How much lean?

[knight88]

I have a 1150RT and wondered does anyone have any on or off track experience on how much you can lean her over before it starts to slide out from under you? I've scraped my pegs and sidestand and that was enough for me!

[philbytx]

Only ever banged the centrestand and that was when we were two up on Tail of the Dragon! A lot of "equipment dragging" depends upon your riding style...

 

[George Brown]

If you get your upper body over to the inside of the turn you will get around any corner as fast as you would like without dragging anything while saving a lot of your traction pie.

[Woodie]

Lean and slide are not exactly related.

 

The hard parts will hit at about the same angle, depending a bit on whether the suspension is compressed or not. Centerstand, then footpegs hit first for me.

 

Sliding out...that depends on how much of the traction pie you're using (or trying to use) for braking, turning and acceleration.

 

[philbytx]

So true. I actually read his post wrongly but I will still stick with my original answer that a lot depends upon your riding style and abilities.

 

Or lack thereof

 

 

[Polo]

So true. I actually read his post wrongly but I will still stick with my original answer that a lot depends upon your riding style and abilities.

 

Or lack thereof

 

 

I must second this. I used to drag centerstand when 2 up, and drag peg feelers with my 1100RT. I have not done either with my 1150 since I got it, although I have ridden over same roads and gradually a bit more aggressively than I did with the 1100.

 

Why? I couldn't answer. I'm the same guy on the same roads, the bike has basically the same configuration. Maybe the time I spent w/o riding cured me from some bad habits?

 

But I also agree that lean and slide are not synonyms.

[EffBee]

On a clean road with good grip, you'll likely run out of cornering clearance well before your tires run out of usable lean angle. During the BMW intro of the new 1200RT, one of the dealers there had an employee present who brought the bike back in from the prescribed ride route, with a hole in the bottom of one saddlebag, and scrape marks on the bottom of the other.

 

The only RT's I've ever heard of that low-sided, had help from oil, gravel, sand or some other traction-reducing entity. RT's are very sporty bikes given their touring capabilities. But they are NOT sportbikes.

[russell_bynum]

On a clean road with good grip, you'll likely run out of cornering clearance well before your tires run out of usable lean angle. During the BMW intro of the new 1200RT, one of the dealers there had an employee present who brought the bike back in from the prescribed ride route, with a hole in the bottom of one saddlebag, and scrape marks on the bottom of the other.

 

The only RT's I've ever heard of that low-sided, had help from oil, gravel, sand or some other traction-reducing entity. RT's are very sporty bikes given their touring capabilities. But they are NOT sportbikes.

 

Yup.

 

Even with Lisa's R1100RS...the valve covers touch before the tires slide.

 

Of course...if you slam into a 1st gear corner, drop it down to max lean...and then whack the throttle open, you're going to spin up the rear and most likely find yourself on your ass.

 

But...assuming you don't do anything stupid with the throttle, the tires are up to temp, and the road surface is decent, you're going to run out of lean angle before you run out of traction.

 

Of course...the next two questions are: Do you need to be leaned over that far or could you reduce your lean angle with better body position and/or better lines through the corners? and Is it smart to be leaned over that far on the street in the first place?

[russell_bynum]

The hard parts will hit at about the same angle, depending a bit on whether the suspension is compressed or not. Centerstand, then footpegs hit first for me.

 

On my R1100RT, it was peg feelers, lower fairing, valve covers.

 

The only time the centerstand would touch is if the rear suspension was too soft (i.e. when I was using the stock suspension.)

[VinnyR11]

You should really read Keith Code's "Twist of the Wrist". You can find it HERE AT AMAZON

 

Then read "Twist of the Wrist 2."

 

Keith Code's books answer these questions so that you really understand what is going on. It will improve your riding dramatically. I also highly recommend his track days with The California Superbike School, which are given in various locations (not just CA).

[pmdave]

INHO, touching down is typically a result of a bad cornering line combined with poor throttle technique. I've seen more than a few riders enter a turn either in the middle of the lane, or pointing toward an early apex. Then, when it becomes apparent that the bike isn't going to make it, the throttle is chopped--which drops the bike and encourages the rear tire to slide.

 

I preach the "delayed apex" line for riding all public roads. You point the bike wide before the turn-in, then point toward an apex that's a little farther around the turn than where you think the natural road apex is.

 

The delayed apex line maximizes leanover clearance in both right and left turns, by positioning the bike on the most advantageous camber.

 

Ideally, you should ease on the throttle as you lean the bike in. That helps extend suspension, which not only keeps the bike farther off the ground, but sets the suspension to handle both bumps and dips (and therefore maintain traction)

 

If you're following the delayed apex line, easing on some throttle helps limit lean angle. Then you just continue to roll on as you pass your imagined apex, and that helps lift the bike up. (increasing leanoveer clearance)

 

But (and that's a big BUT, when riding public roads I squander roughtly half of my attention on the surface. For me, choosing a line that avoids surface hazards trumps most of the above.

 

pmdave

[Woodie]

The only time the centerstand would touch is if the rear suspension was too soft (i.e. when I was using the stock suspension.)

 

Umm. Nailed me. I guess I really need to spring for something new in the suspension area. :O

[AviP]

I have a 1150RT and wondered does anyone have any on or off track experience on how much you can lean her over before it starts to slide out from under you? I've scraped my pegs and sidestand and that was enough for me!

Draw a line or two across the tires with chalk. See where it wears off on your favorite local turn. That will show you how much more you have to go. Hard parts do touch down rather easily without max lean angle being achieved especially in hairpins and bumps. Do not take that to mean you are riding at the limit. Far from it!

[Mister Tee]

I am not one of those people I would necessarily consider to have poor riding technique - I regularly track my gsxr 750 and I'm also a part time track instructor. But I DO sometimes scrape hard parts on my 1200RT on aggressive turns, normally after I've had a track weekend and I'm still conditioned for a more aggressive lean than the RT will give.

 

My pegs are pretty well ground down, but the next thing to touch on my bike is the Wunderlich engine guards. Supposedly these aren't supposed to reduce cornering clearance but they do stick out about 1/8" further than the cylinder heads, which would have been the next to scrape. I've never contacted either the center stand, or the side cases. Tire wise, I normally have about 1/4" of "chicken strip" left on my rear tire.

 

I would guess that if one were to actually start riding up on to a cylinder head, it would probably turn in to a low side before it was time for something else to contact. But I haven't done it or seen it so I don't know.

[beemerman2k]

RT's are very sporty bikes given their touring capabilities. But they are NOT sportbikes.

 

Maybe not, but they're damn close.

 

Back in 2001, I was with about 10 other motorcycles riding the Kancamangus highway in New Hampshire. It was a nice sunny day, and we were flying up that road. We hit a hairpin turn that I certainly wasn't expecting, and add to that cars, bicycles, and hikers walking the side of the road. I never leaned my RT over as far as I did that morning.

 

After the turn, I check my mirror, and my friend on his Yamaha YZF600 Wildcat (R6's predecessor) wasn't behind me anymore. In fact, no one was. So I signaled the riders in front of me that we lost some folks at that last turn. We turned back, and my friend on his Wildcat didn't make the turn and ended up on the side of the road. He and his bike were OK, just had to dust himself off and we resumed the ride. Little to no cosmetic damage to the bike, too.

 

Now, one can argue that my very experienced friend couldn't handle his sport bike. But I would counter that this illustrates just how well the RT handles tight corners when it counts.

[russell_bynum]

Draw a line or two across the tires with chalk. See where it wears off on your favorite local turn. That will show you how much more you have to go.

 

That doesn't really tell you anything worthwhile because it just tells you where the edge of your contact patches are. That's not particularly important because it has no relation to the physical lean angle limits of the bike, and (assuming the bike will physically let you lean that far) you can get the edge of the contact patch well past the edge of the tire without much worry of a lowside.

 

 

[Rinkydink]

That is my problem. With wife and gear and 38K miles the rear is getting soft. It is time for Kyle Racing and a rear Ohlin shock.

[CoarsegoldKid]

You can lean them pretty far but I'd stop leaning when the pegs start moving.