I had to chime in here due to the amount of mis-information (no offense to anyone).


- Leaning does NOT cause you to turn. You can be leaned over as much as you want (as long as you counter balance your center of gravity to stop the bike from falling) and still go straight. Picture riding straight against a sloped road. You're leaned, but going straight. As long as your front and rear tires are spinning on the same radius, you're going straight.

- Countersteering is not just a trick for racing. It's a necessity for turning.

- Countersteering is in effect from just below 10mph (not 30mph).

- Shifting your weight into the inside of the turn is NOT done to help lean the bike more. You use your handlebars to increase/decrease centrifugal force to accomplish that. Leaning into a turn can be done to INCREASE your center of gravity, allowing you to lean LESS for the same turn. I.E. If you shift your weight INTO a turn more, your bike will stand UP (lean less) at the same speed/radius.


Thanks.

 

Ok before I start this i'm not trying to argue, but discuss & as before no offence is intended. I just want to make sure about the info being given out.

With the counter steering are you sure it's 10mph? It's just I don't find it really occurs till then and as usual today I was going round the roundabout at the end of my road today doing about 20ish give or take, but the steering was acting just like a push bike and not actually counter steering.

Plus I was told by my instructor it was 30, granted it before xmas that I was told about the 30 thing, though I may just be remembering wrong. Also 30-35mph was the speed I started practicing at so that may have clouded my memory, but i'm pretty sure it was 30 he said was the speed it comes into effect.

 

The speed at which countersteering has a more noticeable effect is the speed at which the centrifugal force pushing your bike OUT is greater then the force of gravity pushing your bike DOWN. When you turn your wheel left, centrifugal force wants to push the rest of your bike right. At slow enough speeds, this force will be less then gravity, which will in turn make you fall. At higher speeds, it will tilt your bike.

The actual speed at which this transition occurs is around 6mph.

You should be able to easily try notice this going straight around 15mph. Push your left handlebar, and your go left.

Good description here (goto #48) :

http://www.msgroup.org/

Edit : I also want to point out that countersteering isn't just a motorcycle thing. You can also do it on normal bicycles since they both share the same characteristics. It's just more of a necessity with motorcycles due to the increased forward/upright stability inherent from the higher speeds.

 

FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SOMEBODY GET THE PRINCIPAL!
haha!

 

Never thought you'd see an argument on how to turn a bike, did you??!!

 

Ok granted on the edit, counter steering isn't limited to motorcycles, but I was using a pushbike in my explanation as I steer conciously with the handlebars at slow enough speeds that counter steering isn't a factor, so I was thinking of that as I was writing it. So yeah fair point, my bad on the way I was going about describing counter steering on that point.
And i'll give the counter steering a try at 15mph, and i'll take it slower and slower to see what point it comes in at.

And to otisdr and adam this isn't supposed to be an arguement lmao