Re: [ST] TT PS2 game TO Steering Technique

["Emile Nossin" <Emile@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: Stephen
>Yeah, it's more of a "subconscious balance" thing.
>My body knows what to do when the speed goes from slow in a real tight
>curve to increasing speed coming out but still curving.
>----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Knowles" <matt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Since at low speeds pushing on the right steers left, but at higher
> speeds pushing on the right steers right (countersteering), there must
> be some magic speed where pushing on the right does nothing

Stephen is talking about something else than what Matt is talking about.

Stephen means the lean angle at which a bike is leaned too much for
its speed and wants to fall over more while the stabilizing trail of
the front wheel (which makes the bike countersteer itself straight
normally) is not making the front wheel fall enough inward into the
turn to make the bike stand up again. In that case it will need a helping
hand that pushes the steer more towards the turn to lean it upright again.
So Stephen is talking about an unstable moment where the bike actually
wants to fall over more.

The normal situation would be where the rider actually has to counter
the balancing force of this trail by pushing (and pulling) the steering
bar away from the turn to keep it leaned INTO the turn. The front wheel
will be pointing into the turn, but the trail of the front tire wants to
let it fall into the turn more, which will (without rider input) straighten
the bike up. That's the normal, stable situation in which we normally ride.

Matt means a slightly different thing (correct me if I'm wrong please).
When riding walking speed you can steer the bike like a car, go a bit
faster and the main steering control is thru countersteering which acts
in an opposite way. Or so it seems... :-)

Now countersteering actually works fine at walking speed as well (try
it out, works on a bicycle as well). But since speed is so slow, true
balancing also comes a bit into play (still, without the trail you can't
keep the bike balanced). So countersteering is involved at any speed,
but at walking speed you can override it sort of by pretending you are
a bike with a sidecar. When you let your body hang over to the left,
you can steer like in a car or a bike with sidecar, by steering left.
At anything higher than walking speed, the influence of "body steering"
is greatly reduced though.

Countersteering works at any speed, but at walking speed there is no
need to lean. Speed is low, so centrifugal / centripetal force will
be low so lean angle will be low, so countersteering input will be low.

The thing that's confusing and what screws up most riders trying to
visualise the countersteering principle is that the countersteer itself
is the main control to GET TOWARDS a certain bank angle. So you ride
the front wheel away to the right, which will let the bike fall to
the left. Already in the falling process towards the needed lean
angle, the front wheel will fall and turn towards the direction of
the turn (left in this example). Once at the lean angle, the front
wheel will be facing in the direction of the turn (left). When you
would push the steering bar more towards the left, the front wheel
will ride away more towards the left, letting the bike fall (centrifugal
influence) towards the vertical position again and, if input will remain,
to the right.

Now at walking speed you need no or hardly any lean angle, so the
process of countersteering is nill or hardly untill the steering
bar is facing in the direction of the turn (if you would stay upright
and not move your body). So the process of countersteering is always
there and becomes significantly more aparent with the increase of
speed and therefor desired lean angle. Only zero speed requires
zero countersteer / lean, so there's no transition (which would
suggest a stopping of the "effect"), there's just increase.

Even when taking the bike of the centerstand you can already use
countersteering. If you're next to the bike and the bike is on the
centerstand with the centerstand on a tilted surface (for example,
the bike's leaning to the right on the stand), then before pushing
the bike forward of the centerstand, steer the frontwheel towards
the right. Then push it off and, low and behold, the bike will land
straight (or left leaning) on its wheels without you having to catch
it from falling over away from you to the right. Countersteering at
speed almost zero :-). Try it out!

Emile
www.piloot.com

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