Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: Steering, steering, lean

Question
Hi. I understand the concept of counter steering, my question is
simple (or so i thought). At any time whilst riding a bike, at any state of lean
angle, at a speed where counter steering & weight shift comes into play. Are
your handle bars straight (inline with the bike)

Answer
No.

Your handlebars (and front tire) are always moving side to side, constantly correcting to keep the bike upright. Even though oftentimes the movement is so slight you can't feel it. I believe airplanes go through similar physics, keeping the plane level with the ground...constant osscillations.

The only time the front tire/handlebars are ever "straight" while riding is that fraction of a fraction of a second as it passes through the centerline on the way from pointed left to pointed right, or vice versa.

So, in theory, your bike is always leaning, even when you're going straight!

You can do an experiment to show yourself how this works. Wet down an area of pavement and ride through it slowly to get your tires wet. Then ride out of the wet area and onto dry pavement, slowly, riding in as straight a line as you can. Ride for mabye 50 feet and stop. Walk back along your tire tracks and you'll see the rear wheel left a mostly straight track, but the front wheel track zigzags back and forth across the rear wheel track.

Pat