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I scrape the floorboards on my 2012 Heritage regularly.
I like making sparks, and the more I scrape, the better lean angle I have.
If you do not like scraping, there are a few things you can do-
1. Use your rear brake, while accelerating, in the curve. (known as trail-braking) This will unload the suspension a bit and give you more lean angle.
2. Almost goes without saying...but make sure your tires are properly inflated, and the rear shocks are adjusted.
3. Almost all Heritages come from the factory with TOO much sag in the front forks. Get that dialed in and that will increase your lean angle. (see front suspension report HERE)
4. Lean your body more into the turn, that way the bike does not need to lean as much.
OP, it really depends on how you ride - No squirming in your seat, body position or "Knowing" your bike will help you.
The heritage is synonymous with floor board scrape, I ride aggressively, ive hit the NC roads many flock too that have switchbacks, banked curves & just about every other road challenge that can be thrown at you - with the set up on my heritage I have never touched down - there is a switchback when going up grandfather mountain in NC that just about every one in our group scraped, the guy on the Yamaha crotch rocket & I were the only 2 out of 8 of us & the group had all makes & models.
I had the same issue with my 02 at first then I changed out the stock boards to slimmer fancier ones (cost me a small fortune) still they would touch down, I listened to others give me the same advice & then all I did was watch my lean side foot going through the bend (not good!) raised the boards up & then was cramped & uncomfortable - moved them forward (many self made modifications here) & nothing really worked!
So I went with a set of forwards with extensions to mount kuryakyn stirrup pegs/boards & never experienced the "Scrape" again. Now I have a 15 Heritage that I will go the same route - cause when I ride it I'm always mindful in the bends about scraping - just a pet peeve of mine that I don't want any part of my bike other than tires contacting the ground.
I am a new 2017 Heritage Classic owner. I have scraped my floorboards multiple times during turns. Does anyone else have this problem?
Depends on how you like to ride/corner.
You can adjust your riding & bike to not scrape (for the most part).
Or you can embrace the scraping and learn the limits.
I seem to like the scraping
Hard tail, Electra glide, Ultra, Deluxe they all seem to do it (fairly regular).
I have a '13 Heritage and have scraped the floor boards a few times. And as stated in other comments, I leaned more than I needed to. It gets your attention, thats for sure.
I came from a Suzuki GSX into my current 2014 Heritage. I too scraped my floorboards from time-to-time the first riding season. Through experimentation I learned to turn without scraping using my body and proper counter-steering techniques.
The first year, I was so afraid of scraping that I was making super wide turns at intersections and in parking lots, because I too, was afraid that the board would get stuck on something and it would bring me down. It was also embarrassing to scrape with the wife on board. I didn't want her to think that I didn't know how to ride.
I finally decided to figure out what I was doing "wrong" and watched my technique. I soon realized that I was turning as I did on the sport bike, which is incorrect on this type of bike. I can now turn solo or with a passenger and at sharper angles without scraping.
I suggest that you have fun trying out different ways to turn without scraping. It will make you a better rider.
Last edited by Labrador; Dec 19, 2017 at 07:49 PM.
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