Gun-shy or prudent?

I just purchased a new set of tires on my 6th gen and set about "scrubbing" the tires with some twists and some turns on a few of Arkansas' great roads. And what I noticed after about a 100 miles was that the "chicken strips" were gone on the right side of the tire, while I still had about a half-inch wide "chicken strip" on the left side. Which got me to thinking: why?

So here's what I think. In a right-hand turn, I have confidence. Even if I hit a decreasing radius turn, I can just add a little more countersteer and dive in and the turn is no problem. I trust my technique and I trust the tires to hold because I know I'm nowhere near the limits of the tires.

But with a left-hand turn, I just don't have the same confidence. And I think it's because I'm worried about another vehicle coming around the corner and drifting into my lane, which happens a little too often. So I'm going in slower and my lean angle isn't as severe. And of course, my body position has my head just hanging out there, seemingly out over the yellow lines, ready for decapitation by some SUV-driving soccer mom talking on her cellphone, or texting, or screaming at her brats. So even if I hit a hard left turn, I won't turn in as far with my lean angle. I'll bleed off some velocity and take the turn a little slower.

Has anyone else noticed this in their own riding style? Is this natural? Or am I just being too gun-shy?

Truthfully, I'm not worried about it. I'm still having a blast. But I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon.

Same problem happens in Australia, except for the other side of the tire!

Don't worry about it, just get out to a track day and all will be cured.   :biggrin:

Like Zoolander, I'm also not an ambiturner (on the street, at least, track is a different story).  But that's okay, staying away from traffic is the most important thing here.  It is not a contest to see who has the smallest chicken strips, and, in fact, the riders with the smallest chicken strips often aren't the best riders.

Try putting your left foot(balls) on the END of the peg while pointing the toe away from the bike, and taking the weight off the right peg.

I used to have a similar problem. But instead I was more comfortable going left!   :laughing6-hehe:

Obviously safety is the #1 concern here so I would call it "taking care of yourself"  instead of "gun shy" :biggrin:

If you can though, find a good road where you can see through the corners, left and right. Then, if they are clear of traffic, have at it! So long as I can see through the corners I can have some real fun on public roads :cheerleader:

cheers

Similar story here, but one factor for me is that my left knee pops and feels uncomfortable when I try to get that leg in the proper position.

[image: View Post]Monk, on 17 July 2011 - 06:25 PM, said:

Try putting your left foot(balls) on the END of the peg while pointing the toe away from the bike, and taking the weight off the right peg.

I would caution against that.  One chicken strip is preferable to having your balls on the END of the peg.

I have a corner on the way to work that lets me scrape the right peg at about 60mph with no oncomming lane.  Now, I have yet to find the equivilant for a left hand corner so currently I have no strip on the right side but still about 1/8" on the left side :(
-Drew

Howdy,

How you get into the corner is important. For safety, I enter blind lefts, most turns are blind where I live, as close as possible to the white line on the side of the road. It gives me a better sight line through the turn, so I am out of the way of on comming traffic, and have a better chance of seeing any gavel that might be in the lane, ect. Keep your turn in late and square off the corner, and blast out of the apex, and and chicken strips will soon be gone.
I confess that I keep about an eight of an inch of chicken bar on my rear tire when riding normally. I feel that if I drag my pegs everywhere I go, that sooner than later I will be throwing my beloved VFR away.
Hope this helps.

Mac

Semi-related - On scrubbing in new tires, I usually head to a local empty church parking lot for some figure 8s, a few practice rounds of tight left/right turns within a given set of parking spaces, and then a few panic stops which are easily measured by how many spaces it takes to come to a complete stop at 30/40/50 mph. Yes, 50 in a parking lot. Heck there's nobody around to hurt except myself. Well the last time I was doing this, a local sheriff's deputy thought I was a budding "stunta" and had a chat with me. Once I set him straight on my intentions he was cool but he was far from cool when he rolled in on me.

[image: View Post]Noobtastic14, on 25 September 2011 - 09:32 PM, said:

I have a corner on the way to work that lets me scrape the right peg at about 60mph with no oncomming lane.  Now, I have yet to find the equivilant for a left hand corner so currently I have no strip on the right side but still about 1/8" on the left side :(
-Drew



What about on the way home?? :tour:

unfortunately, the right hand bend is like a 270 degree off ramp loop and I cannot hit the same loop on the way back.  And on that note, all the exits in virginia are sweeping right hand loops but very rare to find a lefty.  I did however find a traffic circle that is fairly large running counter clockwise (left hand bend) so now I tap peg right side on the big loop on the way to work and tap the left side on the traffic circle coming home. :)  Neither of these have oncoming traffic and are on the safer side of corners I can touch a peg so I think I will keep this route up until the winter snow forces me inside.
-Drew