almost there!

[Jonno271]

Using your chicken strips as an indicator of whether you're riding properly or as a target to achieve makes little sense.

Your target should be to be smooth and always in control... oh and to stay alive... chicken strips literally won't tell you anything (I've seen bad riders with no chicken strips and great riders with 1inch strips...).

Read Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch...

I agree, chicken strips do not indicate whether or not you are riding "properly". They do however give a significant indication as to how much of the bikes cornering potential you are using, which, I think is what tomari is getting at.

 

[Wavex]

tomari started this thread sounding like he had almost reached the ultimate goal ("almost there!!!" "should I keep pushing?") of eliminating his chicken strips... my response to that is that eliminating chicken strips should NOT be a target to achieve anything...

What do you mean by "cornering potential"? do you mean "lean angle"? Sure, it tells you how much you lean your bike, but again, that doesn't mean anything... most anyone can just push the bike down until the pegs touch the ground... great... you've leaned the bike to its max potential before dragging parts... good for you, but again, it means nothing!

To me, "cornering potential" means how fast you can take a given corner, not how much you can lean your bike in that corner (to go fast, you actually have to position your body to avoid leaning the bike as much as possible!!!).

Again, your target should be smoothness and control, not lean angle...

 

[Dennis in NH]

All this talk about chicken strips , ... On my FZ6 with Roadsmarts (before trading it), I had maybe 1/4" and then I got BT-016 and it was similar to the "before" pics below. As many said above it really depends on the tire.

On the R6 (OEM tires were Dunlop Sportmax qualifiers same size as FZ6), it was real hard to get the chicken strips off on the street (and I was not successful) and maintain a reasonable margin of safety -- I'm trying to keep it about 75% of skill level. Plus, the more you hang off, the less chicken strip you can use.

On the street, there was just no hope of getting much chicken strip off.

On the track, it's a different story.

Trackday was really really really fun :rockon:.

Left front chicken strip before:

Left front chicken strip after:

Left rear chicken strip before:

Left rear chicken strip after:

Dennis

 

[Jonno271]

tomari started this thread sounding like he had almost reached the ultimate goal ("almost there!!!" "should I keep pushing?") of eliminating his chicken strips... my response to that is that eliminating chicken strips should NOT be a target to achieve anything...

What do you mean by "cornering potential"? do you mean "lean angle"? Sure, it tells you how much you lean your bike, but again, that doesn't mean anything... most anyone can just push the bike down until the pegs touch the ground... great... you've leaned the bike to its max potential before dragging parts... good for you, but again, it means nothing!

To me, "cornering potential" means how fast you can take a given corner, not how much you can lean your bike in that corner (to go fast, you actually have to position your body to avoid leaning the bike as much as possible!!!).

Again, your target should be smoothness and control, not lean angle...

So Wavex, to you "cornering potential" means how fast you can take a given corner...

I absolutely agree with everything you're saying, apart from what you say about having to position your body to avoid leaning the bike as much as possiblele. Yes, body positioning and weight transfer have a LOT to do with cornering (Ben Spies sure thinks so!), but if you're talking corner speed then lean angle is just as important. We don't see the likes of Ben or Rossi hanging off with the bike upright do we? So yes, lean angle does mean something...

Granted that's an extreme example, but it proves a point. None of us should be attempting to ride on the road like it's a track and I place far more importance on being smooth and being in control, as you say. But ultimately the fastest way around a corner is a combination of a lot of elements, not least of which is lean...fact. Maybe you missed the part in Sport Riding Techniques where Nick Ienatsch says something along the lines of (don't quote me, this is off the top of my head)..."If you're going wide in a corner you MUST countersteer again". Counter steering induces lean, so for any given speed the more you lean the tighter the turn, thus the faster you take any given corner, the more you must lean. Weight shift alone will not turn a bike...

So yes, I suppose by "cornering potential" I do mean "lean angle" and vice-versa. The two are intrinsically linked. Without a higher lean angle (to a point, that being the limit of grip) you do not have the potential to take any given corner any faster. A combination of smoothness, control and increased lean angle will yield higher corner speeds. Otherwise we should all be telling the GP boys to stop leaning to 55 degrees and to hang off more!

 

[Wavex]

What? one has to lean the bike to turn? no way!!!

Look, I think we're turning in circle around the same point here... obviously, if we were talking about analyzing Rossi's chicken strips, my response to this thread would be slightly different :rof:

But within this thread, and taking the OP's first post into consideration (obviously, he is no Rossi), I still maintain that he should stop focusing on his chicken strips, because FOR HIM, and IMHO, it means NOTHING!

I am not sure what your point is here, I am merely saying that IMO, tomari should NOT use chicken strips as an indication of whether he is riding well, or fast or anything... if you agree, then we're on the same page.

Let me give you a concrete example:

This is what my rear tire looked like after a quick run up the mountain a few weeks ago...

Do you think I was hauling ass? does that tell you I am a great rider? Does it mean I went up the mountain quicker than Cali Rider on his FZ6 with more chicken strips than me? nope... it obviously means that I need to work on my body position more, because Cali Rider was faster than me (without even really trying)...

So again, chicken strips have little meaning...

Again, this was my rear tire after our last track day:

and here is Cali Rider's rear tire:

Just by looking at chicken strips, can you tell me anything about who's the better rider? who was faster around the track? because we have no chicken strips, does it mean we're both great riders maxing out the bike's potential?

 

[ice]

Hang in there until you tear a knee cap off. :BLAA:

 

[Jonno271]

What? one has to lean the bike to turn? no way!!!

Look, I think we're turning in circle around the same point here... obviously, if we were talking about analyzing Rossi's chicken strips, my response to this thread would be slightly different :rof:

But within this thread, and taking the OP's first post into consideration (obviously, he is no Rossi), I still maintain that he should stop focusing on his chicken strips, because FOR HIM, and IMHO, it means NOTHING!

I am not sure what your point is here, I am merely saying that IMO, tomari should NOT use chicken strips as an indication of whether he is riding well, or fast or anything... if you agree, then we're on the same page.

Just by looking at chicken strips, can you tell me anything about who's the better rider? who was faster around the track? because we have no chicken strips, does it mean we're both great riders maxing out the bike's potential?

Totally agree and yes we are apparently on the same page, I just had doubts about your statement on lean angle vs. corner speed. They are in my mind, two things that go hand in hand, but, I never said not having chicken strips makes you a better rider...

You say you need to work on your body position because cali rider was faster than you but you both have no chicken strips, agreed. This suggests to me you are using the full potential of the tyre and it is body position, amongst other things, you need to work on because cornering involves many different elements. BUT, if one of you still had chicken lines, I'd say that also needed to be worked on because even if you had everything else spot on, the other rider would (assuming his technique was down) be quicker through more lean angle, thus carrying more corner speed...

Anyhow, I see this whole matter as subjectively as you apparently do, maybe I was reading into your post too much or not enough. End of the day, I love getting the bike down

 

[tomari]

hey wavex dont get angry man!

 

[Wavex]

no anger ever on the internet! I like to argue/debate... it's in my genes

You say you need to work on your body position because cali rider was faster than you but you both have no chicken strips, agreed.

If you re-read my post, I stated "he was faster on his FZ that had MORE chicken strips than me" (same tire)... This tells me that for the speed we were going at, I did NOT need to lean that much if my body position was better.... meaning again that I could get MORE speed with LESS lean if my technique was better...

Anyway, we agree... looking at chicken strips alone mean little in terms of speed/technique. It just means that you've figured out how to lean the bike, which most ppl figure out quite quickly... IMO, if you use your strips as a gauge of whether you're getting better riding your bike, I think you're fooling yourself and will crash sooner than later... on the other hand, if you focus on technique and smoothness, magically your strips will slowly go away :thumbup:

 

[Shinleung]

BT-003 Front:

View attachment 27754 View attachment 27755

Rear:

View attachment 27756 View attachment 27757

I want to ask too, what's the uneven wear mark on my tires?
Was it because my rear skid 3 times yesterday. May be because its was cold?