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Motorcycle Types
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April 15, 2010 at 9:30 pm #3877Jeff in KentuckyParticipant
The naked vs fairings and windshields vs cruisers vs tourers vs choppers vs scooters seems pretty obvious. Here are some more comparisons:
Dirt bikes-
A lighter weight bike is safer and less tiring and faster.
During an emergency stop, you use about 70% back tire braking and 30% front tire braking, and more back tire braking if the ground is more slippery.
During a fast turn, sliding the back tire on flat ground helps for all riders, flat track style, or putting both tires in a corner rut, motocross style.
A narrow, thin seat is better for balancing on obstacles and for cornering.
A taller bike gives you more ground clearance and more suspension travel for big obstacles. A trials bike has a tiny, low gas tank and lower gearing, for better balance.
Pavement bikes-
A heavier bike is more comfortable for long trips, but uses more fuel and does not corner as well.
At least 70% front tire braking will stop you the fastest- on a sportbike, you do maybe 80% front tire braking and 20% back tire braking to a little before the back tire lifts off the ground and it becomes 100% front tire braking, to stop the shortest distance in a straight line.
You only slide the back tire in a turn if you have expert abilities, for supermoto or hypermotard style drifting or powersliding on pavement.
A wider, thicker seat is more comfortable, but it reduces cornering ability.
A bigger gas tank allows you to go farther between gas stops.
Wider tires have more traction to stop faster in a straight line, but add weight and reduce cornering ability. Pavement track racers have a wide back tire with a triangular cross section, for more traction coming out of corners.
April 16, 2010 at 3:32 pm #25779TrialsRiderParticipantDirt:
A lighter weight bike is safer and less tiring and faster; totally ! : My slightly modified Suzuki TS185 Sierra was a very competitive ride in comparison to the stock TS250 Savage.
Myself, on enduro more like 50-50 braking and on my Montesa VA360 motocrosser, barely used the brakes, it was slide forward, engine brake, pitch her into a corner and then woo-hoo! accelerate out of the corner on the rear wheel The front wheel seldom touched the ground except coming into corners, …maybe I was just riding way faster Long cushy seat and long travel suspension. Tall most definitely, VA360 had 13 inches of ground clearance even with a big down pipe.
Trials mmmmm Trials, full body exercise machine ! Back up to 80% front brake, rear brake can be almost completely replaced with engine braking, …have even taken trophies after completely loosing my rear brake early in the event. First 3 gears are used mostly, rarely 4th. rumor has it there is a 5th. gear. Engine: low and mid range tractability, low center of gravity and the lightest motorcycle known to man. Seat is a sticker, but the fender is very comfortable, even though your knees are up in the air when you sit down. Fuel if you forget to bring any, you can borrow from me, they barely use the stuff.Street:
Agree with your comments, the biggest rush is to go fast, ( and go ahead and flame me for saying it …kinda boring once you ride Trials.Roadracer and Sidecar Racing: In a league of it’s own, I love the small displacement roadracers and would totally love to try (classic) sidecar racing.
April 16, 2010 at 3:48 pm #25780JackTradeParticipantGoing fast isn’t the biggest rush on the street, it’s executing that perfect turn at speed.
For me, there’s nothing better than roaring up to a turn, downshifting and braking before throwing the bike into it, increasing the throttle as I come up and out, all super-smooth. When I execute one perfectly, it’s an epihany of man and machine that feels wonderful. I can only imagine what it feels like on the track (I look forward to experiencing that one day).
April 16, 2010 at 4:54 pm #25781TrialsRiderParticipantI love when some dink like yesterday, flashes me to get out of the way, even when there are cars ahead of me ( I never tailgate ) Once the lane opens up I wave bye, bye and roll on the throttle apparently very few cars can get up to a buck 40
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