Happy to be so wrong.
Thank you for the education. We'll all sleep better tonight knowing this is sorted out.
I hope I never stop to think about all the things I do instinctively while riding, and just continue to enjoy riding.
Seriously - Hope you enjoy your ride too, and take care.

Counter-steering before you were born.

 

LOLZ....this thread is now to the point of a troll post...Mike, its OBVIOUS that no answer is going to suit your needs and that you have very little true riding experience...people on here who have had TONS of motorcycle instruction and probably about 200 years of combined riding experience have attempted to explain all this to you and you just keep beating a dead horse, either saying we are wrong or that we arent interpreting it correctly...when in all actuality its YOU that has no clue as to what the hell you are talking about. You are posting pics of superbike racers and trying to ascertain as to whether they are counter-steering by the angle of the front tire (even though they are completely leaned over and in the middle of a turn)...its the most idiotic thing I have ever seen. If your bike is leaned over and you are going over 20 mph, you are countersteering....PERIOD.

When you are leaned in, you are MAINTAINING pressure on the bars to keep the bike leaned over, so YES you continue to counter-steer throughout a turn...

Applying pressure to the outside bar, vice the inside bar is STILL counter steering...you are adjusting your lean angle for the turn..inside to increase lean and outside to reduce it...PERIOD.

At this point this has become one of the most idiotic threads I have ever seen with 20 riders with VAST experience trying to explain something to an obvious beginner rider who enjoys stirring the pot with his inability to understand how a motorcycle/bicycle actually works. I would suggest you get to a motorcycle safety course as fast as you can before you get anywhere near a road with a motorcycle because heavens forbid we cause you to have a conniption in your high school physics class....

This entire thread HAS to be on an episode of "Punked" or there must be a prize at the end for those who were able to read the last 28 pages without punching someone in the head...

 

In a way you WERE right, but not anymore, that no answer would have satisfied me. There is/was a reason for that. And that is also the reason this thread went on for so long...

Most of us had a piece to the puzzle, but only a very few (if any) had the entire puzzle. Even the loudest critics only had a piece to the puzzle. It took a while to fit all those pieces together. I explained it in an earlier post and I will repeat it again.

The Perfect Corner

Surprisingly, wikipedia has a good explanation and a picture. The picture shows the "perfect corner".

As others have mentioned (including myself) counter-steering is a momentary steering of the motorcycle counter to the desired direction. During the turn itself, there is no counter-steering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersteering

The momentary counter-steer to the left initiates the "stable lean". You stay in the "stable lean" until you decide to exit the curve. You do not counter-steer during the "stable lean".

The Perfect Corner


If you are racing on a track, you may not enter into a "stable lean". Rather, you might counter-steer in the turn, to increase your lean angle, in order to decrease the radius of the turn. By decreasing the radius of the turn you negotiate the turn faster because you travel a shorter distance at a higher speed.

 

Dude...if you think you dont have to maintain pressure on the inside of your handlebar to maintain your lean angle then you OBVIOUSLY haven't ridden a motorcycle or are completely oblivious to what you are doing.

And that diagram...I have seen it at least a MILLION times...all it is showing you the best way to cut a corner in optimum conditions and if you go back 13 pages to my initial answer to you, you will find that I told you Look, Lean, Roll WAYYYY back then....which also directly applies to this same exact diagram.....and for those of us who have actually gone through the MSF courses, California Superbike School, The Reg Pridmore Race School, and the Kevin Schwantz courses...the thing is so completely redundant that its ridiculous....which is why so many posts on this thread are basically saying "Go Ride your fuggin biker and pay attention to what you are actually doing in a turn" vice sitting here talking about it on the internet. Thats the problem here....you are sitting here talking vice going out and DOING....

 

duplicate post. sorry. I would have deleted this post if I could have.

 

You do not have to counter-steer in the turn (I found this out for myself on Sunday).

 

Dude...if you are saying that you didnt need to maintain pressure on the inside of your bar in order to maintain your lean angle, then you are not paying attention to what you are doing when you are riding....LOLZ...and THAT is why this thread is going on and on and on...(if you are saying you dont need to maintain pressure on the bars which is EXACTLY what counter steering is, then you should be able to release the bars and ride no handed and maintain your lean angle once its been set...which you obviously cant do...)

 

Here it is, finally, the answer that should have been posted on page 1.

 

Call me crazy, but when I'm in middle of a turn and I stop applying input to the bars, the bike will straighten itself out. The rake and trail are designed for this. Like a vehicle when you let go of the steering wheel, it will straighten itself out. The caster of the alignment is designed for this.

Good lord, how did I get involved in this?

 

Link to previous post. (Finally figured out how to do it)

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=15588825