New rider feeling experimental

[bdevries]

Hey guys,

I was feeling experimental today in the driveway and figured I would stand beside my bike and lay it down as low as I could or until something touched ground. I got it down to the ground, the unfortunate part is that I couldn't see which part it was! I assume the centre stand.

Anyone else try this?

Also, just blabbing here, but I went around a roundabout today (3/4 of the way) and had it pretty low and kinda went over the white line and felt the rear end slide out a bit. I didn't ease off the throttle and it kind of tucked back in underneath me. Are lines THAT slippery!?

 

[trepetti]

Hey guys,

I was feeling experimental today in the driveway and figured I would stand beside my bike and lay it down as low as I could or until something touched ground. I got it down to the ground, the unfortunate part is that I couldn't see which part it was! I assume the centre stand.

Anyone else try this?

Also, just blabbing here, but I went around a roundabout today (3/4 of the way) and had it pretty low and kinda went over the white line and felt the rear end slide out a bit. I didn't ease off the throttle and it kind of tucked back in underneath me. Are lines THAT slippery!?

I never laid the bike down like that, but my impression is that the center stand would not be the thing that touched. The pegs should be first, followed by the bar ends (assuming you have no sliders on the bike).

As for the lines being slippery, I have done my share of squirming when the lines are wet, but where I live, the dry lines are usually no problems.

 

[Erci]

Are lines THAT slippery!?

Yes. So things like maximum lean angle, heavy acceleration or heavy braking should be avoided when tires are on paint. If paint is wet, exponentially worse.

 

[bdevries]

If paint is wet, exponentially worse.

I can't even imagine them wet. I mean, it was a tight turn since it was a roundabout but I was by no means going fast or even accelerating.

 

[oaks]

Also, beware of slippery tar snakes as road temps warm up. Worse than paint around here.

 

[ShoopCE]

+1 for the comments about painted lines & tar snakes. They're wicked slippery when wet!

In my area they've been replacing painted lines with plastic strips that they melt onto the pavement. They have great nighttime reflectance and last longer than paint - until the snow plows get them. But these things are very slippery even when dry and are incredibly slippery when wet.

 

[Motogiro]

In addition as you are trying to see how far over the bike goes before contacting bits. When you are on the bike, in a turn, the suspension has your body weight added and then the suspension is further compressed inertial weight of you and the bike weight. This means parts are going to touch much sooner than you can calculate in the driveway.

 

[FinalImpact]

In addition to all the truth posted above there are other lines (pick a color) that are not friendly. In these parts the modern line comes in 3 flavors:
1) above the surface and slippery at all times
2) with cutouts to create a rumple strip. Even more slippery than #1
3) with cutouts to create a rumple strip and add reflectors every 10th cutout (above the surface). Think new bike if you're leaned over too far!

I have seen the ways of the painted death line; it has stepped out the rear so as to tighten "my rear" and I've since been educated about what not to do in the future! :Flip: >> Avoid the line while leaning over! :thumbup:

 

[elus1ve]

Hey you aren't far from Montreal. Come over this side and you won't have painted lines problem anymore since they have all faded. And there is always a pothole not far to catch ur tires if ever they slip. The best.

 

[greg]

roundabouts also tend to have a lot of crap on them, vehicles that are overfilled will spill diesel as they go aorund them too. I always treat them with extra caution

 

[ctbandit]

In addition as you are trying to see how far over the bike goes before contacting bits. When you are on the bike, in a turn, the suspension has your body weight added and then the suspension is further compressed inertial weight of you and the bike weight. This means part are going to touch much sooner than you can calculate in the driveway.

Quoted for truth. Pegs will hit first. If you raise them up then SIDE stand still hit next. And yes, painted lines can be very slippery

 

[bdevries]

Hey you aren't far from Montreal. Come over this side and you won't have painted lines problem anymore since they have all faded. And there is always a pothole not far to catch ur tires if ever they slip. The best.

Yep, not far at all. I'm in Ottawa, so I've been spending lots of time up in Gatineau too. Lots of twists but lots of sand too.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I can say my side stand (kick stand), has a very obvious flat spot on the pad from "road grinding".

You can actually wipe off road grind (on the centerstand-that's the blurry picture with whiteish(SP?) powder on it). The kick stand deposites the road debris on the CC once I kick the side stand up.. The left peg feeler is also scuffed up some.

And that's with approx 1/8" chcken strip left on the very edge of the rear tire.

Double click on the pic's to enlarge.

 

[lawlberg]

Just watch rnickymouse's channel from the snake/Mulholland dr. for a while - you'll see a lot of what not to do. Centerlines are bad. as was said before, wet ones are worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD3CtUgGXEw

 

[Carlos840]

Just watch rnickymouse's channel from the snake/Mulholland dr. for a while - you'll see a lot of what not to do. Centerlines are bad. as was said before, wet ones are worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD3CtUgGXEw

I love this channel, it teaches you a lot about bad body positioning, bad throttle control, bad choice of lines, bad front break control, target fixation, etc...

Spend a few hours there and you will learn something.