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Legal Name – Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club (1963)
L (Motorcycle designation suffix) – Dual sport bike (eg. Honda XR650L). Can also be used for Touring (eg. Suzuki GS850L)
LT (Motorcycle designation suffix) – Touring (eg. BMW K1200LT)
L Twin – A V-twin engine with its cylinders splayed apart at a 90° angle, which creates a smoother running engine. These engines can either be placed transversely (crosswise), or longitudinally (lenghtwise) in a motorcycle frame.
Lane Stealer – A cage driver that passes motorcycles in no passing zones, knowing he can just knock the bike out of the way if a cage comes the other way. Also a cage driver that tries to squeeze by you in your lane.
Lane-splitting – 1. Riding between lanes of traffic on a freeway. 2. Driving between involuntarily parked cages on an overcrowded highway. Legal in some states. 3. Consists of driving between two lanes of traffic at a greater speed than the other vehicles. Although there are times when this could be dangerous, it’s actually legal in many countries. It’s illegal in most U.S. states, but California allows it if it’s done in a safe manner.
Lash – A term for play or looseness, often related to the valve adjustment.
Lateral acceleration – The side-to-side acceleration of a vehicle. During cornering, a vehicle experiences lateral acceleration towards the inside of a turn. Essentially, the lateral acceleration is equal to the centrifugal acceleration (outward force) needed to maintain a steady turn.
Law Maker – Stupid riders that kill themselves on their bikes causing stupid laws to be made ‘For our protection.’
Lay it Down – Laid it Down – Laying the Bike Down – 1. A crash where you slide down on one side of the bike. 2. This when there’s imminent danger of an accident ahead, or ya hit some oil or gravel and ya have to lay the bike down on its side.
Lazy Foot – Shifting gears too lightly/timidly and rather than shifting up a gear you get a false neutral.
Leading link – Front suspension design in which the axle is mounted at the front end of two short links that pivot at the bottom of solid forks. The links are sprung to control movement A long leading-link system has a complete fork that pivots behind the wheel.
Lean – condition where the optimum mixture of fuel and air is not being fed into the engine, too much air, not enough fuel; opposite of rich
Leather – another definition of a Poser or Wannabe
Leathers – 1. The jacket/gloves/etc (safety gear) used by riders that is made out of leather. 2. A safety garment consisting of a skin-tight leather suit, body armour, foam, sturdy stitching and zippers.
Lead-acid battery – The assembly of one or more cells with an electrode based on dilute sulphuric acid and water, a positive electrode of lead dioxide and negative electrodes of lead.
Lean mixture / Lean burn – A fuel-air mixture in which an excess of air is supplied in proportion to the amount of fuel.
LED lighting – A semiconductor diode generally made from gallium arsenide that can serve as a light source when voltage is applied continuously or in pulses. LED: Light Emitting Diode.
Legal Name – Most outlaw motorcycle club members have nicknames or club names which are called “Legal Names” by club members. They are also called “Street Names.”
Leviathan – Used to describe big, multicylinder dual sports.
Lid – Helmet
Light the fire – Slang term for “starting the engine”.
Lightweight materials – Lightweight materials include high-strength steel, aluminum, magnesium, titanium and various composite materials. By using lightweight materials, manufacturers can reduce a vehicle’s mass without sacrificing safety, durability and comfort.
Limb – Male biker
Line – Path selected by the motorcycle rider to take through a turn.
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery – The lithium-ion battery is a rechargeable source of energy generated when a lithium ion moves during discharge from the anode to the cathode.
LxDx – Live Club Name, Die Club Name (ie. LPDP = Live Pagan, Die Pagan)
Loctite – The brand name of a very common super glue. First used on motorcycles to keep nuts and bolts together.
Lone Wolf Biker – Someone who lives the Bike Lifestyle but chooses not to ride with a club.
Loner – An individual who shares the same values and enjoys the same lifestyle as outlaw gang members but who prefers to keep a degree of freedom of choice by not formally belonging to one specific club.
Love Nudges – Also known as swapping paint. Two riders bump in to each other while racing.
Low rolling resistance – The amount of energy a tire absorbs as it revolves and deflects. The lower the rolling resistance, the less energy is required to propel the vehicle forward.
Low Side (Low-side) – 1. A type of motorcycle crash that involves laying the “low side” of the bike too low in a turn, resulting in a loss of traction and grounding the bike. 2. When the rider loses balance of the motorcycle and both fall onto the ground on their low side. 3. A bike falling over onto it’s side that’s lower to the ground. 4. The act of crashing a motorcycle where the rider falls off to the side of the bike which is closest to the ground. Typically caused by the front wheel washing out.
LPR (Lugeless Pavement Racer) – Refers to that high speed slide that accompanies a get off.
Lug – See Lugging the engine.
Lugging the engine – 1. Letting the RPMs fall a lot lower the engine’s powerband (so it has very little acceleration). 2. Operating the engine at lower than normal RPM. 3. Being in a gear too high for your speed. The engine “lugs”, rattles or bogs suggesting you to downshift to a gear better suited to your current road speed.
Lump – Engine
Lung or Lunger – The number of cylinders that a motorcycle engine has. A 4 cylinder motorcycle engine can be referred to as a “four lunger”.
