superbikeschool
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2021–2022
4:13 · 65K views · Sep 2, 2016
California Superbike School demonstrates its 'No B.S.' bike, which has fixed handlebars so riders can only steer with body lean. It illustrates how little control that gives compared with countersteering.
HN recommends it as an eye-opening demonstration of why countersteering matters on two wheels.
3 comments from Hacker News
You should take a look at the No BS Bike [0, 1]. It's a motorcycle with a second set of handlebars fixed to the frame. They don't connect to the forks; they don't rotate. Riders are challenged to hold on to these bars and lean the bike as they're underway. At speeds faster than 20mph or so, leaning has a negligible effect on the bike's lean and direction. You can do some very limited steering this way, but the amount of effort you put into it for the meager return quickly convinces riders that handlebar input it the way to control bike direction. When you were shifting your weight, were your arms attached to the handlebars? It's impossible to isolate your shifting of body weight from the related pushing or pulling on the bars if you're stabilizing your upper body through the handlebars. [0] [LINK] [1] this video
Keith Code (author of twist of the wrist) has a bike with fixed handle bars that he lets you ride as part of his superbike track/race school. It is really eye opening on how little control you have without countersteering. Here's a vid: this video His school: [LINK]
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on the subject. You can eventually turn the bike by just leaning over. But it's painfully slow compared to counter steering. California Super Bike school demonstrates[1] how sluggish body lean turning is compared to the speed and precision counter steering offers. What's more that counter steering is also less effort. Greg Widmar (Motojitsu) demonstrates it perfectly[2] with a 1 finger counter steer demo on a 550lbs motorcycle moving at 80mph; he barely has to push the handle bar to drastically turn the motorcycle. Contrast to all the muscle and energy necessary to move your upper body around and hold it in position as seen in the Calfornia school's demo. [1] this video [2] [LINK]