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taxman1965 wrote:I do have a question---I've heard of guys suggesting that I keep my legs tight to the bike and keep my upper torso loose and relaxed, as you suggested. What does hugging my legs to the bike do for me? Stabilize it?

Stabilizes it without the potential for unintentional steering inputs. Consider if your whole body is tense and you hit a bump: the force of the bump is transmitted through your body to the bars, creating a steering input and thus causing additional motion of the bike. This frightens you, causing you to tense further, magnifying whatever uncontrolled movements the bike is now making....... etc, etc, etc.

Now with a cruiser I don't know how much potential you have to keep your legs tight to the bike. Been years since I rode one, all my bikes are standards. It works well for standards and sport bikes.

I was abit nervous riding on 70 mph highways, because max speed on my scooter on level ground is 69 mph.. But I rode behind my son's pickup and it was no problem. It actually was fun.

Keeping your knees snug to the bike, for me, helps with control. I can darn near steer the thing with my butt on a brand new set of tires.

As for your bike (I have the same, one year older), it handles excessive highway speeds like a champ. I've ridden it through some of the worst traffic you can imagine (I-95 corridor from DC to Jacksonville, anyone?) and torn up large swaths of the Appalachians with nary an issue. It'll get up to a little over 90, in case you're wondering 70 is my happy place.

Do you have a windshield? The difference is night and day, comfort-wise.

Give it time. The Aero is a very well behaved road bike, if a little piggish. I ride mine every day like I stole it.

PS. Don't ride like me. I'm a crazy person

MmeMagpie wrote:Keeping your knees snug to the bike, for me, helps with control. I can darn near steer the thing with my butt on a brand new set of tires.

As for your bike (I have the same, one year older), it handles excessive highway speeds like a champ. I've ridden it through some of the worst traffic you can imagine (I-95 corridor from DC to Jacksonville, anyone?) and torn up large swaths of the Appalachians with nary an issue. It'll get up to a little over 90, in case you're wondering 70 is my happy place.

Do you have a windshield? The difference is night and day, comfort-wise.

Give it time. The Aero is a very well behaved road bike, if a little piggish. I ride mine every day like I stole it.

PS. Don't ride like me. I'm a crazy person

Yes, mine has a windshield---and it does help with the wind noise and buffeting, which was a major problem on the bike I traded in for this one (Honda CRF230L dual-sport). And I was wondering what the top speed was, although I don't plan on testing it anytime soon!
How many miles on yours?

I can't commute on my bike anymore but just as well. I hate NJ interstates, the lane seems are always ripped apart there are potholes you can lose small cars in and the debris varies from dead animals to tire gators to mufflers. This combined with the fact that if you leave room in between you and the car in front of you so you can see whats coming under the car someone jams themselves right into that spot. I just don't enjoy it anymore. Give me a tree canopy and a twisty little mountain/lake/stream/meadow or farm road and I am on it like stink on poop

I rode 10 miles on the expressway today, registering my scooter. Oh, it was so much fun.. Rode to Larry's Honda, where they inspected it. Riding 70 mph or close to it, is exciting to me. It isn't bad as people think. The wind wasn't bad, it was a 4 lane expressway. The wind on a scooter, is pretty scary- when you are riding on a 2 lane highway, wind is blowing at 30 mph and you approach a semi trailer going in the opposite direction- boom- you feel like you ran into a brick wall. lol.. I usually brace for the impact.. I mean, thank God, we had no wind today, nice ride at 9:30 a.m.. Great riding weather..lol...

The first time I went on the freeway on my bike I had to have someone go with me. After that there was no problem. I'm used to the freeways here around home, but there are occasions like around Seattle in rush hour that I have to get off the freeway and use slower roads.

blues2cruise wrote:The first time I went on the freeway on my bike I had to have someone go with me. After that there was no problem. I'm used to the freeways here around home, but there are occasions like around Seattle in rush hour that I have to get off the freeway and use slower roads.

We don't have freeways where I live (Upstate/Northern NY), but I would have 6 lane interstates at some point that I would have to deal with when I feel I'm ready. I'm getting better with practice.

taxman1965 wrote:

blues2cruise wrote:The first time I went on the freeway on my bike I had to have someone go with me. After that there was no problem. I'm used to the freeways here around home, but there are occasions like around Seattle in rush hour that I have to get off the freeway and use slower roads.

We don't have freeways where I live (Upstate/Northern NY), but I would have 6 lane interstates at some point that I would have to deal with when I feel I'm ready. I'm getting better with practice.

I used the word freeway because that's what we call them here in BC. Seattle is interstate. I 5. Sometimes it crazy.

I am a beginner an had my own issues with highways. I would get up too speed and then would start to get nervous as I was thinking too much. I found a great way to minimize this, chewing gum. It may sound weird but being able to chew a stick of gun really brought me out of my head. I still have those moments when a gust of wind or a big truck sends a gust of wind at me and I get nervous but its no where near as bad. I am finding myself more and more comfortable at speeds of 60+ and now the trick is not to get pulled over for speeding . I've only been riding street bikes about a month so I have a long way to go. Good luck out there.