Dropped My Bike Last Weekend...

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by Minikin_Jo

I'm really not upset about my thread, to be honest. But just goes to prove my point that no one can say anything about the 250 in this forum without someone having something to say about it.

^^^ haha I just realized that made no sense at all. Oh well.

That's not necessarily true, the 250 has plenty of weak points and flaws and I don't think there is a soul on this forum that thinks no one has any reason to upgrade to a bigger bike. It's just that when people give false or innaccurate reasons for getting a larger bike they get called out. A new guy saying the 250 isn't fast enough for me will get flamed, but a new guy that says I can't ride this bike fast enough so I'm going to get a larger bike to make up for my lack of skill will not.

The difference is a person saying a capable machine is incapable rather the real truth, the rider is incapable.

Wanting more power is a perfectly good reason to upgrade, while saying the 250 is inadequate is a terrible reason.

If 250s weren't fast enough, why would capable experienced riders like Alex continue to ride (and buy) them?

If anyone says the 300 doesn't have enough power they are gna get slapped, just sayin

[ForceofWill]

Originally Posted by Minikin_Jo

@GreenNinja Yeah, something like that. I guess.

So, can someone direct me to the link(s) in this forum or YouTube video(s) to explain to me where experience and knowledge makes the 250 go faster?

Like, how much faster?
2hp?
50hp?

Since when does HP = speed? The point he's making is driver mod. I really don't understand how you both can't grasp that concept. It's the same thing with drag racing. Just because you can't make the car go fast enough, doesn't mean it's slow.

Do you think it's a wise decision for you to buy a 2012 Mustang GT, get pissed when you cut 15 second passes in it, then go buy a 2013 GT500 Super Snake because you think your previous car is too slow?

Maybe, just maybe, it's you as the rider/driver.

[Minikin_Jo]

You're absolutely right - I do not understand at all why the driver/rider has anything to do with the bike's performance. If you put a professional Nascar driver behind the wheel of my Chevy Cruz Eco it's not going to make my car faster.

And I was totally being sarcastic asking about the HP. Sorry that went over your head.

To tell me, or anyone else, that I am not an experienced enough driver or I'm not driving my car correctly and that's why my car isn't fast enough, makes absolutely NO sense to me whatsoever. My car will perform as good as I can make it perform, but it does have its limits. Just like my bike will perform as good as I make it, but it does have its limits.

And I'd like to point out that @ryan.chin said the bike wasn't fast enough for him. Not the bike wasn't fast enough.

I love my 250. I think it's perfect for me. I like the way I feel and fit when I'm on it. I do wish it had fuel injection, and I do wish it had a little more pep - especially when I go in a straight line. Because to be honest, I only do twisties maybe once in a blue moon. Majority of the time I'm on streets that are basically straight, so "flying through the twisties" doesn't matter...and those straight line bikes that cannot do the twisties DO catch up as soon as the curve straightens out.

[Panda]

If you were with Old Lemon I think you get a pass on the drop. You probably had to lay'er down.

[Old Lemon]

Sometimes, you just gotta lay er down

[Minikin_Jo]

Haha I didn't even think of that! I'm surprised he didn't call that out to me as I went down.

I only remember hearing him say, "....I didn't wear my GoPro!!!"

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Minikin_Jo

You're absolutely right - I do not understand at all why the driver/rider has anything to do with the bike's performance. If you put a professional Nascar driver behind the wheel of my Chevy Cruz Eco it's not going to make my car faster.

That's the crux of the entire discussion. What makes motorcycles so enjoyable is that their performance limits on everything that makes them fun, are 80% rider / 20% bike. For cars, that is flipped on its head, and things are much closer to 20% driver / 80% bike. It's why inexpensive motorcycles can be so much more fun than some of the most expensive performance cars. It's why motorcycle racing can be so much more interesting to watch than Formula 1. The rider does define a motorcycle's performance to such an extent, that if they are whining about the performance of their bike, in anything other than a top speed contest, they are outing themselves as newbies about as loudly as can be done.

Originally Posted by Old Lemon

Sometimes, you just gotta lay er down

[Ninja-KID]

Yeah, I know that feeling when you first know you are about to drop the bike and theres nothing you could do to save it. When I was in neutral, out of no where I lost my balance and the bike started leaning to the right. I tried to hold it up, but I know it was going down. But I did let it down on the floor slowly and not just let it go where it would have more of an abrupt impact. From then on, I never dropped it.

[Bigballsofpaint]

All of my drops have been while the bike was at rest, id rather it stay that way too. When i first dropped in on the pavement i had flush mount blinkers though so i had maybe 2 scrapes on my fairing, so i cant complain, its not noticeable. I too have a set of frame sliders, but they have been sitting in my garage on a shelf for over a year, maybe ill put them on this winter haha.

Hopefully like your husband said, if this is when your gonna go down, its a good time and hopefully the worst that happens!

[CThunder-blue]

Originally Posted by Bigballsofpaint

Hopefully like your husband said, if this is when your gonna go down, its a good time and hopefully the worst that happens!

Are we still talking about motorcycles?

[akcalhoun]

Originally Posted by Old Lemon

Sometimes, you just gotta lay er down

LOL!

[Miles_Prower]

guess I missed the riot, that happened to me at Penn State too. "WAIT!? THERE WAS A RIOT?! WITH MACE!? "

[ecsiders]

Back to the topic... I dropped my wifes 250 4+ inches. She's 5'1" and can touch perfectly. Even on a slight downhill slant she can touch and feels comfortable. Maybe you need to lower your seat height more??? She hasn't dropped the bike yet but if you get passed that tipping point there's no bringing it back with one leg... Glad the bike and you aren't hurt too much. Good luck with the frame sliders. I bought some pucks to put on my wifes bike but they didn't fit correctly so I have to find something else.

[Minikin_Jo]

I'm also 5'1 and the 4" probably would have been perfect.

I don't know where the number for 2" lowering came from...either my husband asked them to do that much or the dealer just did it. I wasn't very involved in the purchase of the bike since I didn't buy it. I just picked it out.

[GreenNinja]

Originally Posted by ecsiders

Back to the topic... I dropped my wifes 250 4+ inches. She's 5'1" and can touch perfectly. Even on a slight downhill slant she can touch and feels comfortable. Maybe you need to lower your seat height more??? She hasn't dropped the bike yet but if you get passed that tipping point there's no bringing it back with one leg... Glad the bike and you aren't hurt too much. Good luck with the frame sliders. I bought some pucks to put on my wifes bike but they didn't fit correctly so I have to find something else.

I lowered mine by 1 inch and I scraped the pegs one day while taking a sharp turn. 4 inches isn't too much?

[lgk]

Originally Posted by GreenNinja

I lowered mine by 1 inch and I scraped the pegs one day while taking a sharp turn. 4 inches isn't too much?

4 inches seems impossible... if i remember right the lower link and oil pan is only 5-6inches off the ground.
your ground clearance will start to become the main issue once you hit bumps and put weight onto the suspension.

[Minikin_Jo]

Originally Posted by GreenNinja

I lowered mine by 1 inch and I scraped the pegs one day while taking a sharp turn. 4 inches isn't too much?

I have experienced this with mine being 2" lowered.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by ecsiders

Back to the topic... I dropped my wifes 250 4+ inches.

How is this possible? Doesn't the rear tire interfere with the undertail area on the smallest of bumps? People are scraping it with 2" drops.

[lgk]

Originally Posted by Alex

How is this possible? Doesn't the rear tire interfere with the undertail area on the smallest of bumps? People are scraping it with 2" drops.

maybe they stretched the swingarm, but even then the bodywork, links and oil pan will hit the ground.

[Minikin_Jo]

I haven't experienced my tire hitting my undertail.

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by Minikin_Jo

I haven't experienced my tire hitting my undertail.

[Stingray1000]

Originally Posted by Minikin_Jo

You're absolutely right - I do not understand at all why the driver/rider has anything to do with the bike's performance. If you put a professional Nascar driver behind the wheel of my Chevy Cruz Eco it's not going to make my car faster.

And I was totally being sarcastic asking about the HP. Sorry that went over your head.

To tell me, or anyone else, that I am not an experienced enough driver or I'm not driving my car correctly and that's why my car isn't fast enough, makes absolutely NO sense to me whatsoever. My car will perform as good as I can make it perform, but it does have its limits. Just like my bike will perform as good as I make it, but it does have its limits.

And I'd like to point out that @ryan.chin said the bike wasn't fast enough for him. Not the bike wasn't fast enough.

I love my 250. I think it's perfect for me. I like the way I feel and fit when I'm on it. I do wish it had fuel injection, and I do wish it had a little more pep - especially when I go in a straight line. Because to be honest, I only do twisties maybe once in a blue moon. Majority of the time I'm on streets that are basically straight, so "flying through the twisties" doesn't matter...and those straight line bikes that cannot do the twisties DO catch up as soon as the curve straightens out.

Did you watch twist of the wrist II? It explains a lot about how much the rider has control of tge performance other the bike.... even speed.... around turns anyways....

[akima]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

LMAO! Love that film.

[csmith12]

So did you find a seat that is lower or are you gunna have to go with a custom shaved seat? Have you thought about boots with thicker soles? Easy way to gain 3/4ths inch.

[Talonne]

Get those frame sliders on the moment they arrive.

I'm a fellow shorty and both my drops have been from a standstill. Sliders saved my fairings.

I haven't lowered mine because I don't want to affect the handling, so I wear boots with thicker soles. The problem there though is that they are not proper bike boots... but it's an option.

[alex.s]

you guys crack me up so much!

the other day (i think it was last friday? maybe thursday.) i was riding home from work at lunch time (it was actually a very late lunch, closer to 2pm)... my normal route is through high visibility twisties with a speed limit of 45, average passenger cars and trucks take it safely at about 60-65 with no issue... if its empty i take it wide open which turns out to be about 95 according to lidar. me and the sheriff got to talking when he saw my race entry sticker. asked lots of questions about how long i'd been riding and how often i go to the track... he mentioned that i should put my speedometer back on as he gave me my information back. he was such a nice guy! so courteous too!

[alex.s]

also, unless its a hard tail i doubt you would be able to drop it 4"

well... maybe that's 4" on that ruler you use to measure your man-stuff with... i've heard those rulers are up to interpretation.

[Minikin_Jo]

Originally Posted by Talonne

Get those frame sliders on the moment they arrive.

I'm a fellow shorty and both my drops have been from a standstill. Sliders saved my fairings.

I haven't lowered mine because I don't want to affect the handling, so I wear boots with thicker soles. The problem there though is that they are not proper bike boots... but it's an option.

I have heard people tell me not to lower a bike because it affects the handling. But can you describe specifically what this means and what the difference is between riding a lowered bike and stock height? My bike was lowered before I brought it home. I have no other bike to compare it to, but I will say that I do not feel like I am missing out on anything, or unable to do anything other riders do, just because my bike is lowered. I personally think it makes no difference at all, other than give me more confidence because I can touch the ground. So I'm curious what I'm missing out on.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Jiggles]

^ You can't lean the bike as far anymore

Link to original page on YouTube.

Five guys!? YUM

[Minikin_Jo]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

^ You can't lean the bike as much

Well that makes sense. That was the only thing I could think of but I wasn't really sure what people meant by handling because no one has said so when they bring it up. Only once did I scrape shoe on a hard lean, but otherwise I certainly don't feel there's so much of a difference like my bike isn't fun or something. Lol

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by Minikin_Jo

I have heard people tell me not to lower a bike because it affects the handling.

It will affect how the bike feels during turn-in if you lower one end more than the other, because that affects the angle that the forks make with the ground.

For instance, lowering just the front makes the bike turn in quicker, but potentially squirrely at speed if lowered too much.

Lowering just the rear makes the bike slower to turn in, but more stable at speed.

If you lower both ends equally, the bike will handle the same as before, but like jiggles said, it will have less ground clearance and will drag things with less lean.

[Minikin_Jo]

Thanks for the explaination...so it sounds like if it isn't lowered correctly is where you run into handling problems...to me, not being able to lean too far doesn't sound like a handling problem. But maybe that's just my opinion. When someone says "lowered bike" I just assume front and back is lowered the same so that the bike performs well.

[choneofakind]

haha I've seen a bunch of bikes on CL with the nose in the air and the tail practically on the rear wheel

[GreenNinja]

Probably because many people don't know how to lower the front or they didn't know it needed to be lowered. Lowering the front wasn't a simple swap out like the back was. Those hydraulics push back once you loosen the bolts on the front which can and will screw you over.

[Jiggles]

Oh, also, lowering the rear will cause the rear wheel to hit and eventually eat through that bottom undertail fairing.