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And like wise, you don't need to know how a bike countersteers, only that it does."
As the bike leans right, the countersteering input is removed and the bars are actually turned slightly to the right, into the turn.
You know, to be quite honest, I had never gave this any thought until last night. When I want to turn, I just turn. 99% of the time I don't even have an actual thought to 'push' or 'turn' anything, the bike just follows the road.
The problem with that, Mike, is what do you do when you need to swerve? That's when you need to countersteer like mad.
Harry
Removing the countersteering input in one direction would seem to imply that a countersteering input is applied in the other direction. There is no switch to turn the effect of countersteering on or off, I believe. Also, if the wheel is turned into the turn, why is this definitely not countersteering the other way, causing the bike to first straighten up before leaning the other way? Even if gyroscopic effects are zero, this question still has validity.
By the way, for those kind folks who have provided non-technical input, I do practice countersteering and have no actual operational problem in my riding, except always wanting to get more skilled, or at the beginning of a long winter, getting my skills back to where they were. I like to understand the technical reasons for what my bike does. You need not have the same interest, of course.
My original post was to provide a source for a very good diagram of a gyroscope that might help folks understand how countersteering left resulted in the wheel and bike leaning right. It was not to prompt a discussion of whether countersteering was necessary, by now most of us know it is.
New information has been suggested that gyroscopic effects are not responsible for leaning, or not the principle cause for leaning. If there is a reader who knows a web site where this topic is explained, I would be grateful for the information.
I would also be grateful to learn about the claim that countersteering is only initial, because I can't understand that.
Years ago my orthopedic surgeon was a student in my MSF class. I failed him in the course because he would NOT accept the concept that the bike would go in the direction he pressed.
I am also fairly certain that bike beginning to fall has less to do with the gyroscopic effects and more to do with front end geometry.
I vote gravity