Did that mean that you pressed the handlebar toward the ground on the side of the direction you wanted to turn? That sort of made sense because maybe that would help start the lean. I tried it and it 'sort of' worked. I was still interested in this term 'counter-steering' so I decided to do some research.
Through lots of reading and many semi-scientific explainations, I had a good understanding of what it was but found it hard to believe. The basic idea was that if you are coming into a curve that goes to the right, you push the right side of the handlebars forward! That's right, you turn the handlebars to the left! How could this be? I want to turn right, so I turn the handlebars to the left?
I was a little dumbfounded, but because of the promise of effortless cornering, superior agility in emergency situation, and a real increase in the control of your bike, I was very anxious to try it. I got out on The Vespa and started down a long straight stretch of road. I figured I would try it out on a straight road before trying to turn the wrong way in a curve. So I'm going straight and gently but deliberately pushed my right hand forward on the handlebars. WHAT THE HECK?!?! The vespa immediately pivoted on it's center of gravity and started angling to THE RIGHT!
I couldn't belive it. That went against all logic. Well, I decided since that worked, I would put it to the test in a corner I ride through every day. I approached the corner at a slower pace than normal, and when the curve went to the right, I gently turned the handlebars to the left. As if by magic, my vespa fell into the most perfect lean to the right for going through the curve. I rolled on the throttle and shot out the other end! PERFECT! I couldn't believe it.
I had to stop and raise my faceshield and regroup for a second. I had had an epiphany! I felt like I had just learned that I could fly! This was the single most important thing I had learned thus far in my journey to be a 2-wheeler. I proceeded to ride for another half-hour or so trying to find as many curves as I could. I was able to go through all of my familiar curves faster and with more control than I ever had.
Well, I'm sold. I still have a lot of practicing to do to make 'counter-steering' second nature, but it absolutely works! There is alot of explaination on counter-steering that quotes scientific reasons such as Gyroscopic Precession and centrifugal forces, etc., but this is how I sum it up myself in very non-scientific from my brief experience. When you perform counter-steering, what it essentially feels like is that you are steering the bike out from under you in a controlled manner which makes it fall into the lean that is appropriate for the curve, lane change, or evasive manuver you are performing. Another interesting feeling you get when doing this maneuver is that the bike's line of travel is tied to it's center of gravity, not to where the tires touch the pavement. You can feel the tires pivot one way, your body pivot the other, but the path of motion is somewhere in the center of the bike, where the center of gravity is.
Anyway, this is not a very good explaination of how to do it, nor of why it works, but it is just my tale of experiencing it for the first time. Also, I know you experienced riders have known about this and been doing it for years and are thinking "what's the big deal?", but it was a beautiful thing for me to learn this. Below are some links that help explain it more thoroughly and scientifically.
- Counter-Steering
- How Counter-Steering Works
- Counter-Steering
- Motorcycle Riders who Zig
- Counter-Steering: Push Steering the Easy Way
- Counter-Steering - Question & Answer
- Countersteering at WikiPedia (Lots more links here)
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