Counter steering is a concept that seems foreign when you initially think about it. At road speed to counter steer a motorcycle you push on the handgrip of the motorcycle on the side of the intended turn.
So if I was riding down the road at 30MPH and wanted to make a right hand turn I would push out on the right handgrip in order to make the motorcycle go to the right. The harder I push the more the motorcycle leans and the sharper it turns.
A motorcycle turns by leaning, the way you make a motorcycle lean at road speed is by pushing on the handgrip on the side of the intended turn.
Counter steering is the fundamental action of making a motorcycle turn.
But you may ask, What about body position? The best riders in the world lean off the motorcycle when they go around corners so I probably need to do that too. The simple answer to that is no, you don’t. A motorcycle will still go around a corner even if you keep your body in the same relative position as long as you counter steer.
So why do riders lean to the inside of the turn? Body position is a technique, counter steering is the fundamental, it all starts with counter steering. the reason why riders, particularly on the track lean off is it allows them to go around a corner with less lean angle than they would other wise. But the corner would not happen if they did not counter steer.
So let’s recap where we are in the fundamentals of cornering a motorcycle:
In episode 14 we discussed “Slow”. You slow to your entry speed with the front and rear brakes prior to the corner.
In episode 15 we discussed “Look”. Point your nose in the direction you want the motorcycle to go. Remember our saying?
You should always look where you want to go and know that your motorcycle will go where you look.
