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Floorboard scrapin' question

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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 06:21 PM
  #21  
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ZJAvy
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Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question

You should always be looking well ahead of you and through the turn anyhow. That was good advice that motor gave you, but every motor I know does it on purpose for fun to just get the sparks to fly. My roomate does it all the time as an attention getter but he doesnt HAVE to do it. Ive done it once or twice on accident and that was in very slow tight corners but never ever on accident while riding at normal speeds in normal corners even tight right turns. I wouldnt worry about it to be honest. As for your training that you got congrats on that you can never learn enough on riding and get enough experience. Motors are the best guys to learn from they are leaps and bounds better riders then any of us. Keep looking ahead and use that clutch for close tight slow turns Mimo!
ORIGINAL: mimo



My Fat Boy is lowered in the rear end and I used to scrap the floorboards often.

I took a riding course with a former L.A. motor patrol officer. One thing that he told me has prevented me fom scrapping my boards since then :

"Don't look how near your floorboards are from the ground when making tight turns!!! If you look down, you will go down!!! Instead look where you are going, fix you sight in your desired direction and nevermind your floorboards, head's up assh*le!!! "

Believe me, the right advice and the right tone of voice that is all it took.

I felt like I as in boot camp, but some bad habbits die hard and you must ride with technique. Geez, this guy really knew several tricks, and that day (8 hours of course) is one day I will never forget.

Best regards.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 06:25 PM
  #22  
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4merRacer
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Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question

Your roommate sounds like an amazing rider!!!!

Mimo: The officer is obviously going to teach great things. Just keep practicing. ZJAvy and I attended a 9/11 memorial ride and I used the friction zone in the clutch, throttle, and brake combo to maintain balance at <5 mph often instead of putting my feet down every 30 feet. It's a great tool not only for u-turns but slow, crowded rides like the one we were on.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 06:44 PM
  #23  
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ZJAvy
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Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question

your my roomate a$$hole! Everytime someone pats themselves on that back that hard that means they are gonna get a reality check so I hope im there to help you pick that fatboy up after one of your 5 mph turns HAHA. MMMM clutch friction zone, coast, lil brake, clutch, wiggle, clutch....what a wonderful thing keeps my feet on the floorboard when going well like no where!
 
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 07:38 PM
  #24  
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mimo
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From: MEXICO
Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question


ORIGINAL: 4merRacer

Your roommate sounds like an amazing rider!!!!

Mimo: The officer is obviously going to teach great things. Just keep practicing. ZJAvy and I attended a 9/11 memorial ride and I used the friction zone in the clutch, throttle, and brake combo to maintain balance at <5 mph often instead of putting my feet down every 30 feet. It's a great tool not only for u-turns but slow, crowded rides like the one we were on.
Exactly! that is the trick, using the engine's innertia to straighten the bike! Feet on the boards at all times!

Regards guys.

Mimo
 
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 07:56 PM
  #25  
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mimo
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From: MEXICO
Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question



Hahahah,

I've just remembered the first lesson in that course. We were driving into the empty parking lot where we were goig to take the practice... we parked the bikes and walked towards the instructor. I can still remember the look he gave us, he said: "Look at you f*cking bunch of pigs!, look what you've just did! I want you to go back to your bikes, your Harley Davidson bikes and park them reverse one right next to the other as Harley riders do!!!" Hahahaha, then we gave looks to eachother and we went like, ok this is not going to be a walk in the park.
"If I see" -he said- "some f*ucking queer raising his pinky finger when clutching, that is it for him today, not that I care for your sexual prefferences but we are going to be practicing real hard in here and I don't want an accident because any of you guys want to ride in style instead of safe"

But as I said, you really need discipline to get rid of the bad habbits and really ride with technique. Fortunately for me I did not spilled the soup that day.

Sorry for straying from the main subject. But I guess now I have to learn how to scrap to show sparks that has to look cool at night

Regards.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 11:16 PM
  #26  
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Ctimrun
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Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question

ORIGINAL: 4merRacer

I guarantee that motor officer scraped the hell out of his boards. I scrape mine just pulling into a parking space or going around a sweeper and anything in between. Not always intentional but it doesn't bother me, I know i will NOT "end up on the ground looking up," and eventually will get rid of the boards anyway. If you've ever been to a police motor rodeo when they all rode kawasaki or hd, you'll see serious scraping. They'll scrape one side, then flick it over like a sportbike and scrape the other. Those boys can ride!!!
Hmmmm, it is funny you say that because I am a currently Motor Officer in a Southern California city......in fact, I had my quarterly all day cone training today. I rode a Kawasaki for a long time and would throw it over to scrape the boards often to throw sparks. I am now on a Honda ST1100 (hopefully soon a ST1300) and through our 30 mph cone weave today I was scraping the pegs and my front of my boot which is not quite as fun!!! It is more like OH - $#!) because that bike leans over far without scraping.

The Honda is a totally different style of riding than the Kawasaki or the Harley. Where the Kawi and HD are ridden slow through the cone patterns the Hondas and BMW's are leaned over very far (almost toe scraping) and take advantage of momentum (speed) to keep the rubber down. When I transitioned from the Kawi to the Honda it was very unerving riding that fast through those cone patterns. In most cases, as long as there is power to the rear wheel the bike will stay off the ground. OH yah, don't look down because you will go there as someone else mentioned. Always look where you want to end up when you are making turning movements.

The agency I work for is notorious for having a difficult motor training program and requalifications, but it makes us better riders. Some of our motors have the runs (aka diahrrea) for a week leading up to motor requalification days because they are very strict with the evaluations.

I am not worried about scraping the boards, but as for my wife, I don't think she will dig it too much. I don't want to do anything to scare her from riding with me because she loved it when I had my Road King Classic. I just wanted to make sure that normal or even mellow riding will not scrape the boards two up on the Heritage. I am very torn about which bike I want to buy still. The RKC is also calling my name along with the Heritage......
 
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Old Sep 12, 2006 | 11:57 PM
  #27  
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Hossman
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Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question

I have scraped a couple of times -- The last time I Broke my dang leg--- Just keep your feet on the bike and the scrape is no issue.. I put my foot out to save my paint. Well if I just wold have held my guns and kept y feet on board all would be fine - most likly paint too. I will be back to my Heritage soon ... I love the floorboards - but you need to respect them and know they are there..


CHEERS

 
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 12:14 AM
  #28  
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1goindiesel
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From: Central Texas
Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question

Fatty was always dragging so I put forward controls on. Now I dont hardly drag except for the kick stand on left turns sometimes. Whoa but she is a low one!!
 
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Old Sep 13, 2006 | 12:25 PM
  #29  
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Default RE: Floorboard scrapin' question

Ctimrun, I'd love to take that training.. I wonder how it compares to the MSF ARC (Adv Rider Course)? Similar but more intense I'll bet.
That "ride like a pro" video I hear is a good one.
 
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