Some years ago I went on a 4 day Motorcycle training course which combined theory with practice. There were 6 pupils, and 4 instructors, with video cameras and a classroom facility. The practical side was up and down the Oxley Highway, between Mt Seaview (where we stayed), and Ginger's Creek. That road is recognised as being one of the most challenging and dangerous in this part of Australia. A lot of time was spent on the "art of cornering", and to put it into layman's terms, this is what we were taught to do on seeing a corner: 1) turn head to look as far round corner as possible, and hold that head position. If you need to look more closely at things nearer to you, move your eyes, but keep your head looking to exit. 2) Let's say it's a lh corner. Move buttocks gently to the left by about 2 - 3 inches from the centre way before the corner, and hold that position. 3) As the corner starts, the bike starts to drop easily into the corner, and you... 4) Exert pressure on the rh footpeg, as you start to hang more to the left of the bike. This pressure tends to keep the back down. If you experiment by putting pressure on and off the footpeg,, you can feel the bike lean or rise. 5) As you come out of the corner, get back to normal seating position. If you are in an S bend, move head from one side to the other, looking to your exit and at your lean change position, slide buttocks from one side to the other (gently), and change pressure on footpegs from right to left. No mention of countersteering as such, even though it must be part of the process. This is probably doing what lots of you do anyway, but if not, try it some time. I apologise for lack of more scientific info, but these people (Driver Training Australia) made a superb video called Motorcycle Cornering, which analyses all this in a very technical, and practical way. I'd be very interested in others comments, as I know we have a lot of very skilled riders on the list.
Regards, Rob Chapman ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Sheraden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, November 02, 2002 3:01 AM Subject: Re: Guru speak > I've seen this argument a few times, and each time > it's struck me that perhaps it's just a question of > semantics, all adding up to the same thing. > > My take is that leaning shifts your center of mass on > the bike, which changes the force vector on the > steering head, which causes the front wheel to change > direction - particularly at lower speeds where those > small forces have less (cycloscopic?) inertia to > overcome. > > If the steering head were unable to shift direction > (i.e., respond to the change in force vector), would > leaning changing the direction of the bike? I don't > think so. If it would, I think that would constitute > real "body steer," but I sure don't understand the > physics that would create that effect. > > Does shifting your center of mass on the bike assist > in "hand-actuated" turns? I think so, because you're > using the change in center of mass as a turning force > in addition to force you exert with your arms on the > handlebars. However, that alone does not, in my > opinion, constitute body steering. > > My .02. > Tom > > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now > http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/ --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.408 / Virus Database: 230 - Release Date: 24/10/2002
