Saturday, November 9, 2013

Turn Left To Go Right

The most confusing thing for students learning how to ride a motorcycle is learning how to steer. 

Their confusion is compounded by really bad advice they have been given by really stupid people.  It's the "I know a guy...." syndrome.    You've probably heard it in some context.  It usually starts with "Hey, I know a guy who says you can sleep on broken glass and not get cut..." or some other nonsense. 

In my role as a motorcycle riding and safety instructor I have had many conversations with students to (1) instruct them how to steer correctly, and (2) to pound out of their noggins all of the wrong ideas they have received.

"How is a motorcycle steered?" I ask a class of students.

"You slap your knee against the tank and it'll lean over" says someone.

"You shift your weight to one of the footpegs and the bike'll lean over" says someone else.

"Turn the handlebars.  They're like a steering wheel"  says another student.

"Well, those are interesting answers, but we haven't heard the correct answer yet"  I'll reply.

Then it starts.  "I know a guy who says he just hammers the tank with his knees."  Or "My sister's boyfriend says he just turns the bars, man; that's what they're for."

No and no.  To steer a motorcycle (at speeds above 10 mph) you steer left to go right and steer right to go left.  It's science.  When I say that the first look I get is "I want my money back."  It takes effort to rid people of untrue things that they believe are true.

Mind the jump.  Cool videos ahead.

To turn left, push the left handlebar slightly to the right.  To turn right, push the right handle bar slightly to the right.  That's the basic idea of countersteering.  On anything with two wheels: when you're going in a straight line, the handlebars are centered; when you want to turn, you actually have to turn the handlebars in the wrong direction first, to lean the bike over, then you steer into the turn to keep the bike from flopping completely over.

Why is countersteering important?  Because it's the only way to turn a moving, two-wheeled vehicle. If you're doing it unconsciously by thinking "steer left" or shifting your weight, or putting more pressure on one peg/pedal or the other it doesn't work.  If you countersteer correctly, you can steer your bike with amazing speed and accuracy, which could very easily save your life.   If you don't countersteer you'll ride off the edge of the road.  And maybe die.

Let's have a pro explain it.  Keith Code is a former world champion motorcycle racer.  He now runs a motorcycle racing and riding school in California.  He's a great instructor. The first little bit of the video is fluffy, then the good stuff begins.


Dang!  That makes me want to ride.  Let's saddle up,  go to an unused airport and try it.  There won't be any traffic to bother us during this learning exercise.


Like nearly everything else in life, Seinfeld has an answer.  Do the opposite of what you've always done.


Ride safe!  Wear all the gear all the time.   And remember to steer left to go right and steer right to go left.

32 comments:

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I have never ridden a motor bike.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I have been in the back of one holding on to the driver.

Not my idea of fun.

ricpic said...

To someone like me, who knows nothing about motorcycles, turn left to go right sounds like scary advice. Please tell me you first give a demonstration and then have your students practice the procedure in a parking lot before sending them out on the road!

Michael Haz said...

@ricpic - Training classes last two or more days and have both classroom and riding components.

The riding is done in a large and private, fenced-off paved area. Students can use the school's lightweight motorcycles or have someone holding a license bring the student's bike to class for the student to use. Plenty of instruction.

Schools are operated under the auspices of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.

Most areas offer classes through private contractors, technical colleges or motorcycle dealers.

Experienced riders can take advanced rider classes, or sign up for a track day - not to race, but to sharpen up highway riding skills.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chickelit said...

The maker of the first video says the principal applies to all two wheelers and so counter steering should be familiar to anyone who has ridden a bicycle.

I immediately thought of my youth and riding "no handed" and asked how did I turn without the handlebars? Musta been weight shifting.

Michael Haz said...

When you are bicycling no- handed, pushing down on a pedal causes the handlebars to turn slightly opposite the force of pedaling, hence countersteering.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I've always wanted a motorcycle but I find much of the culture offputting. The guys with the POW/MIA flags, straight pipes, the odd requirement that you must wear a black T-shirt that has the Harley logo on it. The odd requirement that you have to have a pickup truck with something on it to tell everybody you have a Harley. The patent playing up to the cops - basically buying them off with charity rides and the like.

There's something deeply phony about it. Rebels with a day job playing dress up. At least civil war reenactors get some exercise.

There's a Harley-Davidson dealership nearby where I live. They have one of those marguee signs that now reads "METRICS ON SALE. "

That's a nice way of saying rice burner, right?

Well, it's a start.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I'm kind of a knee-jerk nonconformist, in case anyone hasn't figured it out yet.

Unknown said...

That is interesting.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Also a jerk.

Might as well beat someone to the punch.

Unknown said...

I had a dirt bike as a kid. My dad was into dirt biking and he got me a little Yamaha 60. I was terrified of the thing. But I was the only chick with dirt bike.

AllenS said...

Totally cool, April.

bagoh20 said...

I've had a motorcycle almost continuously since I was 14, and I never knew this intellectually. I suppose I knew it unconsciously, since I get where I'm going. For about a year in poverty, my only vehicle was bike. It just so happens that year was one of the wettest in L.A. history. Nothing will ruin your day like riding a bike on the freeway in the rain to get to work for minimum wage. That said, the vast majority of days here are excellent riding weather, and today is one. I just might pull her out. I hardly ever ride anymore, because I can't take my dogs along, and the guilt tip they lay on me always wins out. I wonder if a dog can learn this counter steering. We could have a cool biker gang and go cruising for some bitches.

rhhardin said...

No-handed bike riding depends on there being more wheel mass ahead of the steering axis than behind, ie the front wheel sticks out forward of the handlebar axis.

When you shift your groin right, the top of the bicycle goes right, and the front of the front wheel lags behind, in effect steering left.

That brief steering left is the countersteer needed to start a right turn. The wheels move to the left of your center of gravity and the banked-right right turn begins.

To recover from the turn, shift your groin left, the front of the front wheel lags behind and turns further right, which steers the wheels underneath your center of gravity, ending the turn.

Acting counter to that, the gyroscopic effect will turn the front wheel right when you move your groin right. If you're riding fast enough, you can no longer steer no-handed. The gyroscopic effect overcomes the mass lagging and moving your groin right no longer turns the wheel left, or not at all, or even worse turns it right.

A certain amount of speed is necessary to stabilize the front wheel, so that it doesn't keep turning left once it starts turning right. ie so that it doesn't flop around.

Skill and smoothness can reduce this minimum speed to just a few miles an hour. Unskill needs a somewhat faster minimum speed.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Turn Left To Go Right

God I hope that is a metaphor for the last 5 years.

chickelit said...

Good one, Iggy.

rcocean said...

Pulling the right handlebar causes a bike to go right. You only need to "Counter-steer" a bike if you push instead of pull.

Michael Haz said...

No, pulling the right handlebar toward yourself makes a moving motorcycle go left..or put differently, pushing on the left handlebar will make the bike go left.

Michael Haz said...

Eric, not all motorcycles are Harley Davidsons. There are many types of motorcycles built by many different manufacturers.

bagoh20 said...

The modern biker culture is very open and accepting in most places. Harley Riders appreciate all brands and types now, and vise versa. Riders are so varied in background and profession that you never know who you are talking to. That's one of the advantages of the whole thing. It puts everyone on a different less hierarchical footing that's not part of the normal power structure of our everyday lives. You can't tell who is a rock star from a CEO, or a burger flipper from a doctor or a plumber, and it doesn't matter. It's about enjoying the bikes, the road, the outdoors, and beer, and bikes. Outsiders who feel intimidated or like they won't fit in are mostly imagining something that's not there. At least that's how it mostly is out here in L.A. I have always ridden a Japanese bike. I got hooked on the quality back when Harley's were garbage in the 70s. Now days the quality is much more even. My current bike is 1400 Suzuki, slightly chopped, and all stock. I never feel unwelcome, and neither do the guys on little 250's who park next to the big Hog and grab a beer and sit down with everyone else to admire what comes by.

bagoh20 said...

Not that I condone drinking and bike riding, you need both hands...mostly.

Old fart reminiscing story:

When I was 17, I worked all year to save up money to buy a new bike. I bought a 1976 Suzuki 750 touring bike. One of my first trips was my girlfriend I that summer 500 miles across Pennsylvania and down to Virginia Beach. We were young and broke, so that meant no hotels, just sleeping in a tent in parks. It was a great trip, extra exciting because neither of was allowed to go. We were kind of running a way in protest of parental control. I remember that we often drove along with a quart of beer that she held onto behind me and would pass back and forth as we cruised down the interstate. Ahh, different times. At one point, she was back there reading a book, and she fell asleep. I felt her falling off and I instinctively reached back and grabbed her by the jacket just as her head was about a foot off the pavement. The book did not survive. I wonder what that book was. I saw her a few months ago and we still both remembered that trip very fondly, and were mostly surprised we lived through it. That fearless attitude of youth is a magical, dangerous, but wonderful thing I miss.

Michael Haz said...

I have owned nearly every major brand of motorcycle except for the Italians. I'm not patient enough to cope with Italian build quality, even though Ducati and Moto Guzzi and MV Agusta make some beautiful machines.

My primary bike now is a Victory. It's a fun touring bike, reliable as an anvil and easy to maintain.

I don't do bar-to-bar rides or group rides. Both exceed my threshold of safe riding. I consider myself a rider rather than a biker. Big difference.

And I don't belong to any clubs. I did at one time, but it seemed to devolve into nothing but endless arguing over silly rules and getting your ego stroked by being named the Second Deputy Assistant To the Road Trip Coordinator or something like that.

Long distances are easy. It isn't unusual to, say, ride to Minneapolis for lunch, then from there ride to Chicago for supper, then home. I've logged more than 500,000 miles on two wheels since my first bike at age 16.

A really good website if you dream about motorcycling is AdventureRider.com. The stories photos of trips people have taken are addictive.

Unknown said...

How do you shift nowadays? I recall I was confounded by shifting more than turning.
I often provided entertainment for my family. I'd fall over- they'd laugh. I'd scream- they'd laugh. I'd shift wrong and the bike would lurch, and they'd laugh. Good times.

Unknown said...

Note - I was laughing too.
Except once when my dad, brother an I were up in the mountains and they wanted to see if I could make it up this steep rocky hill. I fell over and it was not pleasant. They ran over to help and they were not laughing. That was the beginning of the end of my illustrious off-road dirt biking experience.
Road biking (riding), to me, seems scary. Mostly because of the other idiots on the road. Hats off to those of you who do it.

rcocean said...

"pushing on the left handlebar will make the bike go left."

I don't know about motor cycles but if I *pull* the right handlebar on my bike toward my body, the wheel goes right - and the bike goes right. If I *push* it away from my body it does exactly the opposite.

bagoh20 said...

"How do you shift now days."

Still the same: pushing down or lifting up on a little foot lever using the clutch on the handlebars. Only difference is that today bikes usually have a couple extra gears. Mine is a four speed, but that's unusual. I think most today are 5 or six.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

rcocean said...

I don't know about motor cycles but if I *pull* the right handlebar on my bike toward my body, the wheel goes right - and the bike goes right. If I *push* it away from my body it does exactly the opposite.

Imagine you are heading straight. If you pull the right handlebar, the wheel turns right, and the bike, specifically the part in contact with the ground, goes right too. Your body continues it's momentum forward. If you keep the wheel right, you will crash.

If you want to turn right without crashing, you must get your weight leaning to the right before you turn the wheel to the right. To do this, you briefly turn the wheel to the left. If you are not doing this intentionally, you are doing it instinctively. Learning to do it instinctively is part of the trial and error of learning to ride a bike.

rcocean said...

"If you want to turn right without crashing, you must get your weight leaning to the right before you turn the wheel to the right. To do this, you briefly turn the wheel to the left. If you are not doing this intentionally, you are doing it instinctively. Learning to do it instinctively is part of the trial and error of learning to ride a bike."

Thanks, but my whole point is that the film is misleading. Most people do not "Counter steer" bicycles. They may do this on Motorcycles because of other reasons.

chickelit said...

@rcocean: I believe you're just wrong. I just went outside, hopped on my bike and pedaled up to reasonable speed. When I tried to steering right by turning right I almost wiped out and I had the unsettling feeling of going over the handlebars. The quick, counter directional flip one gives in the other direction completely brakes that forward momentum sensation and comports with Newton's laws as others have pointed out. You can't argue with physics.

Michael Haz said...

@rocean - The book Proficient Motorcycling is a superb reference for all things involving safe motorcycling. It has an excellent chapter about counter steering.

Perhaps you library has a copy you can peruse.

chickelit said...

And muchos kudos to Haz for giving us a "physics in everyday life" lesson.