hello all iv been riding bikes since i was 15 and im now 50 and nobody has ever pointed out counter steering to me, i consider myself a good all round rider and have come up the ranks from Fs1-e , 125, 250, 400, 600, and now have a 1000 cc fireblade, when a mate of mine asked me about it i felt embarrassed!! iv now watched alot of video on the net about it and havent yet got out to try it,,

 

cant believe nobody has anything to say about this or is it cus alot of bikers have never herd of it ..

 

It might have something to do with posting at 12:44am an people being in bed asleep.

 

Haha that would be nightshifts for ya matey!!

 

Counter steering will get you out of trouble on a tight corner but be carefull the first few times , if you do a track day then it's the bollocks as you hit the apex of the corner with the revs up high ( making the bike want to stand up ) while you counter steer which will lay the bike down ,which in turn stops you using as much tyre/lean angle , and you will come out the corner a lot faster

 

It's another way of turning the bike quickly like weighting the insid peg, getting your head near your wrist and sliding round the tank to under the bike.
Take care the first time as said there's a lot of leverage, on a right hander

 

...hander try pushing the right hand bar as if you're turning left at slow speed- it will lower the bike and pull you to the apex if you've enough tyre grip. I'm sure you'll recognise the feeling if you've ridden for years

 

You can do it on a straight ( as daft as it sounds) just to get to understand it , be gental as you don't want to steer into the ditch , but doing it on a straight is purely to get the understanding of what is happening , race clip on bars help as they are wider and give more counter steer leverage

 

Was taught this in my Direct Access, could see how it works well and was a big part of the part 1 swerve test. Never really used it out on the road as i was a novice on a Ducati and just rode light a girl! mate of mine took mine out and said it was amazing and counter steering worked really well.

 

You will have been counter steering since you first started riding. Everyone who rides a bike does it otherwise they simply wouldnt go round bends.

The difference is knowing your doing it and how to steer a bike correctly and knowing your actually steering the bike.

Think about it how do you actually think you have been steering the bike all these years? People will tell you its by leaning which is bollox and wont make the bike change direction to any sort of degree to make it go round a corner.

Watch a twist of the wrist 2 and it will explain it far better than i have

 

by the way weighting the pegs has absolutly no effect on steering a bike just like leaning off doesnt.

Try it by not holding the bars and pushing on the pegs and leaning off and see what it does

 

As above, you'll have been doing it all long, just not aware you were.

I was riding straight down the road the other day and had both hands off the handles and pressed down on the left peg and bike went left. Same for the right..... am not saying it's pressing down on the peg that does it or whether I was leaning on that side a little etc but does help turning

 

Go out and do it again and watch the bars move in the direction they would if you were counter steering. All you are doing by pushing on the pegs and leaning off is making the bike counter steer without putting any input on the bars yourself if that makes sense?

Dont get me wrong leaning off and pushing on the pegs will do something to change the direction of the bike but it will be very very minimum and isnt exactly steering the bike as such and would never ever get you round a corner without counter steering the bike.

 

20 percent off steering input is from weighting the pegs. Its why professional racers train there legs aswell as there upper body.

 

Watch this from 4,40 for about a min or so. No point arguing when you can watch the experts prooving its a myth

 

Julian ryder is a commentater not what I'd class as an expert, where as jamie whittam is. Quote his words from tv at the weekend. 20 percent of steering is from weighting the pegs, thats why riders train there legs.

 

I think I remember watch the gp moto ages ago and they were app" force on to the pegs to help it turn in , but then if you don't like doing that you can always hang your leg out the side , like they do

 

But the video clearly shows a bloke jumping up and down on the pegs and the bike changing direction very slightly. If putting your full weight on the peg has very little effect on steering then how much do you think just pushing down while seated will have?

The bloke who did that video traines racers for a living and is an expert.

Like i said go out put your hands on the tank and push down on the pegs and see for yourself how it does nothing

 

As stated above countersteering is the only way to get you around the corner even if you didn't realise you are doing it.
I have done the California superbike school levels 1 and 2 and will be riding the no BS(body steer) bike in a few weeks with them on my next traing day. On level 1 you do a riding drill to show you how countersteering works, as for weighting the outside peg itis done to help you countersteer and is known a 'pivot steering' as you push from the peg acoss the bike to the inside bar to make the steering input easier.
As for hanging off this is done to reduce lean angle so you remain on the fatter part of the tyre for longer to give you better traction and stability.
As others have mentioned watch the twist of the wrist DVD this will show these techniques better, just watch out for the cheesy acting.

 

How did you find the css? I am wanting to do them and have heard nothing but praise about them but the out lay is quiet a bit really especially when you could do 2 or 3 trackdays for the price of one level

 

listen to this guy what he says is 100% correct!! i will tell you what its done for me , now im aware of it i feel 100% more confident around corners!! what a difference!! im alot smoother and dont use my brakes as much , so now i countersteer and have my new tyres on and im still setting the correct suspension set up as i find the blade far to hard for some one as light as me!! the difference is like day and night!! iv also found out that a bike with 154bhp at the rear wheel has to be treated with alot of respect, you cant just pull the throttle back like you can on say a 600cc , im now loving a bike i just couldent get to grips with and thats with over 30 years experience riding at every CC,

Andy

 

Alps yes they do cost a bit however on a track day you will just ride your bike as you always have done and maybe not know why you do certain things.
On the CSS course they will teach you how and why things happen, what you can do to make things better for you and maybe teach you new things aswell. Everyone starts a the same level no matter what your experince is as the coures build on each other so you get a full inderstanding of what they teach.
i have been rideing bikes for over 10 years and they certainly taught me new and usfull things, I would reccomend them very highly indeed.

 

i learnt like this

http://www.youtube.com/embed/lSz2edKnu78