With two (sometimes one) really tiny patches in contact with the tarmac at all times, steering a motorcycle at high speeds can get tricky. We often hear people talk about counter-steering, but since the technique involves an opposite action to what our brain logically thinks is right, there’s a big learning block a lot of us stumble upon. And unless your subconscious directs your body to apply the right techniques it has picked up over time, a panic situation will turn horrific, like it has in this video.
Sure, the rider here strayed away from his lane and went too wide into the jaws of disaster. But with little time to take corrective action, a slow motion recap shows how he was trying to steer the motorcycle haplessly using just the bars, to the right. Each time he turns the handlebar to the right, the bike only moves further left. Counter-steering is more like the first time we learn how to ride two wheels. People can only tell us how its done, but unless we hop on and learn the tricks of the trade ourselves, it is difficult to get our minds around it. And if you’re wondering, luckily, the rider in this footage survived the horrific incident.