The No BS (Body Steering)
Machine...
The Correct Brothers
It shouldn't be alarming to me that riders still question
how to steer their motorcycles but it is. Apparently, even after
90 years when it was first observed by the Wright brothers some
confusion remains on this subject . Yes, their first engineering
attempts were as bicycle
manufacturers; the very observant brothers determined that tandem
(one wheel in front of the other) wheeled vehicles counter steer.
That was and still is correct.
Sources Of Confusion
It is easy to see how confusion arises on the subject of steering
for anyone of us who started their riding on pedal bikes. The
steering is so light on a bicycle that riders have difficulty in
separating the shift of their body mass (leaning into it) with
the slight effort it takes to countersteer.
Further confusion arises from word of mouth advice on riding. I
have even seen articles in usually credible national magazines
extolling the virtues of body mass type steering. Body Steering
as it is called. I have surveyed thousands of riders on this
point. Most riders still
believe that some of the steering is being done with their body
mass or weight shift or pressure on the motorcycle's tank or
pegs. Their estimates on how effective these are in getting the
bike to turn range anywhere from 10% to 90%, some believe all of
it is weight shift.
Swoopy Steering
If it weren't so grim, it's almost comical to watch a rider who
does not understand how steering is accomplished. You can see
them riding down the freeway trying and failing to change lanes
by body steering and still appear cool while doing so. I have
seen it dozens of times. It goes like this. The rider does a very
swoopy upper body swing in the direction he wishes to go but for
an agonizing moment (to me) nothing happens. There is a
perceivable lag between the upper body swoop and the bike's
deflection from its original course. How terrifying it must be to
find that the bike doesn't instantly respond.
Stiffen To Steer
Following that is a stiffening of the rider's upper body. Only
then does the bike respond and change lanes. You see how this
works? The rider's body is positioned off-center, from his swoop,
in the intended direction of the lane change. The stiffening on
the bars creates the countersteering action, because he has
either pushed on the inside bar or stiffened and pulled on the
outside one or a combination of both. This stiffening is actually
a mild panic reaction. Many riders have simply learned to live
with the lag and to think it is how their bike handles. That is
false, a motorcycle responds almost instantly to countersteering.
Vague Technique
Riders have a number of ideas, which are vague and hard for them
to describe, on just how their weight shifting accomplish this so
called body-steering. "Throwing" their upper body mass
to one side or the other (the swoop) is one. Some say they just
push down on the inside peg. Some say they pull the bike over
with the outside leg against the tank. Some say it is a
combination of two or even all three of the above methods. Do
they
work?
I'll leave it up to the tech boys to figure out the WHY of
motorcycle counter- steering. Their job should be to provide a
simple demonstration of how it works. The fact is that
countersteering is still being argued in the halls of learning
with slide rules, Physics formulas and calculators. Many theories
exist but no conclusive statement that I know of as to why has
yet been reached. Argue on boys.
Clear The Issue
My job is to make riding simple and clear up conflicting
information that a rider may have on the subject of riding. Any
confusion translates into reduced control, as in the lag from
swoop to lane change, and confidence, as in the bike won't do
what I want it to, when I want it to. Riders don't like the
uncertainty and love confidence.
I decided to make this steering issue, body vs counter, very
simple and very plain. I reasoned that anyone who could see how
it works and experience the real steering procedure would have
dramatically improved their chances of survival against the
perils of 21st Century Earth street riding. Steering must be done
and done quickly if a rider has any hope of confidently
neutralizing those perils.
Expert Opinions
I was actually in a deep confusion on this subject of
body-steering myself. Riders the caliber of Eric Bostrom have
told me that they do it to some degree to help steer. Freddie
Spencer has made a statement to that effect and of course Reg
Pridmore has made it the banner for his CLASS schools for 15
years. Jason's STAR school has been written up as teaching body
steering as well.
With great to good credentials like that it should be so, and
even I was a little shaken in my certainty. Maybe there was
something in it after all. I hate to miss anything.
The Experiments
For my part, experimenting with pressure on the pegs, the tank,
adjusting my body mass and combinations of all three on the bike
resulted in nothing I would consider steering. In other words,
something that could be used in an emergency maneuver or to
aggressively flick the bike into a corner or through a set of
esses.
Eventually I arrived at a potential solution to my questions that
would eliminate my opinions and/or misunderstanding on the
subject.
The Solution
Make a bike that has two sets of bars. One set as normal, the
other set would be solid mounted to the frame so they were not
connected to and did not rotate the forks. This, as my theory
went, would answer the question. And it does.
The Machine
Taking one of our Kawasaki ZX 6Rs and solid mounting a set of
bars 8" above the standard ones would positively isolate the
various body shifting from the countersteering.
If body-steering had any effect it would be simple to show it. I
created a bike with that setup.
One necessary detail was to mount an additional throttle on the
upper, solid mounted, bars so the bike's stability could be
maintained as the user rode down the road. So we wound up with
two sets of handlebars and two operating throttles on the bike.
MachineDirty Exceptions
Before I go any further, I want to address off-road motorcycles.
An off-road motorcycle will easily steer by pressing down on the
inside peg, and in conjunction with shifting the upper body mass,
will go over pretty easily . Still not what I would call good
control but it can be done fairly efficiently.
Again, I am not a true tech guy but it occurs to me that the
small contact patch on knobbies or dual sport tires and dirt bike
steering geometry, which is not intended to provide an enormous
amount of stability at speed, contribute to the reasons why
steering results from weight shifts to the degree it does on a
dirt bike.
No Body Steering.
At this writing, we have run nearly 100 riders of all experience
levels on this double barred bike. It has made believers out of
every single one in the actuality of countersteering of course.
At 20 to 35 mph, no matter how much you tug or push or pull or
jump around on the bike, the best we saw was that the bike
wiggled and became somewhat unstable. Did it turn? Not really.
Would it turn at higher speed? Absolutely not.
The best result was one of my instructors. He got into a full
hangoff position and was able to persuade the bike, by jerking on
it, to start on a wide, wide arc in the paddock at Laguna Seca, a
piece of asphalt that is about 500 X 800 feet. Like turning an
oil tanker ship, start at noon and be on the turning arc at
around 1:00 PM. It wasn't very smooth and it wasn't very
effective.
We now call this bike "The NO BS Bike". There are
no doubts in anyone's mind after they ride it that they have been
countersteering all along. No doubts.
You can hear riders, who believed in the body-steering method,
laughing in their helmets at 100 yards away once they get those
solid mounted bars in their hands and try to body-steer the bike.
They just shake their heads. No BS.
Dangerous Misconceptions
Now if you want to look a little further into this, what you will
see is this; riders who still labor under the misconception that
they body-steer are devoting themselves in a system that can do a
great deal of actual harm.
Firstly, it is seriously misguided to add an additional series of
actions to the steering process. When it is quick, critical
steering that is needed to avoid something, that lag I have
observed so many times in street riders, could cost you your
hide.
Adding 2/10ths to 5/10ths of a second to the steering procedure
at 60 mph means that you have just gone another 18 to 44 feet
down the road before you started to avoid that muffler lying in
your path. Kids, don't try this at home.
The way things are going there will be warning labels on
motorcycles in
the not too distant future...
WARNING: THIS VEHICLE COUNTER-STEERS. IF YOU DO NOT
UNDERSTAND COUNTERSTEERING DO NOT RIDE. SEEK THE HELP OF A
QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTOR!
Bull Steering
Another recognizable error, resulting in excess effort used to
steer the motorcycle, is the attempt to turn the bike by
bulldogging the bars. An interesting combination of pulling up on
one and pushing down on the other rodeo style, like bull
wrestling. No, repeat No, steering results from this. None, zero,
nadda, niente. Riders who think they can twist the bike into a
turn in this fashion simply have another false idea and get
tired.
The Bottom Line
Steering a motorcycle results from the process of pushing the
inside bar forward, the same angle and direction the forks rotate
in the steering head bearings. You can also pull on the outside
bar. You can do both push and pull. That is what turns it, that
is all that turns it with any degree of accuracy, efficiency,
quickness or smoothness.
That and only that, No BS.
Keith
Code
Keith Code can be found teaching at the Californian
Superbike School in between wacky science projects. See more at www.superbikeschool.com