MSF where there are riders [like myself] who have never been on a bike, but somehow we need to better prepare riders in this area.

It is when I teach, but each coach has their unique way of explaining it. It's first introduced in class, but it's kind of difficult explaining it until you're actually on the motorcycle doing it.

The best way I get my riders to understand how countersteering works is that they first have to establish speed, greater than 10 mph. You have to get both wheels of the bike to roll fast enough to do it. If you don't, then you will be steering the handle bars like you would on a tricycle.

When they actually sit on the bike, and have them practice pressing against the handlebars while they are just sitting and simulating a riding position, I often will select a student to put up both hands and place them forward against the palm of my hands and ask them to press right, then left. Everyone then starts to get the idea. Press right, go right, press left, go left. Once again, only after you have acheived a fast enough speed.

 

[fastar1]

Many people STILL don't get countersteering and yet they use it when they ride without even knowing. I've always understood it.

We develop a natural feel for countersteering without necessarily knowing it when we learn to cycle, or when we balance a broomstick on one hand, and yes, even when we walk. We are constantly and very subtly changing directions to stay balanced. This is why it is so hard to walk along a very narrow plank, and it applies to turns just as much as walking in a straight line.

So counterseering doesn't have to be understood for people to use it, though it is very useful to conciously understand it and apply it for high performance and emergency riding skills. But it is not an essential skill to learn to ride.

 

[arkay]

The very act of leaning the bike over into a turn makes you counter steer whether you're aware of actually doing it or not. Try to lean your bike left, you actually pull back on your right bar, so while you're not actually intending to push left to go left, you are!

Being able to do it consciously is a bonus. It's saved me a couple of times when I've gone where I've been looking, when I was looking where I shouldn't have been, a quick push gets you back where you should be!

 

[Motogiro]

The very act of leaning the bike over into a turn makes you counter steer whether you're aware of actually doing it or not. Try to lean your bike left, you actually pull back on your right bar, so while you're not actually intending to push left to go left, you are!

Being able to do it consciously is a bonus. It's saved me a couple of times when I've gone where I've been looking, when I was looking where I shouldn't have been, a quick push gets you back where you should be!

The following is dependent on bike speed, weight, wheel mass, and bike geometry.

At some point as a bike gains speed it will no longer follow the front tire direction and what we call counter steering is then in play for changing direction of the bike.

If you shift your weight to one side the bike leans to that side. Say if you were on the salt flats with all the room you needed to play. You take off with a bike with the steering locked dead nuts straight. If you shift your weight left, the bike will start to fall to the left and all depending on how much weight you shift, wheel mass and speed the centrifugal force of the wheels play a roll on how the bike behaves with respect to how quickly that weight changes lean angle. The fact that the steering is locked dead straight means there is no steering input and if you try to lean in the other direction it would be very hard to get the bike flipped the other way with just your weight. Even a circus performer who might be able to get the bike shifted back would have a hard time. You counter steer all the time be it the smallest non perceptible inputs, you are making them all the time.

Most of us learned these inputs riding a bicycle when we were kids. We mostly never think about all the senses and outputs our bodies do when we ride.

Sit on your bike stopped. Put your feet up on the pegs. Are you balancing the bike? Not for long. (unless your a circus peep) Why? When the bike is rolling it becomes easier to balance the bike. This because the wheels develop centrifugal force and act like gyroscopes. The faster the gyroscopes spin and/or the greater the mass of the wheel the more force is required to change the attitude of the bike in a given time.
Be it ever so small, after a certain speed, you are counter steering. If you shift your weight just a little and want to stay on your line, you are inputting counter steer correction and may not even be aware if it because these inputs can be very small.

So now your bikes have all been modded and have gyroscopes that I've added for free! Enjoy! :rockon:

How counter steering works and what's actually happening in relation to the bike geometry and the road is fascinating!