Dropped her today
Cruiser
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 176
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Dropped her today
"Ride that rear brake while going real slow... \\;\\\\\\;this "tricks" the bike suspension into thinking the bike is moving faster and it stays upright."
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Wow..please tell me you're kidding, right?.....These must be the same "tricks" the kickstand uses to keep the bike up.....
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Wow..please tell me you're kidding, right?.....These must be the same "tricks" the kickstand uses to keep the bike up.....
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 4,722
Likes: 7
RE: Dropped her today
ORIGINAL: JRK5892
2 kinds of riders, ones that have dropped them, ones that will...
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2 kinds of riders, ones that have dropped them, ones that will...
 \\;
I opened this thread for the sole reason of seeing how many posts before this cliche was posted. \\; LOL. \\; I prefer to think of it is "ones that have dropped them and ones that haven't, period". \\; There is no law of physics that says everyone will sooner or later. \\; Getting almost as old as "live to ride, ride to live". \\;
RE: Dropped her today
man i had no idea how many people just drop their bikes... i laid mine down hitting cow paddies or getting cut off... but just dropping something i just paid more than my first car... i would have to sacrifice the body on that one!
Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,443
Likes: 3
From: Sasser, GA
RE: Dropped her today
"Ride that rear brake while going real slow... \\;\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;this "tricks" the bike suspension into thinking the bike is moving faster and it stays upright."
 \\;\\\\\\;
Wow..please tell me you're kidding, right?.....These must be the same "tricks" the kickstand uses to keep the bike up.....
 \\;\\\\\\;
Wow..please tell me you're kidding, right?.....These must be the same "tricks" the kickstand uses to keep the bike up.....
Well, I don't know about any tricks, but pressure on the rear brake while under power definitely stabilizes the bike while you're \\;doing slow turns. It takes some practice to master, but try it and you'll see what \\;Topspin was talking about.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,443
Likes: 3
From: Sasser, GA
RE: Dropped her today
Getting almost as old as "live to ride, ride to live". \\;
Wait a minute...that's old??? \\;
 \\;
Crap- gotta go cancel that T-shirt order.[sm=lol.gif]
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 292
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Dropped her today
When I was much ahemmm, "younger" and in the service in the early 70's, I had my first bike, a Honda 360. I had some pullback handlebars installed and sat pretty far back in the saddle. I also had a sissy bar and pad. One day, while leaving a movie (with a "heavy" passenger), facing uphill leaving a parking lot, I decided to show off a little and gunned the engine and let out the clutch. Well, the laws of physics took over and the bike pop a vicious wheelie. And the shift in our combined weights backwards just made me twist on more throttle and away she went!. Suddenly my poor bike was about ten yards in front of us, laying on it's side. And my passenger and I didnt even fall over. We ended up standing on the asphalt, crotch to butt, like we were watching the whole thing as spectators. We burst out laughing (as did about a dozen people who watched the whole thing). But I could never figure out how the sissy bar passed completely under us without castrating either one of us.
Road Master
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 967
Likes: 3
From: Eastern Massachusetts
RE: Dropped her today
Traversing the face of a hill in a U-turn is a different skill than doing it on the flats. You just have to change your lean angles according the terrain. My credo is that if something makes me nervous I go do it until it doesn't scare me any more\\; head back to that development once you're feeling OK.
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One thing that really smoothed out my U-ies (besides trailing the rear brake) was making the bike dip in the opposite direction just before the turn. It's hard to describe, but if you were going to make a left, dip it to the right first then bring it around left. It makes the bike move like a pendulum and you have a smoother, more controlled feeling.
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One thing that really smoothed out my U-ies (besides trailing the rear brake) was making the bike dip in the opposite direction just before the turn. It's hard to describe, but if you were going to make a left, dip it to the right first then bring it around left. It makes the bike move like a pendulum and you have a smoother, more controlled feeling.
 \\;
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Road Warrior
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,641
Likes: 5
From: West Branch, Michigan
RE: Dropped her today
One word of advise......get Engine Guards if you've got any Harley Factory custom paint job. \\; Both are bikes have unique custom colors. While trailering our bikes, my BRAND NEW, \\;( \\;had 5 miles on the odometer) bike fell on top of my Husbands. and my clutch lever put \\;horrific \\;scratches into his tank down to the primer \\;plus put a \\;tiny dent in it. \\; We found out that the \\; metallic color could NOT be matched by anyone, we could not buy the actual \\;paint from harley in enough \\;quantity to have \\;it \\;repainted, and \\;Harley wouldn't  \\;re-paint it even \\;if we sent it in to them. \\; \\;We \\;had to order a brand \\; \\;NEW \\;pre-painted tank \\;in those colors directly \\;from Milwaukee which cost over $1000....then have it installed. \\; \\;We put ENGINE GUARDS on both bikes now, because it's cheaper to put those on than to damage the tanks, and we learned \\; an expensive lesson about how to properly tied down bikes. \\;  \\;Other lesson......dont get fancy FACTORY custom paint ever again. And I did end up dropping my bike after I got the engine guards.
Cruiser
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 176
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Dropped her today
Dawgrider, I know what topspin was talking about (I took the course) \\;but his explanation was a little far fetched.
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You are right Dawg......Applying rear brake pressure keeps the speed of the bike somewhat constant and maintains stability \\;in the tight corner overall, but in the event that you give it too much throttle in the friction zone with \\;no brake in this case the bike will lunge you right into trouble. But it's the rear brake, leaning AWAY from the turn, and \\;MOST IMPORTANTLY \\;looking where you WANT to go, (not where you ARE going) combined to properly execute the tight U turns. If you can moderate your speed with the friction zone the rear brake is not always necessary but it definately helps. A little more tricky, but it can be done both ways. I don't remember dragging the brake on the little rebels in the course when we did the super tight figure 8. It was all friction zone. That's how I did it anyways.
 \\;
I do find myself not always looking where I WANT to go in these cases now. I need to improve on that and constantly remind myself. It's a night and day difference when you do get into that habit. Look where you WANT to go and the bike will follow.
 \\;
You are right Dawg......Applying rear brake pressure keeps the speed of the bike somewhat constant and maintains stability \\;in the tight corner overall, but in the event that you give it too much throttle in the friction zone with \\;no brake in this case the bike will lunge you right into trouble. But it's the rear brake, leaning AWAY from the turn, and \\;MOST IMPORTANTLY \\;looking where you WANT to go, (not where you ARE going) combined to properly execute the tight U turns. If you can moderate your speed with the friction zone the rear brake is not always necessary but it definately helps. A little more tricky, but it can be done both ways. I don't remember dragging the brake on the little rebels in the course when we did the super tight figure 8. It was all friction zone. That's how I did it anyways.
 \\;
I do find myself not always looking where I WANT to go in these cases now. I need to improve on that and constantly remind myself. It's a night and day difference when you do get into that habit. Look where you WANT to go and the bike will follow.