Show Off your chicken strippies

[buzzbomb]

Here's where they were when I first posted:

Here's the current:

Just having a smoke and coffee after running my favorite twisties, checking my tires like I always do at that time, and it hit me.

Had to take a pic.

 

[tatty2012]

My front:

And rear:

 

[RooKie]

my rear wear line is about 3/4 of an inch from the edge... front is much more than that. :lol:

so, obviously, i'm too embarrassed to post any pix...

p.s. i'm running dunlop q2's...

Same here, and no shame in mah game! Are you having a great time riding? I know I am! And that's all that matters

 

[JSP]

 

[tatty2012]

I think mine are down a little more now.. can't remember off the top of my head..

 

[SAFE-T]

Discussing "chicken strips" is stupid :facepalm:

 

[Detrich]

sad... my rear looks like your front, tatty... lol x_X

 

[tatty2012]

sad... my rear looks like your front, tatty... lol x_X

I honestly don't know how my front got like that... Boggles me a bit.

 

[buzzbomb]

Discussing "chicken strips" is stupid :facepalm:

Why?

ten chars

 

[bleedinblue]

Why?

ten chars

Because if somebody sits upright like they are on a cruiser.It takes alot more lean angle to take a turn than if they hang off the biike properly.I remember reading something about that in a twist of the wrist 2.Not chicken strips, but how proper body position keeps the bike more upright throughout a turn.

Iv ridden with a few people that had half the strip as myself.After following them it was obvious why.They were only leaning with their upper body taking turns at the same speeds I do with one cheek on the seat

 

[Detrich]

^ yah, i've seen some guys in the canyons who don't hang off at all, but are fast as fuck. some are on sport bikes, some are not. the guys on the touring bikes just flick the bike into the turn and they're through like it's nothing. the sport bike guys just lean the entire bike over like crazy with their butts on the seat. some even with passengers. it's quite a sight to watch them lean the bike over that far 2-up and just blaze through the corners like it's nothing.

i couldn't keep up with them, because it was faster than what i feel safe going. up in ACH, that would be taking corners at 80+MPH. on a good day, i'm lucky to be able to do some easier turns at 75MPH. but, i'm usually in the 60-65 range so that i have ample time to react to conditions, as most of the turns are blind. i have some friends who take the corners at 100+ MPH, and honestly, i dunno how they do it...

 

[bleedinblue]

Yea Im with you on that.Iv seen the same thing.I didn't mean to jump in and answer someone else's question btw.I dont think its stupid lol.Gotta have topics to discuss.Just my .02.

But I do think that a picture of a chicken strip proves nothing unless the tire is covered in boogers.We are all trying to improve, even Rossi and I wish there was a better way to show how we are all improving.It just seems to me that the people we both mentioned are wasting tire and room for error.

I admit I have alot to get down, but im glad I do because im realising how much I have been focusing on my body positioning.I still have a good finger width to work on.But there is a couple of places where I can tell I caught a rock leaned over pretty far.My chicken strip has a zigzag pattern around it, with a few random spots going all the the way to the edge.
Its been making me wonder about headshake if I clip a rock or something with my front tire leaned over further.

Just one more reason I want to go to a track day lol.I want to burn them down and know I could.But I know I wont on the street.It seems like everytime I know better I fail.

 

[Chevyfazer]

+1 on proper form!

BUT!!!! Not all bikes are created equal, so what might work on one bike might not on another. What I'm getting at is SS bikes are made for this kind of stuff and it feels natural to get off the seat a little, but on most real upright bikes it feels completely unnatural to get off the seat. And with lots of sport touring bikes they can go just as fast around a turn while you ass is completely on the seat vs off.

 

[Brock Kickass]

**All high speed antics are performed in a controlled environment, so save your flames for the squids**
When you say "sport tourer" you mean FZ6R, FZ6, FZ1, etc... yes? I have never ridden a super sport in anger, so I have no basis of comparison, but I have found that hanging off on my FZ1 works better. I have gone through turns pretty quickly with my butt centred on the seat, using my feet and upper body to shift weight, and it works fine. The bike feels stabe and planted and rips through turns at some eye-opening speeds. I feel that hanging off gives me more margin for error at the same speed, though. The bike stays more upright and leaves more room for correction. Or, if I really feel like pushing, I can improve my cornering speed noticably by hanging off and pulling the bike right over. It feels pretty cool when you're one cheek on, knee out, with your head directly in line with the mirror and the bike leaned right in. I hang off even when riding easily on the twisties now, because keeping the bike as upright as possible and using my body to turn seems to give me way more room for emergency adjustments.

 

[Chucker]

I have found that hanging off on my FZ1 works better. I have gone through turns pretty quickly with my butt centred on the seat, using my feet and upper body to shift weight, and it works fine. The bike feels stabe and planted and rips through turns at some eye-opening speeds. I feel that hanging off gives me more margin for error at the same speed, though. The bike stays more upright and leaves more room for correction. Or, if I really feel like pushing, I can improve my cornering speed noticably by hanging off and pulling the bike right over.

I agree. On the track, if I don't hang off much, my toes touch down early, before I've really started pushing it. If I hang off enough that my knee is down long before my toes touch, I can carry significantly more speed through the turns and never feel uneasy.

Having said that, when I'm following a racebike around the track, I need to hang off significantly more than they are in order to keep up in the turns. So much so that when a racebike is behind me in the turns, the riders often make comments about how much I'm hanging off. Basically, If I don't get a knee on the ground, I can't keep up with the racebikes (in the intermediate group) in the turns.

I also usually hang off on the street, but not near as much as on the track.

 

[buzzbomb]

Because if somebody sits upright like they are on a cruiser.It takes alot more lean angle to take a turn than if they hang off the biike properly.I remember reading something about that in a twist of the wrist 2.Not chicken strips, but how proper body position keeps the bike more upright throughout a turn.

Iv ridden with a few people that had half the strip as myself.After following them it was obvious why.They were only leaning with their upper body taking turns at the same speeds I do with one cheek on the seat

It's true that proper form allows one to take a given corner at a given speed, with less lean on the bike.

As cornering speed increases, so does lean angle. A truly aggressive rider, with good form, who takes tight corners really fast will have small or non-existent chicken strips.

A lack of chicken-strips does not mean that a rider has good form. It doesn't even mean that rider is fast or necessarily skilled. It does mean that rider is aggressive and rides hard, whether they do it with skill, or not.

At the beginning of the video for the book you mentioned, two new riders are checking out the strips on different bikes. True or not, they suggest rider skill.

Besides, it's just fun to compare and show them off!

 

[Brock Kickass]

I think that's the most important point of this thread: It's all in good fun and not meant to promote unsafe riding. A worn tire is no more indication of skill than a top speed run. Any douche can hold it to the pin on a straight and hope not to hit something. But when I nail a turn just right and pull the bike right down, and pop up on the other side at some incredible speed, first thing I'm doing when I stop is looking at my tire to see how far over I got it. If it's impressive, damn straight I want to brag a little. And this is the place for that. I'm going outside to take a pic of my tire now. Standby for next post.

 

[Brock Kickass]

Looks like a bit more than 1/4 inch to me. If we weren't meant to notice our chicken strips, Metzler would never have put those little elephants there...

 

[Chevyfazer]

**All high speed antics are performed in a controlled environment, so save your flames for the squids**
When you say "sport tourer" you mean FZ6R, FZ6, FZ1, etc... yes? I have never ridden a super sport in anger, so I have no basis of comparison, but I have found that hanging off on my FZ1 works better. I have gone through turns pretty quickly with my butt centred on the seat, using my feet and upper body to shift weight, and it works fine. The bike feels stabe and planted and rips through turns at some eye-opening speeds. I feel that hanging off gives me more margin for error at the same speed, though. The bike stays more upright and leaves more room for correction. Or, if I really feel like pushing, I can improve my cornering speed noticably by hanging off and pulling the bike right over. It feels pretty cool when you're one cheek on, knee out, with your head directly in line with the mirror and the bike leaned right in. I hang off even when riding easily on the twisties now, because keeping the bike as upright as possible and using my body to turn seems to give me way more room for emergency adjustments.

Mainly talking about the big sport touring bikes. I find that the fz's don't feel as natural hanging off as a ss bike but still faster if you do. But on the big sport tourers like say a Fjr hanging off is something that is so unnatural and has to be seriously forced to do so that more often than not its better to just keep on the seat.

 

[Brock Kickass]

Yeah, looking at an FJR I really can't see myself hanging way inside and dragging knee.