Читать книгу Proficient Motorcycling - David L. Hough - Страница 53

A road racer pointed out to me an interesting phenomenon about steering input. While leaned over at speed on the racetrack, this rider observed that about half the time he was pushing on the low grip, steering the front wheel slightly away from the turn, and half the time he was pulling on the low grip, steering the front wheel toward the turn, all the while attempting to hold the bike on his desired racing line. He knew whether he was turning the front wheel toward the turn or away from the turn because he was hanging off the bike and could see the front wheel. He described pulling on the low grip as direct steering and pushing on the low grip as countersteering. The racer was struggling with the concepts of direct steering and counter-steering. Somehow he had come to believe that motorcycle steering had to be either direct steering or countersteering, but not both. His observation was that he was alternating between the two.

Countersteering is momentarily steering the contact patch opposite the direction you want the motorcycle to roll. Direct steering is pointing the front wheel toward the intended direction of travel.

To help clear this up, let’s define direct steering as pointing the front wheel toward the intended direction of travel, in other words, steering the front wheel toward the left in a left turn. Was the racer direct steering? Yes, much of the time. But was he also countersteering? Yes, but only some of the time. We should understand countersteering to mean momentarily steering the contact patch opposite to the direction we want the bike to roll. Let’s be clear that countersteering isn’t a matter of whether the bars are turned left of center or right of center, or whether that takes a push or a pull, whether the bike is upright or leaned over, or whether speed is fast or slow. Whatever the position of the bike or front wheel, you momentarily steer the front wheel opposite the way you want the bike to roll.

For example, if the motorcycle is leaned over in a tight left turn and then a crosswind pushes it over a little too far, momentarily pulling on the left grip will keep it from rolling over farther. Is that still countersteering, even though the front wheel is pointed to the left of center in a left turn? Sure. Countersteering is a momentary, dynamic input, not the direction the front wheel happens to be pointed toward at the moment. Or let’s say you are leaned over into a left turn and it’s time to lift the bike up and exit the corner. Momentarily steering the front wheel slightly more toward the curve (by pressing the grips more toward the right) forces the bike to roll more upright. The momentary press on the grip to roll the bike vertical is countersteering. You can’t determine countersteering from a still photograph because it’s a dynamic motion.