Motorcycle Cannonball 2012

[henzilla]

It would be interesting to explore the limits of lean angle and speed with and without advanced techniques applied. This could be done a disposeable relic of a vintage bike,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,A brand new Sportster!

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Lost my sip of coffee on that one

[darrylri]

Darryl, I have a few qustions about the 10 seconds if you're up to it. How much faster were you going than you think you should have been going?

No problem. I would suppose I was doing between 25-30mph, pretty much the sweet spot for 2nd gear. The turn was a slightly downhill, fairly flat, left hander.

The day before we had come over US-199 from Grants Pass, OR to Fortuna, CA, which is also a really nice, twisty road, and had negotiated it without touching down anything. So, I felt like I knew how far over I could safely go.

I think that if I had been 5mph slower, things would have been fine.

The flat turn required more effective lean angle than I had available. I picked my turn in, and countersteered into it... and hit the floorboard before I got to my angle.

Do you think that you might have made that turn with that bike at that speed if your line and body position were different?

It's possible. I wasn't hanging off, because I hadn't needed to do that before, and I didn't feel like I was that close to the limit. I once traded with a friend who rode a Harley FLH, and I was scraping the (folding) floorboards at slow speeds going around normal residential block corners. I later noticed that my friend hung off a bit to prevent that.

I hope your stay in the hurt locker is short and the bike comes though none too worse for her adventure. I was at the start and watched you leave.

Thanks!