Motorcycle Lean Angle & “Chicken Strips”

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 at 10:01 pm by angrybob

I’m going to rip this off from the Aprilia Forum because the opening comment to a thread titled “Chicken Strips, Some or None?” is a worthy discussion to have.

Is any amount of chicken strips acceptable on a bike thats ridden on street only? Pretty new to sport bike riding and still have about 1/2 of virgin tire showing. At Lee parks school of cornering I was told that I had 6 inches to touch down with knee. Just 900 miles on the bike and could not relax enough to make it happen in that one 6 hour lesson. Also right side showing little less wear. Sissy or not?

The first thing that comes to mind is “AHHHHH!”.  No really…I think back to when I got my first sport bike, and I was really concerned about what others thought.  I’m not sure if its due to image (on a fast bike…therefore I must be fast), peer pressure, inexperience or what but I think its pretty common to new riders on sport bikes.  Well, it was in my case.  In fact, it wasn’t until after I stopped racing that I learned to be humble and quiet in the pits.

HINT: There is always someone faster than you unless your first name is Valentino…and even he gets beat every now and then!

A couple thoughts on the opening comment:

  • BRAVO! for taking a riding course as an admitted newb.
  • I don’t know the answer to this, but I see a big problem with Lee Park’s School of Cornering wanting / allowing a new rider to even think about touching the knee down.  Disclaimer:  It is hard to draw a solid conclusion, but it sure seems like the discussion occurred.  Methinks the instructors should know the seat time that the students have and go from there.
  • This guy is too worried about the “show” and not enough so about the “go” part of riding.
  • I hate to disappoint, but not many “streets” in the US are banked enough for knee-dragging (Deal’s Gap is definitely one exception).
  • …and so on

It was interesting to read the responses.  For the most part, this kind of thread is not too common in the Aprilia world.  Let’s face it, the brand and new bike price simply cannot compete with a Japanese 600cc “starter” sport bike.  Second, the Aprilia crowd is more of a gentlemen’s club than say the gixxer.com crowd.  Needless to say, some of the responses were like telling a beemer crowd that Aerostich sucks.

After a little ridicule, some good advice started rolling in about hanging off the bike and about chicken strips.  I was glad to see the number of folks that stated “who cares!”.  The guys who measure the chicken strips - that is the amount of virgin rubber left on the edges of the tires - are the same guys who take belt sanders to their knee-pucks.  My suggestion was to simply focus on comfort and confidence and the chicken strips will go away on thier own.

Contest - who can come up with the best replacement phrase / acronym for chicken strips?  Heh - the phrase itself is part of the problem when facing younger testosterone-filled newbies.

Check out this nugget that was posted.  Pretty techie - pretty cool:

kneedragging.jpg

 

Yeah, the text is tough to read (since I suck at typing, it would be much appreciated if someone could post the text as a comment ;) ), but the visual is good.  Notice how the rider is really NOT hanging off the bike much beyond the lean angle.  Nothing looks more silly than a guy hanging off of an upright bike in a turn…as he is getting passed. 

I’ll say it again: comfort and confidence will get you through a set of street twisties faster than maximizing lean angle and puck grinding every time.

14 Comments

“traction reserve borders”

Rhino

Comment by Anonymous | April 20th, 2006 10:50 am | Permalink

Chicken strips and GYKD aren’t neccesarily linked. I have never once got my knee down in eight years of riding yet i’ve ground down the hero blobs on my pegs and have about 3/4″ of virgin rubber either side of the rear tyre. When I see pictures in magazines of riders with their knees draggin the floor and there is a LOT of air twixt tarmac and peg you have to wonder.

Comment by sparx | April 25th, 2006 6:24 am | Permalink

dragging knee on the street is the best feeling

Comment by Anonymous | July 12th, 2006 6:32 pm | Permalink

I always thought that the “hero blobs” on the pegs are what people were talking about when they said “chicked strips”

Comment by randini | November 5th, 2006 2:39 pm | Permalink

‘Chicken Strips’ are the edges of the sides of the tires that have not been worn down. Hence if you cannot lean the bike over far enough, you are a chicken. Dumb.

Comment by angrybob | November 5th, 2006 8:42 pm | Permalink

I think it has alot to do with the bike. I bought a new cbr1000rr last summer and even though I live in one of the cherry places to own a bike now I was able to eliminate the chicken strips completely this summer. I had a older ninja 1000 before this but It always felt loose in the corners, so I left a 1 inch chicken strip. This bike really seems to give you the confidence to lay it over.

Comment by BalfourGI | December 21st, 2006 9:13 pm | Permalink

I would say yes and no.

I consider myself a much more capable rider now than back in 2000/2001 when I was dragging my knee through the Smoky Mountain areas of Deal’s Gap…damn near every bend on ‘the Dragon’. After I moved o AZ in 2001, I turned to the Aprilia brand and have dragged knee in the mountains a total of once.

My R1 was easy to go edge to edge on both F/R tires and drag a knee at the same time. I was much faster on my Mille R through the twisties, and while my rear tire was worn edge to edge, the fron had at least 1/4″ on each side.

Confidence may make you lean over farther, but its not necessarily faster. Clickie http://motorcyclebloggers.com/2005/10/06/blackpuck-down/ for a related article.

I also think tire profle is critical.

Heh - let us not forget the advances between an old Ninja and a brand spankin’ new CBR1000RR!

Comment by angrybob | December 22nd, 2006 3:19 pm | Permalink

I grew up a few miles from the “dragon”. The first time I heard it called that was when I was talking with an employee of Lone Star BMW in Austin, TX. I did not know what he was talking about. We always just called it that “really curvey section of 129″.
I used to love riding that road, either on a MC or in my ‘59 MGA. Now it is too crowded and the riders are riding at too many different speeds. Cruisers may putt along at a slow speed while sport bikes pass on either side (or both sides) in a curve.

Comment by Rainwater | July 24th, 2007 6:05 am | Permalink

I started a comment a few minutes ago and a “run time error” wiped it out. (I think?).

This year we have had 18 deaths on the “dragon” below Deals Gap. Most if not all these folks were from areas with few curves. Maybe all the curves in their areas had stop signs or traffic lights on them. Also, judging from the write ups, most if not all had very little experience on curvey roads. Every write up for a two wheeler (two of the accidents were with three wheelers)that I can remember said they went into a turn too fast and lost control when they hit the brakes!

I am saddened to think of the loved ones, children, spouses, etc who get that message from Tennessee/NC.

Come to Deals Gap if you must. But be careful! Many of the turns are tricky decreasing radius turns. Crawl through a few times to get the feel of it and increase speed only a small amount for each new trip through.

And, 3 wheeler suck in turns. Crawl through every time if you are on a three wheeler.

You know which side to keep down. (How is that for physics?)

Comment by Rainwater | July 24th, 2007 6:16 am | Permalink

Did a bit of not-too-fast racing myself, & I treated the following things as important:
1. What the stopwatch said
2. How to reduce #1.
3. How big my grin was

I didn’t worry about:
4. How easy the bike felt to ride
5. What the tyres looked like
6. How slow anyone else thought I was

Enjoy folks, & keep it upright ok?
Jethro in Oz

Comment by Jethro | August 29th, 2007 12:37 am | Permalink

I’ve been riding less than 1 year,at first, I had new rider syndrome…and ah yes chicken strips…11 mos later no chicken strips….none at all! I have to tuck my knees in to the bike as close as possible as so to keep them. Not all of us can afford the safety gear that we need, so ya use what you can and try not to lose the rest. As far as chiken strips…who cares, if ya make it back alive, ya doin good! Everyone has a different comfort zone. Kneedraggin…At Deal’s gap you can see elbow draggin! I’ve done the dragon tail thing, which is a great learning tool. When you enter a nasty corner, let the bike fall as far as you can, just before you tear your leg off, roll on the throttle, it’ll bring itself right back up. My tire as it sits on the bike has the little new tire tits on the center after 1 ride and is rolled out all the way to the edge ON THE FRONT AND THE BACK. It won’t kill you unless you freak out and freeze up. You do need to find out what tire works for you I recommend Michelin Pilot Power CT’s or Maxxis Supermaxx! Remember the tires that wear out quick Hold your arse on the road! -That dude on the 600rr that learned from the local legend of 50+ years

Comment by Murfreesboro,TN | June 10th, 2008 7:10 pm | Permalink

I’ve been trying to grind the chicken strips off my new Ninja 650R with little success. Yesterday was a sunny day in the 90’s, and the tires stuck pretty well, and got to within 1/2″ of the edge riding up and down Bear Mountain in NY. But as night fell and temperatures went to 65 degrees, my bike, shod with Bridgestone Battlax BT-020’s, started to drift on the roads home. It was most noticable in the rear, even while I was in fourth or fifth gear with neutral throttle.

One right turn tightened its radius so I barely touched the front brake and leaned on the bars harder. That’s when the front tire bit into the asphalt and the bike realigned itself towards the right, and I realized that both tires had been drifting all along. The bike oversteered for a second or two, and then it took the tighter line pointed by the headlights. All the while the rear continued to drift benignly.

Am I doing something wrong? Is it the bike or tires perhaps? I had trouble with an ‘82(?) Nighthawk 450 with bias ply Metzler Lazers, and felt that they drifted alot, too.

This is okay on most days, but I’d hate to get highsided on a ridge bump one day sunny day, or low-sided on a rainy day. Help from experienced race riders would be greatly appreciated.

Is it safe to drift a bike in the rain? Usually, in the rain I slow w-a-a-a-y down before turning like an old man on a tricycle (straight up and very slowly.)

Thanks.

Comment by Grumpy Andy | July 30th, 2008 3:34 pm | Permalink

By the way, the tires were over-inflated by about 1 pound because of the high temperatures. I inflate tires to the morning temps, in case the tires get chilled by a thunderstorm or something, I don’t want the contact patch too big, to prevent hydroplaning and sliding.

Comment by Anonymous | July 30th, 2008 3:37 pm | Permalink

Are you doing something wrong? Yeah - you should care much less about the lean angle and focus on comfort. Seriously, comfort and confidence will get you through a set of turns much faster than concentrating on lean angle.

Every bike has a different geometry. On my Mille, the back was worn from side to side, but the fron had at least 1/4″ of virgin territory no matter how hard I rode it.

Don’t apply the front or rear brake midturn unless you need to register a save. See this article:

http://motorcyclebloggers.com/tech-talk-articles/brakes-101/trail-brak ing/

You have a limited amount of grip…period. It is much less when your cranked over. Apply the brakes mid-turn and you risk low-siding.

Don’t mess with the motorcycle gods in the rain. All non-touring tires suck in the rain and its just not worth it, especially on the street. I wouldn’t do it.

Finally, 1psi does not matter in any street circumstance.

Comment by angrybob | July 30th, 2008 8:12 pm | Permalink

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