How much lean angle have I got?

[Grub]

might chuck a bigger wheel on and see if I can get her lower

Front tyre isn't your dick ... bigger isn't better. Just stick to the manufacturer's specs, that what their supercomputers and test riders have found makes your bike handle and stay planted best

[sAsLEX]

FYI: Michelin say 51.2º lean angle in the dry and 43º in the wet for their Pilot Powers - grab a protractor, is interesting

Seen that young stoner get 70 degrees at Laguna Seca, so you can go rather far!

[BadCompany]

Front tyre isn't your dick ... bigger isn't better. Just stick to the manufacturer's specs, that what their supercomputers and test riders have found makes your bike handle and stay planted best

Sorry I was referring to the back tire. I still have a little chicken stripes on the front, but nothing on the back. So I'm thinking if I get a bigger back wheel and get lower, I can find the max of the front wheel.

[Grub]

Sorry I was referring to the back tire. I still have a little chicken stripes on the front, but nothing on the back. So I'm thinking if I get a bigger back wheel and get lower, I can find the max of the front wheel.

Same applies to the back. There was a really big thread on this about 8 days ago woth lots of technical background. See if you can find it. It basically comes down to this ...

The tyre and the rim size are matched. If you put a wider tyre on the existing rim then it has to wrap around in a smaller circle to fit the narrow rim. This can make your tip-in feel really weird (either too fast or too slow) and if you really get it wrong you end up with less tyre contact patch rather than more.

Then there's the relation of the rear tyre's width to the front. Mis-matched and they don't have the same roll into the corner which means you could end up with bad understeer or oversteer, I can't remember which. The geometry of a bike is hugely complex with castor, trail, dip and all sorts of other parameters all designed by those big computers to work together - I wouldn't change a thing

[jcupit69]

Time to head to a track day

[koba]

Sorry I was referring to the back tire. I still have a little chicken stripes on the front, but nothing on the back. So I'm thinking if I get a bigger back wheel and get lower, I can find the max of the front wheel.

It will also go a wee bit faster with the right tyre on it.
Less contact, less weight = Less resistance Therefore more power to ground.

Not scientific, just reasoned in my brain.
My VFR now handles MUCH better with the standard 130 on the back instead of the 140 that had been wrapped around it.

[jcupit69]

Front tyre isn't your dick ... bigger isn't better. Just stick to the manufacturer's specs, that what their supercomputers and test riders have found makes your bike handle and stay planted best

Agree, worn my back down right to the edge and untill i get new pegs it cant go over further (even then the back isnt really able to go over any more), and iv still got lil strips on my front

[enigma51]

Sorry I was referring to the back tire. I still have a little chicken stripes on the front, but nothing on the back. So I'm thinking if I get a bigger back wheel and get lower, I can find the max of the front wheel.

Dont try and concentrate on how far you lent over if you manage to go around the corner you have the required lean angle thats realy all that counts

[scumdog]

In the end, if you're riding comfortably and as fast as you need to, what does it matter? Worrying about chicken strips is about as important as worrying about the size of your knob.

A fact that too many choose to ignore - and the younger the rider the more they ignore it.

[TerminalAddict]

As mentioned, bike chasis, attachments is usually the limit. I recently bought a new Hornet 900 and scrape the pegs often. I have also scraped away some of the rear brake lever too. Having said this, I've owned a lot of bikes and the only other bike that I got scraping action on was the KTM motard.

The tyres will reveal how much more you've got to go though.

one of the many wonders of motorcycling.
I too own a hornet.
I have reached the edge of my rear tyre plenty of times.
I ain't no slow poke.... but I'm no casey stoner either, there are much faster riders I ride with.
and the wonder bit .... I've had stuff touch down , maybe 3 times in 2 years

maybe I hang off more than your something

[Mikkel]

Seen that young stoner get 70 degrees at Laguna Seca, so you can go rather far!

That's on state-of-the-art racing slicks - slightly different game

In the end it's about cornering, not leaning. The sharper you can corner at less lean the better! This is the argument for hanging off your bike. If you hang off properly your knee should touch the ground before your peg feelers. Having your knee down gives you a very good feel for how far over you're leaned and adds a bit of stability (at least psychologically).

That being said, I'd suggest practicing that black art on a track - not the public road.

[Ocean1]

In the end it's about cornering, not leaning. The sharper you can corner at less lean the better! This is the argument for hanging off your bike.

This interests me. Talk about lateral G forces at the contact patch and how hanging off the bike changes them. Or is it just a technique to stay inside the tyre's lean angle spec's?

[vifferman]

Oldfulla - if you really want to know how far you can lean, then you need to take it to and just past the very limits a few times, like Mr Rossi did. Once you've learned what it feels like when you've gone just past the limits, then you don't have to crash so often.
Seriously, if you're not prepared to crash while exploring the limits of your bike and your cornering abilities, then I suggest you stick with being contented with tyres that have no 'chicken' strips (or, as I like to call them, "margins of error").

[Mikkel]

This interests me. Talk about lateral G forces at the contact patch and how hanging off the bike changes them. Or is it just a technique to stay inside the tyre's lean angle spec's?

When you lean your bike over two things happen: You change the steering geometry of the bike (slightly, due to trail) and you move your centre of mass (COM) off the centerline of the bike.

The more you change the steering geometry (more lean, longer trail) and the more you move your COM off-center the faster you will turn. (Faster turning equals larger lateral forces.)

By hanging off your bike you move your COM off the centerline without leaning the bike. This allows you to corner faster at a lower lean angle. This is of course only important if you're pushing the bike to its (and its tyres) limits. I'd expect a tyre to loose grip rapidly if you lean it beyond what its profile is designed for.

Also, remember that a long trail makes the bike handle less sharply - but provides good stability while cruising. (Think sportsbikes that needs steering dampers vs. hogs)

[onearmedbandit]

Hence why you see racers in the wet hanging completely off the bike despite moderate lean angles.