Enduro Bike?

[ThrottleControl]

Some info before I ask my question...

 

-I haven't taken the school yet. No school in Hawaii. =(

 

-I've read TOTW I a million times it seems, and I've watched the TOTW II dvd so many times I can listen to the audio and visualize the images. =)

 

-I've crashed(lowside) once in 5 years of riding and it was because I added lean and throttle at the same time. Pain gives you memory never to do that again! =)

 

Moving on now to the science side...

 

I have a '94 XR650L now as my daily commuter, when before it was a Fireblade. I noticed that the "chicken" strips on the skinny 21in front tire has only a few mm's left from the edge, while the rear still has about an inch of un-used "street" riding rubber left. The tires are Avon Distanzia street rubber.

 

Am I close to the bike's limit? Will hanging off help even though there's no tank "cut-outs" to anchor with?

 

 

[faffi]

You are likely very far from the bike's limits. More than 15 years ago, MOTORRAD tested several tyres on a Suzuki DR800 Big. They literally ground the pegs completely away, and the tyres still stuck.

 

The primary reason you have less chicken strips on the front tyre compared to the rear is because of the extreme turning allowed by the front wheel/handlebars/triple clamps and the relatively chopperesque steering angle. You see the same thing on choppers for the same reason. If you look at the angle of the front wheel compared to that of the vertical rear wheel at full steering lock, you will see what I mean.

 

 

 

 

[Fajita Dave]

I have a '94 XR650L now as my daily commuter, when before it was a Fireblade. I noticed that the "chicken" strips on the skinny 21in front tire has only a few mm's left from the edge, while the rear still has about an inch of un-used "street" riding rubber left. The tires are Avon Distanzia street rubber.

 

Am I close to the bike's limit? Will hanging off help even though there's no tank "cut-outs" to anchor with?

 

 

 

Leaning off will help any any speed and any lean angle. From my understanding when you lean off all your doing is making your body weight pull the motorcycle to the ground. When gravity is trying to pull the bike to the ground more that forces the motorcycle to turn sharper (otherwise it would simply fall over). Thats why motorcycles turn sharper when you lean lower, they need to in order to stay upright. When you hang off the inside of the bike your basically leaning lower without actually leaning the bike lower. There will still be a point when the tires are going to run out of traction and depending on conditions that might even be before the tire gets to the edge. You'll probably be safe reaching the edge of the tire as long as you have smooth throttle control, a relaxed grip, and your not braking.

 

I'm not sure why your front tire is getting closer to the edge of the tire but the tire profiles can be drastically different on certain model tires. It might just be the way Avon designed the tires. I know getting a little over the edge is ok on the rear tire when its at a high temperature but I'd be extremely cautious about doing that on the front tire. It looks like they have a pretty good profile on them so you should have plenty of rubber to use without going over the edge if your body position is good.