Has nothing whatsoever to do with counter steering. Trail braking is loading up the front suspension by applying the front brakes. This decreases your trail (as in rake and trail) and allows the bike to turn in better. It is a very advanced way to increase maneuverability because braking eats up usable contact patch that could otherwise be used for cornering. Squeeze a smidge too hard and watch the bike come tumbling after you ...

 

I thought I may as well use this video for now (until I do a better one) as an example of counter steering ... I use no body movement or "lean off" at all in this run ... I simply use the bars and counter steer the bike through the bends ..when the bike goes left, right, left in quick succession it's pure counter steering that allows me to do that and effortlessly too :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIH0I...eature=related


Jules

 

Superbly written! This is the reason why newbies and even "advanced" riders will tell you to "lean to turn" or "lean more." They themselves do not realize that the shifting of their body to one side causes the bars to be torqued in favor of the turn.

Something I find true and easy to understand is that "leaning intensifies the effects of countersteering." This is because leaning to one side of the bike, will make that side of it heavier, and therefore more prone to fall in that direction.

 

I left work and went to my living quarters to view the video. I have heard the countersteering discussions before but could not visualize it. I am going to have to try it when I get home. Thanks for video, i just hope that I can take curves as smoothly as you!

 

This is the reason why newbies and even "advanced" riders will tell you to "lean to turn" or "lean more." They themselves do not realize that the shifting of their body to one side causes the bars to be torqued in favor of the turn.
that was well said and the truth

 

I thought we needed something positive to help us all ride better ...
sonnerie portable gratuite

 

LOL wish I had found this site and this thread last year. Not for me, since I rode before it's a matter of remembering (and then forgetting).

My best friend has a gixxer. Which he promptly dropped on a practice run and hasn't been back on since. When I got my bike, it kicked him in the ego a bit and he will be taking the BRC (Basic Riding Course) with me. When he described the incident (I never knew he had a bike till he helped tow mine) I asked him "What do you know about countersteering?" His reply: "What's countersteering?". I'd highly recommend anyone in the Philly area to run if they see a yellow CBR tailed by a black GSX for the next month

Juliet, I've sent him a link to this thread. He needs it. Great explanation. It should be mandatory that unregistered and new members be forced into this thread 1st

 

thank you Kuroshio :-)

I may as well put this video here too since it's a good demonstration of counter steering, I used pure counter steering on these bends and no lean off or climbing around on the bike ... simple bar input on these types of roads at these speeds where the bend changes one way and then the other in rapid succession are best tackled with pure steering input :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEswy...eature=channel


The deliberate mistake was at 1.06 ... the left hander with the railings ahead, seriously though, my back wheel hit a bump as you should be able to tell from the wobble of the bike at this point, I let this phase me somewhat and ran much wider than I wanted to, I could have counter steered it tighter but because of the "fright" I simply ran too wide and no I am not too happy about it, a good job there was nothing coming or I may have clipped them with either minimal or disastrous consequences ... if my dad was still around he would have crucified me for that error and quite rightly too.

I know it doesn't look much on the video but the wobble from the bump that the rear wheel hit was much more violent than the video shows, it's like the speed and acceleration don't come across on these videos.

I really did lose my composure here and despite my heart racing I carried on and kept up the pace. Dad would often say if you stop and think about it too much you can overthink it and put yourself right off, so I just carried on and I soon settled again.

Jules

 

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself - you knew what you did, and you won't do it again.

If your very first instinct were always right we'd all be riding GP. You don't get to the point where you throttle through a slapper at 120 mph (on the track) without making a mistake somewhere else.

As for counter steering videos, one of my friends had a series on youtube where he explained and demonstrated the principles. It could be a good resource for this thread - one moment!

Seems youtube is down right now - try searching for IanJ... I'll try to get back here with it.

 

Here is one of his videos on counter steering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C848R9xWrjc