What size bike do you recommend to start on....

[ronboskz650sr]

The more you lean your body off of the center axis, the less you need to lean the bike. "Chicken strips" seems like a misnomer, as leaning off seems more brave to me. At normal highway speeds (like Zoo's commute) it's highly unlikely he'll lean any more than he does. When his pegs scrape in the twistys, he can lean his body and straighten the bike a little (causing wider chicken strips) while still tightening the turn radius. I never liked the name Chicken strips. We ride at speeds many people find scary, and still have 1/4 inch strips that will probably never go away. This is because we tend to scoot our bodies around to the inside of high speed turns. You see, we have no interest in finding the traction limit on a public road, just getting around turns at high speed will do. Wealso have no mountain passes around here, so that makes it even less likely we'll scrape parts. The recent Kawasaki 636 commercial shows a guy hanging off on a mountain road, and using a pretty mild lean angle. His speed is clearly pretty high, but the turn is safer because he hangs off a little to minimize the lean angle. Still looks pretty cool, too. Knee-dragging isn't what I'm talking about. Just enough body weight on the inside of the turn to make it a high traction event.

[ZooTech]

Why lean the bike more than you have to?

You're assuming I don't have to. I could always slow to 15mph and "handlebar steer" it through the curves, but that'd be no fun. Taking an 80-degree curve at 60mph with an 8-foot long, 700lb bike requires a few sparks to fly, regardless of what Confucius has to say about it.

And I agree with Ron, too. There are even times when I lean the bike while keeping my body perpendicular to the road. That way I can lean it farther at slower speeds without tipping it over, which is pretty much the opposite of what he's referring to. It's basically whatever works for you...and I've found what works for me and this particular bike.

[Mintbread]

"Chicken strips" seems like a misnomer, as leaning off seems more brave to me.

How so? I can ride down a dead straight road and lean off the side of a bike, where is the fun in that? Hanging off the side in a bend is for racers and people that enjoy dislocated kneecaps.

[ronboskz650sr]

"Chicken strips" seems like a misnomer, as leaning off seems more brave to me.

How so? I can ride down a dead straight road and lean off the side of a bike, where is the fun in that? Hanging off the side in a bend is for racers and people that enjoy dislocated kneecaps.

I think, no I'm sure, you missed the point. I specifically excluded knee dragging, and was talking about curves....never mind, just read it again for yourself and see if it makes sense the second time. For the record, I stand by my OPINION, as an opinion (mine).