Extended footboards and cornering clearance.

[NEWHD74FAN]

I strongly agree with always riding within your skills plus the bikes limits, and practicing to ensure you are exactly aware where both reside. Practice was one important item I neglected to do before setting out on my carving mission.

The point of my posting was questioning a popular modification that potentially could negatively affect the bikes cornering limits. In my opinion reducing your riding limits to compensate for a modification is not an acceptable resolution.

One thing that is key to all this is learning to "counterlean" the bike so that you put pressure on the outside peg but center your body to the inside of the bike...in essence standing the bike up while your body compensates being in the inside of the turn. This is a common racer trick to compensate for limited ground clearance, or bumpy turns, especially off camber turns that initiate hard contact, that could unweight one or both tires tossing rider and bike off the road.

Practice doing this "hanging off" on that same cloverleaf you had the problem with (the bike standing up 10 to 15 degrees more vertical equates to almost an inch of additional ground clearance) more than enough, even with some mid corner bumps thrown in...

 

[STEVE07]

Another thing you can do is push out on the handlebar away from the corner causing the bike to turn tighter while remaining more upright.
I might not be explaining proper,push out on the left bar when turning left,right bar when turning right.:s

 

[CatWoman]

I strongly agree with always riding within your skills plus the bikes limits, and practicing to ensure you are exactly aware where both reside. Practice was one important item I neglected to do before setting out on my carving mission.

The point of my posting was questioning a popular modification that potentially could negatively affect the bikes cornering limits. In my opinion reducing your riding limits to compensate for a modification is not an acceptable resolution.

I think the key is practice -- I, personally like that scraping feeling as I carve out the corners :s , but the first few times it made me countersteer, sitting upright almost immediately. Maybe it would help if you knew you could replace the floorboards?

CatWoman ::rider

 

[Porter]

Delmar,
I kind of understand what your saying about not doing a modification that could potentially limit the "range of performance" of your ride. But it is tough for me to apply that logic with the floorboards based on Glider's analysis about the "plane of contact" not really changing all that much. Too me we are talking about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch. We all know that less than 1/32 of an inch can be the difference between life and death riding a motorcycle, but for me, riding at a 3/8" tolerance is way beyond my skill level and my ultra classic's intended purpose (to be a lounge chair that can cruise at 75mph ).
Again, I am all for getting all the "edge" you can get as a cyclist. But, I think you could get the wider footboards. A comfortable rider is a more alert and ready rider.

I agree very much with NewHD74Fand and Steve07. If you practice some skills, you can pick up much more "clearance" by moving or adjusting your body than relying on the physical measurements of your ride. For me, I needed to have someone watch me and instruct me to break my bad habits. (Like not grabbing the brake lever with only 2 fingers: I stop 8 feet shorter in a panic stop, or staying on the throttle or slightly accelerating when I began to scrape a floorboard).

 

[TXMikey]

I've put the extenders on my Street Glide, and haven't had my floorboards drag any more than they did before putting them on. I've also put on the Klock Werks Undercovers. I did drag pretty good the other day, but when I looked the undercover had no scrape marks on it. Finally figured out it must have been the frame that scraped, not the footboard.

 

[Dr. Dolittle]

I've put the extenders on my Street Glide, and haven't had my floorboards drag any more than they did before putting them on. I've also put on the Klock Werks Undercovers. I did drag pretty good the other day, but when I looked the undercover had no scrape marks on it. Finally figured out it must have been the frame that scraped, not the footboard.

I'd be pretty concerned if the frame was the first thing hitting the ground. You have no warning that way of impending disaster if you're about to scrape hard.

 

[TXMikey]

I'd be pretty concerned if the frame was the first thing hitting the ground. You have no warning that way of impending disaster if you're about to scrape hard.

You make a good point about scraping the frame. I'm not certain it was the frame that scraped, but there wasn't any scrape marks on the fiberglass undercover panels that I could see. I did feel the floorboard move up, so maybe those panels are a lot tougher than I thought they were.

 

[glens]

The thing that would worry me about scraping the frame would be the effects of removing material from a structural component like that.

 

[Hoople]

I agree with you Dr. Dolittle.
Carving turns is part of the enjoyment, but know your limits.
I took the riders edge advanced safety course this past summer and we spent about 1.5 hours scraping the floorboards with the instuctors watching.
Knowing how far you can lean at various speeds and getting upright quickly for hard braking is a skill that should be practiced.

It reall made me more comfortable hearing the noise and understanding the handleing characteristics. It was suprising to me the difference that shifting half a seat width to the inside of a turn made. On a tall bike like the UC, and inch is a big deal...

Is the Riders edge advanced safety course offered in most places? Is scraping pegs (not floorboards) considered to be more risky?

 

[HDDon]

I've got extenders on both my bikes 94FLSTC (1 1/4" ext), 05FLTRI (3/4" ext). They give me a lot more room to move my feet and while I can get the boards to scrape, like Hobbit says they move up and unless I keep leaning no harm done. If you are going to be aggressive with any bike you need to learn how to place your body so the bike stays more upright in the turns. This allows for more contact patch and this equals more grip on the road. I'll put extenders on any bike I ride, for the extra room to move.