I don't know why JWR and all you are taking such offense at what Easy said about body position, body lean, and bike lean. I'm not here trying to defend him, after all he pisses me off too once in a while, but I think in this instance he was trying to offer constructive criticism or actual instruction, on the correct way to take a turn. Opinions and assholes? Where do you get that from and where do you fit in? Why can't you stand to learn something?
It's not about weight and ground clearance.
The forces that come into play around a turn include centrifugal, centripetal, friction of tires on the road, gravity, the mass of the bike and rider, and the speed, and they all have to be balanced to stay upright and on the correct course or path around the turn. The bike has a better grip on the road surface when it is upright, and the more upright it can be around the turn, the faster and safer you can be. By leaning your body into the turn, the bike itself can be more upright. Leaning your body towards the outside of the turn by trying to keep IT upright, makes the bike have to lean over more. That makes it more prone to slide out, especially if you run over oil, gravel, wet spot, other shit in the road. etc. It's all about where the center of gravity is.
The pegs are designed to hinge and raise up if you hit the road - why do you think that is? If you hit a peg wrong it can lift the rear wheel off the road and you will leave a lot of skin and paint on the asphalt. You can ride the way you want, or you can do it the right way and be a little safer as well as faster if you do it the correct way. It's written in all the instructional books, it's all over the internet, but you do whatever you want and then don't make up an excuse if something goes wrong. Hitting a peg on this or any other cruiser bike probably means your body position was incorrect and should not be looked at as something macho. It's a warning. Watch the high speed racers on the track - they have their whole body leaned over to try and keep the bike leaning less, for traction around the turn. They may scrape a knee but never any part of the bike, and I know it's a different kind of bike. They move the center of gravity inside with their body lean instead of with the bike lean.
Your Head and NECK should be vertical, your BODY should be leaned into the turn, especially at higher speeds, to keep the bike more upright and have better traction on the road.
And Alan - same thing. Don't take this too as a criticism, just friendly advice. Riding 70mph on a rough surface road and aggressively leaning the bike more?
You should be leaning your body into the turn more and trying and keep the bike more upright, 'cause you are aware of what can happen when you lose traction on the tires. It's obviously going to lean around the turn, but maybe a few degrees less if you lean your body mass to the inside of the turn, thereby having a better grip on the road.
And Moedad, the slow speed tight turn is not even close to what we are talking about here. You are shifting your weight to the outside in that instance to keep
balance and keep the bike from falling over with the wheel at full lock, and using the back brake to keep the bike up. This is with wheel or handlebar steering, not with the countersteering at speed, and there is no problem with losing traction on the road doing a low speed 2-3mph tight turn. This is a totally different situation. The bike has to lean with the wheel at full lock, it will never be upright.
Now you can all crap on me too.
