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John H.

On Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:02:06 -0700, wrote:

On Jun 2, 12:39 pm, "RCE" wrote:
wrote in message

ups.com...

Well I been kinda' busy the last few days looking for a new boat so I
have not followed this much, I do need to come in here quickly as I
have a little experience in this field having had my bike licence for
over 30 years now. I was riding one dark night back in the mid 80's,
middle of winter riding to work. I hit a huge chunk of ice/slush that
had frozen to the road, about the size of a cinder block. It knocked
my front end sharply to the left, turning my wheel left and started to
deposit me down to the right as will happen when a front tire looses
grip on a bike. Loosening up my grip preparing to eat asphalt my front
end caught and kicked the tire around to the right, now the bike is
turning right and laying down to the left, again the tire, because of
the rake of the fork kicked to the left, kicking the bike upright and
back to the left. This wobble continued about 3-5 times until the bike
stood itself right up again. I pulled over and cleaned my pants. The
reverse lean steer saved my ass from a bad hit and it was only because
of the geometry of the bike that it happened, call it reverse steer,
call it great engineering, either way it was one time I f*****d up and
did not eat pavement..

There have been highway accidents due to "wobble" loss of control. They are
usually caused by riding too fast while navigating a long, sloping turn in
the road and suddenly de-accelerating for some reason. I've never
experienced it (hope I never will) but have been told that if it starts, hit
the throttle to maintain control and slow down more slowly.

Eisboch- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

We used to get that wobble coming in 84 east bound just west of the
mass border, I am sure SW is familiar with the old highway. And you
can not just brake to stop it, you gotta maintain throttle and come
off real slow, and real out of control. My Bike used to get it at
certain speeds, somewhere under 80 I think there was a band where it
was real bad. The wobble I described in my almost wreck is a little
different as it is at a lot slower speed (not a speed wobble) and
probably more relevant to the steering stuff you guys are talking
about. At about 35 mph the front forks got kicked left and the front
end got knocked that way too. Having not leaned into the "turn" my
front tire going left, turned left, me far right of the line of
balance of the bike and heading down fast. However, in this situation
the angle behind the area of straight force of the front tire was
becoming greater which of course forced the front forks to pivot sharp
right. Now the front end is way right of me, me still in line with my
origional angle of travel as this was all happening faster than I
could react. The process repeated a few times until I the bike was
upright again. The point here is if you turn the forks right, and do
not lean into the turn, the further over the bike leans the more it
wants to straighten the forks out on its own depending on the angle of
rake in the forks. Hope that makes sense, I am sure I used improper
terminology but I hope you all got my point. A real counter steer will
get you slapped on the turf if I am interpreting you all correctly.

It sounds like your front suspension may not have been up to the curve you
were taking at the speed you were taking it. I've had a wobble show up in
curves on my Guzzi. I've since added fork bracing to the front end. The
wobble has never returned.

Countersteering is not a 'trick' or new way of steering. It's what makes
your motorcycle turn, every time you turn.