Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Wow, this thread got a bit larger since I checked it last.

KarateChick wrote:Hey Skier,
Good pix and good reminders for everyone. Did you join this group or were you just on the same route? And if you are riding with guys like you described, watch yourself that they don't cause problems riding near you.

I joined up with the group. The ride was posted on a local riders' message board and I tagged along.

I do my best to pick up the rear of the pack when riding with guys I haven't ridden with before. They usually push the limits much more than I care for on the street so they are far ahead of me, making sure any kind of problem won't become an immediate emergency for me. For example, if I'm taking point and someone loses control in a corner and takes me out. Hard for that to happen when you're five minutes behind them because you don't do triple digits through towns.

I have already decided I'm not going to ride with almost everyone from the board, since 90% of them are squids or just plain stupid when you put them on a bike. I only ride with my core group that aren't out to off themselves with a motorcycle.

Nibblet99 wrote: Also shifting your body weight is done to stop you sliding out, NOT to get you round a corner tighter (leaning the bike turns it tighter)

Forgive me, this is a bit off topic. Up through the 60s, motorcyclist were not supposed to hang off their bikes. They were supposed to be one with their motorcycle. In the seventies, this changed and racers were hanging off their bike, a riding style popularized by King Kenny Roberts, Reg Pridmore et al.

When I was a foolish young man racing, we hung off the bike emulating the best racers of the day. I found that the change in the center of gravity would pick up the bike a few degrees thereby increasing the ground clearance at the same speed. This was especially noticeable in high speed sweepers (80-90mph). Of course with additional ground clearance, it was possible to increase your speed through the sweeper since you had more lean angle to play with before maxing out again.

Have I been wrong all these years thinking that the hanging off style was for increased useable ground clearance? If I'm wrong, then what is the reason? Sorry if I have hijacked this thread but I'm really curious as to the reason (besides looking cool).
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Portuguese Forum

moshee wrote:

Nibblet99 wrote: Also shifting your body weight is done to stop you sliding out, NOT to get you round a corner tighter (leaning the bike turns it tighter)

Forgive me, this is a bit off topic. Up through the 60s, motorcyclist were not supposed to hang off their bikes. They were supposed to be one with their motorcycle. In the seventies, this changed and racers were hanging off their bike, a riding style popularized by King Kenny Roberts, Reg Pridmore et al.

When I was a foolish young man racing, we hung off the bike emulating the best racers of the day. I found that the change in the center of gravity would pick up the bike a few degrees thereby increasing the ground clearance at the same speed. This was especially noticeable in high speed sweepers (80-90mph). Of course with additional ground clearance, it was possible to increase your speed through the sweeper since you had more lean angle to play with before maxing out again.

Have I been wrong all these years thinking that the hanging off style was for increased useable ground clearance? If I'm wrong, then what is the reason? Sorry if I have hijacked this thread but I'm really curious as to the reason (besides looking cool).

Here is what David Hough has to say in More Proficient Motorcycling:

In a nutshell, hanging off in turns can help stabilize the bike, reduce steering effort and increase leanover clearance.

One major difference between Mike Hailwood's* style and that of today's road racers is that motorcycles have been refined. Let's consider tires, for instance. Back in the 19070s, motorcycle tires generally had round cross sections. Today's motorcycling tires are typically much fatter and wider, with oval-shaped profiles and more tractable rubber. Tire profiles, compounds and belt patterns contribute greatly to what happens as a bike is leaned over into turns.

(Hough 2003 p. 167)

* Mike "The Bike" Hailwood: "Mike is no longer with us, but in his prime back in the 19070s he could ride a motorcycle around the Isle of Man circuit faster than anyone else. He know the 37-mile course like the back of his hand and rode every race consistently, smoothly and absolutely in control without ever hanging a knee off the bike. It was like Mike was glued onto the saddle." (Hough 2003 p. 166)

There is more discussion and neat little diagrams explaining exactly what's happening when you come unglued, every rider should read Hough's books.