So how do you steer a bike?

[onesea]

 

[RideWithStyles]

lol.

blind faith, hope what im doing works....

Edited February 11 by RideWithStyles

[Simon Davey]

One hour ride per month for the last three months, and I'm still a bit wobbly. 

This is mostly fear of the wet greasy country roads. 

 

[RideWithStyles]

fear steers you! .

[Steve_M]

56 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

One hour ride per month for the last three months, and I'm still a bit wobbly. 

This is mostly fear of the wet greasy country roads. 

 

I would recommend attending a i2i machine control course. 

[S-Westerly]

I took delivery of my new bike on December 14th.  In the 2 months since I've done 1952 miles through all the crap weather. 1300 of those were for fun. You've got one life, live it. 

BTW I counter steer and use the tyre as its meant to be used and have reasonable faith that the bike and tyres will perform as designed. Not to say I don't get squeaky bum moments because I do.

[Simon Davey]

1 hour ago, Steve_M said:

I would recommend attending a i2i machine control course. 

 

That's a good idea, I've been looking already. 

I've had bikes my whole life, but after a 23 year break, and nothing but wet roads, I'm not feeling it. 

Came home buzzing like a 10 year old though. 

[Joe85]

 

Some sort of faith-based manoeuvre.

 

I look, the bike goes. 

[Tiggie]

2 hours ago, S-Westerly said:

I counter steer

 

oooh,  there hasn't been a counter steering argument on here in ages 

[Simon Davey]

4 minutes ago, Tiggie said:

 

oooh,  there hasn't been a counter steering argument on here in ages 

 

Watching the video, there is no argument. 

[Tiggie]

@Simon Davey There is no argument from me, counter steering is real and I use it myself. We have had plenty of members on here though that don't believe its real and will argue the toss forever on it 

[S-Westerly]

About 7 years ago I did a cornering skills course at Mallory Park using their bikes. (Means you're not fretting about dropping your pride and joy). It was really good and really explained and demonstrated cornering. Improved my skills 100% and I've been diligently following the experience passed on since. Now second nature.

[RideWithStyles]

1 hour ago, Simon Davey said:

 

That's a good idea, I've been looking already. 

I've had bikes my whole life, but after a 23 year break, and nothing but wet roads, I'm not feeling it. 

Came home buzzing like a 10 year old though. 

also to note, what tyres are on the bike now, pressures, suspension settings?

they have great impact on how the bike feels and behaves. 

[RideWithStyles]

47 minutes ago, Simon Davey said:

 

Watching the video, there is no argument. 

 

47 minutes ago, Tiggie said:

@Simon Davey There is no argument from me, counter steering is real and I use it myself. We have had plenty of members on here though that don't believe its real and will argue the toss forever on it 

exactly otherwise we might as well bought car tyres or not wanting to change the squared off tyres.

[Simon Davey]

59 minutes ago, Tiggie said:

@Simon Davey There is no argument from me, counter steering is real and I use it myself. We have had plenty of members on here though that don't believe its real and will argue the toss forever on it 

Thousands of miles, several bikes, and 40 years later, I had no Idea about counter steering until now

[Steve_M]

2 hours ago, Simon Davey said:

Thousands of miles, several bikes, and 40 years later, I had no Idea about counter steering until now

It’s simply an automatic response to make the bike turn - we learn to do that on pushbikes (assuming you rode a pushbike) and instinctively do it without consciously making the effort. Not being aware of it is not unusual.
 

I first learnt about it while doing a machine skills course. I’ve just noticed your location. You might want to consider Essex Firebike training. Some of the instructors are the same as did the courses I attended. They call Counter Steering “Postive Steering”.. 

[Steve_M]

3 hours ago, RideWithStyles said:

also to note, what tyres are on the bike now, pressures, suspension settings?

they have great impact on how the bike feels and behaves. 

Suspension settings. Oh the joy of ESA and mode settings.

[RideWithStyles]

1 hour ago, Steve_M said:

It’s simply an automatic response to make the bike turn - we learn to do that on pushbikes (assuming you rode a pushbike) and instinctively do it without consciously making the effort. Not being aware of it is not unusual.
 

I first learnt about it while doing a machine skills course. I’ve just noticed your location. You might want to consider Essex Firebike training. Some of the instructors are the same as did the courses I attended. They call Counter Steering “Postive Steering”.. 

thing is most normal push bikes unless we are talking recent trend in down hill cycles have the same tyre front and rear which is why newer riders have to acclimatise to motor bikes. 

[Nick the wanderer]

I was taught counter steering and target fixation by a chap l worked with many moons ago, lovely bloke, l wonder where he is now.

Comes in very handy indeed trying to muscle the GSXR around. Much much easier on the Yamaha but still need it, when a corner turns in sharper than you thought.

[Gerontious]

Aah… counter steering. Memories of a past on this forum when this was by far the most controversial topic ever. It used to amuse me no end. As for me I learnt it, long before I owned a motorbike - during the transition from dual to single and then no stabilisers at all. I must have been 7yrs old or thereabouts. And later. When I was 11 and would sometimes cycle to school, which was 11 miles away. (And I missed the coach) it became somewhat more important. Not something you think about, it just happens when you go round a curve in the road at any speed. Would have to be walking pace to turn by physically turning the handlebars. Can’t think how long it was before I realised that something that was instinctive had a name. And was actually controversial.

 

happy days.

[Bender]

You can steer the bike

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I rode push bikes for years before coming to motorcycles so steering was intuitive. 

 

The Bobber though is a hoot. You just twitch your bum in the direction you want to go and by some power of magic it goes round corners like it's glued to the road. Occasionally sparks fly out from underneath which must be the magic working overtime. 

 

My riding buddies think I know what I'm doing. They are wrong. 

[Interference Fit]

I actively counter steer at anything over about 15 mph and look where I want to go and the bike does the rest, but countersteering is my default subconscious muscle memory action. 

[Bender]

3 hours ago, Interference Fit said:

I actively counter steer at anything over about 15 mph and look where I want to go and the bike does the rest, but countersteering is my default subconscious muscle memory action. 

You don't really have an option, you can try not doing it, won't end well

[Interference Fit]

33 minutes ago, Bender said:

You don't really have an option, you can try not doing it, won't end well

 

This is true. When I was taking lessons for my Mod 2, we went down some twisties and the lead rider was going faster than I was comfortable and I ended up falling behind. I just couldn't get the bike to go round the corners fast enough without pushing wide, at one point I almost contacted a hedge on the exit. 

At the relatively slow speeds and lean angles whilst on lessons, I wasn't conscious of counter steering, it felt just like riding a bike in that I didn't think about what I was doing, I just 'steered'.

Only when I learned what counter steering is and made a conscious decision to do it, did it all fall into place. Now with some experience under my belt, I just push the inside bar away until I achieve the desired lean angle for the speed / bend combo and that's that.

Of course I'm still making adjustments mid bend or roundabout to correct the ideal amount of lean for the bend, but that'll come with more practice. The good thing is now that I don't have to think about it like I did in the early days on my CBR. I lost count of the amount of times I'd say to myself in my head approaching a bend "Push, look, lean".

Edited February 15 by Interference Fit