User talk:Robinssharp

The real Dr. Sharp, I presume? Thank you very much for improving the bicycle and motorcycle dynamics article. I apologize for my mistakes. I see that you changed "countersteering happens in every turn" to "countersteering is necessary to initiate a rapid turn". Unfortunately, I have yet to find a definitive definition for countersteering in the literature. In any case, your change prompts a few of questions:


 * 1) By "rapid turn", I guess you mean high roll rate, not necessarily yaw rate, right?
 * 2) By "countersteering", I guess you mean the application of torque by the rider directly to the handlebars, not merely the initial steer of the front wheel in the direction opposite of the intended turn direction, called "counter-lean" by Tony Foale, right? In both cases the bike steers initially in the direction opposite of the intended turn direction, right?
 * 3) So there are obviously cases where a turn is initiated without the rider applying a torque directly to the handlebars. Are there cases when a turn is initiated without initially steering in the opposite direction?

The countersteering article is more explicite and states:
 * "distinguish between countersteering as a physical phenomenon and countersteering as a rider technique for initiating a lean (the usual interpretation of the term). The physical phenomenon always occurs, because there is no other way to cause the bike and rider to lean short of some outside influence such as an opportune side wind, although at low speeds it can be lost or hidden in the minute corrections made to maintain balance. At the same time, the rider technique of applying pressure to the handlebars to initiate a lean is not always necessary, since, on a sufficiently light bike (especially a bicycle), the rider can initiate a lean and turn by shifting body weight, called counter-lean by some authors."

Thank you again for your time. -AndrewDressel (talk) 18:01, 12 May 2011 (UTC)