Just about got bit......

[Richard Z]

Whew! Went for a group ride today. Back County roads of Kansas..... 25mph corner with a ton of sand on it from the maintenance crews deicying the roads. Just into the corner the new front Continental started sliding. Added a little rear brake and got it upright and rode through the shoulder and back onto the road. The Yamaha R6 that was tailing me wasn't so lucky. He did the same thing but couldn't get back upright. Fortunately it went down on a soft wet shoulder and only got mud on it and bent the tag bracket....

 

The rest of the 200 miles went uneventful...... I am going to stop leading. I don't want to be the one that causes someone to ride over their head when I'm on the edge myself.

 

Triumph ran flawlessly. I'm still not sure about the Continentals. They seem to wiggle under hard cornering.

 

I left the Guzzi in the house. Its still abit cold and I didn't want to sandblast the paint with all the road sand yet. Its day will come....

 

Richard Z.

[callison]

I went out and rode a quick 166 miles on the Norge this afternoon. Oklahoma isn't quite as flat as Kansas but I really did hope I'd find a road that would get me some lean angle. No such luck. When I got back to town, I turned onto a side street at 35 mph, hit a bump and the centerstand actually touched the pavement! Boring. Yawn. Looks like I'm going to have to start trekking the 200 miles or so to the Oklahoma/Arkansas border area and on into Arkansas to get any good riding.

[Guest Mattress]

Whew! Went for a group ride today. Back County roads of Kansas..... 25mph corner with a ton of sand on it from the maintenance crews deicying the roads. Just into the corner the new front Continental started sliding. Added a little rear brake and got it upright and rode through the shoulder and back onto the road. The Yamaha R6 that was tailing me wasn't so lucky. He did the same thing but couldn't get back upright. Fortunately it went down on a soft wet shoulder and only got mud on it and bent the tag bracket....

 

The rest of the 200 miles went uneventful...... I am going to stop leading. I don't want to be the one that causes someone to ride over their head when I'm on the edge myself.

 

Triumph ran flawlessly. I'm still not sure about the Continentals. They seem to wiggle under hard cornering.

 

I left the Guzzi in the house. Its still abit cold and I didn't want to sandblast the paint with all the road sand yet. Its day will come....

 

Richard Z.

By your list of bikes I see you have a lot of experience. Must of helped. I wouldn't have known rear brake to get me out of the situation. I probably would have froze and crashed. Best I can do at my age and limited experience is to just put on miles this year to get towards reflexes.

[Admin Jaap]

I went out and rode a quick 166 miles on the Norge this afternoon. Oklahoma isn't quite as flat as Kansas but I really did hope I'd find a road that would get me some lean angle. No such luck. When I got back to town, I turned onto a side street at 35 mph, hit a bump and the centerstand actually touched the pavement! Boring. Yawn. Looks like I'm going to have to start trekking the 200 miles or so to the Oklahoma/Arkansas border area and on into Arkansas to get any good riding.

Carl, you could buy a big ass bike trailer and do the trekking the HOG way...

[Ouiji Veck]

Reflexes...

My front tire gets lose...I'm on the throttle!

But thats pure reflex (zero time thinking) from years of uber aggressive

racing in the dirt and on the ice. It has saved me 2 maybe 3 times on the road.

The only reason I'm chiming in here is to make the case..."If you want to ride aggressively

on the road...get yourself a cheap, nasty little dirt bike and learn to steer with your ass."

"When in doubt...wring it out"

You can pick up old MXers for $500...the uglier the better (cheaper)..Go out and scare the sh!t

out of yourself. You'll have a friggin' ball and you'll develop reflexes that you'll never pick up on the

road without seriously endangering yourself. Get your best stupid friend to do it too.

I promise you the time of your life. ..er...you have insurance right?

There's not much you can do with sand or oil or anything that turns the pavement to

snot...but once the front tire goes...ya gotta steer with what ya got left...

 

Carl ...yea.. stopping and waiting...or going back...looking for someone .. after a couple of miles of gettin' frisky out in front gives you a pretty queezy feeling. Luckily it's always been someone forgot their sunglasses or something stupid but it does make you think. Especially if it's someone

that you don't know that well. You don't know their skill level...and neither do they.

Our goffin' around pace is many others "white knuckle" pace.

 

 

Have fun!

[Richard Z]

By your list of bikes I see you have a lot of experience. Must of helped. I wouldn't have known rear brake to get me out of the situation. I probably would have froze and crashed. Best I can do at my age and limited experience is to just put on miles this year to get towards reflexes.

 

The use of the rear brake was either instinct or pure luck.... It seemed since I was pushing the front, the best way to resolve was to slow the back. I've have read much on fixation and cornering and one of the last things you should do is apply rear brake. However it seemed to work on the loose stuff and a loaded bike.

I've read that opening the throttle will unload the fron tire and keep the bike moving forward.

 

Check out the Doc Wong article in the March 07 Cycle World. It is a great read on cornering and situation management...

 

Richard Z.

[rocker59]

Looks like I'm going to have to start trekking the 200 miles or so to the Oklahoma/Arkansas border area and on into Arkansas to get any good riding.

 

 

Come on over!