How Much Further Can I Lean It Over?

[Spud]

I've had my new O8 a few months now. The roads around here have been sandy from winter and almost all my rides have been colder than 70degrees up on the mountain passes, so I haven't gone too fast through a curve yet.

I have "chicken strips" on the left side of about 1/2" with some scuffs within 1/4" of the edge of the tire.

How much further can I lean over, and what happens next? Peg touches? Or do I still have a long ways to go for that?

 

[SkooterG]

When the mirror hits, well.........you got problems.

 

[ionbeam]

When my Gen I with stock suspension had new and properly inflated MEZ-4 tires, I could easily corner until hard parts would drag if I didn't hang off. This removed all traces of chicken strips on the MEZ-4s.

My Gen I now has a full aftermarket suspension and essentially it doesn't drag any hard parts when riding solo. Two up I may tick a peg every now and again (the 'Beams make a full load). With my current Pirelli Stradas properly inflated I run the rear tire stripe right to the edge. I pretty sure my FJR could be sliding down the road on its side and still not get all the chicken stripe off the front tire.

Hunting chicken strips stripes is a really dangerous sport. You must run 10/10, which on the street may not be such a good thing. At 5/10 you are using half of the brake/steer/acceleration capability, leaving a large safety margin. At 10/10 you have used up all the reserve handling capacity and are on the verge of loosing control, there is no margin for *any* error. At 11/10 you just crashed. I wouldn't hunt chicken stripes on public roads. My chicken stripes are what they are for my riding style, and I ain't gonna mess with them just for the sake of it.

I dunno the drag sequence on a Gen II but I expect that after the pegs comes the cans, then the bags, mirrors, bar ends and alternator cover all at once

 

[Canadian FJR]

There is only one way to find out................Give it.

Canadian FJR

 

[Patriot]

ahhhhhhhhhh, too far when the sliders hit

 

[iCruze]

Pegs on the Gen II on pubic err public roads gets kinda hairy...so I have heard

 

[Spud]

Thanks so far for very good input. I've always kind of assumed that you could remove the strips easily (back tire) and still have a ways to go. To clarify, the furthest I've leaned over was probably yesterday going up Jackson Pass with no traffic. A left-hander, super smooth pavement, 20mph marked corner, and very steep uphill. In that situation it's pretty easy to make all adjustments with the throttle and not worry about having to brake.

That being said, the problem would be either skidding across over the oncoming lane, or plunging off the side of a mountain, depending on the corner

I guess I shouldn't worry about trying to get rid of them....

 

[wheatonFJR]

Everything looks good and safe until the hard parts and soft body parts start sliding...jes sayin.

I'm back to more of a tourer now...

 

[rushes]

I dunno, I scrub tire (softly) to the edge and don't scrape any hardware... :dntknw:

Last time I scraped a peg I should NOT have been on the bike. :nono:

 

[Malve]

When the mirror hits, well.........you got problems.

Spoken from experience. A LOT of experience. Oh and the windshield and the bags and the headlights etc.

 

[fjrob1300]

I prefer the chickenstrips to road rash... but that's just me. :blink:

 

[FJRBluesman]

Please post back up on Friday June 5th. Thank you.

 

[fjrboomer]

How far you lean over before you fall kind of depends how much you have been drinking. Oh you meant on the bike.

 

[Sir Price]

How far you lean over

Far enough to stay on my side of the road

 

[Bungie]

I prefer the chickenstrips to road rash... but that's just me. :blink:

Says the guy with race tires on his bike.

 

[MojaveFJR]

pegs are your warning you are pushing it too hard in the corners. Listen to them. I have scrubbed the rear to the edges without hitting pegs. The front, have yet to entirely scrub a front tire on the feej or sport bike. The GS is no problem, right to the edge of both of them. Could be the profile of the tires.

Just ride the bike, when it happens, it happens. If you never scraped before it will scare the he!! out of you at first. Try to be calm and focus on finishing your corner.

 

[Spud]

Mojave--thanks for the advice. I'm not a reckless rider and for some reason thought it was pretty common to scrape a peg on these bikes. I'm always solo and a new GEN II with new suspension, so maybe getting over much further than I've been is not a good idea.

My brother-in-law had a Honda VTX, and I literally scraped the peg on that going around the block the first time I rode it. I did a lot of dirtbiking and could nearly drag a handgrip in a bermed-out corner, but I understand that the consequences of even a slow get-off on the FJR are going to be very expensive and embarassing.

I've been edging up to "the limit" but it's hard to tell where that is...so thanks for the advice so far...

 

[ionbeam]

...thought it was pretty common to scrape a peg on these bikes...new GEN II...so maybe getting over much further...is not a good idea.
...I understand that the consequences of even a slow get-off on the FJR are going to be very expensive and embarassing painful.

I've been edging up to "the limit" but it's hard to tell where that is...

Where "the limit" is changes with the road, road debris, tire condition, tire pressure, road & tire temperature, camber of the corner, radius of the corner, rider position, rate of velocity change (throttle/brake), suspension setting.... Even the same location can vary from day to day.

I ride my ride without regard to milestones like grinding off the peg feelers, grinding the tip off the side stand and achieving zero chicken stripes. Some of these things happen along the way and others don't. A good suspension system and good riding form will get you around a corner faster and will leave more chicken stripe remaining.

 

[Solo]

Chicken stripes are no sign of dishonor on the street. The only way to ride to your absolute limit is on a track where conditions change little lap to lap and you can continually push a little harder each lap. In feeling out a bike and its limits, you usually ride to a plateau where you ride for a while until you are ready to push yourself through it to the next level. You keep racheting up until you are getting all that is possible from the bike--and you find yourself in the zone. Some riders push the limit right from the start on a new piece of track, but they crash all the time as they rachet back to what is possible.

If you are riding to the limit on the street you probably won't ride long.

Keep those chicken stripes. They are a badge of common sense and a desire to see another day. If you scrape a peg every so often, enjoy it. If you want to scrape a peg all the time, take it to the track. There you can learn both your limits and the bike's limits.