To all the haters of hanging off the bike.

[windmill]

I just don't see it as a all or nothing question.

Shifting wight and hanging off with a knee down are 2 different things, both have their time and place. Shifting weight is what I would consider a normal riding skill for everyday use.

Hanging off with a knee down on the street? 95% of the time I see it done, the rider is putting more effort into doing it for its own sake than just doing what is actually correct. The other 5% it is being done well out of necessity for the speeds involved, but beyond what any reasonable person would consider a safe speed for the street.

[klaviator]

hanging off a little too far

[Lion BR]

Originally Posted by lemieuxmc

My point has always been that unless you are going about warp factor 9 on a track (I.E. Stoner as an example in the present or Eddie Lawson back in the day) "hanging off" is an affectation, just as much as assless chaps and a temporary tattoo, or dragging a GS through the Touratech catalog and then riding it to Starbucks.

Maybe a bit exaggerated on the 9/10 factor, as some people may want to be practicing the skill, even if at slower speeds. It requires some level of physical fitness to do this, which happens to be an added benefit for hanging off.

But overall, this is the gist of the point. One does NOT need to hang off the bike to ride well and have fun. And technically speaking, only when pushing closer to the limit (which one should not do on street riding in the first place) is that hanging off really becomes effective.

And most hangers off are doing it wrong in the first place which results on two things:
1. They look ridiculous all crossed up on the bike;
2. They are more likely to crash, as they obviously don't know what they are doing.

The bottom line is: there are different ways to ride a bike and all are acceptable as long as it works for you and at the end of the day you arrive safe and sound back home after a fun day on two wheels.

Lion

[Zippydapanhead]

Originally Posted by Tuna Helper

Nah, just call them assful chaps.

[klaviator]

I started riding over 30 years ago. No MSF or other rider training. Other than a friend who showed my where the clutch, brakes and throttle were, I basically taught myself. I did read the Motorcycle magazines and saw pics of riders hanging off. Withing a few months of learning how to ride I was hanging off, not dragging my knee but still hanging off.....or at least shifting my weight to the inside. I loved riding around curves and although most of the roads in my area were fairly straight, there were always those freeway on and off ramps. So, that's were I practiced hanging off. Did I look silly? I don't know but I do know that one day I decided not to hang off and quickly found that my footpegs were scraping hard.

I have used hanging off around curves on the majority off the bikes I have owned although on most of them it was more of a weight shift rather than radical hanging off. I have never touched down a knee. I find that I can usually ride the curves much better if I hang off at least a little. I have also touched down metal parts on most of my bikes when cornering so the extra clearance has helped me. I have never owned a super sport and many of my bikes have had limited cornering clearance. I have taken great pleasure in riding slow bikes faster than most sport bike riders ride their bikes in the curves. So far this technique has worked for me as I haven't crashed going around a curve yet.
( at least not on the street )

Those of you who think that hanging off is just for poseurs or the track have no clue what you are talking about and probably don't ride fast enough to need it anyway. Just because you don't hang off doesn't mean it doesn't work well for others. I'm also not saying you can't ride fast without hanging off. It really depends on your bike.

Hanging off also has several other benefits besides increasing cornering clearance but I'm not going to take the time to explain it here.

That's not to say that there aren't those out there who hang off just to try too look cool. Hanging off while the bike is going slow and nearly upright does look silly. There are also those who ride their sportbikes at 10/10ths on the street which is not smart. Just don't judge everyone who chooses to "hang off" or shift their weight by riders at the extremes.

One last thing. I ride for fun, not to pose. I love riding curvy roads and I'm going to use the techniques that work for me. I suspect that those of you who can't understand this just don't understand, or have forgotten, that riding is all about the fun

and not about doing it the way everyone else thinks you are supposed (or not supposed ) to do it.

I doubt that this post will change anyone's mind on this matter but I wonder how many of the hanging off haters have actually tried it or learned how to do it?

[outlaws justice]

+2 and when you say learned how, the key would be learned how to do it Correctly. Just like most things in life there are wrong ways to do things and right ways. Sometimes there are also more than one way!

[klaviator]

Originally Posted by outlaws justice

+2 and when you say learned how, the key would be learned how to do it Correctly. Just like most things in life there are wrong ways to do things and right ways. Sometimes there are also more than one way!

Yes there is usually more than one way but many people only try one way then proclaim it's the only right way.

[woodnbow]

Originally Posted by klaviator

I started riding over 30 years ago. No MSF or other rider training. Other than a friend who showed my where the clutch, brakes and throttle were, I basically taught myself. I did read the Motorcycle magazines and saw pics of riders hanging off. Withing a few months of learning how to ride I was hanging off, not dragging my knee but still hanging off.....or at least shifting my weight to the inside. I loved riding around curves and although most of the roads in my area were fairly straight, there were always those freeway on and off ramps. So, that's were I practiced hanging off. Did I look silly? I don't know but I do know that one day I decided not to hang off and quickly found that my footpegs were scraping hard.

I have used hanging off around curves on the majority off the bikes I have owned although on most of them it was more of a weight shift rather than radical hanging off. I have never touched down a knee. I find that I can usually ride the curves much better if I hang off at least a little. I have also touched down metal parts on most of my bikes when cornering so the extra clearance has helped me. I have never owned a super sport and many of my bikes have had limited cornering clearance. I have taken great pleasure in riding slow bikes faster than most sport bike riders ride their bikes in the curves. So far this technique has worked for me as I haven't crashed going around a curve yet.
( at least not on the street )

Those of you who think that hanging off is just for poseurs or the track have no clue what you are talking about and probably don't ride fast enough to need it anyway. Just because you don't hang off doesn't mean it doesn't work well for others. I'm also not saying you can't ride fast without hanging off. It really depends on your bike.

Hanging off also has several other benefits besides increasing cornering clearance but I'm not going to take the time to explain it here.

That's not to say that there aren't those out there who hang off just to try too look cool. Hanging off while the bike is going slow and nearly upright does look silly. There are also those who ride their sportbikes at 10/10ths on the street which is not smart. Just don't judge everyone who chooses to "hang off" or shift their weight by riders at the extremes.

One last thing. I ride for fun, not to pose. I love riding curvy roads and I'm going to use the techniques that work for me. I suspect that those of you who can't understand this just don't understand, or have forgotten, that riding is all about the fun

and not about doing it the way everyone else thinks you are supposed (or not supposed ) to do it.

I doubt that this post will change anyone's mind on this matter but I wonder how many of the hanging off haters have actually tried it or learned how to do it?

That post was excellent, just brilliant. I pretty much mirrored your experience except that most of the roads around me are somewhat to very curvy so that's what I cut my eyeteeth on. Also, I've always been a Sportster and SuperGlide rider so hanging off is what you have to learn to avoid grounding parts in the turns. Not all of my friends ride as briskly as I do. Some of them push it quite a bit faster than I do. I just do what works for me.

[NJ-Brett]

I started in the dirt at a young age, and no one hung off dirt riding, we were too busy hanging on!

On the street, I always had bikes with good enough lean angle that there was no reason to hang off, I never got to the point where I needed to or wanted to go faster in a turn on the street as it would have been high risk and I never owned any sort of good street gear that allowed crashing and walking away.

I love the FEEL of going around turns fast on a bike, so often tuck in to increase the feel of swooping through a turn and leaning (lower speed, more thrill?).
Sometimes I lean the other way to scrub the tire edges.

If I was going to get to the point of needing to hang off, I would want to be on a track in race gear.

The only bikes I have ever hung off of much were Harley's.
You often had to or it was into the ditch.
Can you hang off wearing assless chaps???

[klaviator]

Originally Posted by NJ-Brett

...................................

Can you hang off wearing assless chaps???

Only if they have knee pucks on them.

[windmill]

Originally Posted by klaviator

I started riding over 30 years ago. No MSF or other rider training. Other than a friend who showed my where the clutch, brakes and throttle were, I basically taught myself. I did read the Motorcycle magazines and saw pics of riders hanging off. Withing a few months of learning how to ride I was hanging off, not dragging my knee but still hanging off.....or at least shifting my weight to the inside. I loved riding around curves and although most of the roads in my area were fairly straight, there were always those freeway on and off ramps. So, that's were I practiced hanging off. Did I look silly? I don't know but I do know that one day I decided not to hang off and quickly found that my footpegs were scraping hard.

I have used hanging off around curves on the majority off the bikes I have owned although on most of them it was more of a weight shift rather than radical hanging off. I have never touched down a knee. I find that I can usually ride the curves much better if I hang off at least a little. I have also touched down metal parts on most of my bikes when cornering so the extra clearance has helped me. I have never owned a super sport and many of my bikes have had limited cornering clearance. I have taken great pleasure in riding slow bikes faster than most sport bike riders ride their bikes in the curves. So far this technique has worked for me as I haven't crashed going around a curve yet.
( at least not on the street )

Those of you who think that hanging off is just for poseurs or the track have no clue what you are talking about and probably don't ride fast enough to need it anyway. Just because you don't hang off doesn't mean it doesn't work well for others. I'm also not saying you can't ride fast without hanging off. It really depends on your bike.

Hanging off also has several other benefits besides increasing cornering clearance but I'm not going to take the time to explain it here.

That's not to say that there aren't those out there who hang off just to try too look cool. Hanging off while the bike is going slow and nearly upright does look silly. There are also those who ride their sportbikes at 10/10ths on the street which is not smart. Just don't judge everyone who chooses to "hang off" or shift their weight by riders at the extremes.

One last thing. I ride for fun, not to pose. I love riding curvy roads and I'm going to use the techniques that work for me. I suspect that those of you who can't understand this just don't understand, or have forgotten, that riding is all about the fun

and not about doing it the way everyone else thinks you are supposed (or not supposed ) to do it.

I doubt that this post will change anyone's mind on this matter but I wonder how many of the hanging off haters have actually tried it or learned how to do it?

Well said.
If it works for you and is appropriate for the conditions, how can it be wrong to do.

[lemieuxmc]

Didja watch the video of Irenecanary the hot squid chick?

If you look closely, you will see that they were going maybe 30 mph on the speedo of the camera bike when Irenecanary slid out and highsided while "hanging off".

Last Sunday I rode that very same corner two-up with my wife on our Guzzi at the very same 30 mph speed.
(http://www.rickclemson.com/Photo_Details.asp?PhotoID=151923&EventID=615)
No hanging off, no dragging parts, no drama, no crashing, no shit.

I saw guys hanging off all over the place for absolutely no reason other than they thought it looked cool, and 98% of these guys will NEVER get anywhere close to the performance limits of their modern sport bikes.

If you like "hanging off", more power to you, have fun, just don't try to throw me some B.S. about how it's necessary. Shit, if you are trying so hard to go fast on that land barge that grinds at minimal lean angles, it's probably because you're a dumbass who doesn't have the good judgement that's conducive to a long and accident free riding life.

[lethe]

Originally Posted by lemieuxmc

Didja watch the video of Irenecanary the hot squid chick?

If you look closely, you will see that they were going maybe 30 mph on the speedo of the camera bike when Irenecanary slid out and highsided while "hanging off".

Last Sunday I rode that very same corner two-up with my wife on our Guzzi at the very same 30 mph speed.
(http://www.rickclemson.com/Photo_Details.asp?PhotoID=151923&EventID=615)
No hanging off, no dragging parts, no drama, no crashing, no shit.

I saw guys hanging off all over the place for absolutely no reason other than they thought it looked cool, and 98% of these guys will NEVER get anywhere close to the performance limits of their modern sport bikes.

If you like "hanging off", more power to you, have fun, just don't try to throw me some B.S. about how it's necessary. Shit, if you are trying so hard to go fast on that land barge that grinds at minimal lean angles, it's probably because you're a dumbass who doesn't have the good judgement that's conducive to a long and accident free riding life.

AHA!
Your cylinders are hanging off though.
So whatever you say on this topic no longer has value.

[Homey]

Originally Posted by lemieuxmc

Didja watch the video of Irenecanary the hot squid chick?
...

That looked a lot like the top of Palomar Mtn heading down the south grade. Is that where she was?

[klaviator]

Originally Posted by lemieuxmc

Didja watch the video of Irenecanary the hot squid chick?

If you look closely, you will see that they were going maybe 30 mph on the speedo of the camera bike when Irenecanary slid out and highsided while "hanging off".

I just watched the video again. I never did see any speedo. I guess that someone who doesn't know the difference between a tachometer and speedo can't really be expected to understand the finer points of riding either. I seriously doubt they were only going 30



Last Sunday I rode that very same corner two-up with my wife on our Guzzi at the very same 30 mph speed.
(http://www.rickclemson.com/Photo_Details.asp?PhotoID=151923&EventID=615)
No hanging off, no dragging parts, no drama, no crashing, no shit.

I saw guys hanging off all over the place for absolutely no reason other than they thought it looked cool, and 98% of these guys will NEVER get anywhere close to the performance limits of their modern sport bikes.

If you like "hanging off", more power to you, have fun, just don't try to throw me some B.S. about how it's necessary. Shit, if you are trying so hard to go fast on that land barge that grinds at minimal lean angles, it's probably because you're a dumbass who doesn't have the good judgement that's conducive to a long and accident free riding life.

I never said hanging off is necessary. However, if you rode that Guzzi of yours around corners at the speeds that many of the faster riders do, you'd be scraping hard parts and probably lever one of the tires off the ground. There's a lot of people that would consider your Guzzi to be a land barge. It's at least 150 lbs heavier than heaviest bike I currently own. It's probably heavier than all but one or two of all of the bikes I have owned so don't talk to me about land barges.

Let's see, 30+ years of riding with a lot of that on curvy mountain roads and I have yet to lose it in a curve. I guess I'm just a dumbass who has poor judgement. Well at least I have had a blast doing it. Good thing I didn't realize I was such a Dumbass.......I might not have enjoyed it so much