Motorcycle countersteer: This just might save your life:
Push right to turn right. Push left to turn Left. (Hence Countersteer)
Just a gentle push. Not a jarring forceful push. (Push forward Not down)
That’s all you need to know. That’s all you need to
constantly do. Until it becomes second nature and instinct…
INSTINCT &
REFLEXES.
You don’t need to know the mechanics or physics about it. The only thing that might
SAVE YOUR LIFE is that you do this instinctively especially in a panic situation.
NOTE: Please distinguish that this is different from the controlled countersteer slide that one performs in speedways. That one is a controlled two wheel drift. What is discussed here IS HOW a STEER is initiated.
Mods: I know there is another thread with a similar topic. But his was more of a question. This one IS THE ANSWER. I just felt that this would serve the topic better. Close it if you feel fit. But If this topic saves just one life, then it would have served it’s pupose.
Reproduced in full is an article written by Steve Anderson (I think it was in the June 1985 issue, not sure) of Cycle World magazine. I read it around 1988 or 1989 during a trip in Dumaguete. I immediately drove a bike and was blasted to find out that it was TRUE. Back then there was no internet and this was a
startling revelation. Considering that at that time i was already a motorcyclist for 9 years. This was the only article I came across about this FACT. This article got me into a quest to spread
this fact. I photo copied this and made it mandatory reading for all motorcycle riding personnel under me. I used to give it to all my motorcycling friends. This has been my reflex action since 1989 (25 years). Believe me, it works. (All words in bold are my choice, italics are the author’s)
Counter-intuitive
by Steve Anderson
“Chances are you really don’t know how to ride a motorcycle.
We’re not trying to be insulting, but the truth is that very few motorcyclists are aware of many of the control operations they perform while riding. But for the most part, this doesn’t matter; if your body knows how to operate a motorcycle (and if you ride, it certainly does), then a complete understanding of what you are doing on a bike is no more vital to you than a complete understanding of the physics of walking.
Until an emergency arises.
We were recently reminded of this when our Editor became an in-depth observer of the aftermath of a motorcycle-involved accident. The details aren’t terribly important—the accident began when a truck made a left turn in front of a motorcycle--except that the crash could have been avoided. Instead, the
reflexive action of the motorcyclist made the situation far worse, for he actually turned
into the side of the truck after it had already crossed in front of him, and he was severely injured as a result.
According to Harry Hurt’s oft-quoted study of motorcycle crashes, this accident followed a common pattern: a rider steering into an obstacle he was trying to avoid.
Behind the pattern is a reason: the way motorcycles turn. Above walking speeds, the
only way to initiate anything but the most gradual of turns is by countersteering—that is, by steering the front wheel left to turn right, or right to turn left. The whole idea might seem bizarre and unnatural, particularly to car drivers,
but it’s how bikes turn.
To understand countersteering, let’s look at a right hand turn in detail.
To start that turn, you first steer the handlebars not to the right but very slightly to the left (which is why it is called
countersteering). Often, this is done by leaning your body slightly to the right, which tends to make you press forward on the right handgrip. (That’s one reason many riders
mistakenly think that body lean initiates turns, instead of countersteering.) As the front wheel aims to the left, it does two things. It steers to the left which causes the bike to fall to the right; and since the spinning front wheel acts as a gyroscope, the steering of the wheel to the left causes a gyroscopically induced reaction that additionally causes the bike to lean right. Then as the bike approaches the desired lean angle, you have to turn the handlebars back to the right to prevent the bike from falling over completely. And once the right-hand turn
reaches a steady state, the front wheel will be turned in very slightly to the right.
These handlebar movements are so small that most people don’t know they’re making them. But whether or not you’re consciously aware of countersteering makes no difference:
It’s not an option. It’s a must, for you can’t ride a motorcycle without it.
Unfortunately, in panic situations, this steering behavior can easily work against you. In an adrenaline-pumping emergency, it’s easy to fall back on automobile-conditioned reflexes and do what seems the natural thing: turn the handlebars away from what you want to avoid. But that only causes a bike to lean and steer
toward what you want to avoid, a situation that could leave you in a world of hurt.
The alternative is to be conscious of countersteering, and work to make it part of your reflexes. First, if you have any doubts that motorcycles indeed do steer in this way, you need to convince yourself otherwise. To do so, try riding on a straight, empty section of road with your left hand held behind your back. Hold your body perfectly still and observe how the bike reacts even to small movements of the handlebars.
Second, practice conscious countersteering. Again on a straight empty road, practice dodging potholes or oil stains, pushing forward on the right handgrip to turn right, on the left to go left.
When you feel comfortable with that, notice what countersteering does in a long constant radius turn. This is an important observation, since you also change your lean angle with countersteering, even when you’re already in a corner. By turning the bars slightly to the outside of a turn, you lean even further, tightening your line. Having that information programmed into your reflexes could prevent a crash if you enter a decreasing-radius corner going too fast.
There’s one last secret about countersteering: Consciously doing it makes motorcycle riding more fun. With your mind and body working together when riding, you’ll feel so much more in control that you’ll wonder why this isn’t a mandatory part of rider training.
And that’s a good question in itself.”
Just to recap important points:
1. Above walking speeds the only way to
immediately INITIATE anything but the most gradual of turns is to
countersteer.
2. Be conscious of countersteering, and work to
make it part of your reflexes.
Steer right to turn left and steer left to turn right is OUTRIGHT confusing, Hence:
3.
Push right to turn right. Push left to turn Left.
For the doubters, Please read all links and try them yourselves before you post.
Kieth Code’s ‘No BS Bike’ (No BS has a double meaning, the second is ‘No Body Steer’)
Superbike School :: No B.S. Machine
Kieth Code’s California Superbike School
Superbike School :: CSS Team
For the really serious bikers: Kieth Code’s ‘Twist of the Wrist vol II’ video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVWLIfChUwg
David L. Hough on Code’s No BS bike
Keith Code's No BS Bike<
Push Steering: Motorcycle Handbook of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation
Motorcycles Handbook
Steve Munden: Steering Single-Track Vehicles
Countersteering Motorcycles
Motorcycle countersteer: This just might save your life
lang sa road karon. Mao na I hate driving now, cuz all 4wheels (and more) treat us like dirt on the road and push us around. But mao sad na ila style. Dili na lang ko mang saway, cuz panagsa pasaway sad ko. Hehe sorry!
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