| Author | Message | ||
     Okc99 |
Ok, I know almost all of you love the way you can take corners on the Uly, but after 7500 miles, I just can't get comfortable taking 25mph-marked turns. I'm curious if anyone else feels the bike is squirrely and hard to lean smoothly on tight corners? The best way I can desribe it is that I can't find a comfortable position on the bike to shift my weight and push on the inside handlebar. I have tried messing with the preload, suspension, and compression to minimal improvement. Am I the only one that has experienced this? | ||
| Tootal |
Sounds like tire pressures but after 7500 miles I doubt that is your problem unless you use the same gauge, all the time, and it's off a lot! What tires are you running? Steering head bearing too tight, too loose? As far as position, when I'm wicking it in the twisties I'm leaning into the corner and also forward as if that front tire slips your doing a face plant!! It's strange until you get use to it. Always keep your eye's level to keep your equilibrium. That's all I can think of off hand, other's will chime in I'm sure. | ||
| Teeps |
I have but two words: track day | ||
| Ourdee |
Let off the throttle prior to the turn. Bringing speed down to 22 mph. That gives you 3 mph that you can smoothly accelerate through the turn with. Bringing your exit speed to 25 mph. Look at your air box. Point your manhood at the center of it. If turning left stick your left knee out while putting your right knee into the side of the bike. Slide your hiney to the left an inch or two while keeping your manhood pointing at the center of the airbox. Scooting up to the airbox can help with control. Now keeping your right arm mainly straight, bend your left elbow leaning the top of your torso slightly. All this while looking at where you are going to exit the turn. Look through the turn not at the ground or the bike or the front tire...Look at where you want to wind up. Light push on the left bar and smooth acceleration all the way through the turn. It might sound silly but go take one of the three day beginner rider classes. I did and couldn't believe how much of the simple stuff I had forgotten over the years. EDIT: Sorry reverse for right handers (Message edited by ourdee on December 28, 2008) | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
Sounds like your tires are square. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
First problem: You are in Oklahoma. there are only two curves in the whole state.  (I just spent Christmas break in Joplin, MO) One thing that may help you is to concentrate on using your outside knee to hold onto the "tank". You will need to ride on the balls of your feet not with the peg in the instep. I tend to rotate my heel slightly outward locking my knee into the cut out behind the frame puck. You should be able to move your body without having to support yourself by your wrists on the handle bars. If you aren't doing that, you aren't "hugging the tank" with your knees and using your abs to support yourself. The Uly corners very well:  | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
I bet the front tire is cupped severely, and rear is squared off. My 12R was a scary evil handling SOB until I got good tires. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I've noticed that slow turns are opposite of fast turns. Fast turns, I hang off to the inside, countersteer, all that jazz. Pretty straightforward. Slow turns, I do the opposite. Ever see a "tabletop" on a BMX or MotoX? Same idea. I lift my weight off my butt and throw the *bike* into the turn, keeping my body in a relatively vertical position. My butt is on the upper side (outside of the turn) of the seat. "Hanging off" to the outside, if you will. Bodyweight on the outside (upper) peg and outside (upper) handgrip, ready to help lever the bike back up. Steering inputs to the inside/lower handgrip (more articulation there than the hand holding bodyweight), body positioning thru the knee (hooked on the low side of the frame) attached to the lower/inside footpeg. Steer *into* the turn at slow speeds; steer out afterwards to right the bike. Specifically, for a right turn: Hang off to the left, right knee against frame, butt on left side of the seat Drop right handlebar, right side of bike goes low, into turn, *under* your body, not *with* your body like a high-speed turn Steer right, into turn, with right hand Bodyweight spread between butt, left foot, left handgrip I've found this to work best for me - it gets the tires where they need to be lean-wise to make the turn, but doesn't put too much bodyweight to the inside, where - in a slow turn - you don't have momentum to keep you from toppling. Maybe this is part of the reason I never "missed" the "missing" steering range on my '06 Uly. Slow turns in this method let me make a U on a 2-lane road, no shoulders. This is probably *completely* wrong according to a manual somewhere....but it works for me. Same idea is what let me routinely put an inside footboard on the ground on my FLHP and scrape 20' circle after 20' circle. Or post pretty consistent top-five times in battletrax on the same FLHP. Now, more specifically to the original poster. What, particularly, do you feel that's keeping you from being 'smooth'? Is the bike wobbling? Is it weight placement? Steering input? Tire chatter? Or, is it all mental? If it's a bike characteristic, read and re-read the manual - it has a very good section on 'symptom X needs solution Y' as far as suspension adjustment. As noted above, make sure tire pressures are where they should be, tires aren't worn funky, and steering head bearings are torqued properly. If it's all mental...well, practice. Practice. Then, practice some more. It'll come. You just need to convince yourself that the bike can do it, and convince yourself to *let* it. Simple, huh?  | ||
| Ourdee |
Rat, I do that on what I consider real slow turns (leaning bike with me upright). Usually under 15 mph. | ||
| Ourdee |
OH oh ohKC99, Do you try pulling the clutch in, using the friction zone? | ||
| Skinstains |
How many bikes have you owned and what type were they ? You may not be used to riding an upright bike. When I got my first "sportbike" a 2003 XB9R, I was lost. I was leaning forward, the fairing didn't move when the bars did, it was wierd as Hell. Except for a few instances of riding borrowed "sportbikes" all of my experience has been with standards, dual-sport, choppers, dirt-bikes, and tourers. It took a bit of serious concentration to get used to it but now I can take turns on my XBR faster than my full knobbied DR 650. | ||
| M2nc |
When I first got the Uly I was unsure about its handling because the bike was too easy to turn in. I never could keep a line using too much turn in and the bike going to the inside of a corner too fast. It was a hard bike to get use to. The wide bars, advanced geometry, and seating position with minimal weight on your hands made pointing the Uly in the right direction a bit of a challenge for me. This was not the case for the M2. I felt at home on the M2 from the first time I rode it. This is what I found out. On the Uly like any XB, set up is critical. If the bike is too light and hard to keep on line, increase front preload or decrease rear preload. Also tire profile makes a big difference on the Uly. Though I find the Syncs to be a great tire for the Uly, the Stradas are not. The profile is too aggressive for me. A tire that really calms the Ulys reflexes is the Continental Road/Sport Attacks. The Sport Attacks stick like glue too. If your tires are too aggressive the bike is really light on turn in and that makes the bike a challenge to keep on line. The last thing I have found that helps is see time. The Uly is one of the best handling bikes out there. It is better than my M2 and better than my Honda. I have Dunlops on the bike now with a 170 rear. Talk about quick to change direction. I was turning the bike into corners today by leaning off the bike. I was barely giving the bars any input. With time and mileage, you get comfortable with the light controls and start to learn how to ride the bike. I've pushed the bike hard and it has not let me down. | ||
| Jlnance |
Ok, I know almost all of you love the way you can take corners on the Uly, but after 7500 miles, I just can't get comfortable taking 25mph-marked turns. How fast are you taking the 25mph marked turns? I find all my cornering issues are mental. Practice helps, particularly deliberate practice. The single biggest thing that helps me is making sure I'm looking at the correct spot. That's so simple that it's easy to overlook, but the effect is huge. When you're going through a turn, your neck should be turned and you should be looking a significant distance down the road past the turn. Note where they are all looking:  (Message edited by jlnance on December 29, 2008) | ||
| Hooper |
I think the tire wear comment was key. Okc99...I got your PM and will drop you a line (by the way, all - he moved to the DC area, so he's finally got some curvy roads to attack). I have been thinking the same thing...my Uly doesn't inspire the same level of cornering confidence it did a year or so ago. The answer has to be the front tire...mine is still the original Dunlop 616 - almost 11,000 miles with decent tread life. The rear is pretty new, but the front end - as you said - is kind of squirrely these days and it doesn't make me happy. I'd been wondering what the problem was too. I'm taking the bike in for its 10,000 mile service and will put a new front tire on it and see what that does. Either way, let's see how the weather is this upcoming weekend. | ||
| Ulynut |
Tires. Get the Diablo Stradas. | ||
| Ourdee |
Did the eighth guy back crash that day? Diablo Stradas are ok in the rain. They surprised me. | ||
| Davolous |
I thing the first thing to get used to it the fear of falling because your sitting up so high. After 7500 miles that’s probably not it: unless you putting a lot of time between rides. At 7500 miles my tires were over do to be replaced, and ware cause them not to have a non-circular shape. When I got new tire I about touched my knee to the ground with amazement on how much easier it was to flick in a turn. The ice melted for Christmas I finally got my bike out after yesterday (Sunday, Dec 28) it had sit for a long time. I had a couple slips in the corners, and I contribute them to one of the follow. 1. I was dumb enough to kick the tires instead of checking pressure. 2. Sitting for over a month may have had a slight temporary effect on my tire shape. 3. I lost 30lbs and did not have my bike loaded down with cargo. (I have found the softer the suspension is set the easier it is to corner). When it is off it can make the bike handle very poorly, the worst is if one side is stiff and the other is not. 4. After not riding for at least about 2 months I was rusty. (Message edited by Davolous on December 29, 2008) | ||
| Ratbuell |
Hooper - they're calling for a "wintry mix" this Friday, and continued crappy (at least at this point) thru the weekend. I'm just hoping to log some decent miles on new years day - *supposed* to be sunny, if a bit chilly.... | ||
| 4cammer |
See here: http://www.amazon.com/Sport-Riding-Techniques-Deve lop-Confidence/dp/1893618072 | ||
| Dentguy |
#56 in that pic looks like his eyes are looking out to his right.  | ||
| Mad_doctor |
I think all of the riders in the picture are looking at the back of a BLACK Uly. Just my .02 | ||
| Thetable |
Okc99, if your going to be headed back to that area, or anywhere close to me hit me up, I would like to follow you for a little bit and see what the bike is doing, or at least what you feel like it is doing. FTR, I was the red XT that stopped by on 33. | ||
| Danger_dave |
>>Am I the only one that has experienced this?<< Pretty much. | ||
| Khelton |
If it's really tight turns, which may not exist in Oklahoma, ride it like a Tard....up on the tank, foot out.. | ||
| Buelldyno_guy |
I think Ft_bstrd's pic proves it can be done and teeps track day suggestion would be the best suggestion for you to get there. I just finished the Buell Inside Pass day at Infineon of my 06 Uly with the 08 tipple clamp conversion. While I was there I had my suspension set up by a local vendor and low and behold, by the end of the day no "Chicken Strips" and I was dragging my right peg in the right hand turn 11. I never thought I could get it over that far. Good Luck Terry JT&S Performance | ||
| Dfishman |
If the dunlop is on there,I bet it is to blame.They don't wear well,and do weird things as the get cupped.Diablo Stradas replaced my stock dunlops & wear till the wear bars with good handling to the end. | ||
| Hmartin |
I guess you can tell we're still not sure what you mean by "squirrely and hard to lean smoothly". At lower speeds, even a new 17" front tire does not like to be turned into the pavement, which is probably what is happening; after turn-in, your center of gravity is no longer acting through the contact patch. The farther away that line of action gets from the point of reaction (contact patch), the more you depend on the rotational moment of inertia of the wheels to help you balance that couple. On a tall bike like the Uly, you tend to need more steering input if you don't have much rotational moment of inertia in the wheels to help you settle the bike at low speeds. Lots of steering input in a corner = not smooth. Riding MX style as Ratbuell mentions on low speed turns helps move your CG a little closer to the contact patch, reducing that couple and maximizing the use of what little angular momentum you have going for you at lower speeds. If you're inside the bike on a low speed turn, you'll feel like it's going to fall over on you; if you're over the bike, you'll feel more in control. No need to move your butt around if that's uncomfortable for you; just relax and let the bike do all the work. Too wordy? Of course, we're only talking about low-speed turns (2nd gear, moderate RPM). When riding like this, it's usually for turns that are so tight the speed isn't even marked. On most any of the curves worth speed marking, I find that the Uly settles in real nice at about twice the marked speed - in this particular case, around 45 or 50 mph. So, on a lighter note, maybe you're just not entering the corner fast enough! | ||
| Okc99 |
I think a combo of this advice should do some good. a new tire, a track day, and some magic dust. Does anyone know if there is going to be a Buell Inside Pass 09? Or DC-folk...are there any tracks any programs that focus specifically on cornering? I don't want to spend 3 Saturdays in a class room trying and trying to do U-turns or other beginner stuff. I just want a short, conside cornering/handling class. Any ideas? | ||
| Adrian_8 |
Buy the book suggested above..Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatch...That way you get correct technique and you can re-read it many times..I am sure it is not the "Bow...its the Indian"...I have seen guys buy $20K shotguns and can't outshoot a farm boy with his $250.00 pump gun from Walmart. The Buell will easily out-handle most riders abilities by a long shot. Read the book. | ||
| Thetable |
Or DC-folk...are there any tracks any programs that focus specifically on cornering? There are a few MSF ERC courses in the area, and I have never heard someone coming away from one saying that it was a waste of time. Check out DCSportbikes.net, although the site is full of squids and the like, there are also some good people on there, and fortunately the arses make no attempt to hide what they are. There are pretty decent people in the Track Daze forum who could give you far more info on what is available in that arena, but you are less than 2 hours away from Summit Point Raceway, and with the three tracks there now, there is almost always something going on. (Message edited by thetable on December 29, 2008) |
