Counter Steering on a Motorcycle

How to counter steer a motorcycle

If I had known about this years ago, it may have actually saved me from crashing my bike.
The tip I have in mind is called "Counter Steering". You might already have heard about it but if you haven't or are unsure about it, then read on, it could save your life.

Steering a motorcycle is intuitive right? It just seems to happen and you go around that bend just like you did on your bicycle (and perhaps still do since cycling is cool too) and you steer in the direction of the bend right? Wrong! Whether you like it or not, when you steer a motorcycle or bicycle around a bend, you are actually steering in the opposite direction. Unless you are crawling along at a very low speed in which case you do actually steer in the direction you want to go, but increase that speed and the reverse happens.

I now realise that when I was travelling at around 90mph on a dual carriageway and I encountered a left hand bend, I began to veer to the right hand side of the road and was rapidly running out of space. The more I tried to steer how I figured it should be, intuitively to the left, the more I ran out of road. When I had about 2 inches left the bend thankfully began to peter out.

When I learnt about counter steering the above incident hit me with a jolt. It was so clear now and so armed with this extra knowledge, I set off to try out this exciting new tip. I would not have minded so much if I had not been riding for long but the truth is that I had passed my test in 1973.

So counter steering is where, on entering a bend you just ease the handlebars in the opposite direction to that in which you are travelling. For instance, on entering a right hand bend, try gently easing the bars to the left instead of the right like you imagine you are doing and just feel the difference. You will feel the bike respond immediately and it will turn in much more accurately and will inspire more confidence in your riding. Of course in a left hand bend it's the other way round but it won't take you long to get into it.

At first this will seem to be a great novelty but don't overdo it and choose a nice dry clear road with as little traffic as possible. To some this will come as a revelation as it did to me though I do realise that there won't be many that haven't heard of counter steering.

When I crashed my motorcycle way back in 1974 by approaching a bend too fast, the knowledge of counter steering might well have saved me.