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All About Lean!
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Another long article where the writer is trying to stay in tune with modern Gospel.
You can lean and corner a bike without counter steering. Slow riders do not get it.
Fast riders like Fast Freddie Spencer, Niki Hayden, Kenny Roberts and many many more know how.
Instead of online articles, I would suggest everyone reads Smooth Riding by Reg Pridmore. He will tell you all about body steering a bike, which is what we did forever before counter steering was invented.
I can ride my Suzuki up Island and do what the articles says can not be done. The guy that raced with one arm and one leg, does what the article says can not be done.
Reg talks about blipping the throttle ( rev matching ) controlling the cornering angle with the throttle, braking and much more.
I recommend the book, because he says what I have been saying for a long time. His prose is better than mine because he runs teaching classes. My language is better suited for guys that race. Using the throttle to control cornering angle and direction, is something I have not written about here. It seems to be too complex for non races to understand.
Have fun. UK
You can lean and corner a bike without counter steering. Slow riders do not get it.
Fast riders like Fast Freddie Spencer, Niki Hayden, Kenny Roberts and many many more know how.
Instead of online articles, I would suggest everyone reads Smooth Riding by Reg Pridmore. He will tell you all about body steering a bike, which is what we did forever before counter steering was invented.
I can ride my Suzuki up Island and do what the articles says can not be done. The guy that raced with one arm and one leg, does what the article says can not be done.
Reg talks about blipping the throttle ( rev matching ) controlling the cornering angle with the throttle, braking and much more.
I recommend the book, because he says what I have been saying for a long time. His prose is better than mine because he runs teaching classes. My language is better suited for guys that race. Using the throttle to control cornering angle and direction, is something I have not written about here. It seems to be too complex for non races to understand.
Have fun. UK
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I thought it was a good post, the "kiss" method really makes sense, he really does hit the nail on the head in regards to new riders. Like myself cornering is my weakest point as a new rider for fears of tipping over but leaning over to "kiss" the mirror really makes sense.
Thanks for the post
Thanks for the post
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So, who INVENTED the laws of physics at some point AFTER you began your riding career? It may be "modern gospel" but its not wrong. It's just a scientific look at what you've been unconsciously doing for your entire riding career. Your body steering and movements are imparting movements to the handle bars whether you realize it or not.
We probably shouldn't believe them when they tell us using the front brakes won't shoot us over the handlebars either, eh?
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As I said above, the book by Reg Pridmore will explain what happens. We steered the bike with our knees, mostly the outside one pressing in, and weight on the inner peg. Sometimes there needed to be pressure on the bar or bars, but sometimes not. The counter steering, if required, was an auto reaction to the inputs from the body steering. It came second not first. However, and I have said this often enough, many modern tanks do not respond well to body steering, as they do not fit the body / knees very well, and they are tanks. We also used the throttle for cornering, and paid attention to the amount of suspension compression we had. But that gets a bit too technical for some. However it is in the book.
From my many previous posts, folks will know, that an expert road racer will do two things that will surprise you. Out brake you, and go around corners faster. We managed to do fine while never mentioning the counter steering words. We also understood rake and trail. Modern sport bikes like my Suzuki turn into a corner very easily when body steering. My other bikes not so well.
Whether I realized it or not, I did manage to be the number 1 plate in open GP a while back. But that was in WA. There was tougher competition racing against the expert plates in BC Canada, which included some excellent US riders, whose names I have mentioned before.
Why not read the book by Reg if you are keen to learn.
UK
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Agreed.
Sometimes I get to follow cruiser type bikes. They tend to drag stuff fairly easily.
UK
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I've only drug parts once in 40 years and that was due to a nasty dip in a tight turn. Yet I can turn as sharp as anyone. Most of us aren't racing that ride cruiser style bikes anyway so leaning a looking where you want to go works just fine. But you do need some speed for counter-steering to work anyway. Try it at 1 mph and you may rethink the whole thing.
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Challenge accepted. Book ordered. We'll see what it has to say.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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Good plan. We can chat.
I also bought a book on bike suspension, but have not opened it yet.
UK
It's easy to experience the effect of weight on the inner peg even while riding on a straight road.
First STOMP on the left peg then quickly the right. You'll get the idea. :wink2:
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Trying to put a cerebral take on something that is innate fails to resonate with me. Just frickin' do it.
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There it is. Really simple. Just try it. That's the first thing I did after I got past being terrified to ride over 25mph. But I did it to see what this counter-steering thing was all about with the push pull thing. Turned out I was already doing it somehow but to push or stomp to the extreme really brought it home. It was a WOW kind of moment. Cruiser riders don't normally stand but if you would just do it even a little you'll see what happens.
Hog mentioned something about looking where you're going.
It's a fact that you tend to steer where you look.
If there is a brick in the road you need to miss, don't look at it, look at where you need to go to avoid the brick.
If there is a pretty girl in a bikini on the beach..... Use your best judgment.
It's a fact that you tend to steer where you look.
If there is a brick in the road you need to miss, don't look at it, look at where you need to go to avoid the brick.
If there is a pretty girl in a bikini on the beach..... Use your best judgment.
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On Bluzu it is easy for me to try different styles. In a straight line around 50 mph, I did the counter steer test as suggested from a Code fan. It works.
I steered with my knees, it works. I steered with weight on the pegs, it works.
If something suddenly appeared before me ( not God or heaven or any other mystical concepts ) my natural reaction is to move the bike with my body, aiming at where I want to go. I think for many this is the auto reflex program. In an emergency, trying to think about which bar to push or pull, gets lost, as it is NOT the sudden instinct program most of us have. That in a nutshell is why I preach body steering, rather than counter steering.
Sometimes extreme and sudden tippy / lean is required to save our souls. Sometimes coupled with large chunks of brakes. Sometimes not easy if we have not practiced, or our brain freezes.
Counter steering is secondary, and I now have written evidence by some very qualified riders, who have put it in print.
Reg Pridmore is a three time AMA superbike Champion. Freddie Spencer, Nicki Hayden, Kenny Roberts and others quoted in his book, are world champions.
Met a guy on the ferry last week. Honda 1000 I4 sport bike. 1/4 inch chicken strips. He said he looks where he wants to go, and the bike follows.
This happens after you get used to leaning the bike and body steering. I would have liked to join him on a ride to Whistler Mountain.
UK
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