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Dragging Hard Parts


xoomerite

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I believe that all this reading and practicing must be paying off. That is, the part about not going into a panic when something unusual happens. Yesterday, I was turning off the 5 lane main street onto the two lane residential street that eventually leads to my house. The residential street has a pronounced crown to it. I think this is called an "off camber" road. Anyway, I slowed, leaned into the turn, and started to roll on the throttle as I have done so many times before. As I was about in the middle of the turn, I felt some shaking through the bike along with a loud scraping noise, as if I had hit something solid. I recall thinking - just keep riding.

 

The road was clear of debris when I started the turn. I just carried on and went down the street to the house to check the bike which felt fine. What I learned surprised me.

 

I found that I had dragged the side stand, center stand, and the belly pan when I made that turn. Except for the scrape marks, it appears that nothing else is damaged.

 

Looking back, it feels strange.

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You handled it properly - once the scaping starts just keep riding and try not to lean any more. You could try to use more "body steering" next time such that the bike has to lean less and may not scrape at all. Of course, the off camber road adds its own set of challenges too.

 

Jay

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As I was about in the middle of the turn, I felt some shaking through the bike along with a loud scraping noise, as if I had hit something solid. I recall thinking - just keep riding.

 

I can empathize with your feelings on this matter. As a motor officer I have been trained to maintain a very upright riding position at all times. This means that I end up leaning the bike more than I would have on my old personal bike, as I am not supposed to adjust my body weight to the inside of the turn. The result is that I frequently end up scraping the little feeler peg, or my boot, on the pavement when I make sweeping turns. Initially this used to make me jump, as you can feel it in the foot peg when the feeler drags on the ground. It also makes that nice grinding noise that is a little disconcerting when you're not accustomed to it. However, over time I have come to get used to it and now it is just a friendly reminder of my lean angle, rather than something that concerns me.

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As a motor officer I have been trained to maintain a very upright riding position at all times. <snip> as I am not supposed to adjust my body weight to the inside of the turn.
Would you elaborate a bit more as to why LEOs are trained to ride this way? Given that it seems a most unsafe/improper riding posture, I've often wondered why is it taught that way.
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As a motor officer I have been trained to maintain a very upright riding position at all times. <snip> as I am not supposed to adjust my body weight to the inside of the turn.
Would you elaborate a bit more as to why LEOs are trained to ride this way? Given that it seems a most unsafe/improper riding posture, I've often wondered why is it taught that way.

So that we can outrun them LEOs. clap.gif

 

I've dragged the stand, pegs, boots on my RT. From the riders following me, it's been quite a show of sparks. At 100mph, it is quite disconcerting but keep your focus on the turn and you will get out of it. At parking lot speeds it might be a result of LEO-style riding (can't resist it lmao.gif) and should be harmless.

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As a motor officer I have been trained to maintain a very upright riding position at all times. <snip> as I am not supposed to adjust my body weight to the inside of the turn.
Would you elaborate a bit more as to why LEOs are trained to ride this way? Given that it seems a most unsafe/improper riding posture, I've often wondered why is it taught that way.

 

[hijack]

When it comes to motors, there are several things that make little sense in the "real" world. Although I have no real good answer to why this riding style is being taught today, my guess would be that it originated in the early days of motors. Motor officers have historically ridden HD motorcycles, where the riding posture is upright with a seat and footboards that don’t really lend themselves to an “aggressive” riding posture. The instructors at many motor schools are retired motors, who rode HDs when they were working the streets.

 

Considering also that police HDs and KZ1000s typically handled like crap while cornering at high speeds (70+ mph), it is easier to see why the upright riding posture has prevailed. crazy.gif

 

Of course, the MOST important reason is that it looks cool! - Nothing like taking a sharp turn on your KZ1000, sitting bolt upright like the extremely cool motor officer that you are, while emitting a shower of sparks from your footboard as you grind it into the ground through the entire turn… (the added benefit of this behavior is that scraping your boards makes a lot of noise, which draws additional attention to your very cool self. cool.gifcool.gifcool.gif)

[\hijack]

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So that we can outrun them LEOs. clap.gif

 

I don't have to catch you, I just have to bide my time and wait for you to make that one mistake... tongue.gifgrin.gif

I agree. I was just kidding. Besides you can't outrun Motorola. Although in my young and stupid days, I did actually get away 3 times. But I would not do that today.

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You handled it properly - once the scaping starts just keep riding and try not to lean any more. You could try to use more "body steering" next time such that the bike has to lean less and may not scrape at all.

 

The key, perhaps, being prepared for it to happen.

 

You now have an idea of how far over you (and your bike wink.gif ) can go, so start to build that in to your planning for curves - be ready to either use body lean on the set-up, or in the curve if the bike scrapes.

 

If the curve tightens you'll have little choice but to use body lean - options for straightening up are probably 'limited'.

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So that we can outrun them LEOs. clap.gif

 

I don't have to catch you, I just have to bide my time and wait for you to make that one mistake... tongue.gifgrin.gif

I agree. I was just kidding. Besides you can't outrun Motorola. Although in my young and stupid days, I did actually get away 3 times. But I would not do that today.

 

3 times?? That's pretty good. One time, when I was in high school, I almost got away from a LEO in my POS Honda Accord hatchback. He wasn't real happy when he eventually found me hiding behind the grocery store. smirk.gif

 

Luckily for us (LEOs), most guys that are good riders and have good bikes stop when we light them up. It's generally the idiots with little experience and poor riding skills, who think they'll be able to outrun us. eek.gif

 

Be safe and have fun.

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Lone_RT_rider
I found that I had dragged the side stand, center stand, and the belly pan when I made that turn. Except for the scrape marks, it appears that nothing else is damaged.

 

Looking back, it feels strange.

 

It is strange and a change in riding position will help that with time. After you come to ridingsmart you may in fact never do that again. Since Oct 8th, 2004 when I originally took RS, I have dragged hard parts only once. I even have a peg lowering kit on my R1100S and have never touched a peg down.

 

Shawn

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I see the point in shifting out of the seat, I normally do. I think the problem was the angle I took across the crown in the street, since the feeler rod on the foot peg did not touch down. I have taken this turn dozens of times, this one was the surprise.

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Yeeha! Stephen
I found that I had dragged the side stand, center stand, and the belly pan when I made that turn. Except for the scrape marks, it appears that nothing else is damaged...

 

 

 

Good think you didn't panic and made it through nicely.

 

One thing though. I think if you're dragging body parts on an RT and not your peg feelers, your shocks are good as gone. Belly pan/ lower fairing shouldn't touch. eek.gif

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

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russell_bynum
I found that I had dragged the side stand, center stand, and the belly pan when I made that turn. Except for the scrape marks, it appears that nothing else is damaged...

 

 

 

Good think you didn't panic and made it through nicely.

 

One thing though. I think if you're dragging body parts on an RT and not your peg feelers, your shocks are good as gone. Belly pan/ lower fairing shouldn't touch. eek.gif

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I would agree with that. My centerstand would drag when I'd hit dips in the road. Same with the bellypan.

 

I'm not sure how you can drag the lower fairing without dragging the pegs, but I also could never figure out how people were dragging the sidestand either.

 

Your reaction (stay on the gas) was a good one, and brought you through the situation intact.

 

That's good.

 

But...you need to understand that you were perilously close to running completely out of lean angle and lowsiding. There isn't much between the lower dragging and the valve cover dragging. At that point, any more lean levers the tires off the ground.

 

I'd suggest slowing your corner entry speeds dramatically, and working on body position and lines. You can always get into a corner, figure out it's no big deal and open the throttle. If you get in and figure out that you're in too hot, your choices are limited...and most of those choices eat into your margin even more than you already have.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Your reaction (stay on the gas) was a good one, and brought you through the situation intact.

 

That's good.

 

But...you need to understand that you were perilously close to running completely out of lean angle and lowsiding. There isn't much between the lower dragging and the valve cover dragging. At that point, any more lean levers the tires off the ground.

 

I'd suggest slowing your corner entry speeds dramatically, and working on body position and lines. You can always get into a corner, figure out it's no big deal and open the throttle. If you get in and figure out that you're in too hot, your choices are limited...and most of those choices eat into your margin even more than you already have.

 

+1 for sure! Russel makes a good point!

 

Ride Safe!

 

Misti

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Your cornering lines have a lot to do with leanover clearance. Even when the turn is off-camber (slants the wrong way) you can adjust your line to reduce lean, follow a line that arcs across the pavement that's most "level", or simply follow a larger radius of turn that requires less lean.

 

Since this is the first instance of touching down on a familiar turn, I suspect that you followed a line that was different from your usual. There's probably a message somewhere in this that you might upgrade your cornering knowlege/skill.

 

pmdave

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Yeeha,

I have followed Connie through the track as she was scraping pegs, valve cover and belly pan on her Ohlins equipped RT. I do have pictures of her track day if interested.

Dave

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