Countersteering on a cross bike (or any bike)?
In comments for the post Local trails on the cross bike, Christopher asked:
Lee, what’s your take on the cornering technique described here?
http://www.cxmagazine.com/cornering-column-lee-waldman-2010
Hmm.
He’s talking about countersteering, which is a real thing, but I seldom teach it specifically because most of us do it automatically (and thinking about it balls most people up).
Countersteering is a useful way to help you lean any bike or motorcycle. If you are riding well, especially at high speed, I guarantee you’re already doing it.
Here’s a diagram from MMBSii:
|
|
Say you want to turn left:
1. Bump the bars to the right.
2. This creates a gyroscopic force that leans the bike to the left.
3. Relax your grip and let the bike steer left. You’re carving left.
The key to cornering well is leaning the bike independently of the body. Judging by the author’s comments and the photo of him riding, he tends to keep the bike upright and steer.
By countersteering, he was getting more bike lean and — viola! — the bike turned better.
Related:
Braaap!
— Lee
Know more. Have more fun!
Join the leelikesbikes mailing list:
Thanks Lee! I’d love to read more about how your skills have translated to ‘cross.
Many of the courses here in the Bay Area have mountain bike style technical sections here’s a great example from the Surf City Series that runs down into Santa Cruz:
http://www.argentumimago.com/Sport/SurfCity2010CX1/14418063_4n8GV#1071943873_odrRB-O-LB
Glad you posted this. I just followed all the links chaining these articles together on turning the bike and had an epiphany on what I am doing wrong.
Right on guys.
Lately the only skills I’ve been using are work, work and more work. I look forward to hitting more ‘crosses this winter.
After yesterday’s indoor session, I have a clearer idea of how to pace myself. It would be fun to use my Awesome Power ™, but I’m not fit enough to keep that up for long.
https://www.leelikesbikes.com/burning-matches.html
A fine point that I’ve been wondering about related to countersteering. To turn a bike we’re told to push the inside grip into the turn. The result is that the bike leans and we start turning. But is this action a result of gyroscopic forces (like in the above diagram) or is it simply that the bike is light and we can directly lean it by moving the inside grip towards the ground? And are both of these actions “countersteering”?
I can very easily feel this “push left to go left” effect on a motorcycle. Push the left grip forward and the bike leans left. Push it more and the bike leans further. On a bicycle, it feels noticeably different even at high speed, no doubt because of the difference in mass/inertia between the two machines. In which case, at what point do the dynamics of the situation transition from “bicycle” to “motorcycle”?
And, more importantly, how can I use all of this to go faster?
Actually, it isn’t gyroscopic effects. If you hold a bicycle still, and turn the handlebars, the bike will lean. It’s simply a mechanical thing, based on the rake of the fork.
Agreed. I was trying to be consistent with the terminology of the original post, but you’re right, you can hold the bike stationary and observe this mechanical response, so it’s not a gyroscopic thing. I do still wonder if there are two fundamentally different techniques on a bicycle. Turn the handlebars, bike leans. Or, lean the bike and the handlebars turn to match the lean angle.
https://www.leelikesbikes.com/the-countersteering-can-of-worms.html