|
I rode 1000s of road miles on my bicycle as an adult without knowing what counter steering was.
One turn in particular I was doing about 20-22mph with a tail wind, making a left turn from one road to another. I was turning against two lanes of oncoming traffic with a 45mph speed limit at a non-signalized 90 degree intersection. I entered the turn a bit faster than usual and leaned to turn like I usually did. I knew I was coming in a bit too hot, then I had that feeling of "I might not make this corner, I need to lean more", target fixated on the curb at the corner of the intersection, tensed up, tried to lean more (but didn't know how to counter steer so didn't get much more lean out of it), and barely made the turn.
If I had known what counter steering was I think it would have been a non-issue. Just press forward on the left bar to lean a bit more and make the turn.
I think many people think you can turn a motorcycle like a bicycle, but like alex.s said above, it's a lot harder to muscle a 400lb motorcycle through a corner than a 20lb bicycle when you don't know what you're doing. Once you're dealing with moving larger amounts of weight around things like technique, leverage, and physics become more important.
The MSF course explains counter steering very well. I think some kind of formal training should be required for all people wishing to obtain a motorcycle (or 4 wheeled vehicle for that matter) license. I'd probably be dead or seriously injured by now if I tried to obtain a motorcycle license via the no formal training path that my state allows.
|