I have a question about which riding style is best , and for whom it is for.
On street riding in the past I mainly rode upright or leaned back against my sleeping bag and simply leaned the bike into the corners and stayed upright in so doing.... you just leaned with the bike.
with the New to me Crotch rocket style it's more like lean your weight to the inside of the corner as much as you can...trying to keep the bike as vertical as you can while still leaning into the corner hard....
.....
personally I've never seen a crotch rocket rider ride like the latter on the street... ( like what's the point , right) but I have attempted to do the weight shift and lean into corners on the Ninja and i find it very unnerving....
and I have no doubt with me doing it, I am faster if I just lean the bike
but I'm wondering if you folks ride in a certain style
lets call it style A and style B....
regardless of the reason riding in town or on the freeway, lower speeds are something else entirely like turning real sharp into a 90 degree turn you dare not keep your body vertical like I first described it's more like counter weight shift at lower speeds, like U turns and the like you keep YOU in balance and maneuver the bike beneath you. if you loose your balance then your in a world of hurt.
I think for slower speeds everyone on the planet rides like that... even on bicycles... when I took my motorcycles driving test many decades ago in California they had me do a figure 8 at low speed 1st gear just above an idle
and that was unexpected to me but I pulled it off with no hitches at all... I got lucky I guess ! HAHAHAHA I asked the test giver what was the reason for the figure 8 ? and he said it shows that you know how to control the bike . and I laughed because I had never done a figure 8 on the pavement before ! ..... I said yes I can control the bike have no fear of that....
...i passed the test.... and I've never had to take that test again, and I have to wonder WHY NOT ? but anyway.....
My question is do you ride with your body locked to the balance of the bike
staying vertical in the seat ?
or do you ride hanging off the bike in the corners.... I mean for street riding guys you racing nuts always hang off the bike on the track.... but for street riding which do you draw the most pleasure from ?
.... I prefer style A it just feels safer to me .
Bob......

My question is do you ride with your body locked to the balance of the bike
staying vertical in the seat ? or do you ride hanging off the bike in the corners....

You don't have to choose one. If you're familiar with taking a corner at the extreme, where you have to hang off to avoid a hard scrape of something, then if you find yourself in an emergency situation that requires extreme cornering you can handle it.

And with a lowered 250 it would be even more important to know how to keep hard parts from scraping in an emergency.

Wow, if only they'd still require figure-8 test in CA, half of riders on streets now wouldn't have passed!!!

What feels more comfortable typically is what you're most familiar with. But this is not necessarily safest. As defined by how close to edge of crashing you are. You may want to practice technique that has larger margin of safety until you're comfortable with it.

In any given cornering situation, keeping bike more vertical by leaning your body will give you more in reserve. You'll have more clearance to increase lean-angle in case you need to change course mid-corner (tighten line). You'll have more tyre-traction in reserve.

One case I remember, coming around corner on Skyline at around 60mph. Halfway through, I hit some sand/dirt from runoff water. Because I had bike upright, front tyre slide sideways through the dirt. It did lean over another 5-10 degrees, but still well away from edge of tyre. If I had been in-line with bike it would've been leaned over much more and that extra 5-10 degrees would've taken me down for sure!

One case I remember, coming around corner on Skyline at around 60mph. Halfway through, I hit some sand/dirt from runoff water. Because I had bike upright, front tyre slide sideways through the dirt. It did lean over another 5-10 degrees, but still well away from edge of tyre. If I had been in-line with bike it would've been leaned over much more and that extra 5-10 degrees would've taken me down for sure!

that would surely have been a wake up call ! I see your point !
I suppose a well rounded rider should have all the styles under his belt to ride
safely...
so you can use everything at your disposal....
One time on the freeway coming back to the ranch as a young man, I passed an 18 wheeler and I was doing at least 70mph on the 305 dream... I pulled back in the right lane infront of the slower diecel and just at that moment the rear tire went flat.... all at once.... the bike turned sideways and then swapped to the other side and was like there was nothing but ice in the back.... I used every ounce of skill I had just to keep the bike vertical and
I hurd the diecel hit his jake brakes so I knew he was slowing down... but they don't slow down fast ! .... I inched that slippery thing to the right side of the road and stopped and the diecel tooted his horn and accelerated on by
as if to say Nice save buddy ! .... I rode the bike home on the flat from about 8 miles away from home... that was an ordeal ! but I made it....
I didn't care about saving that tire anyway... any tire that soft and loose and floppy shouldn't be on a bike anyway ! LOL
.... funny thing was I never did hit either brake.... I just coasted to a stop
I knew if I hit the front brake the ass would pass the front !
.....
that was an early Pirelli MT 53 a tire I loved, but the early tires had real thin side walls.... and were a hazard... the next Pirelli MT 53 I got had much thicker side walls .... ( i guess they saw the error of their ways LOL)
....
Bob........

I generally hang off a little in the corners in the canyons. In-town, I will stay in line with the bike. No fast corners in city riding. :)

Caligirl ! That is my conclusion also but I am finding there really isn't a need to hang off at normal speeds.... the bike wants to corner so well that it will do it anyway... LOL.... if I start touching footpegs ever again I guess I will start moving my butt ! HAHAHAHAH
Bob......

Caligirl ! That is my conclusion also but I am finding there really isn't a need to hang off at normal speeds.... the bike wants to corner so well that it will do it anyway... LOL.... if I start touching footpegs ever again I guess I will start moving my butt ! HAHAHAHAH
Bob......

As long as your body is going with the bike while you are cornering and not leaning away from it (we call it being crossed up) you should be fine at normal street speeds.

You are correct that the reason riders hang off is to be able to keep the bike more verticle and lean it less which gives you more traction. However, at more conservative speeds, simply allowing your body to go with the bike and remaining centred and relaxed is just fine. Sometimes just dropping your head and upper body into the turn (not worrying about your butt) helps a ton too.

If you do notice that you seem to be riding on the edge of traction or that you are scraping pegs then yes, you absolutely need to start hanging off and adjusting your body position to reduce overall lean angle.

Also, just to be clear, just hanging your butt off won't necessarily help you -unless you are moving your upper body over to the inside as well- you could be leaning the bike over just as far as if you weren't hanging your butt off.

How would you best describe proper body position and hang off style?

:dancecool:

As long as your body is going with the bike while you are cornering and not leaning away from it (we call it being crossed up) you should be fine at normal street speeds.

This is really good advice. The amount we hang off (to the inside of the turn) should be proportional to our speed, and on public roads, I think we should stay pretty close to in line with the bike. That being said, I do hang off quite a bit for street riding, but it's more of the upper body/head hang-off than a full knee and elbow dragging sort of thing.

One bit of advice I got from someone was to treat the mirrors like goalposts, your head like a football, and miss as you navigate the turn. As the pace picks up, I get my shoulders and upper body into this too. I found as I consciously did this, I was keeping the bike much more up-right through my turns and increasing the width of my chicken strips, all while picking up my pace. Seemed win-win to me.

Well, how I would describe my body position in corners right now is a combination as I haven't really ridden enough to latch on to a method yet.
sense in the past I rode mostly just locked into the bike vertically and just stayed there through the whole ride, i find that changing , as my upper body is leaning into the corners more and more....
..... However I haven't taken the Ninja out in a good 2 weeks as it has turned quite cold and I don't like the cold anymore.... it never bothered me before but with the onset of Old age it bothers me alot now.... Arthritis and bursitis
and aches and pains are not worth the ride any more. much less pain to just take the car man ! LOL....
....
Bob.........

much less pain to just take the car man ! LOL....
....


Boredom is a type of pain. I prefer putting on my winter 1-piece riding suit and wearing my balaclava under my helmet to the boredom of driving a car.

heated gloves & grips
heated balaclava
heated vest
heated seat
heated underwear
heated socks

and a 2000watt generator on the back rack to power it all !
LOL:rotflmao:


Bob....

heated gloves & grips
heated balaclava
heated vest
heated seat
heated underwear
heated socks

TOASTY!!!:dancecool: