After introductions:
"who knows about counter steering?"
Everyone I can see including myself raises our hands.
"that's good, glad to see that. Counter steering is the first thing we want you to forget about. It doesn't turn your motorcycle, it leans it. Let's say the road is turning, would you prefer to turn the bike or lean the bike? Me I'd like to turn, but if you're set on dying leaned over a bit that turn is a pretty nice opportunity!" "Who enjoys using the brakes in the middle of a turn?" "Nobody huh?" "What do you think about braking fairly hard at the point you are leaned over the furthest? Bad idea right? Me, I love it!" "But there could be something wrong with me. Let's take a look at some other riders and see how they feel about it"
So we watch Rossi, Hayden, Stoner, and lots of others full lean on the brakes.
Those guys are kinda good right? do you think they misjudge every turn and need to go the brakes? I kinda doubt they misjudge too much. And I know they do what works. We teach what they do, because that's what works.
Did I not see that before while watching motogp? Did I just blank it out because my brain says it's wrong? Who knows, but it works wonders. The key is moderation. We get thorough explanations about traction, brake and throttle moderation, body position then lots of riding. Trying out everything, struggling but making a little headway, relaxing more and more. Then it's time for me to ride on the back of an instructor's bike. I hate riding on the back of a motorcycle, it's possibly my least favorite thing ever. but these instructors all have serious race credentials, ie titles and records and not from club racing. So off we go, I simply cannot believe how hard (but smooth) we are on the brakes in the turns, and the more we brake the more we turn. It's as if the brakes are what's turning the bike. You know why it seems like that? Because that is exactly what's happening. Break for lunch, then back to the track. Once I get settled in on the bike again I want to try this for myself, but it's hard mentally to leave enough speed to NEED more brake at the right time, I'm so used to slowing much earlier. And when I try to force the speed I find myself tense when I should be loose. Eventually I set up turn 4b perfectly (relative to me of course) and leave myself some room to the inside, everything being set the only thing I did was to ease on the brake a bit more and you know what happened? If I hadn't left myself room on the inside I could have gone off the track TO THE INSIDE! I'm utterly amazed and things improved pretty rapidly after that, because I just kept want to experience more mid turn braking. I now wanted to do exactly that bit that had previously been the most frightening aspect of riding a motorcycle - breaking mid turn and needing to turn tighter at the same time. It had been that way for 20 years now, since the day I got my first street bike.
Day two: Waking up at six and checking the weather I was relieved to find that the forecast wasn't any worse than the night before, but still calling for clouds and a chance of rain late in the afternoon. By the time I got to the speedway at 8am it was starting to rain. My spirits weren't too deterred, this is the desert and that just means it'll rain for an hour this morning instead of an hour this afternoon. Nope, all day long without break just steadily increased from light to heavy. We had coffee and breakfast watching some motogp in slow motion and stop motion, lots of explaining and discussing what we learned the previous day. Nothing really new today for the rain just a lot of emphasis on smoothness and loading the tires properly before asking them for traction.
So who thinks that because of the rain we shouldn't be using the brakes at lean angle?
We all pretty much agree that sounds wise.
Hmm, I see. Let's watch some other riders in the rain.
So we watch more motogp in the rain and see them all on the brakes mid turn.
So I can see 3 explanations for this: They're crazy and very lucky, they have magic tires, or they are good. What do you guys think?
Uh, they're good?
That's right, they go to the brakes in the rain on every turn because they are good and that's what good riders do.
Loose and relaxed, weight on feet not hands We got ponchos to wear under our leathers. We were told that anyone who wasn't comfortable shouldn't feel pressured to ride, they could stay in and get one on one classroom instruction if they so wished, but nobody chose that, we want to ride, so off we go! Yesterday we were grouped into 4 groups: folks relatively new to motorcycles, two groups of us longer time riders with no track experience and one group of track riders. There were 5 of us in each group, so 20 total in the class. Like yesterday, a large portion of the day we take laps behind our group's instructor, each lap or two the instructor gives the signal to switch and the front rider rotates to the back. I'm on the brakes to the apex nearly every turn now, unless we're slowed by a group in front. It's only the amount of brake that varies, sometimes less sometimes more depending on how well my other variables are and how much speed I'm mentally able to retain going in. They say
"brake whenever you want to, just learn to brake less initially"
that helps a lot, so it's NOT that I'm braking later, that would be scarier. I'm just braking less initially and feeling completely confident. It's cold for the desert, the high was in the 40's and the track is soaked. There are standing puddles in several places, but luckily they're mostly off the desired lines. The tires (street tires) hold no heat. We really couldn't be riding with much less traction (although on a track there isn't oil and fluids on the road being pulled up by the water) and I cannot believe the pace we're carrying feeling absolutely comfortable and in control. I'm a gear up everywhere from where I was yesterday and thinking that in most spots I really should be in the next gear up to manage the revs in the wet a bit. There is no way that two days ago I could have done this pace with warm tires and dry track, I guarantee. And I'm laughing with joy in my helmet, I'm absolutely amazed, because I just learned how to ride a motorcycle.
No way, man, you're not giving me a headache. I've got one anyway, but that's not your fault, I've got the hepazooty bug that's going around. But I'll talk about this shit allllll day long...
I think it might be a matter of semantics. Surely nobody's dumb enough to completely discount body steering. Surely nobody's dumb enough to think you can turn a bike without countersteering.
This diagram isn't entirely correct. Sometimes it's correct, proper, and important to push the bike under you, to lean opposite the turn. Racers do it when they're warming up their tires. It means a greater lean angle, but at lower speeds it's often the most efficient means of turning the bike because of the forces involved. Say you're doing 30 or so, and there's a big ol' dead armadillo in the road and you have to kinda zip around it. This is when opposite lean comes in handy, since you don't really have time to get your body mass into the leeward side of the arrangement. Your upper body stays more or less level while your ass and your motorcycle detour around the bloated carcass, hopefully avoiding any stray maggots. It's not something you want to do in an actual curve, mind you, but it works well for avoiding hazards.
It's funny how hot a topic this turns out to be. I'm actually surprised that people are still arguing about this, years after I thought I cleared it all up for everybody: Countersteering works, unless you're on a shaft drive bike (and that's only if you're in the southern hemisphere, but wheelies are easier down there so it evens out).
I thought everybody knew this by now...
This was interesting: http://home.clara.net/survivalskills/riding_skills_51.htm