questions about corners

dshag · Post by **dshag** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:33 pm

Ok im new to bikes so sorry if this is retarded, I was driving around the neighborhood today...lots of 90 degree turns with stop signs and such, I noticed its a hell of alot easier to turn with more speed...i mean i could lean the bike easier, felt more comfortable and smoother. I also noticed that its hard to lean a bike over past a certain point, i never felt uncomfortable with any of the lean angles. Just for info the low speed turns were like 10mph and the higher ones (for me) were like 45mph lol it was in my neighborhood

U-Turn · Post by **U-Turn** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:23 pm

What your talking about is counter steering. Slow speeds you actually turn the wheel in the direction you want to go. High speeds you turn away from the direction you want to go.
Turn Left, push with your left.
Turn right, push with your right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersteering
http://msgroup.org/Tip.aspx?Num=048
A lot of articles and tips here.
http://msgroup.org/articles.aspx
One more

One of the first posts I did here when I started learning how to ride and not just sit on top.
"Just before I started riding with ya'll I would just lean into a turn and the bike only went so far on it's own. I couldn't make it lean more. I mentioned it to a friend and he said to push it more. I'm thinking faster? So I started to push and presto! the bike leans more. Still trying to get used to it because I push a little and it moves down a little, push a little more and it drops a lot ! Didn't know it's called countersteering until this thread.
Then last weekend I just started pushing it more and keep repeting Trust The Tires. Riding is a lot more fun now then it was just a month ago."

Just ride around and come out to some rides. Ask questions and practice.
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Post by **DarcShadow** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:59 am

You'd also be amazed at how far over you can lean a bike even at 10mph.

What you're experencing is normal. Bikes are in general more stable at speed. A lot of science behind it that can explain why, to much to go into here.

My suggestion for learning to ride is to get our of town and ride out in the country where there is little traffic and plenty of turns to practice on. I got lucky when I started riding, I was in a small town and it was literlally a 1 minute ride to get out of town and to some great country roads.

dshag · Post by **dshag** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:20 am

i live in waxhachie so the country roads are only like 5 mins away but ill prob wait till after the class to do that so ill have my license and all but thanks for the articles carl. I never thought about countersteering but it makes perfect sense. A quick flick of the wheel in the opposite direction breaks the gyroscopic effect and starts a lean to the opposite side.

Firewa11 · Post by **Firewa11** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:48 am

Yeah, after the class you'll feel a lot more comfortable about turning at lower speeds

Bird · Post by **Bird** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:49 pm

dshag wrote:i live in waxhachie so the country roads are only like 5 mins away but ill prob wait till after the class to do that so ill have my license and all but thanks for the articles carl. I never thought about countersteering but it makes perfect sense. A quick flick of the wheel in the opposite direction breaks the gyroscopic effect and starts a lean to the opposite side.

Uh, Ohhh .... sounds like we have another engineer on the boards.