Just wondering

[wilks3]

Well I'll be, guess that's what I've been doing without knowing it. I guess, and will fully admit, I've never heard of this. I've always leaned and turned toward the direction I wanted to go. Wow. Time to go find out.
Please if someone is going to erase a post ,please PM as to why. Thank You!
wilks3
:USA

 

[fin_676]

As my softail custom has forward controls and mini apes i am kind of stuck in one place on the bike so i am always in line with the bike
if i am on my sportster with mid controls and drag bars on a 4" riser then i have a wee bit of room to play with and will slide half off the seat at times depending on severity of the bend and the speed and angle of approach
i find the 2 bikes with the narrow front wheel much quicker to respond than the dyna which has a fat front wheel
reverse steering helps lay the bike over for the bend but being at the correct speed in the correct gear and applying the correct amount of power are the crucial factors

Brian

 

[mat 60]

Sorry....What I should have said is I'm finding myself counter steering more and unless its a sharp turn ,I don't lean all that much and was asking if that is ok...Im sorry I did not explaining myself very well....I no I'm different but I cant help it...Its a long story..

 

[dbmg]

Its never to late to learn. This is where alot of riders get into trouble in corners:
1.) Come up on corner to fast.
2.) Rider does not look through corner and tries to brake hard and not
counter steer enough. You can only do one or the other. Not both at the
at the same time. No brake and more counter steering.
3.) Rider ends up opening up curve and runs out of pavement and off road
they go.
4.) This is usually precipitated by target fixation when first entering turn
to fast.

 

[HDDon]

Sorry....What I should have said is I'm finding myself counter steering more and unless its a sharp turn ,I don't lean all that much and was asking if that is ok...Im sorry I did not explaining myself very well....I no I'm different but I cant help it...Its a long story..

Mat your riding position is working for you. Some like the feel of sliding off the side of the bike in the direction of the turn. Some like a more upright position with more lean in the bike. Either way it gets you around the turn. As speed increases you will find yourself leaning with the bike to accomplish the turn.

 

[R_W_B]

. . . .. What I was getting at is sometimes the more I ride,, I dont seem to lean as much with my body when I dont need to...I just push the bar down and as jack said our heads stay more level...Now ..When I need to, Ill lean way over I will but most of the time it doesn't seem nessesary. .. . . ..

Oh ok, I do that when swerving around something and I need to recover and change directions quickly. We were also taught to do that in rider school when we had to weave in and out of the cones.

 

[masher]

What..........Do you mean by pushing the bars and sitting up straight?????
If turning left, which way are you pushing on bars? I can't get this in my head.
This seems like Deja Vue...Again here.
wilks3
:USA

I do this all the time for very sharp curves or when riding faster through the curve than I probably should. My riding class instructor called it "slalom steering" and it really helps me get the bike to lean much further than I think I can when I lean with it. I basically let the bike lean under me while I stay straight and keep my head level with my eyes focused on the apex. It changed my whole feeling about curves.

 

[70_West]

Counter steering is very useful except at very slow speeds. Even on my Heritage, it allows me to set up a very quick entry and exit of corners. If you practice it, you will find that all your cornering maneuvers will become much easier, along with rapid line changes.

I find sitting upright while leaning the bike is very useful at slow speeds, where I am almost dragging the floor boards, I can then counter-balance the bike better in that position.

Excellent video of a Harley rider in an upright position... Motorcycle Cop Tears Through Orange Cones*Video

 

[The Tourist]

I don't do a lot of counter steering, I'm more of a "head/eyes" guy like depicted in 'Ride Like a Pro III.'

There are times when it works for me, like when I have to change lines (not lanes) quickly.

The best example of that was when I took a downward right sweeper on a deceleration ramp which wound it's way back under the highway. From the first downshift I could not see a dead squirrel in the center of the lane further ahead.

Fearing it might be a tad greasy (both slippery and hard to clean off) I just stayed off of the brakes, pushed the right or inside grip a tad forward, and Betty sucked herself down safely into the apex of the curve.

 

[R_W_B]

.. . . . .. .
The best example of that was when I took a downward right sweeper on a deceleration ramp which wound it's way back under the highway. From the first downshift I could not see a dead squirrel in the center of the lane further ahead.

Fearing it might be a tad greasy (both slippery and hard to clean off) I just stayed off of the brakes, pushed the right or inside grip a tad forward, and Betty sucked herself down safely into the apex of the curve.

Yep, it can work. When I was about 13 yrs old (1963) I was walking home from the bus stop and I saw a cop on his Harley Panhead Police special, come around the corner and there was a car stopped dead in the road. He immediately did what you just described but he was unable to recover after the wide swerve and his bike went out from under him and slid right off the pavement into the grass and came to rest on it's crash bars.

The cop then got up, turned the engine off, took just a few steps back into the center of the pavement and started signalling traffic around the stopped car. Was the coolest thing I had ever seen, almost like that was his way of quickly parking the bike.