Quick ? chicken strips.

My bike has over 1k miles on it now. I measured from the side wall to the edge of my chicken stips on the back tire, left and right measurements are 20mm. I remember saying in a previous post that I felt comfortable leaning left and right equally. So I would assume by my measurements that im correct in that assertation. I wonder, how much of a p%#$y am I really, is that a pretty high reading as far as cornering savvy is concerened? What did you do/learn to teach you to corner harder and with more lean.

Don't worry you are not the only one mate .
When I go riding with a friend (z750) damn he corners good. He passes me as if I've stopped.
When I go alone it's as if I'm Rossi, but then reality strikes back

There is more to it.
It also a relation of form, and your ability to minimize lean angle.

I can shove the bike under me, coast thru, and use the tire to the complete edge and corner like crap.

Or I can throttle on slightly, prior to the turn shift my mass in, and corner quicker using less lean angle, safer and more in control, but still faster.

If you wanna get better get some books.
I know they have all been mentioned on here a bunch.

I was demonstrating hanging off the bike for my wife this morning on a ride to Borrego Springs, there is a high speed left hand corner I normally take at around 90MPH at a moderate lean if I'm not shifting my weight on the bike. today I took it at 115MPH fully hanging off the bike, as I blew past my wife. once we stopped in Borrego she commented on how weird that looked, me hanging off the side of the bike and the bike almost straight up. in that case "chicken strips" mean very little.
on my bike I'm more confident turning left. on the left side I have a 1/4inch chicken strip on the right side I have no chicken strip. that tells me I'm either I'm just not comfortable at low speed rights or that I have better body position and form turning left. honestly I'm not sure which.

Re: Chicken Strips

I learned years ago that on the street you're better off riding at ~85% of your (and your bike's) ability. 20 mm strips aren't bad on the street; any more and you should probably be on the track.
I totally agree with Sportrider FZ6's thoughts on left vs. right cornering. I don't know if it's just the extra centrifigual force (chain on the left equals more rotating mass?) or what, but I too feel more confident laying the bike down in a left corner instead of to the right which is weird because I like a nice right hand sweeping curve more than a left one. On top of riding ability, the bike's steering and suspension geometry also play a part. My riding buddy can do things on his R6 that I just can't do on my FZ6. On the other hand, after a 200 mile road trip I can hop off my Fizzer and still walk normally; he can't.
I did got rid of my "chicken strips" on my new tires last week while teaching a local motorcycle safety class doing about 15-20 MPH in low speed turns (see post in tire forum). Didn't do it intentionally, I was just showing the students how low you can go with counterweighting during slower speed manuvers. My buddy does the same thing during his class but he rides a 2004 H-D Road King (nobody can beat a Harley at going slow!!!).
Bottom line- Don't worry about "chicken strips"; they're not a sign of how good a rider you are. I've been riding for 25 years and I know there are a lot better riders out there than me. As long as you're having fun on your ride, that's all that matters.

Have fun!

-Bo

I have always chalked up the greater difficulty of right turns to the fact that in a right turn you are putting pressure on the throttle grip, and at the same time, trying to modulate the throttle itself.

In a left, I just throw down pressure on the left grip at the moment I begin the lean into the curve. But in a right turn, this needs to be done without affecting the throttle application.

Does this make sense to anyone else, or am I just blowing smoke?:ban:

wrightme43 said:

There is more to it.
It also a relation of form, and your ability to minimize lean angle.

I can shove the bike under me, coast thru, and use the tire to the complete edge and corner like crap.

Or I can throttle on slightly, prior to the turn shift my mass in, and corner quicker using less lean angle, safer and more in control, but still faster.

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+1!!!!!!!!! well said! The guys who go fast do everything they can to keep the bike as upright as possible.

FWIW, my track rims/rubber have about 5mm max up front and none out back while my street rims/rubber have about 5mm out back and more upfront.

sportrider_fz6 said:

today I took it at 115MPH fully hanging off the bike, as I blew past my wife. .

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holy shyt! On the street....old enough to know better, too young to care???
________
XSexyKittenX

old enough to know better, too young to care???

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I was wondering the same thing

DefyInertia said:

holy shyt! On the street....old enough to know better, too young to care???

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something like that, ever see that old Disney cartoon featuring Goofy as "Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler" that describes it pretty well.