One thing you HAVE to know about riding a motorcycle

I was driving up the Henry Hudson Parkway on my way to work and i took a turn that I always take near 191st street. Suddenly a memory of one of my first motorcycle rides came back to me on that turn and i got the chills down my spine. A motorcycle is, as we all know, an extremely dangerous way to travel. But one thing that nobody knows when they start off is that they don't turn like bikes. I have a lot of experience riding bikes, i got my first one as a child with tassles on the handles and a large banana seat. I got to know my city by biking everywhere as soon as my parents let me go outside on my own. That developed into a real romance with two wheeled vehicles and i eventually became a bicycle messenger at the age of 21.

All of this biking experience was in no way a primer for riding motorcycles. in fact, my competence at riding damn near killed me on that very turn when i first bought a 600cc Kawasaki Eliminator (see below). take this as my attempt to save a life when i say that motorcycles do not behave at all like bikes. there is a fundamental difference that i rarely hear people talk about and i had never heard of by the time i took this turn at 60 miles an hour.
the physics of a bike going over 40 mph are completely different from what you might assume. once you are moving that fast you no longer turn by the normal means of aiming the tire in the direction of the turn. it's called COUNTER STEERING (I found this link after writing this post) and it's something that a rider absolutely HAS to understand. to turn right, as i needed to that fateful day, you need to turn the handles LEFT. this is completely counter intuitive but absolutely true. when you are moving that fast, what happens is the bike turns in the direction that it is leaning. in other words, when you see motorcycle races where the riders are so leaned over that their knees scrap the ground, its really the leaning, and not the handling, that makes the bike go in the proper direction . if you turn the handle bar left for a right turn the bike tilts to the right, as if its falling over from inertia as you turn right. then, and only then will the bike turn right.

I learned this at 60mph as my bike started to fail the turn when i assumed i needed to turn right for the right turn. i saw the yellow line of the side get closer and closer as my incorrect handling put my life in danger. by the time my hand and foot were inches from the 4 foot dividing wall that seperated the uptown traffic from the downtown traffic i realized the "leaning" necessity and threw my weight as hard as i could to the right. that just barely saved my handlebar from scraping the concrete which would have pulled the wheel right into the wall and sent me into a deadly over-the-handle-bars flip that probably would have ended my life either by the impact, or by flying into oncoming traffic. my heart was in my throat and my life was hanging by a thread.

so, be aware of this fact. COUNTER STEER when you are finally moving at break neck speeds on a two wheeled contraption of any kind. steer left to go right, and steer right to go left. you will thank me for this if it ever comes up.
note: the orientation of his shoulders. they are oriented to the left, as if he is turning left. but. in fact, he is turning right. THIS WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE. it's amazing to me that nobody tells you this when you buy a motorcycle. you have to figure it out the hard way or look it up.