Riding a bike - did you know...

[Wools]

Push Bike Sir.

I'm good with words, I dident actually utter a full word intill I was 4 years old. True that.

[Eps]

I ride a bike for a living and get reguarly get flashed by speed cameras. Is that cycle-l33t enough to countersteer?

Quite. At the speeds I ride my road bike, deliberate significant pre-bend countersteering (motorcycle-style) is required to get my turning circle anywhere near acceptable.

Incidentally, countersteering only initiates a turning motion; clearly after this point you must generally have the handlebars turned in the 'correct' direction! Most of the Internet arguments I've seen about whether it's real or not (and I've seen one or two, believe it or not) come about because one side argues that countersteering is ALL that happens in a turn (usually after having read an article; a little knowledge, etc...) while one side argues that it is never necessary. Both, of course, are wrong.

[MartyG]

If you turn the handlebars the opposite way after counter steering to initiate a turn on a motorcycle you'll end up in a hedge.

[Rossco]

IT WORKS!!

I done it today while out for a quick cycle. Pull on the right side and it goes to the left, its bloody weird I tell you!

But I understand why it works now.

[Canton Province]

Just to be clear...

There is no way of turning left without you turning the handlebar right?

And...

If you turn the handlebar left for example, does your front wheel always turn right?

[Tirian]

Couldn't get my head round this when I glanced through the thread at work, so tried it on the way home ... and I'll be damned, it's right!

Still don't understand why though, possibly because I haven't actually looked at any of those sites that explain it. I prefer to think of it as magic. Makes my life moderately more exciting that way

Tirian

[Rossco]

When you push the bike to turn right, the bike still tries to go forward so it forces the tyre to tilt to the left side a few degrees, while still facing to the right, this in turn makes the outside of the tyre touch the road which is at an angle compared to the middle being horizontal. So the bike follows the angle and is forced to the left.

Here's a picture to help explain as I suck at explaining things.



Thats the way I perceive the whole thing to work anyway, if you get what I mean.

[Eps]

If you turn the handlebars the opposite way after counter steering to initiate a turn on a motorcycle you'll end up in a hedge.

I probably worded it wrong, as I've never lowsided a motorcycle either (though it's only a matter of time -- i've been lucky!)

[charlesr]

Just to be clear...

There is no way of turning left without you turning the handlebar right?

And...

If you turn the handlebar left for example, does your front wheel always turn right?

Not quite.

In answer to your 2nd question: If you turn the bars left, the front wheel obviously also aims left, but importantly, the bike tips to the right and thus you go right.

In answer to your first question: on a light bicycle you can chuck your bodyweight right and the bike will tip left and thus you go left. So on a bicycle you are able to ride around corners with no hands. However, on a heavy motorcycle you can chuck your weight around all you want and it barely does anything. The only way to get it to tip the bike into the corner is to use countersteering.

[charlesr]

No idea why this popped into my mind again, but I found a youtube vid of a bicycle doing it.



Turn the bars to left to tip the bike right and then once it's tipped, turn in the natural direction.

[smouty]

I've read through this thread and tried it myself.
All I have to say is that it is total rubbish.
You turn the handlebars in the direction you want to go.
I think some people are getting confused between the handling characteristics of a bike at different speeds.
In the above video example, the gyroscopic properties of the wheels try to keep the bike in a straight line so nudging the bars will cause it to overreact in the opposite direction.
Steering a bike is not just about moving the handlebars.
Try steering and leaning into the turn and see what happens but I can assure you you do not need to counter steer

[charlesr]

lol... Presuming you can ride without holding the bars, try the following:

Try and turn right by only pushing the back of the left bar forwards - i.e. bars turning to the right (not gripping it in any way - just pushing it, say with the back of your left hand with fingers pointing straight down at the ground so you can't cheat). It can't be done. And don't cheat by leaning your body either...

"Steering a bike is not just about moving the handlebars" - unless you want to steer very slowly by leaning your bodyweight (which has zero affect on a heavier motorbike), steering a two wheel bike is ONLY about moving the handlebars.

Why is this difficult for people to grasp? Yes, once you are leaned over, you steer the handlebars in the direction you want to go, but you countersteer to lean.

[Brad]

I can ride a bike backwards using no hands. That is all.

[charlesr]

When you say backwards, do you mean the bike is going forwards but you are facing backwards?

I can ride a bike backwards while facing forwards. It's somewhat strenuous though. And pointless.

[Brad]

yes, sitting on the handlebars facing the wrong way basically. My daughter was impressed anyway lol