Counter-steering
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I agree that, short of standing up and leaning forward in order to press straight down on the bars, you are probably pushing forward unintentionally. But, you advice is terrible and no one reading this thread should listen to a single word you are saying. It is absolutely not a good way to teach new riders how to ride.
The rider needs to be in full control of their bike at all times. There should be no such thing as "accidentally applying too much forward force to the bar". New riders tend to grip their bars too tight. They tend to roll their wrists forward on the throttle. But, they don't accidentally push forward: it is an unnatural act. Rides should have a relaxed grip on the bars, their shoulders relaxed, and their wrists in a straight line along their arms to their grip on the bars. When the time comes to negotiate a turn, their should be gentle forward pressure on the bars.
The rider needs to be in full control of their bike at all times. There should be no such thing as "accidentally applying too much forward force to the bar". New riders tend to grip their bars too tight. They tend to roll their wrists forward on the throttle. But, they don't accidentally push forward: it is an unnatural act. Rides should have a relaxed grip on the bars, their shoulders relaxed, and their wrists in a straight line along their arms to their grip on the bars. When the time comes to negotiate a turn, their should be gentle forward pressure on the bars.
Not until you get up into higher speeds do you find out that pressing down is not good enough.
The important thing to learn, which we all did, was the meaning of counter-steer, ie regardless of the meaning of the word "press", we all knew that we pressed LEFT to go LEFT and pressed RIGHT to go RIGHT. That is the meaning of counter-steer. "Press" is the implementation of it.
Last edited by MikerR1; Oct 19, 2016 at 10:58 AM.
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If you do not drive fast you can fix a lot of mistakes.
Most of the fun in riding my bike is in acceleration, not speed. As I said before, I love to accelerate.
Regarding "luck". I am reminded of something Vince Lombardi said "luck is when preparation meets opportunity".
Last edited by MikerR1; Oct 19, 2016 at 11:08 AM.
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I can show you other people who interpreted the "press right go right, press left go left" phrase by MSF in the same way I did. They interpreted the press to mean press down, not forward. How a student interprets that statement depends on how he sits on the motorcycle and where the bars are located with respect their elbows. That natural way to interpret that statement was to press down. When you pressed down, the bike tipped over.
Not until you get up into higher speeds do you find out that pressing down is not good enough.
The important thing to learn, which we all did, was the meaning of counter-steer, ie regardless of the meaning of the word "press", we all knew that we pressed LEFT to go LEFT and pressed RIGHT to go RIGHT. That is the meaning of counter-steer. "Press" is the implementation of it.
Out of curiosity... did you receive your motorcycle endorsement?
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None of the above is true.
Also not true. BTW, it does not matter how fast you are going. What does matter is how fast you are going in relation to the radius of the turn. The greater the speed and the smaller the radius, the more effort that is required to counter-steer the bike. This might require the rider to shift their weight into the turn, using their off-hand to also pull the handle bars. It might require getting low to lower the center of gravity. This is what riders are doing when they are dragging their knees on the track.
You learned a theory, but it is clear that you do not know how to translate that into a real world application.
Out of curiosity... did you receive your motorcycle endorsement?
Also not true. BTW, it does not matter how fast you are going. What does matter is how fast you are going in relation to the radius of the turn. The greater the speed and the smaller the radius, the more effort that is required to counter-steer the bike. This might require the rider to shift their weight into the turn, using their off-hand to also pull the handle bars. It might require getting low to lower the center of gravity. This is what riders are doing when they are dragging their knees on the track.
You learned a theory, but it is clear that you do not know how to translate that into a real world application.
Out of curiosity... did you receive your motorcycle endorsement?
We are not riding on the track. We are riding on the street with cars, not other motorcycles, and cars coming in the opposite direction at high speeds.
Your advice is good for the track, but it is not good for riding on the street.
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The point of the demonstration was to show that one must continue to apply pressure on the bar in a curve to maintain the curve. You missed the point of the video.
Last edited by Bluesrider.df; Oct 21, 2016 at 07:59 AM.