[PSk]

Originally Posted by banda

And you're right again. leaning doesn't produce a turn. It produces a turning force. A force which can be counteracted or enhanced by other forces.

Every movement (or acceleration to be more technically correct) is based on a force imbalance.

Thus the wind was pushing you one way ... you were counter steering your bike the other way to balance the force. Take the wind away and you would have turned ... thus the bike WAS trying to.


I think way to much is made of counter steering as being some mystery, even on this counter rotating brakes site (and has made me very sceptical, considering he stated that he spent a year studying the effect and wrote a paper ... ).


My view on what happens when we counter steer:

If you think about the only 2 constants on the bike related to the road, they are the 2 tyre contact patches. When you push one side of the handle bar, the front tyre turns, it does/can not slide across the road because of grip. Now because of rake when the front tyre turns something else has to move ... and that is ofcourse the head stock (or handle bar pivot, if I have not used the correct term).

Thus we have a lever situation, and thus on my bike atleast, the force of my push is magnified to a larger force that pushes the bike's head stock towards the centre of the turn, hence leaning the bike so positively.


Try it when you are stationary and you can feel the force pushing the head stock sideways or inwards.


This is (one of the reasons, or the only reason?) why rake is so important to bikes. It gives the rider the ability to balance the bike by using force on the handle bars. Witness bicycle riders who balance when stationary ... they move the handle bars around a lot, thus pushing the head stock of the bike left or right to balance.

Its nothing magical ... no gyroscopics involved, plain force balancing. The gyroscopic affects caused by wheels or the motor simply dictates how much force is required to lean the bike.

Pete