Please help me understand how stem length affects steering
#101
Senior Member
The problem with posting racing technique is it's not relevant to those who want to ride safely on city streets. The winding mountain roads that I rode frequently had a sport bike in the ditch as a result of a local fool who thought the road was a groomed race track.
I took the MSF Basic Rider Course so I could legally ride in Colorado. I had never ridden a motorcycle before taking the course. I passed with no problem, but had to apply what was taught to do it. https://bdmtc.com/msf-basic-ridercourse-brc/
One thing this course is not is a physics lesson. I had that as part of my mechanical engineering degree. Statements that make people think that a motorcycle or bicycle can be put into a turn and keep turning by itself are counter productive because the are false. I read this many times. At normal speeds, you have to push on the bars and keep pushing until you want to bike to quit turning. The amount of pressure required certainly varies with speed. Only the right hand is needed for a right turn or the left hand for a left turn. Whether you're counter steering or not is irrelevant.
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One of the earliest trips I made on my new motorcycle was from Highlands Ranch, CO to Idaho Springs, mainly through the twisting mountain roads that start just west of Chatfield Reservoir. I had no trouble negotiating these roads, using what I was taught, but it helped to have ridden all of the route on a bicycle, so the roads were not unfamiliar to me. I was surprised how much effort was required to make all of the turns and decided to take the easy way home on the interstate.
I took the MSF Basic Rider Course so I could legally ride in Colorado. I had never ridden a motorcycle before taking the course. I passed with no problem, but had to apply what was taught to do it. https://bdmtc.com/msf-basic-ridercourse-brc/
One thing this course is not is a physics lesson. I had that as part of my mechanical engineering degree. Statements that make people think that a motorcycle or bicycle can be put into a turn and keep turning by itself are counter productive because the are false. I read this many times. At normal speeds, you have to push on the bars and keep pushing until you want to bike to quit turning. The amount of pressure required certainly varies with speed. Only the right hand is needed for a right turn or the left hand for a left turn. Whether you're counter steering or not is irrelevant.
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One of the earliest trips I made on my new motorcycle was from Highlands Ranch, CO to Idaho Springs, mainly through the twisting mountain roads that start just west of Chatfield Reservoir. I had no trouble negotiating these roads, using what I was taught, but it helped to have ridden all of the route on a bicycle, so the roads were not unfamiliar to me. I was surprised how much effort was required to make all of the turns and decided to take the easy way home on the interstate.
#102
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I'm getting this deja vu feeling all of a sudden.
#103
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Originally Posted by DaveSSS
Statements that make people think that a motorcycle or bicycle can be put into a turn and keep turning by itself are counter productive because the are false.
Only the right hand is needed for a right turn or the left hand for a left turn.
#104
Senior Member
Smart cyclists keep their hands on the bars in a turn, so they can precisely control the turn radius. Using the right hand for right turns and left hand for left turns avoids confusion. Only an idiot would train beginners to turn right by pulling with the left hand.
#105
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#106
Rhapsodic Laviathan
This thread was no-handed, counter steered off a cliff.
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