OzSTOC
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Poppy Dave on July 22, 2012, 10:10:34 PM
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Saw this on the ST-Owners Forum.
Well worth a watch.
Notice it's the ST rider who has true words of wisdom for the Power Rangers. :nahnah
Bike Cornering Bible (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWH_QiXw5n4#)
Dave
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Good video for those who have other ideas..................it's certainly good advice and is spot on to how I ride. :)
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:bl11
Just yesterday I was speaking to a fellow motorcyclist (not ST rider) who did not know about countersteering. He believes that he has been pushing the left bar forward to go right and I explained to him that's how you turn a bike at low speed during an obstacle course or tight u-turn where you set the throttle and control your speed by dragging the rear brake whilst using your weight to counter balance the bike, but that it's not what we do at speed. I told him about countersteering and he's not sure what's going on. Apparently some cyclists think they only turn by leaning.
There are plenty of experienced riders who don't understand how they steer their bikes.
Brad
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Have watched a lot of videos about countersteering, and the more I watch the more confused I become :crazy. I still haven't got a handle on it. Think that is partially why I had my stack a little while ago. Need to get out with a more experienced rider to physically go through the motions and get my head around it all.
All that has happened is I have become a little phobic and nervous on the bends, especially the one I stacked on :eek. Take it much slower these days, but do need to develop my riding skills with the aid of a good experienced rider :thumbs.
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Hey Hobs, try this and see if it's clearer.
Stand on the left side of a pushbike (or imagine youself doing it if you haven't got a bike) and hold the bike upright by the left handlebar. Push the handlebar forward and you will see that the bike has "bent" in the middle and leant over to the left as a result of it's design. You've just initiated the lean to assist your bike to change direction and whilst it's leaning you adjust the steering input as required.
Handlebar input is the quickest way of changing direction and sometimes we need to do it quickly, ie if an object suddenly appears from under a car that your following and we really should become familiar with what happens should we need to "thump" one side of the handlebars to avoid a hazard. The bikes design will allow it to come upright and stable after we have 'steered' around the hazard.
Brad
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a really easy way to understand how your bike steers is to do this (at relatively low speed to start with..)
on an open empty road at about 60k, take your hands off the bars... the bike will usually steer slightly one way or the other, try to correct it by 'leaning' hard to do! now try just pushing the bar (lightly, with your finger tip!) on the opposite side to the way the bike is steering itself.. instant straighten up with very little pressure. now push left or right and note the way the bike leans opposite and turns... try it the other way... this is how you steer your bike even if you don't think you are, but now that you know how to steer it, it becomes much easier and quicker to control in any situation.. when you are really confident about what you are doing, try pushing it around a few corners using the 'push the bars' method and see how easy it is to corner hard
how does it work? my understanding (might be wrong mind you!) is that when the front wheel is turned to the left by you pushing the right hand bar, the bike 'falls' away from the left (centrifugal force?) so leans to the right, when it leans, it turns...
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The same thing happens when hit by a sudden wind gust. Another good reason to ride relaxed, when the wind hits and tries to push you to the left, the bike leans right to counter it. If you hold the bars tight then you fight the effect and thats when the wobbles start.
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Want to try Countersteering?
While riding on a nice straight road, give the right bar a little push, and the bike will instantly and quickly dip to the right. That's countersteering, and trying it on a straight will give your a feel for how the bike will react to pressure on the handlebars. Do this for a while, just to feel what is going to happen. Then practice on some nice gentle corners, pushing on the inside bar as you corner. In time it will become second nature, but it is certainly a counterintuitive way of getting around a corner. Eventually you will feel confident enough that if you "overcook" a corner, dont' stiffen up your arms, but push hard on the inside bar, and the bike will corner much better than you might expect.