Scraping the floorboards, do you?

[Top Cat]

In another thread, scraping the boards came up.
I can honestly say I have never scraped the boards on the Nomad. Well, not riding it anyway ;) I did scrape them when I fell over a couple time at a standstill :-[ But lets not go there
Anyway, I was wondering how many of you scrape the boards on a regular basis. I'm sure Dan will be one.

[ccmjr77]

I have only 1 time.

[misunderstood]

Have a few times on the Dragon. Did a lot more on my C50 Boulevard.

[schoeney]

I scraped them alot in the MSF course but I can only remember once since then.

[classic1]

Yeah, a couple of times.

not very often but on occasion i have, everytime I have it really suprised me though

[bomadgary]

Done both sides a couple of times. First time surprised the stinky stuff outta me and exacted a comment from my wife who was on the passenger seat.

[scion0]

Originally Posted by wolfman

not very often but on occasion i have, everytime I have it really suprised me though

Not sure if the word, "surprised" would be the right word. Scared the @#$!% out of me ... then yes maybe.

[kenb]

I have one time so far. Was not expected. Did exactly what I shouldn't have done. Luckily, no damage except for my pride. Next time I will know what is happening and to stay the course.

The first time I scraped it was in the Harley Davidson skilled riders course. There was a big sweeping curve in the open parking lot they wanted us to take in 2nd gear. Everyone was going through it at a snails pace and I said hell, I'm going through it as fast as the instructor did and then the beautiful sound happened. The instructors floorboards were as thin as paper and razor sharp from scraping so much. My friend who used to own a V2K who now owns a harley says its easier to scrape with the harley. In reference to the other thread I'm sure bob is more agressive than I am. In my oppinion most curves can be taken at a speed that is still plenty fast that doesn't require scraping. I don't enjoy flying around blind corners - even not scraping can be too fast to avoid a hazzard around the bend that you can't see in my oppinion. Theres a road here called the Alpine Loop that is extremely narrow and there are no painted lines and tons of blind corners. I rode it last weekend with my wife and I never scraped in any turn. The road makes me nervous because cagers usualy drive down the middle of the road. I'm sure dan Lund loves that road and scrapes on some of the curves, I'm a little more conservative. I think it is good to push the envelope sometimes especially in a controlled enviornment to see what the bike can do and to increase your riding skills. This sounds really wierd but I did a mental experiment once while riding. I pictured my tires totally covered in oil as I was going through some curves I got really nervous even when the bike was hardley leaned over. I then pictured having the best grip in the world and I was able to lean the bike over a lot more with no fear at all. The mind is an amazing tool. If you ever take a riding course, bring all your gear and leave your fears at home and throw caution to the wind and you be amazed at what you and the bike can do. In parking lot practice my biggest fear is dropping the bike (even though I know nothing will happen to it) That fear still kreeps up on me sometimes even though I know better. If I haven't ridden in a while and I start getting nervous in some twisties I just remind myself that the bike CANNOT fall over in a turn and even if it could me getting nervous about it won't prevent it anyway. I enjoy the freeway speed sweepers more so than the tight technical riding but to each their own

[bosko]

I srape mine nearly everytime I go for a ride. Been thinking of getting titanium footpeg feelers that give off sparks for more dramatic effect. ;)

[bosko]

I don't dare scrape the floorboards when riding 2up. It hurts too much.

[dantama]

This isn't a recommendation for everyone else, it's just me and my nature.

I scrape the right board almost every time I get on the freeway. Here's a google map picture. I almost always scrape right before the white van in the picture.



It's a pretty casual on ramp, and I have to back off and let traffic get ahead of me in order to go fast enough to do it.




It's not wise to be scraping your boards, because not too far past that point you could be levering your rear tire off the ground. My wife hates that sound too, so I try to never do it with her on board.

Out on my own, I scrape all the time. On occasion, a corner gets read wrong (ask Ells :) ) and it takes some kind of drastic measure, but that is extremely rare. I usually have a very good read of the terrain; how power lines are running, how the hill above the curves is coming down, and how fast the trees disappear where the hills intersect, etc.

I almost always get it right and can take all but about 3 corners so far in Colorado at double the posted warning sign for the curve. There is one particular curve that I first went through with my wife, I was going slower than usual with her on the back, and lightly scraped; didn't mean to. The next time, I was aware that it was deceptive, and still scraped harder than I was meaning to. So there are some corners that can be very deceptive. They would be prime lever the wheel off the ground corners.

Safest and wisest is to never scrape unless it's parking lot practice. A perfectly done corner (nothing to do with wise) gets scraped through the apex. If you're not scraping, you could have done the corner faster. Unless someone is trying to run you down from behind and kill you, or you are outrunning a dam break.....there is simply no good reason to be taking corners that fast.

Wise and what makes life enjoyable are unfortunately two different things.

[rewindgy]

Only after I get off my KLR or GS650! Then I forget how little the lean angle is and I get that sound! It used to be worse when I have the 88 Venture then would go to the Drifter and it would almost drag imediately!

[roadman]

I never have on the nomad but i did when i had the VTX....ALWAYS SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME