A question and an Observation

[Knash]

Originally Posted by Upchuck

Having gone through a motor officer course on Harley EG with hard bags, it is a matter of body position and a number one killer, of not leaving your feet on the boards. When I go through the course of cones, you have to turn the bike from stop to stop. ( where the front end won't turn anymore) leaning the bike over to make the turn. As you get better, you won't scape as much. As you get faster, you'll scape more. It's all in your riding style. But I try and stay in a upright posture when riding the FLH, not really shifting my butt that much. A couple of students took turns way to fast and in the wrong gear, and stuck the floorboard mounts, which like Dave said will slide untill it hits the hard parts and flips the bike over. Watch the motorcycle police vids of cone patterns. It's pretty cool. Street glides are an inch closer to the ground than an EG?


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UPChuck, This is why I'm diggin this forum. It is good to hear from other seasoned riders and their view point of things. I guess it comes down to some fundamentals of position, speed and knowing the limits of your bike. I have watched those police vids and would love to take a class to hit it hard like them. So if someone wants to led me their ride, I'd be happy to practice on that course...

[Mongo44]

I forget what magazine it was in, but several months ago, one of the editors wrote of his experience. Not like you've never heard such a tale before, but to summarize might just serve as good food for thought for all of us.

He was making a long sweeping turn (I believe a righty) that he makes every day on his way home. Every time, he scrapes his boards. This time, however, he did so just enough to loose the rearend, sending him into a fishtail. Then, of course, the back tire regained traction, causing the bike to flip violently, sending him on a nice little flight. If I remember correctly, he slid out onto another road or something with oncoming traffic, but got lucky.

Personally, I believe that if you're scraping your boards, you're at the very fulcrum point where you've reached too much speed. I've been a dirtbiker all my life and one thing I know is that you can't "flick" or "strongarm" a fat hogger, so it's best to respect the beast. Tripodin' through a sweeper is just not a good idea for more reasons than not.

[Chief Illiniwek]

Originally Posted by Tennjack

JPR Two Bells are fine got 2 on my bike . one i bought when it was new . and a lady friend bought me one down myrtle beach .

Bad to luck to roll a bell that you bought for yourself, if you believe in that sort of thing. You're supposed to receive your bell as a gift.

[Grunt]

In the past I have ridden insanely fast through the curves, But to me a heritage or any other big Harley is not the right tool for the job.

I know there are those of you who will argue and say your bike can safely blaze the twistys and you are certainly allowed your opinion.

As for me these days I slow down and enjoy the scenery nearly alway with the wife on board. When I scrape a footboard I take it as a warning and back off just a little.

[Ray-zer]

Originally Posted by TmikeX

I would scrape my floor boards on my Heritage fairly regularly as that bike seems to allow for that. My Limited doesn't go there.

Yep. I drug the board on my heritage periodically, but not on my Electra Glide. If you look at the specs, the Electra Glide has more of a lean angle available than the Heritage. So it definitely differs depending on which bike a person has.

[Veritas]

Originally Posted by Ray-zer

Yep. I drug the board on my heritage periodically, but not on my Electra Glide. If you look at the specs, the Electra Glide has more of a lean angle available than the Heritage. So it definitely differs depending on which bike a person has.

I'm just the opposite - I rarely scraped the floorboards of my Road King Classic but seem to drag them a lot on my Ultra Classic. I have to pay close attention to the line I take leaving the gate at work. If I cut too close, the left board drags every time. It seems that I could take the same line with the Road King with no problems.

I treat the scrape as a warning and ease out of the lean.

[Upchuck]

Your right Ray, the lean angle is more on a EG, but also remember that when your over that far, the tire is running out of tread, not much tread on the side wall of your tire. For you fast riders, remember the trick of finding a track that you want to ride in. Either inside or outside. Getting your bike set up before the turn , always be in the right gear before the turn. then once you have the speed right and the right gear, start looking in the direction your going to end up in. If your going into a left turn look over to your left where the turn starts to end, this may mean to actually turn you head way to the left. Once at the apex of the turn, (half way or at the top) start to gradually easy the power on, this keeps you on your track and will prevent you and your bike from being pushed out to the right. Don't put your feet down or take them off the boards.
Also on steering the bike into the turn, your not really turning the bike but rather pushing and pulling the handle bars. Push with your right and pull a little with your left, You probably don't even realize this happens. As
mentioned before, getting your butt in the right place helps. And then there's threshold braking using your front a little bit before the rear and at the same time. A lot things just to turn a bike, but once 900 pounds start to go you don't have a lot recovery time.
Takes some practice but really works.
And here's a thought, the bike will go where your looking, see the tree, hit the tree.


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[JPR]

Originally Posted by Chief Illiniwek

Bad to luck to roll a bell that you bought for yourself, if you believe in that sort of thing. You're supposed to receive your bell as a gift.

My first bell was a gift. I think I'll buy the 2nd one with a gift card from my local deal that I got for my birthday.

(just in case)

[Chief Illiniwek]

Safety first, Joe.

[Knash]

Originally Posted by Grunt

But to me a heritage or any other big Harley is not the right tool for the job.

I know there are those of you who will argue and say your bike can safely blaze the twistys and you are certainly allowed your opinion.

As for me these days I slow down and enjoy the scenery nearly alway with the wife on board. When I scrape a footboard I take it as a warning and back off just a little.

Slow can be good! I'm with you and I'll leave the speed to the wide open straight aways. I have noted what UpChuck has to say as well about how to manuver as opposed to steering. Good advice.

PS, Grunt, thanks for your service