But most explanations about how bikes steer at speed would confirm that the steering position remains practically static.
I suspect that the effect would be greatly exaggerated on a Moto GP bike given the speeds the riders are traveling at, the amount they lean and the resulting forces acting on the bike, but it's precisely the same theory for a boring old pushbike, too.
The easiest way I've found to explain this in a practical sense is to do it in reverse. If you tip a stationary bike to the left, the front wheel steers to the right. If you tip it to the right, it steers to the left.
You always want to lean into a corner to maintain traction, so you want to tip the bike in that direction, but all it takes is a tiny nudge to initiate that lean. And once you're in the lean, it only takes a tiny amount of correction via steering to maintain and then exit it.
It feels very much like you're actively steering the bike by changing the direction of the front wheel at these speeds, but if you consciously tried to steer in that manner at anything over jogging pace, you'd go over the bars.
(, Thu 11 May 2023, 21:32, Reply)