Mingo
Junior Member
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- Aug 1, 2010
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- East Bay Area--Pleasant Hill, CA
I apologize in advance for the vagueness of this question, but I’ve got to ask.
I just picked up a 2008 fz6 with 3000 miles.
My previous bike was a café racer, a Bonneville with rear sets, low bars, and sticky tires—but despite the upgrades, the fz6 should corner better than the Bonneville, right?
I took the Fz to a big parking lot on my first ride to acquaint myself with its turning radius, to practice u-turns on the new bike, and to see how it fairs under emergency braking.
After all that, I attempted some low speed—15 miles per hour—circles leaned way over. I did the Lee Parks Total Control Advanced Riding Clinic a while bike and learned to drag knees at relatively low speeds in a relatively tight circle. On my Bonneville, I ended up grinding down, the pegs (even with the rear sets), the side stand, and the edge of the pipes.
When I first leaned the FZ over (I had already driven about 50 miles with it on the street—but not the twisties; I still haven’t taken it up to the twisty hills), it felt like the front tire started to wash out. It was pretty scary, since the bike has no frame sliders yet. I tried again; again, the front felt like it was starting to slide out from under me. In both cases, I aborted the turn/lean and the bike came back under control just fine.
Is this just a trait of the bike—that it feels like it’s washing out when it’s not? I didn’t get very far over.
The bike leans, right? I’m thinking I should easily be able to grind down these pegs—especially since I see that rear sets are widely available for the bike.
I went home and checked the steering head bearing—it’s fine.
One last note. The bike has the stock tires (Dunlops) with huge chicken strips: nearly two inches—I took this as a sign the bike was not abused. I don’t see how that should matter, but it seems I’m the first to really lean this particular bike.
Any answers or advice?
Thanks.
I just picked up a 2008 fz6 with 3000 miles.
My previous bike was a café racer, a Bonneville with rear sets, low bars, and sticky tires—but despite the upgrades, the fz6 should corner better than the Bonneville, right?
I took the Fz to a big parking lot on my first ride to acquaint myself with its turning radius, to practice u-turns on the new bike, and to see how it fairs under emergency braking.
After all that, I attempted some low speed—15 miles per hour—circles leaned way over. I did the Lee Parks Total Control Advanced Riding Clinic a while bike and learned to drag knees at relatively low speeds in a relatively tight circle. On my Bonneville, I ended up grinding down, the pegs (even with the rear sets), the side stand, and the edge of the pipes.
When I first leaned the FZ over (I had already driven about 50 miles with it on the street—but not the twisties; I still haven’t taken it up to the twisty hills), it felt like the front tire started to wash out. It was pretty scary, since the bike has no frame sliders yet. I tried again; again, the front felt like it was starting to slide out from under me. In both cases, I aborted the turn/lean and the bike came back under control just fine.
Is this just a trait of the bike—that it feels like it’s washing out when it’s not? I didn’t get very far over.
The bike leans, right? I’m thinking I should easily be able to grind down these pegs—especially since I see that rear sets are widely available for the bike.
I went home and checked the steering head bearing—it’s fine.
One last note. The bike has the stock tires (Dunlops) with huge chicken strips: nearly two inches—I took this as a sign the bike was not abused. I don’t see how that should matter, but it seems I’m the first to really lean this particular bike.
Any answers or advice?
Thanks.