[couple edits] One time, I pulled the front brake to see what would happen on ice. What happens is you suddenly learn that steering the front wheel is the only thing that keeps a bicycle balanced. Once it skids, you have no steer, and whatever tilting momentum you had at the time is now permanent. Sliding on the ice was actually quite nice [compared to grinding into pavement].
I didn’t really understand it at the time, but it set the groundwork for a future understanding when I got into motorcycling. Having the front wash out and tipping into a “low side” crash is much more common on motorcycles, as it’s much easier to get to the limits of grip. Same deal with balancing: you’re constantly doing minor movements of the [bars] to keep you upright. It’s not the gyroscopic effect, it’s not your body moving; you’re steering with tiny corrections on a mechanism with geometry that makes it work intuitively and with self-correcting steering.
Every time you want to go left, whether you know it or not, you start with a little motion of pushing the bars right. Even if you ride with no hands on the bars, your body shifts to force the bars the opposite way first. The bars and wheel go right, the tires roll to the right, the bike and body fall left, your arms and/or the geometry pull the wheel and bars left. Bam, you’re now leaning and steering left while still in balance.
Every bicycle and motorcycle works like this. What makes it a skill worth honing is that once you decouple the “countersteer” motion from the entire turning process, it allows you to have much, much better control over the machine. In motorcycles, it’s really valuable to be able to command more or less lean when you misjudge a turn. Something I try to explain to every new rider because bicycles and motorcycles just make it intuitive with the steering geometry, but motorcycles have much larger consequences without any real escalation in required skill beyond general road testing.
I never rode motorcycles (albeit once around a neighborhood for a few minutes), but I did ride a bmx-style bike for a lotta years, lotta miles. And I just (this year) learned about how countersteering is inevitable, or you fall
Point is — I used to cut my tire hard to the right, at slower speed, so that I could turn back into a very tight left circle. Never thought about it though, it just worked. I used to play with that to see how close I could get to a 180° turn (like pretending I was a circling buzzard or something)… it was fun. Never knew how cool the underlying physics were
Fast-forward to that one time I was on a motorcycle… I dropped it on it’s side by the second lap of the cul-de-sac (at very low speed). Dunno what happened, but I do remeber cutting around a circle, and being amazed at how far you could lean into a circle at such a slow speed… as if you’re riding the side-wall of the tires. And then I pulled out of the turn and lost balance, slowly dropping it on it’s side
It was so freaking cool to me. But also… man, I couldn’t control the bike with my hips(?) the way I could with a bicycle. It didn’t exactly translate, cause the bike just had more power and weight. Or possibly because the power control was from my hand and not my feet?
On my bike, I used to be able to stand straight up on my pedals (off my seat) without touching the handlebars, and just cruise by steering with my legs/hips… pretty much all leaning for steering. I would stand up straight hands-free, smoking a cig, and steering with my lower body; just cruising lol (I know, I was super cool man). But it was fun. Always to cruise on a motorcycle, but fuck me, I just don’t trust myself to not be dumb
Same. Can’t say I did that exact combo, but I could stand on my mountain bike pedals and clench the seat between my thighs to steer without hands. I did briefly try smoking but a rushed ride to class made me reek of ash, “quit” on the spot (never really started).
But yeah, motorcycles are big and heavy and fast. The weight ratio is way off. I can do some antics, but nowhere near my bicycle level. Part skill, part strength, part knowing that fucking up on a motorcycle at road speeds carries far more consequence than a bicycle.
I do love a slow race. I practice at every red light! I beleive it’s important for all aspects of riding by practicing how to wrangle the motorcycle to your will
[couple edits] One time, I pulled the front brake to see what would happen on ice. What happens is you suddenly learn that steering the front wheel is the only thing that keeps a bicycle balanced. Once it skids, you have no steer, and whatever tilting momentum you had at the time is now permanent. Sliding on the ice was actually quite nice [compared to grinding into pavement].
I didn’t really understand it at the time, but it set the groundwork for a future understanding when I got into motorcycling. Having the front wash out and tipping into a “low side” crash is much more common on motorcycles, as it’s much easier to get to the limits of grip. Same deal with balancing: you’re constantly doing minor movements of the [bars] to keep you upright. It’s not the gyroscopic effect, it’s not your body moving; you’re steering with tiny corrections on a mechanism with geometry that makes it work intuitively and with self-correcting steering.
Every time you want to go left, whether you know it or not, you start with a little motion of pushing the bars right. Even if you ride with no hands on the bars, your body shifts to force the bars the opposite way first. The bars and wheel go right, the tires roll to the right, the bike and body fall left, your arms and/or the geometry pull the wheel and bars left. Bam, you’re now leaning and steering left while still in balance.
Every bicycle and motorcycle works like this. What makes it a skill worth honing is that once you decouple the “countersteer” motion from the entire turning process, it allows you to have much, much better control over the machine. In motorcycles, it’s really valuable to be able to command more or less lean when you misjudge a turn. Something I try to explain to every new rider because bicycles and motorcycles just make it intuitive with the steering geometry, but motorcycles have much larger consequences without any real escalation in required skill beyond general road testing.
I never rode motorcycles (albeit once around a neighborhood for a few minutes), but I did ride a bmx-style bike for a lotta years, lotta miles. And I just (this year) learned about how countersteering is inevitable, or you fall
Point is — I used to cut my tire hard to the right, at slower speed, so that I could turn back into a very tight left circle. Never thought about it though, it just worked. I used to play with that to see how close I could get to a 180° turn (like pretending I was a circling buzzard or something)… it was fun. Never knew how cool the underlying physics were
Fast-forward to that one time I was on a motorcycle… I dropped it on it’s side by the second lap of the cul-de-sac (at very low speed). Dunno what happened, but I do remeber cutting around a circle, and being amazed at how far you could lean into a circle at such a slow speed… as if you’re riding the side-wall of the tires. And then I pulled out of the turn and lost balance, slowly dropping it on it’s side
It was so freaking cool to me. But also… man, I couldn’t control the bike with my hips(?) the way I could with a bicycle. It didn’t exactly translate, cause the bike just had more power and weight. Or possibly because the power control was from my hand and not my feet?
On my bike, I used to be able to stand straight up on my pedals (off my seat) without touching the handlebars, and just cruise by steering with my legs/hips… pretty much all leaning for steering. I would stand up straight hands-free, smoking a cig, and steering with my lower body; just cruising lol (I know, I was super cool man). But it was fun. Always to cruise on a motorcycle, but fuck me, I just don’t trust myself to not be dumb
C’est la vie
Same. Can’t say I did that exact combo, but I could stand on my mountain bike pedals and clench the seat between my thighs to steer without hands. I did briefly try smoking but a rushed ride to class made me reek of ash, “quit” on the spot (never really started).
But yeah, motorcycles are big and heavy and fast. The weight ratio is way off. I can do some antics, but nowhere near my bicycle level. Part skill, part strength, part knowing that fucking up on a motorcycle at road speeds carries far more consequence than a bicycle.
I do love a slow race. I practice at every red light! I beleive it’s important for all aspects of riding by practicing how to wrangle the motorcycle to your will
On a slight decline this was so satisfying