Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Counter steering tip

[flanagaj]

This may sound daft but I have not been riding that long but I wanted to see what others thought of my tip for new riders who are not that familiar with counter steering.

Find a quiet road with quite sweeping bends and ride one handed. When you are coming up to a left hand bend take you left hand off the grip and gently pull the right hand bar end towards you. When turning right push your right hand away from you.

I find it a good way of learning the basics of how you have to counter steer to ride a bike properly.

If you do try it, go steady as I am not liable should you bin it !!

[Ozz]

Just don't try it on zig zag hill!

[Glyn]

i'm quite happy with the counter steering
dont think i'm ready to try it one handed though!!
i do some times close my eyes and use the force

[Carbon749]

Are you trying this one handed counter steer method on the bike in your Avatar

[flanagaj]

When I first started riding it sounded counter intuitive to be pushing the bars the way you don't want to go. If you ride a push bike you turn in the direction you are wanting to turn. So I used it as a way of demonstrating it to myself. Got a bit hairy at 80mph !!! (joke)

[Glyn]

if you go and have a spin on your push bike i think you will find that you are counter steering except at very slow speeds. same as on a motor bike

[Glyn]

you got 80mph out of a push bike!!

[flanagaj]

Originally posted by Carbon749
Are you trying this one handed counter steer method on the bike in your Avatar

That one has power steering

[NBs996]

Counter steering is my conclusion as to why kids fall off push bikes when starting out. They assume they've got to turn the bars in the direction they want to go, and it takes a while for the mind to work out otherwise.

We obviously counter steer all the time, but a lot of us don't realise it. Your suggestion is a good way to demonstrate what's happening, but can you explain the physics behind it??

[Ian Harris]

Originally posted by NBs996
Counter steering is my conclusion as to why kids fall off push bikes when starting out. They assume they've got to turn the bars in the direction they want to go, and it takes a while for the mind to work out otherwise.

Absolutely right...interestingly (well, sort of) it was the Wright brothers who first discovered and documented counter steering (they owned a bicycle shop before they started messing about with planes). Definitely a smart couple of geezers.