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Lean angle - traction..

Leftlaner

Registered User
Hi guys,

Here by the west coast of Norway, the snow hs melted and temps have risen to acceptable levels for riding. Woohoo! :-0)

But as it is still fairly cold, I don't want to push my luck when it comes to grip. Put some new rubbers (Pilot Power 2CT front, Pilot Road 2 rear) on this winter, and the rear tyre now has about 1 cm of "chicken strip" on it. By the end of last season is was down to only one ore two millimetres.

My question is, with these tyres, just how far can I push it on fairly good tarmac once the summer is here and the temps rise to a more comfortable level? I don't want to learn this lesson by leaning her too far over. That would be (at best) a very painful lesson.

Can I lean her over til the pegs start scraping without being concerned about tyre traction, or am I taking huge risks at this lean angle? To simplify this a bit, we'll leave the risk of diesel spills or gravel etc out of the equation.

Scraped the pegs a couple of times last season, and I want to advance to getting the ol' knee down this season. I know it would be a lot better to practice this on a 600cc gixxer on a track, but since I can't afford a bike no.2 at the moment, and since the nearest track is 10 hours from here....
 

Centaur

Site Pedant
Club Sponsor
Hi Leftlaner.

Assuming decent tarmac and tyres the bbird can "safely" be leant until the lower fairings are scraping. Many on here have done this....not me, I hasten to add! Getting one's knee down is not really an issue of lean but of positioning oneself correctly on the bike. The purpose of getting the knee down is, I believe, to reduce the lean angle for a given radius of turn. It's also fun but watch out for catseyes! c7u8
 
W

Wreckless

Guest
I've seen pictures on one of the 'bird forums of a Blackbird wearing some distinctly 'average' tyres (Macadams or such), it had worn through the fairing, footrest and exhaust can. So, don't worry, just lean, lean, lean!!:yo:

You will definitely run out of ground clearance long before your tyres run out of grip.

As an aside, when you start having ground clearance issues is the time to start hanging off / getting your knee down. It will allow you to get round a corner of a given radius with less lean than taking the same corner 'a la' Hailwood!! Don't ask me about the physics involved though......

Wreckless
 
M

morphgarth

Guest
DOes depen rather a lot on the road surface thoug to say the very least, how warm the tyres are the coefficient of friction of the surface etc etc.

The important thing is to make sure ambition doesn't get ahead of adhesion!!!
 

Leftlaner

Registered User
Thanks for the input guys! As long as I can trust that I'll run out of ground clearance (pegs, fairing, cans) before my tyres start skidding mid-corner, that's all I really need to know. :-0)

I think step 1 for me is to learn to lean over til the pegs start scraping - with confidence. Once I get comfortable with peg scraping, and get to the point where I can throw here down to "peg scraping angle" at will, I'll move on to the next step, which is body positioning.

I've done some experimentation with body position. Tucking in (leaning forwards/downwards), and moving my upper body towards the direction I'm heading for, really helps. I also often slide my buttocks slightly to the side, and yank my knee out a bit. I feel that lowering the centre of gravity makes it easier to fine tune the lean angle mid-turn.

However, there is a significant difference between the somewhat "aggressive" riding position I use through sweepers, and really "hanging off" (hanging onto the tank with the inside of your knee, both buttocks off the seat etc).. Really "hanging off" makes me feel uncomfortable at this point, so there is still a long way to go for me. I'll just have to take it easy, one babystep at a time. :-0)
 

andy102

Registered User
You can get 'em over about this far :-0)

kneedown.jpg
 

andy102

Registered User
Thought I'd better add that the 'Hero Blobs' had been removed prior to my trackside antics. They are so long that if they'd still been in place I'd have been on my arse
 

Dark Angel

Still kickin' it!
+1 on the hero blobs!

Made me think of my pre-GIXER days and me old Bird.

6 Mill ride height spacer and she still grounded the fairings. By the end of the day the left engine casing was grounding as well.

Only in summer, mind! :-0)
 

gerryc

Registered User
Dark Angel said:
+1 on the hero blobs!

:-0)
+2 on the hero blobs I've had the fairing down a few times and its never felt unstable although on quite a few occasions I get the back sliding when powering out the twisties, still haven't had my knee down on it tho, I understand the theory etc and have had people behind me saying I had it down, but never a scuff on the slider:cry: No chicken strips to be found either on the 021's
 

Leftlaner

Registered User
You obviously got plenty of cornering speed, so all it takes to scrape them knee sliders (and not the fairing) is to adjust your body position. :violin:
 
P

pikeyste

Guest
cornering

hi maties i would say practice a bit of counter steer when cornering . it feels a bit weird to start with . but my god the old girl drops in realy quick i have had boths sides of my fairing down too and i am always two up with back box on. P.S just have fun and it will come!can,t wait for the sunshine
 
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