wikipedia - counter steering to avoid accidents

[macman1]

Has anyone noticed that they steer right to turn left?

Visit the attached link, proves for wome interesting reading, and could save your life!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle ... dent_rates

cheers

[RedexRobB]

Ive known this for years. worst thing you can do is think about it, just ride the thing

[rene]

i dissagree best thing to do is think about it! if you make an effort to counter steer then you'll get around cournors much faster

[RedexRobB]

Thing is tho you will do it automatically without realising, if you want to lean the bike further over you will anyway. It shouldnt require any thought in doing it, otherwise you will be thinking about how much to turn the bar left or every single corner you go into when you should be thinking about whats round the other side.

[zimm]

i dissagree best thing to do is think about it! if you make an effort to counter steer then you'll get around cournors much faster

or lose the front trying too hard ..

think about the theory till you understand it.. then just go ride .. to be honest everyone who rides a zxr already counter steers .. if they didnt they'd be in a ditch. Whether they realise they are doing it is another thing.

[rene]

guess its what ever works for you, when i first learnt about it i would make an effort to do it, now it just comes naturaly.

Noticed as well that on the 400 you didnt need to counter steer any were near as hard as on the 750. But then the 750 is a hole diffrent animal

[macman1]

I had never noticed if I counter steered, I will be checking, but maybe it is something you do naturally.

Thanks for the posts, some good conflicting ideas.

thanks

[zxr_oli]

I think it's good to be aware that you are doing it.
So many people stear into crashes thinking they will turn the other way.

[CarneyUK]

Most of the time you don't even think about doing it, but on a few occasions I've gone into a corner a bit hot and I've had to mentally force myself to countersteer more to get round the corner even though it didn't feel nice.

You'll do it naturally as said but I think there are times when it's nice to understand so you can get yourself out the poo!!

[Gemini]

thats the beauty of my 7r, nothing will make that front end budge

gem

[superman]

yea you need to counter steer to get from a to b. you can hardley sit upright and surn the bars at 30mph round a sweeping bend lol

[Caz]

first of all - ive not read the wikipedia entry


I went to a very very interesting lecture the other week on motorcycle dynamics. It was given by Damian Harty, chief vehicle dynamicist @ prodrive. Pitty I dont have a copy of the lecture - so you'll have to do with a combination of my thoughts and what I can remember!


turn in can be initiated in two ways
- leaning the body into the turn
- active countersteer

we have to use a combination of both

youve probably seen the California super bike school 'No BS' bike (No body steer - what did you think I meant ) you cannot steer the bike without input through the bars.

what you are effectively doing when you countersteer, is steering the bike away from underneath the rider. Therefore you are generating a lean angle of both the bike and rider.

BUT... if you combine body steer and countersteer you get the best combination

If you dont move your weight around when you corner, you are generating too much lean angle for the corner speed, therefore you are going to run out of tyre and grip faster than if you are hanging off. The aim of the game is to try and keep the bike as upright as possible, and this is achieved by hanging off. So the more you move your body weight off the bike, the less Countersteer you need to initiate the turn


Much easier to explain when you have a pen and paper handy... but the mountain of work on my desk is progressively growing and I have an engine in a test cell that needs looking after - lucky for you

[deviant]

...'No BS' bike (No body steer - what did you think I meant )

Ironic, since the linked wikipedia article is full of BS.

I've seen that article linked all over the place and it's written with a very specific 'motorcycles are dangerous' agenda. Really shouldn't be in wikipedia in that form IMO.

[Caz]

Ironic, since the linked wikipedia article is full of BS.

Maybe I'll try n make time to read it then. - I could do with a good laugh

It does amuse me to read these things when people think they know what they are talking about but in reality its all BS

[RedexRobB]

Thats the thing with wikipedia, none of the info is scritinised by recognised academics. So anyone can write anything. The exact reason all of my tutors at my uni despise it.