I've heard/read from a lot of people since I got my bike that "oh yeah thats a good bike for around here with all the turns." What makes the sportster "good" in turns? I find myself slowing down a considerable amount when going into turns so it's probably just the fact that I've only been riding for 3.5 months and don't feel comfortable leaning that much.

Is that what it is? The sportster is good at leaning more than other bikes? (Excluding sportbikes). Is it because it's kind of tall? Got to thinking about this the other day.


See, I go away from these forums for a few days and I can't even spell sportster anymore, lol (in the title, forgive me :O )

 

It is quick and nible. Light, torquey motor and easy to throw around. Hence the name...Sportster. Take your time in the turns and always ride at a pace that youa re comfortable at. Going beyond your limit can be dangerous, I know for a fact.

 

Looks like you have nice long shocks. Don't lower them like most. You'll get a much better lean once you get comfortable.

 

I actually don't think that my Spotster turns any better than my 851lb Ultra but that is just my opinion and I not looking to debate the issue.
As far as turning your bike, you need to get more experience. Trust your bike and accelerate through your turns. Too slow through your turns and you will drop your bike. It's actually a matter of physics. Your bike turns into a giant gyroscope when you reach speeds of over 5mph. That’s the whole concept of counter steering. If you were taking a turn at a fast rate of speed and you were air lifted off your bike, your bike would stand up straight and continue in a straight line. It wants to stand up and not go into the direction of the lean.
Bottom line….Trust your bike through the turns. Keep your speed up and even accelerate a bit . You will be pleasantly surprised.

 

Check this guy out. This has been floating around here for awhile.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?...on&hl=en&emb=0

 

Thanks for the info guys, good to hear. That video does not seem fun.

 

trail on a nightster is 4.6 icnhes.
trail on a flhrs is 6.2 inches

the nightster will be easier to turn. the flhrs will resist turning.

the nightster rake is 29 degrees
the flhrs rake is 26 degrees

the flhrs can turn tighter, provided it has good clearance.

weight has a lot to do with it also. as does the unsprung weight (weight of the wheels) and lower suspension)

if you want a sportster to turn tighter, you'll want to jack up the rear, lower the front, and loose as much weight on the wheels as possible.

but if you aren't comfortable carving corners, by all means, don't. consider looking for a beater bike to learn aggressive riding.

 

And the point of this video is what??? The guy asked about leaning into a turn on a Sporty. You post a vid of a guy on a crotch rocket going 100+ in a straight line. Sometimes I think your purpose here is to see who you can offend or **** off.



Back to the Topic.

If you want to find out how far you can lean your sportster you should do it at slow speeds. Get to a parking lot and learn to control your speed with the foot brake and clutch. Feathering the clutch and the brake at the same time to keep friction on the brake. You don't want too stop yourself just control the bike with a smooth slow constant speed. Get good at this and you will soon be able to do full lock turns. Do some figure 8's leaning the bike back and forth. Work down to smaller and smaller circles and figure 8's. Learning how far you can lean your bike while going slow is a bit safer than finding its limits at 60mph. If you lean to far at 5mph you will pick the bike back up and try again lean to far at 60 and you may need an ambulance to come pick you up.

Search you tube for police competition videos and "ride like a pro" demonstrations. These will show you how far over a bike can go. Most of all don't push yourself further than you are comfortable. After only 3.5months I was asking the same questions. Now I am into my 10th month and I still haven't gotten close to the limits of leaning on my bike. I know the limits because I found them at slow speeds. I just don't feel comfortable getting to close to those limits.

One last thing to remember if you are leaning into a turn and hit some gravel you are most likely going down so don't practice leaning near the edges of the road(white line). I came upon a bike wreck one time in which a new rider drifted over the white line because they were afraid to lean the bike any further. The woman hit some sand and long story short she had to take a ride in a Helicopter. I don't know if she survived the Helicopter ride.

 

Thanks bryan I'll give that a shot.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the video but then I realized he could have grabbed the link to that by accident since there are police and demonstrations on the left hand side of the page.

 

Mandog seems to love to talk "down" to us Sporty owners and thinks its okay and he is always right since he has a Sporty and a Big Twin to compare it to.