3 ms·

Uh, no. Motorcycle racers learned about countersteering in the 70s. Before they had no idea.

noir_lord 5y ago
You realise that motorcycles existed for literally decades before it had a name, how where they turning corners at speed, hell how was I doing it in the 90s on scramblers when I was a kid, no one taught me, it’s intuitive.
- ksaj 5y ago
  Totally correct. At speed, you simply cannot turn without counter steering. If you tried to turn by turning your bars in the direction you wanted to go, you simply won't go there. At some point, someone noticed racing bikes counter steer really severely so you can easily see the wheel is actually pointing the opposite way. But the reality is that even at "won't fall over" speed on a bicycle, you're already doing the exact same thing. When you lean, you counter steer. Otherwise you'll high-side like a missile.
  - syncsynchalt 5y ago
    One of the Wright brothers has a quote about this (before they were airplane makers they were bicycle makers, the bicycle being the latest mechanical marvel of their time). The summary of the quote is that the action is intuitive but nobody realizes (or even admits) that they're doing it: > I have asked dozens of bicycle riders how they turn to the left. I have never found a single person who stated all the facts correctly when first asked. They almost invariably said that to turn to the left, they turned the handlebar to the left and as a result made a turn to the left. [...] I have never found a non-scientific rider who had particularly noticed it and spoke of it from his own conscious observation and initiative. The existence of counter-steering is still controversial to some riders, to the point where machines like the "No B.S. Bike" were created to demonstrate it as a necessary effect: https://soundrider.com/archive/safety-skills/nobsbike.aspx https://soundrider.com/archive/safety-skills/nobsbike.aspx
    - ksaj 5y ago
      Another way to demonstrate it on a bicycle, you can do something pretty much every child has already done numerous times: ride without your hands on the handle bars (hands free). To turn, you lean in the direction you want to go. But what way does the handle bar turn when you do that? It counter steers! You will fall if it doesn't (which is essentially what the No B.S. Bike demonstrates).

You realise that motorcycles existed for literally decades before it had a name, how where they turning corners at speed, hell how was I doing it in the 90s on scramblers when I was a kid, no one taught me, it’s intuitive.

ksaj 5y ago
Totally correct. At speed, you simply cannot turn without counter steering. If you tried to turn by turning your bars in the direction you wanted to go, you simply won't go there. At some point, someone noticed racing bikes counter steer really severely so you can easily see the wheel is actually pointing the opposite way. But the reality is that even at "won't fall over" speed on a bicycle, you're already doing the exact same thing. When you lean, you counter steer. Otherwise you'll high-side like a missile.
- syncsynchalt 5y ago
  One of the Wright brothers has a quote about this (before they were airplane makers they were bicycle makers, the bicycle being the latest mechanical marvel of their time). The summary of the quote is that the action is intuitive but nobody realizes (or even admits) that they're doing it: > I have asked dozens of bicycle riders how they turn to the left. I have never found a single person who stated all the facts correctly when first asked. They almost invariably said that to turn to the left, they turned the handlebar to the left and as a result made a turn to the left. [...] I have never found a non-scientific rider who had particularly noticed it and spoke of it from his own conscious observation and initiative. The existence of counter-steering is still controversial to some riders, to the point where machines like the "No B.S. Bike" were created to demonstrate it as a necessary effect: https://soundrider.com/archive/safety-skills/nobsbike.aspx https://soundrider.com/archive/safety-skills/nobsbike.aspx
  - ksaj 5y ago
    Another way to demonstrate it on a bicycle, you can do something pretty much every child has already done numerous times: ride without your hands on the handle bars (hands free). To turn, you lean in the direction you want to go. But what way does the handle bar turn when you do that? It counter steers! You will fall if it doesn't (which is essentially what the No B.S. Bike demonstrates).