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Holding On Too Tight To The Bars?


rchase

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Lets not get caught up into the road rage aspects of this video. I hope everyone involved is ok.

 

I saw this on a popular website and was somewhat interested in why the motorcycle became so unstable so quickly with so little force involved. If you look closely when the rider uses his foot in an somewhat unconventional manner he transfers steering input on the opposite bar causing the bike to lean and causing him to loose his balance. Pivot steering? :)

 

Here's an animated gif

 

e1n31mbzh8uchr4d6jpq.gif

 

And he's the full video

 

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If you closely watch the front wheel you can clearly see the wheel turn. Looks to me like the ride used his right arm to brace himself to kick the car - and when the car didn't give, the force went right into a push on the bar - countersteering the bike sharply to the right. That countersteering action causes the bike to lean to the right and turn right - the rider is caught by surprise and puts his foot down! Had he been relaxed (not likely in this circumstance!) the bike probably would have just turned right then stabilized.

Clearly his lower body was not braced well, because you can also see that the force of his kick pushes his butt off the right side of the seat, contributing to the problem. It's likely that when his butt came off, he pulled on the left bar to try to hold on, countersteering the bike even MORE to the right and causing it to lean over even farther - I suspect he was pulling on the left handlebar all the way to the ground.

 

Here is a question for the group - we know countersteering is initiated by pushing on the handlebar (and/or pulling on the opposite bar). Once the bike is at the desired lean angle, what do you do to STOP the bike from leaning over any farther?

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I think Hotfoot has the answer (again!), it's a bit like the power steering drill but turned up to 11. In answer to the other question though - yep stop pushing. Most bikes have neutral enough steering that they'll stay where they're left. If it's going to go too far though you'd have to nudge the top (outside) bar to stop it leaning further

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes. If you can stop yourself from leaning on the bars once the bike is banked over, you'll usually find it will stay on its line with little or no input until you want to stand it up again. This can be a revelation for some, myself included as I was more used to riding old bikes that need a lot of wrestling!

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