How far can you lean on a big cruiser

[battypup]

Not that I am ready to try aggressive cornering yet. But I was wondering on the large cruisers can you really lean far enough to scrape the floorboards, without losing it. I was reading about the m50's and the people needing to get forward controls and such because of scraping. It seems unlikely to a newbie like me that the tires could hold that much of a lean on my 1600 Vulcan. (The bike and I weigh in at about 1000 lbs.). Just curious.

[PNW rider]

They'll lean to the boards, no problem. The lower the boards the sooner they scrape.The tires can handle and hold no problem. I wouldn't recommend a new rider trying though

The key is to corner without scraping your boards ......

[Cimco]

Try leaning with slow speed manuvers in a non-traffic area first.

Cruisers aren't really meant to be ridden aggressively.
Pleez be very careful.

jim

[Clint]

It only takes a very mild lean to scrape floorboards on a cruiser. If you "lose it" while doing so, you're doing something terribly wrong.

[Ext1jdh]

I, for one, can lean an M50 completely parallel to the road. Whether or not I can continue riding it is another matter.

[Clint]

Drag your bike - Surviving the Streets - Motorcycle Cruiser

[DrBob]

Your Vulcan will lean well past the point of scraping the floorboards before the tires slip out from under you.

[jimbob]

I ride a sport bike and not a cruiser, so insert standard disclaimer here.

Your tires, unless they're bad, will hold far more lean angle than you expect. Many cruisers have very little lean angle before they start scraping the floorboards; to the tires, they're barely leaned over at all. I've had sport touring tires on my bike (I've currently got much more aggressive rubber on it), and even with those you can get pretty silly lean angles (scraping footpegs level, which I don't recommend), so the comparatively mild lean angles needed on a cruiser to scrape floorboards is generally well within the capabilities of a reasonable set of tires.

[battypup]

Thanks to all. As I first stated I am no where near to trying this manuver. I was just curious as to how mush lean the tires could handle.

[Clint]

You must not be turning at all, then. I've seen floorboards scrape leaving a parking lot.

[Cimco]

My bike is two inches lower than stock.

I scrape the little nubs under the foot boards all the time.
Once the sound doesn't scare you, you'll do it quite often.

I get pretty close to touching the MC bars on the ground.
Probably leaning 30 maybe 34 degrees around corners.

[peter-reebok]

I am on the second set of the sliders that go on the end of the footpegs, on my M50.

But now I have learned to corner properly with my bodyweight, I don't drag the footpegs any where near as often!.

Tip No 1. get Titanium sliders, they spark up in the dark. You can have so much fun on roundabouts at night!

[battypup]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

You must not be turning at all, then. I've seen floorboards scrape leaving a parking lot.

What turning are you crazy. This month is straight lines. July is left turns then if all goes well August is right turns.
Lets take it slow folks.

[hammersfan]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

You must not be turning at all, then. I've seen floorboards scrape leaving a parking lot.

I don't know about other bikes but mine scrapes easier on the slow turns than high speed bends. I can get mine leaning at some pretty serious angles when go at a good rate and without scraping the pegs then [i] will scrape just going slowly around a bend on my residential street.

[hammersfan]

I ride with a guy who is a pretty big dude to say the least and he rides a Harley Road Glide very hard on the twisties.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by battypup

What turning are you crazy. This month is straight lines. July is left turns then if all goes well August is right turns.
Lets take it slow folks.

ROFL!

[Clint]

Originally Posted by hammersfan

I don't know about other bikes but mine scrapes easier on the slow turns than high speed bends. I can get mine leaning at some pretty serious angles when go at a good rate and without scraping the pegs then [i] will scrape just going slowly around a bend on my residential street.

Ooh... a physics discussion!

Lean angle is a function of g-forces, which result from speed and turn rate. A particular angle results in the same g-force, regardless of speed. Could it be that you're more comfortable leaning at low speed? Might you be prone to leaning outside the turn at low speed (correct technique, btw)? The only other factor is throttle, which tends to raise the suspension. Assuming you're cornering properly at higher speeds, with the throttle slightly open, you should have more clearance.

[intimid8er]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

You must not be turning at all, then. I've seen floorboards scrape leaving a parking lot.

I'd scrape the M50 from a dead stop. No kidding.

Easy. Ninety degree turns from a dead stop, and turns on a dime were a breeze.

Come to a complete stop. Balance with feet on the pegs. Turn the wheel the direction you want to go, allow the bike to "fall" into the turn. Let the clutch out, apply throttle, shift weight to the outside, ride it out and have fun.

battypup

You'll scrape. Scrape hard you will. But it's something you need to learn and get used to. Lord forbid the day you overcook a turn, you scrape the peg, and freak out because you're not used to the feeling of the vibrations or the sound. This in turn causes you to completely f.u.b.a.r. the corner and........(fill in the rest of the story here.)

[Cajundude]

Not that I like replacing pegs/boards, but isn't that why they sell 'replacement' parts? My VTX will scrape occassionally, but this weekend's miles in the serious twisties of East Tennessee were wild - and no, not the dragon...far better and few if anyone else out there! I watched a Goldwing grind a figure 8 out in the parking lot once - cruisers can get down! - but he was a MSF instructor who could do it on the little 250's too.

Sorry - back to the topic - you do what you feel comfortable with...if you're regularly grinding, look into your speeds and leans - have someone snap a photo of you doing a corner...then you'll know the quickest way to enjoy it, or take corrective action to eliminate the grind (or just stock up on spare skidplates!)

[hammersfan]

Originally Posted by RowdyRed94

Ooh... a physics discussion!

Lean angle is a function of g-forces, which result from speed and turn rate. A particular angle results in the same g-force, regardless of speed. Could it be that you're more comfortable leaning at low speed? Might you be prone to leaning outside the turn at low speed (correct technique, btw)? The only other factor is throttle, which tends to raise the suspension. Assuming you're cornering properly at higher speeds, with the throttle slightly open, you should have more clearance.

Quite to the contary, I feel much more comfortable taking a sweeper at 140kph than at 30 kph. As you say and also what I have read before , the throttle does raise the suspension giving more clearance, this is why I scrape more going slow around bends. This is not to say I have never scraped the pegs at higher speeds. According to a riding buddy of mine my side stand is what scrapes first on my bike.