Now that I have been riding for several months

[sapaul]

Glad to hear your improving, take your time, you never stop learning.

[Gilfy650a]

one thing to note:

If you are leaning far enough over to scrape a peg on the ground, be sure to take your weight off of that peg as it is scraping as it will want to lever your rear tire off the ground and lowside/ slide you out.

what you mention though it doesnt seem to be a problem, just thought i'd pass along what i heard somewhere.

I did see an example of this however when i was riding with my friend. i was a little bit back from him and he leaned pretty far, AND the ground where he was riding was a bit choppy his suspention bottomed and his peg hit, i saw his rear tire come off the ground and go sideways a bit, luckily it was pretty hot still as we had been out for a while and when it came back down it stuck. he was kinda shaken up though.

[sapaul]

Gilfy is right, have a look under your foot peg, there should be a little bolt there, this is called a hero peg and it is there to let you know that you are at the limit of your lean. Just remember that your peg may be on a spring and can then raise up a little. You can also get extended hero pegs and a lot of guys fit them so they feel that limit of lean.

[dr_bar]

I can't imagine blues ever leaning far enough to even drag her floorboards never mind going over as far as you're suggesting. She does have room for a bit more of a lean in some corners, but somedays, she just goes and it's amazing to watch how she handles that bike. We went to Whistler a while back and on the return trip, she had found her groove. She was riding that highway like she was on rails...

If you haven't checked out her blog... it's well worth the read...

Doug

[blues2cruise]

[quote="Gilfy650a"]one thing to note:

If you are leaning far enough over to scrape a peg on the ground, be sure to take your weight off of that peg as it is scraping as it will want to lever your rear tire off the ground and lowside/ slide you out.

quote]

Thanks for the warning, but I have the biggest chicken strips on my tires.... in fact probably the whole darn hen house....

I can lean quite well sometimes, but it's nothing that will ever require those knee pucks.

[blues2cruise]

I have another question for the experienced folks. Apparently I am "too gentle" with my front brakes.
I took my bike into the shop to have the front wheel looked at because it was squeaking. (Someone was tampering with my bike, so I wasn't sure what the problem was).
The person at the shop told me that the front brake was glazed. He said it was because I don't brake hard enough. Apparenly you need to brake harder for the disc to get up to temperature and that my gentle braking doesn't get it hot enough.

Now, I am a professional driver by trade. I have made a conscious effort for years to "brake so smooth and gentle you don't even feel a bounce back".
So tell me, how does one "brake aggressively"?
I was trying to brake harder tonight and it's not very comfortable. I mean I still have to take the time to get down through the gears which means I am slowing anyway and you get a nice easy stop.
Am I supposed to brake so hard my front end does a nose dive?

[scan]

I think you need to know your brakes ability to stop first. I would suggest that you get the bike in a parking lot and do some emergency stopping. Get yourself to 20 to 30 MPH and pull in the fronts good and strong. Don't grab them, but pull in real controlled. Some say it is a gradual but fast action. Grabbing them or jerking the lever in hard will cause possible front tire jumping. I personally tend to start with my front and add rear, but it is a very smooth and quick action that only comes with practice.

Once you've got a good feel for how good your brakes are, you should be able to understand now how you can come up to stopping a little faster. I think slow controlled stops are a good practice, but maybe you being a driver by profession are being even a little too careful. It is hard to gauge without actually seeing you ride though. I'd never want to suggest you should race up to each stop. But once you know what your brakes can do, you should trust them to do more of the stopping.

Me personally, I use the transmission to do most of my slowing and use a bit of the front brake to help bleed off speed as I come to a light. As I get closer I add more front brake while still down shifting. Finally as I approach the light I'm using both brakes and I'm down to second gear. I trust my brakes, and I'm guessing I must come up to most situations much faster than you. I can only base this on what you've said and what the mechanics said about your brakes.

I've said this many times - you can never spend too much time doing evasive maneuver practice in parking lots.

[sapaul]

Hi Blues, I see a lot on the boards about the MSF that they have in the States, we do not have those and we have to pay for "private lessons". All of the latest ones that I have attended have advocatted not to use the engine for braking. They come out with those phrases like "look there, go there". The braking one is "Brakes to stop, gears to go" For complete stops they teach you to brake only and then go right through the box to first, if you suspect that you still need to go they say, "brake only and choose the gear". When some of the riders questioned this they were told that modern bikes were designed around this style of riding. If your brakes are glazed, this may put some truth into that statement. I have totally adopted this style of riding and I do find that everything happens quicker and that gives me more time.

[ronboskz650sr]

I, too am a professional driver. I am in the habit of rpm matching and downshifting, so I do. I also brake firmly, but smoothly, so there is a balsnce between these two as Scan is implying. Be aware, that the Dunlop website notes excessive hard braking as a prime cause of tire cupping, so I still recommend the smooth, powerful approach. As for the "chicken strips"... I have rearset footpegs and controls on my 26-year-old UJM. They never scrape, and my strips are about 1/4 inch. Who cares if unknown (or known, for that matter) people think you're a chicken if you have a blast, and you obviously do. I think mine are where they are because I watch Chris and forget to turn! I love to watch him corner. He said he does the same thing when I lead. Looks like you folks do it too. Incidently, Chris found a magazine photo that looks like me in a curve on one of our roads around here. I had no idea I leaned that far, until he showed me the photo and said, "this is what you look like on those curves" (and I have CHicken strips). After a while, you just ride. Sounds like you are really getting there.

[blues2cruise]

Yesterday while coming back from my big adventure (which I will highlight in my blog), I was practicing braking differently. It's just another learning curve to change styles.
I am using more front brake and gearing down later as I approach a stop light. The day before I made my query to you folks, I was definitely having a hard time with it, but last night it was definitely a lot better.

As for the MSF classes...there is only so much that can be taught there because you go from zero experience to riding in only several hours. The fine tuning comes from getting out there and riding and putting into practice the tips I get from the questions I ask.

Thanks for the help.

PS...I may have almost leaned on a chicken strip yesterday.