How To Drop a King
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Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 53
Likes: 4
From: SoCal
How To Drop a King
OK... had to laugh at myself. I dropped my Road King over the weekend. Extra slow turn, grabbed too much front break, and whomp! I simply bailed out and landed on my feet. Not a scratch on the bike. Lesson is, don't use those Brembo's at slow speed in a tight turn... 800 plus pounds of beast is going to get ya! Check the reflection in the chrome running light... you can see my mistake.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 2,012
Likes: 53
From: Myrtle Beach,SC
HA been there done that on a RK. Went home put it on it's side in my garage and vowed not to ride it until I could lift it myself. I did and sold it and bought an Ultra.....big mistake....Sold it and bought the Heritage Much better. Hard to put down. easy to get up.
Road Captain
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 716
Likes: 154
From: Canada
Here's a tip for you. When doing slow manoeuvers ... DO NOT TOUCH THE FRONT BRAKE!!! You just found out why.
Set your throttle at about 1500 RPM and use the friction zone on your clutch to increase or decrease speed. Drag the rear brake for extra control. But the front binders will drop you just about every time.
Set your throttle at about 1500 RPM and use the friction zone on your clutch to increase or decrease speed. Drag the rear brake for extra control. But the front binders will drop you just about every time.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 7,855
Likes: 11
From: Oroville,Washington.
Yeah,those Brembo calipers grab some serious ***.
Never wanna' reach for the front brake unless you mean it. And the front wheel is perfectly straight. Good thing about the "King",with an engine guard,they roll back up pretty easy. Don't ask how I know.
Never wanna' reach for the front brake unless you mean it. And the front wheel is perfectly straight. Good thing about the "King",with an engine guard,they roll back up pretty easy. Don't ask how I know.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 6,913
Likes: 87
From:
Never a good idea to do that with that big a biker audience. 
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6th Gear
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
From: Australia
The only bike I have dropped was a King drove out of the dealer in the rain coming to an intersection applied brake front end compressed and the nose down bob caught me by surprise I put my feet down, left foot brushed the floor board put me off balance enough for one of those Im going over.. no... I got it.... no.... Im going over moments, followed by dive roll out of the way all right outside the show room. Never so happy to be back on my breakout after that day
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Joe Kucinski
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 11,814
Likes: 5,120
From: SW Ohio
Don't touch the front brake during slow speed steering maneuvers. In the old days, "riders in the know" used to say "never use the front brake". Now everybody wants to use it at slow speeds with the steering off center. The urge to use the front brake during these times comes from the desire to put the feet on the ground before coming to a stop. Usually (as in this case, you can see the OPs right foot dabbing the ground) the person has already taken the right foot off the peg or floor board giving up the rear brake so all that's left is the front brake.
Learn to ride with both feet up, feet don't go down until the motorcycle is stopped (Many skilled riders only put down the left) and they go up the instant the clutch hits the friction zone and the bike moves forward.
There's an exercise that can teach this skill, used by one of our own. Look up a guy named Harris Neil, he has a document called Motor Lessons. He'll give it to you free. You can debate the merits of what it takes to ride a motorcycle slow and steady all day long on the internet but the laws of physics don't respect a post count, just skill.
Kudos to you OP for being secure enough to post your video and admit your mistake. You're on the right road.
Learn to ride with both feet up, feet don't go down until the motorcycle is stopped (Many skilled riders only put down the left) and they go up the instant the clutch hits the friction zone and the bike moves forward.
There's an exercise that can teach this skill, used by one of our own. Look up a guy named Harris Neil, he has a document called Motor Lessons. He'll give it to you free. You can debate the merits of what it takes to ride a motorcycle slow and steady all day long on the internet but the laws of physics don't respect a post count, just skill.
Kudos to you OP for being secure enough to post your video and admit your mistake. You're on the right road.
Last edited by Campy Roadie; Jul 23, 2014 at 05:41 AM.
