M1Combat

I would agree. The first thing I thought was that he should lower his upper body more. With him being a GP racer and I not... I can't say "He's doing it wrong" , but I would imagine that he probably is doing that for a specific reason. The first one that comes to mind is that he could lean his body over more and lift the bike at the same time to get it off the edge of the tire and get a better drive out. Keep in mind that the farther you lean a bike, the smaller the tire gets so the more RPM you need to maintain speed (Like leaning to the outside while driving a kart). More RPM equals more POTENTIAL HP so by keeping the bike at the maximum lean angle even though it may not particularly need it at that point is helping a few things... Namely exit drive and options for getting on the gas. Hayden does this very well now (he seemed to have picked it up at Laguna). You'll see him using a lot of lean angle mid corner and then remove bike lean angle while leaning his upper body far into the inside while getting on the gas. Apparently it helps to save tires as well (which is something Hayden has had trouble with).

"I've actually scraped my handle bar a couple of times." Really...

Uhhh, maybe you didn't read the initial post?

The initial counter steer "rips" the wheels out from under you as you know. When you stop adding lean angle (pushing on the inside bar), the steering head will return to equalibrium. Equalibrium will dictate that the steering head be pointed to the inside of the turn. Not straight.

" No...it is to use NO brakes; but applied with some common sense." Oh... sorry... I thought that's what I said. My bad.

What you describe seems a lot like the change that happens on my Buell after going from a clapped out set of Metzeler M1's to a new set. It doesn't exactly try to fall into the corner of it's own accord, but with the old ones it takes a bit of pressure on the inside bar to keep it leaned over. This is with tires that are used for some commuting and end up a little flat in the middle... I typically swap both my tires out at the same time. Because of this, the rear is typically more worn in the center than the front. replacing both brings the bike back to where the tires profiles match... Now... Extrapolating the detail that causes my Buell to require MORE effort when the rear gets a little flat in the center... Maybe your front has too flat of a profile compared to the rear? What are your tire pressures? What type of tyres? Did you recently change tire brand/model and not adjust for the difference in ride height?

For any of you that have ridden a Buell XB or at least have a decent understanding of the technology involved... What do you think? I'm mostly interested in feedback regarding the handling, brakes and geometry, but I'm sure some will feel the need to say that it's "underpowered"... That's OK . Thanks in advance.

I don't think the drill is to use NO brakes exactly, but to use them as little as possible. Yeah, get new tires...

Whistle - I'm mostly referring to the giant slalom version of skiing and mostly mid corner. Not specifically turn entry or exit as such, although they do tend to lead with the inside "bar" . WRT transition, "I" tend to throw the bike back and forth between my legs with my legs. When the bike is in the center, I tend to have both knees on the tank (errr, uh, the frame I suppose on a conventional type of bike ) when it's upright between corners and as I add lean angle I hang off. This is only for right/left flicks between two sharp corners. Coming into a corner from a straight I hang off before turn in. I try to hang off before I get on the brakes, but someimes that's not the way it goes so I hang off while braking. I try to exert as little pressure on the bike itself as I can, and mostly it's a combination of throwing myself to the inside while driving the bike to the outside. I'm probably not as smooth with it as I should be, but it "seems" to work .

Maybe you guys aren't accounting for centrifugal force? Riding a bike is like giant slalom (or that's how Lee Parks put it anyway). Which ski do they ride? The outside one. With one "G" of lateral force it would become difficult to put a large percentage of your weight on the inside peg alone. I tend to think that a lot of the support of your weight comes from the inner thigh of the outside leg. I tend to not have hardly any weight on the inside peg at all. Most seems to naturally be in the outside peg and just above my knee/inner thigh on the outside leg. I tend to ride with my head low/forward/inside... Typically to the point that I couldn't see over the tank (or in my case my airbox...) if I tried. Notice Rossi coming into corners... He sometimes doesn't even have his inside foot on the peg.

Thanks for the input. I'll pick up a set of springs .

I have a Buell XB12R. My suspension settings are a ways from stock. I lowered the front preload one notch a few weeks ago and since then I've found that my front tire will look "torn up" after a hard ride through my favorite section of twisty road. It's the sides as opposed to the center, but not all the way to the edge. I'm wondering if I should lower the rear preload (in an effort to rebalance the weight), raise the front tire pressure (maybe It's getting too hot?) or just raise the front pre-load back to where it was. I'm running Metzeler Sportec M1's, the pavement is pretty sharp on said road and I typically run somewhere around 35f/36r for pressure. It "seems" that I am sliding the front around the turns. Maybe I just need to get on the gas earlier and harder? The rear seems pretty planted so it feels like it would take it easily... Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.