Riding a bike - did you know...

[charlesr]

Did you know that on a bicycle or motorbike, to go left, you actually have to turn the handlebars to the right? True fact.

Don't believe me? Try it.

Ride along on your bike, steadying the handlebars with a light fingertip on each bar. Release all pressure on the left side and gently pull the right bar towards you (thus turning the bars to the right). You will instantly turn left.

Not that anyone tells you this while trying to learn to ride a bike. Or indeed a motorbike - it's seen as advanced knowledge whereas it's essential to actually going round corners. Or least no-one told me.....

So those of you that knew this, did you work it out on your own, or did someone tell you?

[thebuddahman]

Someone told me!

I miss my moped. Going down a hill and watching the speedo go off the scale was fantastic. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeee...

[Rossco]

I dont get it?

[Space Monkey]

My bro told me this years ago but I`ve never been able to prove it to myself. I`ll try your method when I`m back on the bike.

[Commander Marklar]

I dont get it?

Bikes "self-steer", you correct the turn to stop yourself falling off. Like if you were turning left centrifugal forces move your body right (like say in a car) and the whole bike would fall over (to the right). Do you get me? Hang on...

ta-da

And no, I had no idea either until my Dad told me (IIRC) but I guess it's obvious when you think about it

[Ciaran]

o_0

I've been riding as long as I remember and still don't quiet get this. I've to cycle to work in the morning and if I fall off I'm blaming you!.

[Number45]

It's far too early on a Monday morning for this, that's completely ****ed with my head.

Countersteering shows up in many ways. For example, you may also have noticed that it is surprisingly difficult to ride clear of a close, high curb. The difficulty occurs because you have to steer into the curb to get away from the curb.

Although that is certainly true (I remember how hard it is to get away from the curb, but not why).

[Dogg Thang]

I'm confused. How have I survived all these years by steering in the direction I actually want to go? Even on a motorbike, which was far more leaning than turning, I don't think I would have ever turned the handlebars in the opposite direction.

But if that's the case, surely I wouldn't ever have taken a corner successfully? I guess I did fail my motorbike test...

[erhgiez]

The handlebars are connected to the wheel, even though they are perpendicular they will still turn the same way as the wheel, hence if you turn left, the wheel turns left and you go left. If this is some silly thing about restoring forces with circular motion much like a gyroscope then its a bit silly and misleading

[Alastair]

Countersteering isn't it Charles? The deal seems to be that to turn left you do a quick pull of the right bar to tip the bike into the turn. You still turn left once the bikes tipped in though.

I've read all about it on motorbike forums and you're right, it is seen as an advanced skill. When I went out to try it after reading about it I found I already did it 'naturally'.

If you go and try it it does make sense but is pretty hard to understand or explain.

Don't fall off though!

[charlesr]

This is not an advanced skill. You CANNOT steer a bike by turning the bars in the direction you want to go (above a couple of mph). Anyone riding a bike does it naturally without realising (remember learning to ride a bicycle? It seemed difficult because no one told you this - or even the first time you moved from a light 125cc motorbike to a heavy 500cc - did the first corner seem weird?).

Dogg Thang, on your motorbike you say it's more leaning than turning.... How do you get the bike to lean? You get it to lean by turning the bars the wrong way! On a heavy bike, there is no other way to get the bike to turn. On a bicycle you can chuck your bodyweight right to go left, but motorbikes are too heavy to use bodyweight - ride down the road with your hands off the bars and try and steer your motorbike. You won't be able to.

Then hold one of the bars very lightly and think about pushing and pulling the bar and see what happens to the bike's direction as you do. If you want to flick the bike into a corner quickly, you have to countersteer the bars quickly in the other direction. Once you start actively thinking about this, it makes your riding much more precise and allows you to make quick changes of direction with confidence.

As you approach the desired lean angle for your particular corner, you then turn the bars back to the middle.

[Dogg Thang]

Monday morning is a very cruel time to make my brain hurt.

[Alastair]

If you actually care and can be bothered with a 12 min video this explains it really well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX3PMckEX-0

Skip to 4mins in to get to the counter steering bit. He demonstrates it on his bike.

[MJ]

It's called counter steering and you end up just doing it naturally on a motorbike, in my experience.

[charlesr]

Monday morning is a very cruel time to make my brain hurt.

I expect you to report back as soon as you've tried steering whilst thinking about it.