How Much Lean Will a Croozer Take?

 

Kind of a newbie question ..., Honda Shadow 600 ...

From time to time I'll hit a freeway exit curve or something similar
carrying too much speed.  Because I'm not 16 and riding a sportbike, it
might be 60 when 40 is appropriate rather than 140 when 40 is appropriate.

99.9% of the time, I don't do it.

And when I do do it, 99.9% of the time as soon as I realize what I'm about
to do, I'll brake aggressively before I'm forced to turn ... problem solved,
but inelegantly.

However, once in a while I do really carry too much speed.  Once when I did
it I didn't quite scrape the pegs, but I was leaned over quite far enough
and the exit ramp was paved in blacktop and I had my mental fingers crossed
that the tires were going to hold.

Anyway, here are my questions:

a)How far can I go over before the tires let go?  On dry concrete can I
scrape the pegs reliably?

b)If it happens, how does it happen?  (My guess is that the rear end slides
out and you low-side onto the ground.  I also would guess there is no
warning.  But I'm perhaps wrong.)

Thanks, Datesfat

 

wrote:


You can probably lean your cruiser over to about 35 to 38 degrees from
the vertical, but the only way to be sure is to set up some kind of
angle measuring device and sit on the bike and lean it to see what you
get.


Probably, but be aware of the traction differences between concrete,
blacktop, and asphalt.

Asphalt is just tar, without any gravel in the mix, but some ignorant
types will confuse asphalt and blacktop, which is also known as
macadam.

Asphalt offers about 1/3rd the tire grip as concrete.

The reason for loss of grip varies. Like, you might drag a foot peg
against the ground so hard that it jacks the rear tire off the ground
momentarily, in which case you go into a violent speed weave.

Speed weaves *start* with the loss of grip at the rear wheel, but they
can turn into violent highside crashes in which the rider goes over
the handlebars.

OTOH, you might lean far enough or brake too hard and lose front grip
and low side into the ground.

Steve Rapp overbraked at Infineon raceway last month while leading the
race, lost front grip and wound up in a heap in front of the pack...


Original equipment tires usually do not give as much warning that they
are going to let go as premium sportbike tires, that's for sure.

There's no sense in experimenting with sportier tires on your cruiser
though, because you cannot lean it far enough to test more extreme
lean angles.

And you don't fit on small sportbikes that could be fitted with sticky
tires.

So you're just going to have to be satisfied with an intellectual
knowledge of the subject...

 


<snip>

A lot of words written to avoid admitting you were full of it.

 



Depends on the croozer:

http://www.photoshop.com/accounts/8c577227b4d14abd8878d3202052ae82/px-asset=
s/1a4f98095693453ab23eb6827054ecc7

 

On 6/4/2010 4:01 PM, saddlebag wrote:

http://www.photoshop.com/accounts/8c577227b4d14abd8878d3202052ae82/px-assets/1a4f98095693453ab23eb6827054ecc7

But...but...but...I thought H-D would swear up, down, 'n' sideways
that the V-Rod ISN'T a croozer!!!!

Although as pointed out here:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/566252/harley_v_rod/

...looks like the first thing that's going to touch the pavement is
your heel!

Bob M.