Thinking back to my days of pedaling my first bicycle as a child, a magical moment happens in which an older human being releases the machine being pedaled from their assistance. Without knowing a thing about physics, vocabulary, or anything beginning to resemble intellectual bastardization of concept, we begin to pedal the bicycle. After a few mishaps, our internal subconscious feedback loop guides our outputs through the necessary actions leading to child riding a bicycle. All of this happens entirely without “thinking” about it. The ability of a child to learn is unmatched by anything that we term “learning” as adults. Therefore, we have to “think” about it. For those of us that have not internalized this concept as we grew up on two wheels, it is necessary to verbally relay this information to those adults who wish to share in the healing experience of two wheeled therapy. This is a course of action in which any rider is more than willing to do.
The term used to describe operating a motorcycle and/or bicycle is “riding.” Rooted in the action of riding a horse, we know that this is as much of a passive as it is an active process. Both horse and vehicles of a two wheeled flavor, in many cases, have a mind of their own. In either case, the fundamental idea behind both is influence. Proficiency in operation comes from the ability to influence the center of mass and the direction of travel the way that you wish them to go.
With this in mind, how do we fully internalize the concept in the same way that the naturals who “just get it” do? How do we develop the subconscious reactions necessary to keep us safe?
Influence is a matter of inputs an outputs. Internalizing this to a degree in which it is second nature is paramount. In everyday riding, as well as evasive and corrective maneuvers, you will not have time to “think.” The best, and arguably only, way to internalize these concepts is practice! Practice until your machine is a part of you, and it’s operation is subconscious.
Ways to influence your motorcycle: Inputs.
Throttle, brake, clutch, and engine braking are the primary inputs that influence whether you speed up and slow down, but here we are going to focus on center of mass and direction of travel. The inputs that influence center of mass and direction of travel are as follows: Handlebars, foot pegs, thighs, and body position. In a safe controlled environment, you should experiment with each of these inputs regularly while you are developing and understanding the outputs of your machine. Never take anyone’s word as gold, as most people have only partially developed understandings based on their own experiences.
First we will begin with the primarily passive forms of influence.
Foot pegs: Applying your weight to peg on the side of the bike in the direction that you wish to turn is the first input that you should experiment with until you “just get it.” During these controlled and safe exercises, allow your motorcycle to respond to your inputs. Do not hold the handlebars rigid so that they cannot respond with the rest of the machine. Once your weight is applied to, let’s say, your right peg when desiring to execute a right hand turn, you will find that your motorcycle will begin to lean into the turn and the handlebars will naturally follow. Shifting your weight onto the other peg will cause the bike to center and then lean the other direction, eventually. Some people are more comfortable thinking of “applying weight” to a peg as “pushing down” on the peg with your foot on the side which you desire to lean/turn. This is the first step in combing these inputs in any artistic way that you wish, including all from stunting to casual riding.
For more aggressive passive influence: Thighs.
Gripping the fuel tank, or any other rigid connection of the machine, allows you to disrupt the Newtonian mechanics at work. Using this technique pulls the machine’s center of mass and direction of travel whichever way you pull it. Experiment as necessary until you begin to access your childlike abilities and feel how the machine responds, outputs to inputs. More aggressive influence, once developed, can allow you to lean in more aggressively as well as steer the machine during wheelies, stoppies, and even in the air. It is important to internalize this early on so that you do not hinder growth in your riding later on.
The most active of the influences that we can impose on our machines is input to the handle bars. For myself and many riders, this is the last resort when minor corrections are necessary. “Forcing it” is necessary when our machines are not responding as quickly or quite like we had intended. This is where I would like to take the opportunity to oppose “countersteering” as defined, and very incorrectly named, as the primary mechanism in which to influence your machine.
Once you have fully internalized weight transfer (foot pegs) and moving the bike with your core (thighs), any minor corrections necessary to be made via handlebars will come naturally and be second nature.
The term “countersteering” goes back quite a ways in history, to the days of activities such as circle track racing. In the automotive world it is most frequently used in drifting. This definition describes the action of steering into the turn to correct for slide angle. The automotive “drifting” definition is the correct and only valid definition of countersteering, as it is not domain dependent. We do need to countersteer our bikes when drifting them.
In the pop-culture internet attempt to redefine countersteering, we see a perfect example of the “Lecturing Birds on Flying” fallacy. There is a phenomena where the handlebars will momentarily and ever so slightly turn opposite of the direction of the turn before turning with the turn. This motion is a byproduct of influencing the center of mass and direction of travel, i.e. disrupting the Newtonian mechanics at work and initiating weight transfer. This momentary sequence is incorrectly termed “countersteering” out of apparent lack of a sufficient descriptor. A purposeful and active input to the handlebars to force this weight transfer which initiates lean is more accurately described as “giving a steering command,” which is the far less common nomenclature. People have been riding motorcycles with great proficiency and going through these motions, more often than not, without even being aware that it’s happening for decades before an attempt to name it was made. When you place birds in a lecture hall and “teach” them how it fly, it is easy to think that they know how to fly due to the lecture. The reality is the information in the lecture is due to the birds knowing how to fly.
In any case, I am not an advocate of teaching this “forcing” as the primary mechanism of influence. It should be viewed as the last resort that it is for anyone who is a natural and “just gets it.”
Lastly, we will speak briefly on body position. This, depending on your mass, is an excellent way to influence the center of mass. Body position does some, but little, to influence the direction of travel however. This should be brought into the equation once you have greatly improved, if not maximized, the potential embedded in the previous forms of influence. Geometry show that body position allows you to reduce your lean angle, keeping you on the usable portion of your tires while cornering. This is the greatest benefit.
To summarize: It is my recommendation that riding be viewed in terms of influence, as there is no real “control.” The potential of these influences can be maximized by implementing, experimenting with, internalizing, and combining them in the order listed above.
Now go an share your passion for two wheel machines with the world!