RE: [ST] Countersteering

["Masiak, Richard" <Richard_Masiak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hope this doesn't cause confusion, but I wanted to keep the original and add to it.

Peck wrote the comments denoted by >>

Peck, see below.


- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-st@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-st@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Peckham .
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 4:00 PM
To: ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ST] Countersteering


>I figured out countersteering back in the early '60s before anyone ever 
>made any mention of it, or gave it a name.

>>You must be writng to us from the counteruniverse, since the Wright Brothers 
>>made mention of it about 100 years ago.

You mean the underverse, don't you?  Reference: "Cronicles of Riddick"

>The only thing hanging off to the inside achieves is to keep the motorcycle 
>more upright as it goes through the turns, keeping more rubber on the 
>ground. It will reduce the amount of countersteering required, but does not 
>eliminate it.

>>Well, hanging off lowers the center of gravity, and also looks cool in 
>>pictures.  I am not sure you can say that this reduces the amount of 
>>countersteering required.  What it does is keep you from grinding the pegs 
>>and muffler off, or levering up on the frame.

I believe hanging off lowers the riders CoG relative to the bikes.  Therefore reducing 
the lean angle of the bike in the turn.  I think that if the lean angle is reduced then 
the amount of countersteering needed is also reduced.

>>Code claims that active and somewhat abrupt countersteering reduces the need 
>>for some of the lean angle.  IOW, turn in faster and there's less lean 
>>required.  At a certain point, based on a given speed in a corner, the rider 
>>will still need to compensate by hanging off so that he does not run out of 
>>ground clearance.

I guess I need to go to his forum and see if he defines "active and somewhat abrupt countersteering".  The word abrupt means unexpectedly sudden.  I could be wrong, but, the physics goveerning the motorcycle doesn't like abrupt changes.  It causes instability.  IMO, speaking from some track experience, the change needs to be deliberate and smooth.  Whenever I did anything sudden or abrupt, it was because of an error in line/corner speed, and the motorcycle did not like that one bit.

Hanging off helps reduce motorcycle lean angle and keep more tyre patch in contact with the tarmac.  Too much lean angle will result in reducing the contact patch and result in some sort of crash through loss of traction.  Ground clearance isn't much of an issue on race prep bikes.

>--
Peckham



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