Is this right? *how to turn on a bike*

[swampyseifer]

Hey all...

Was just reading some websites about tips on riding and I came across the following.....

To make a left-hand turn...

• Turn the handlebars to the right a small amount
• Start to lean left as a result of the first step
• Turn the handlebars left to prevent falling over
• When you have turned enough, turn the handlebars even further left to bring the bike back to upright

Now I know I'm a novice at riding...but this cant be right? I've done turns on my bike before and I dont remember it going like this at all...

Can someone confirm this (must just mean I dont realise thats how I do it!) or maybe its right but poorly explained?

 

[calibanzwei]

My brain hurts trying to make sense of that.

 

[Friz]

What you're describing there is "counter-steering". Only time I've really needed that is on a motorcycle. It works well in emergency situations.

As far as turning on a bicycle...just lean one way, then the other....the wheels follow. It's how "no-hands" works.

 

[black'n'yellow]

Hey all...

Was just reading some websites about tips on riding and I came across the following.....

To make a left-hand turn...

• Turn the handlebars to the right a small amount
• Start to lean left as a result of the first step
• Turn the handlebars left to prevent falling over
• When you have turned enough, turn the handlebars even further left to bring the bike back to upright

Now I know I'm a novice at riding...but this cant be right? I've done turns on my bike before and I dont remember it going like this at all...

Can someone confirm this (must just mean I dont realise thats how I do it!) or maybe its right but poorly explained?

there's some serious 'over-thinking' going on there. Assuming you can already ride and turn safely on a bike, just carry on doing it.....

 

[ianrauk]

there's some serious 'over-thinking' going on there. Assuming you can already ride and turn safely on a bike, just carry on doing it.....

In a nutshell....

 

[swampyseifer]

Thanks...I hoped I hadnt been doing it wrong all this time!

Just to say that the following sentance to this is
"If this seems unlikely, try it for yourself when pushing your bike and balancing it. You'll find that a turn can only be started by steering the "wrong" way."

And its a website about teaching children to ride bikes! http://www.hembrow.eu/personal/howtorideabike.html

 

[Cubist]

They aren't wrong. Countersteering is more or less involuntary. We do it without realising it. I rode motorbikes until my mid 30,s and occasionally did it consciously to throw the bike into a tight bend at speed. The first time i rode a quad made me realise I was nudging the left bar to turn left. I don't get the turn even further left to put it back upright again though.

 

[Nosaj]

Yep countersteering if you come from a motorbiking background you will do this conciously (watch any bike racing on the TV and you will see it in action, you will see the riders push the bars in the opposite direction, release the pressure then the bike will drop into the turn and the wheel will then fall back and track the corner. There is a scientific explanation of involving gyroscopic effects but is beyond my brain to give an adequate explanation but it is actually the only way to turn a bike and the reason why cycle tyres are curved and not flat like car tyres).

The good news is that it is overthinking and you do this automatically anyway, without thinking as when you turn you tend to drop your inside shoulder into the bend which automatically nudges the bars the opposite way for a fraction of a second and causes the bike to lean over slightly to get your round the corner.

The best way to test it out is to find a quiet wide piece of road or an empty supermarket car park or similar where there are no cars are about. Get above 10-12 mph and place your right palm on the inside of the handlebar grip, push away with your right hand (warning!! do this very gently on a push bike they do not need as much muscle as a motorbike) the key is to almost immediatley release the pressure after the push do not keep the pressure on! You should find that the bike that will lean then turn to the right.

Try it out with a very light touch at first the harder the pressure the quicker and sharper the turn and the more lean you get.

To get around a corner you have to look where you want to go so try it out off the bike sit on a chair with your hands resting on a desk . Pretend that you are on your bike and are approaching a right hand corner turn your head and look deep into that corner but pay particular attention to the feelings in your right hand at the moment you turn and look. It is extremely, extremely subtle but it will feel as though you want to push ever so slightly with your right hand at the time of turning once your head is turned that pushing feeling goes.

Fo a better scientific explanation google countersteering.

I would guess that due to speed of a pushbike compared to the speed of a motorbike the movements on a pushbike would need to be more subtle.

 

[Sara_H]

Hey all...

Was just reading some websites about tips on riding and I came across the following.....

To make a left-hand turn...

• Turn the handlebars to the right a small amount
• Start to lean left as a result of the first step
• Turn the handlebars left to prevent falling over
• When you have turned enough, turn the handlebars even further left to bring the bike back to upright

Now I know I'm a novice at riding...but this cant be right? I've done turns on my bike before and I dont remember it going like this at all...


Can someone confirm this (must just mean I dont realise thats how I do it!) or maybe its right but poorly explained?

I just tend to point the front wheel in the general direction I wish to go - it's a tecnique thats served me well for the last 15 years or so!

 

[MontyVeda]

this is what happens when somebody asks Stephen Fry how to steer a bike... there is no simple answer for such a simple task.

 

[Nosaj]

Sheldon as usual explains it well

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_cn-z.html

 

[sdr gb]

A video for those who prefer watching the movie rather than reading the book.

 

[Fab Foodie]

As already said, you have to countersteer to turn a bike into and out of a curve, otherwise you'd fall off. We do it intuitively.
Sheldon as stated ny Nosaj and his mate Jobst Brandt are the dogs at mythbusting this stuff.

Everyone should read:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html
and
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/shimmy.html

 

[smutchin]

When I was teaching my son how to ride a bike, the one bit of advice that I found helped more than anything else was telling him that when he started falling over, to turn the handlebars in the direction of the fall. As I understand it, this works by exactly the same principle as countersteering.

As mentioned above, once you've learned how to ride a bike, you're doing this all the time without realising it anyway - never mind turning, you have to do it just to stay upright.

d.

 

[SquareDaff]

I thought some sad person was asking how to "turn on" a bike