Somepeople Just Don't Get It

[meemiathai]

Do I really have to know which way I am pushing the handle bar to turn to where I want to go? I thought the instinct feeling was good enough to ride a bike.

It has always been my body and mind that lead me the way I go and my hands just follow.

[hiromj]

Do I really have to know which way I am pushing the handle bar to turn to where I want to go? I thought the instinct feeling was good enough to ride a bike.

It has always been my body and mind that lead me the way I go and my hands just follow.

Although this is true, I have noticed that since I became aware of the countersteering concept, riding has become more enjoyable. I am able to take corners much faster with better control.

[Dustoff]

Do I really have to know which way I am pushing the handle bar to turn to where I want to go? I thought the instinct feeling was good enough to ride a bike.

It has always been my body and mind that lead me the way I go and my hands just follow.

For me, it comes down to being the best I can be especially when it comes to engaging in any activity that carries with it a substantial amount of risk and very serious responsibility when and if we carry passengers.

We only have to drive down the roads of Thailand, and a vast number of other countries, a few times to see the result of drivers who have had little driver's education and are merely pointing their vehicle down the road from point A to point B with little awareness or concern about anything else.

If we have personal experience in what we are doing, we tend to be defensive about the need to learn anything more or any suggestion that changing old patterns can actually be beneficial. Being into aviation for so long I see people like John Denver who ran out of fuel and died in his experimental aircraft (which is about as stupid as a pilot can get) and even today on the news this multi-millionaire Steve Fossett person who has set world records in aviation, flew round-the-world solo in a balloon, on and on, took off this morning and didn't file a flight plan. Huge efforts are now mounted to find his missing carcass but even if he is alive, he has severely tarnished his reputation in the entire aviation industry for violating the most simple of safety considerations.

Not that we motorcycle riders here in Thailand have to worry much about our reputations but we should certainly be concerned about anyone who rides with us, the people around us, and educational/awareness reminders are usually the key.

Edited September 5, 2007 by Dustoff

[meemiathai]

Do I really have to know which way I am pushing the handle bar to turn to where I want to go? I thought the instinct feeling was good enough to ride a bike.

It has always been my body and mind that lead me the way I go and my hands just follow.

Although this is true, I have noticed that since I became aware of the countersteering concept, riding has become more enjoyable. I am able to take corners much faster with better control.

Really?

Maybe I should try next time if I get the chance to ride a bike again. Stopped riding for 8 years after I got married.

[Kf6vci]

I've been a biker for over 20 years now and you are dead on right. It's the opposite to riding a bicycle what one does on a motorbike to corner. Try it at slow speed and the bike will tilt the opposite way than a bicycle would go. HONEST! Turning the handlebars like one would on a bicycle to turn right makes the bike tilt to the left.

[meemiathai]

I've been a biker for over 20 years now and you are dead on right. It's the opposite to riding a bicycle what one does on a motorbike to corner. Try it at slow speed and the bike will tilt the opposite way than a bicycle would go. HONEST! Turning the handlebars like one would on a bicycle to turn right makes the bike tilt to the left.

I would argue that it would be the same thing with a bicycle. Can't see anything different.

[Dustoff]

I've been a biker for over 20 years now and you are dead on right. It's the opposite to riding a bicycle what one does on a motorbike to corner. Try it at slow speed and the bike will tilt the opposite way than a bicycle would go. HONEST! Turning the handlebars like one would on a bicycle to turn right makes the bike tilt to the left.

I would argue that it would be the same thing with a bicycle. Can't see anything different.

And you are quite right, mmt.

Ridden at very slow speeds, a motorcycle steers exactly like a bicycle. Steer right, turn right, as every motorcyclist who has navigated slow speeds in parking lots knows. They also know that if they do not begin to lean to the right before they even begin to turn their front wheel to the right, they are into an embarrassing fall to the left.

The difference comes with speed and, again, motorcycles and bicycles are the same. Ride a bicycle at high speed, turn the front wheel to the right and you will find yourself leaning sharply left and if you don't anticipate by leaning left and accepting this natural tendency to turn in the opposite direction, sprawling on the pavement. Ask any bicycle racer who isn't in a hospital.

Bicycles are so light that it is easier to initiate turns by simple weight-change but try this with an 800 lb Harley and you will find them very slow indeed to follow your lead. Besides, it is not to your advantage whatsoever to place yourself off the center of gravity of your machine. Countersteering uses the bikes's natural/necessary tendency to lean away from your effort to change its direction as at speed they are self-correcting.

Let's go for a high-speed bicycle ride, MMT! I would appreciate it however if you would ride a respectable distance behind.

Edited September 5, 2007 by Dustoff

[meemiathai]

[nedwalk]

i been riding so long now.. i,ve forgotten how..these days its auto pilot when i was mc tour guide with passengers.. i used to tell em if you see a corner coming just look over my shoulder into the corner we are going , straight away they lean in the same direction.. as for getting into debates about what and why i ride what i do[HD], i just don,t.. because unfortunately its about ME. not them i walk away...its easier..

[Maigo6]

Good example of counter steering.

[meemiathai]

I don't really realize the counter-steering when riding a bike. But I do it a lot when I am driving a car.

[hiromj]

Do I really have to know which way I am pushing the handle bar to turn to where I want to go? I thought the instinct feeling was good enough to ride a bike.

It has always been my body and mind that lead me the way I go and my hands just follow.

Although this is true, I have noticed that since I became aware of the countersteering concept, riding has become more enjoyable. I am able to take corners much faster with better control.

Really?

Maybe I should try next time if I get the chance to ride a bike again. Stopped riding for 8 years after I got married.

Yes. Really.

[Acquiesce]

Hmmm. I guess I stand corrected

Said the man in the orthopedic shoes.