Lean Angle

[RhadamYgg]

I'm with Wrider..... you worry to much about some of this stuff sometimes. Numbers are groovy and all, but riding is best enjoyed from the gut, IMHO.

About those lean angle gauges..... aside from all the variables mentioned above, basic centrifugal force in a hard corner will negate any accuracy in the instrument. Not to mention, if your leaning hard enough to make yourself nervous, do you really want to look down at that thing in the middle of a corner?

Find some nice, safe corners you can repeat (make a circuit out of them, new subdivisions under construction are great if you can find one) and ride them over and over, pushing your comfort level more and more. When you fall, that would be the point to remember as 'too far'.

The only sure way to know where the edge is, is to go past it every now and then.

Actually, one of the other guys mentioned Tony's track day or something - that isn't far from my area. I might have to do that a couple times to really get secure in the certain situations that I don't like.

Bah, money, leather riding suit, but then again, it might be something I just have to do. Even if it is just to find out that I do ok, not great, but ok in turns and can work on it a little bit.

RhadamYgg

[JC Viper]

why don't you do a one day thing at Keith Code Superbike school. They have some classes held in NJ Speedway. You get to use their bikes and lean all you want. I would've gone if it weren't for the Rally school.

[Wrider]

You can see your chicken strips without riding. Just look at the unused portion of your tires.

[sapaul]

If I may be bold

Everytime I get some one who says they have fear of leaning, we find that the body positioning is all wrong. EVERY TIME.

Forget gadgets, get some one who knows what they are doing to follow you and help you with the body positioning, or get to a track with an instructor.

Listen to me dude, I am bullying you now.

[Amdonim]

I think what he was saying is that he's not sure if his camera has the quality to show the difference between used and unused on the tire. I know mine wouldn't.

[koji52]

I'd have to say man that I'm with Wrider and Buzz as well. You're looking too scientifically at riding. Trust in the bike and your skill, look where you're heading, maintain speed and don't grab the brake while leaned over. I scrape the pegs on my sportster and push them up frequently and can probably keep going (that's probably going a little faster than I should through a wide left turn at an intersection) but just don't have the rocks to "push it to the limit."

I understand you're trying to reduce your risks for the sake of your family, while trying to continuing to do what you love (ride) via research on gear and riding technique, but I think if you overthink everything you may be putting too much in your head. You want to just DO based on good experience, rather than think about the library of information you researched, look at the gadgets, then DO in an emergency. Don't get me wrong, more info is much better than no info and if everyone conducted half as much research on anything as you do, I think we'd probably all be a bit better off. But you don't want to read how far you can lean or rely on gadgets, and then get in a situation where you need to lean and not have the confidence to do so. Instinct is what saves all of us in those situations. It's definately saved my skin more than a few times.

[Nalian]

I had some issues with those kinds of turns at well for a while - so I spent sometime riding around one of the highway on/off ramp clovers we have here. I don't think knowing your lean angle is going to translate into something you can do about it - you'd be better off having a friend or someone behind you with a camera recording you.

[dr_bar]

I'll have to see if I can take video and spin my tires that shows my chicken strips.

Dude, You got chicken strips??? Then consider yourself well into a lean, personally I have eight lane highways down the sides of my tires. Don't worry about it, like Buzz says, it's all about having fun.

No offence but you remind me of an ex-member, all that he was concerned about was that he learned to drag knees. If I remember correctly he eventually dragged a bit more than that...

Go out and enjoy your bike...


I wonder if he ever got that scarf caught in the rear wheel???

[jstark47]

I don’t think it’s a very good idea to try to be glancing at instrumentation while in a turn. You should always be looking as forward as possible into the turn.

+1

I'll have to see if I can take video and spin my tires that shows my chicken strips. Then we can say that I am or am not leaning enough. Not sure if I can take video of high enough quality to show the chicken strips, though.

I hope to heck you have chicken strips. If you don’t, you’re in imminent danger of crashing, you’re pushing the bike too far for the street. Keep reading…

There was this thing - I thought I could mount in front of my windscreen and look at briefly while going through some turns.

If you’re doing performance cornering, you shouldn’t be looking at anything except the corner exit and beyond.

Everytime I get some one who says they have fear of leaning, we find that the body positioning is all wrong. EVERY TIME.

Ding ding ding!! We have a winner!!! Paul “get’s it” …….

I had some issues with those kinds of turns at well for a while - so I spent sometime riding around one of the highway on/off ramp clovers we have here.

…… and Nalian knows how to have fun! In straight, flat, south New Jersey cloverleafs are the highpoint of my day…

OK, Rhadam, you want to increase lean angle? Or do you want to get around turns faster and more securely? Assuming it's the second, lean angle is not the whole key. You need to learn to shift weight on the bike through the turn. This allows you to turn faster with reduced lean angle - hence you'll have chicken strips. Look at pictures of really good sport bike racers hanging off in turns - you'll notice the bike is standing up straighter with riders doing it right than with riders who are messing up positioning and "pushing the bike" down underneath them.

IMO, nothing works better at increasing corning security than weight shifting achieved through correct body positioning. This doesn't necessarily mean hanging off - you can get 75% of the benefits without dropping a knee. It means getting the entire centerline of your body mass inside the centerline of the bike, as well as correct shoulder and arm positioning, correct head position and eye discipline, etc. Get a copy of Lee Parks' book "Total Control". He covers the correct riding position, breaks it down into a 10 step process.

[Amdonim]

I remember a guy from way back when who used to race Isle of Man and stuff. Never dropped his knees ever, rode with his legs against the tank 100% of the time. I don't remember him sucking either, but it did look very weird.