Ohh, man!  REally? Id Much prefer a good Ol Fashioned oil war

I am a new rider. '03 savage is my first bike but I find myself doing both. I counter steer the light curves or to change lanes but lean in deep curves or tighter turns.

You have always countersteered...  you just weren't aware of the method you were using to initiate it...
Fact is,... a bike absolutely will not turn without countersteering...
You have been initiating the countersteer, by leaning, and letting the bike fall into countersteer...
Realizing that this is happening can allow you to take more immediate action... bypassing the slow process of gravity overcoming inertia...
Turning can become much more positive, controlled, and quick...

When you lean,.. you are upsetting the balance of the bike... this (and you must think about this), will put you off the center of the tire,... and into the decreasing radius towards the edge of the tire... (imagine rolling a ball... but putting your hand slightly to the side instead of directly on top... and the ball rolls in a curve)...
This is why bikes lean into curves, and cars lean out...
As you lean.... and get onto the curve of the tire... the contact patch becomes wider on one side than the other... and this forces the fork to countersteer in the opposite direction... until the bike starts to fall left or right... (once the fall creates equilibrium... countersteer is over... and you adjust the bars to point in the direction of the turn...
The period of countersteer is almost imperceptible, unless you know to look for it... but, once you see it....  .. it is the speed at witch you can initiate a turn...

It's like being used to shooting without sights,..and suddenly having a 4x scope...
You don't really have to resist doing your natural lean... just being aware that you are leaning to initiate the counterbalance will give you more control... and eventually you will start to assist  lean with your arms...

You don't have to change what you are doing... just think about what you are doing...  you are countersteering with your body...

As an experiment,... (carefully)... try to lean into a turn,.. but consciously hold the bars straight,.. or even try to turn them ...   to initiate the turn...You will find it impossible...
This has been tested... by welding a fork solid, and having a rider try to lean a bike to turn it...   it can't turn...
... (oddly enough, a bike with fork that can only point straight or turn to the right,.. cannot turn right... I cannot even go straight, but it will go left....
...even if you don't want it to... ...

Basically,.. I'm saying, don't try to change how you ride... just try to study it...  see what is actually happening...
... and you'll realize,.. you already do it...
You just have a knowledge that can give you better control of it...

When you learned to ride a bicycle.....you learned how to counter steer.  That is what all that bar twisting convulsive seizure looking flailing was all about....you were learning to put pressure on the bars to make the bike do what you wanted.  It took a bit to learn as it is counter-intuitive.  You put pressure on the left bar.....and the bike steers left.....WOH......that was weird!

As an adult the first time I heard that you steer left go go left I thought they were crazy....but when I tried it I found out they were right and I had been doing it all along.  If you push forward on the left bar the bike goes left...and when you pull on the left bar the bike stands up out of the left turn.  You don't really move the bars....as much as you just apply pressure.

There are only two tiypes of riders.  Those that know they countersteer, and those that countersteer and refuse to believe it.  A 100 pound rider is not gong to lean an 800 pound motorcycle around a curve.....it is countersteered!  You think all that high speed road racing turning is done by leaning.....fat chance.


Go try it carefully....then report back.  

 

Greg wrote on 07/02/13 at 04:31:20:

LOL. Well done. Pictures?

Here is a test. Approaching a right hand sweeper, push on the left bar end, pull on the right bar end; therefore pointing the front tire to the right.

If the bike turns to the right, then know that God has endowed you with a special power to alter the physical laws of his universe. And if you have those powers, can I ask a favor and have you level the foundation of my house?

Good hunting

Yippee if you be on two wheels ya be counter steering.

youll KNOW you countersteer the day youre forced to make an emergency lane change. if the car is encroaching on you from the right, youll slam the bars toward the car, fall away from it, then steer the front wheel back under yourself, making the bike literally hop to the left.. i know this to be true, because i did it & had i not, i would have been , uhh, " merged with".. painfully.