In the MSF course I took years ago I was told to "press right go right; press left go left".

Here is my question. What do they mean by press? Do they mean press the left bar DOWN or press the left bar FORWARD?

The word "press" is ambiguous in the context of counter-steering.

If you are a MSF instructor I think you need to make sure your students understand what you mean by the word "press", when you say "press left go left, press right go right". You must clearly define what you mean by the word "press".

I have a heavier bike now with a lower center of gravity and the way I have been doing countersteering (pushing DOWN on the handlebar) is not working as good for me.

 

Push the right handlebar with your right hand to turn right. Basically, you're turning the handlebar to the left, and the bike will go right. While riding, you can use one hand to push or even pull one side of the bars to turn quickly where you desire.

 

Push forward the side you want to turn .. the bike is basically a gyroscope and will steer accordingly.


you can magnify this effect by over-exaggerating your head in looking the direction you want to go ... the bike will track the direction you look ... look towards that ditch you are trying to avoid and inevitably there you will find yourself


Haole

 

The term "Press" means just that, non-ambiguous when you look at how your posture on your motorcycle is supposed to be. Arms out in front of you, wrists flat. If you apply pressure in the direction of your arms, you "press". To push down would be unnatural for your arm position. You are "pressing" the handlebars forward, not "pushing" them down. I doesn't take much pressure to change the direction of the bike at road speed, be smooth and experiment with different amounts of force in your press to see how your bike responds.

Practice this every time you go out riding. In the "Swerve" section of your instruction you had to "Press" left then right to avoid the hazard. Try this on manhole covers.

I hope this helped clear up any confusion you had about 'Countersteering'.

Ride often, have fun, repeat.

Scoop

 

Push right, go right. Some say push down. Others say push forward. What you are actually doing is moving the contact patch of the tire to the outside, and causing the motorcycle to 'fall' into the turn.

 

It's simple. A slight "push" on the right handgrip (in the FORWARD direction AWAY from you), will initiate a roll to the right, and the bike will turn to the right. Push the left handgrip away from you, and the bike will roll to the left, turning left. At speed, we're talking very slight pressure on the bars.


What you are doing is initiating a turn by tuning the bars slightly in the OPPOSITE direction you want to go. This is why they say "press right to go right." It's easier to understand than saying "steer left to go right".


Why does this work? Well, it has to do with the way the steering geometry on a motorcycle or bicycle is set up, but basically, that slight turn of the bars in the opposite direction has the effect of shifting the motorcycle's center of gravity the other way, causing the motorcycle to begin to lean into the turn.

 

Thank you all for your replies. They are excellent.

However, one thing is not clear.

I get pushing the left handle bar forward will INITIATE a turn to the left, but then what? The bike falls to the left and I look in the direction I want to go, but do I continue to push the left bar forward during the entire turn (for instance when negotiating a traffic circle)?

 

Dude you need to go out and practice..........

 

Counter steering is simply making the bike lean in the direction you want to turn. Bikes don't steer, they lean. The more you push the further you lean and the more aggressively you'll turn. If you are satisfied with the rate of turn then you simply hold the bars steady at where they're currently pushed to.

Generally, countersteer is for speeds over .. 15-25ish mph. (each bike is a little different, you'll learn naturally where that transition occurs) If you're slower than that you'll want to turn the wheel in the direction you want to go.

 

Countersteering is just a word you don't need to concern yourself about. Occasionally a new rider turns the bars in the direction they want to go and rubs the street with their elbows and knees. Their automatic reflexes have just been trained in "countersteering" and it won't be an issue again. Most folks don't even have to fall down to learn it, comes natural to most of us. Actually, most of us learned it at a young age on bicycles, and how many kids talk about countersteering? Seriously, I don't think I ever heard the term countersteering till at least 20 years after I'd started riding.

You don't even have to push on a bar, you can pull on the opposite one. Just ask a one armed person how that works, comes natural to them (yes, I've known a one armed rider). I dislocated a shoulder and had to ride home once, "pull the bar" came natural then.

Just wait till you get old and get a trike or sidecar rig; then if you countersteer, you rub the street again...