I seem to scrape mine all the time. I have a lot of the circle on ramps near my house. The first time I did it though scared the crap out of me because I was on a buddies bike which is lowered front and back. When I lowered my back i started scraping. Yesterday I put on some 29" fishtails i got for free and stated scraping those immediately. Time to lower the front or put it in air I guess.

 

If it become frequent it means your ready to move up to a bike that has better cornering ability.

 

We've all been there or close to it. Heal well...take your time.

 

Mostly flat and at worse, just a curve now and then here in the flat lands of the Mid West..
done it twice in four yrs,,, yeah it wakes me up when it did.

 

+1 After installing the Harley Goodies board extensions, I scrape on right-hand turns. I think it's cool now, but freaked me out so bad the first time!! Trying to adjust my "spirit bell" to right height, so I hear it just before the board scrapes - that's the theory; not sure I will be able to hear it. Cheers, Kevin.

 

it's a sad fact +1

my riding buddies are riding touring models that has much greater lean angles, & they smoke me while running the twisties, while i'm grinding & scraping thru the turns,, they normally stop a few miles ahead, wait & laugh

these softies SUCK in the twisties

 

Scraping does not mean you reached 'maximum' lean angle by any means, you can still lean into the scrape, fold the board a bit and start touching other pieces.

Here is the deal, if you scrape your board on the lean on the left side, you can push further with no worries for a bit more and just let the boards track.
If you are turning right, you can still push more but be cautious of pumps or changes in your speed, if you jerk the accelrator or hit a pump and your bike is lowered, you could startle the suspension and hit the pipe (depending on your pipes).

Now, hitting the pipes is not the end of the world, it will startle you as it will really jump the bike but if you relax, it is all good.

Best way to lean the bike hard is to learn the curve, keep getting faster and faster every time you ride it, find the pumps, rough patches etc, and make sure you lean the bike in a constant manner, i.e. do not change your lean angle a million times in one curve .

and as always, ride your own pace, and enjoy the moment, that is what it is all about.

 

once you start banging & grinding the frame & primary you HAVE reached the maximum lean angle of the softails

 

I put a set of Kury Mark IV cruise arms and now I am all messed up.... I know I have plenty of lean but I feel like I’m about to scrape, I look down and I still have about 4"... Last week I was in a turn and instead of having my feet on the boards, I had them on the cruise arm pegs and wound up dragging my right heel... It startled me and now I find myself pussyfootin thru turns...

 

I always worry about how much more lean 'till the crash bars hit!