Scrape, thud, gas.

On my last bike there wasn't a corner taken where the plates wouldn't scrape, fast or slow it was a spark show. I was in love with it, go into a corner, drop the gas, drop the bike, when it strikes ground smoothly accelerate. The only time I didn't drag the footboards was when I first started carrying a passenger, not because it was harder but out of respect for her. Then one day she asked me what was wrong, since then it was plate scraping heaven. Well, those days are limited now...

The new bike has a different (higher) center of gravity, so it took a little longer before it was comfortable dropping it, the problem with doing it is that it is not a "Metric" bike. Metric bikes seemed to be designed for footplate (or peg) abuse. The pegs have a contact pin, the plates have a strike plate, grind them down then replace the contact points. Harley doesn't have that, when you bank left you get the chattering tinny sound of the kickstand bouncing along the pavement, when you bank right you strike the foot-plate which makes the same tinny scraping sound as the edge of the plate shreds. Not a pleasant sound at all.

Now, having the bike modified, (stock exhaust being two into one) to duel exhaust, the new header pipe has a real close tolerance in relation to the right side foot-board mount. So close in fact that when you hit a bump the pipe slams the plate bracket and the shock goes right up your leg. Now as I said in an earlier blog, Harley does not make a shim kit, but by going on-line to http://www.harleygoodies.com/ I found bracket extension kits. The kit moves the plate out about an inch leaving room between the pipe and the plate bracket, nice smooth comfortable ride. The extended brackets also give you the availability of a wider foot placement.

Now, back to board scraping. With the new extended footboards you would think it would be easier to scrape, and on a smooth sweeping corner you can still destroy the plates against the pavement,(Which I have stopped doing). But, on a tight corner if you go in, drop it over for a hard turn, I found that you had better hope for a smooth surface. On an uneven pave job I found that just about the point where the plate thinks about hitting the ground, the front board bracket does it first. This is actually rather exciting when it happens. You find yourself leaning over, feeling a rather large thud, and the bike pivots on the bracket, raising the rear tire off the road. The term for this is "Highside". Hopefully you, as I was, will be going relativly slow, The back wheel lifts and the bike pivots trying to drop you and it on the ground. I was making a right turn when this happened, with the bike grounded you have to turn hard left, throw your weight left to counter-balance the bike and force the rear back to ground. When the tire strikes pavement, crank the gas and hopefully, (as it did with me) the bike's torque will grab and throw the bike forward and left, keeping all fragile bike parts and flesh and bone from coming in contact with that hard black stuff we all ride on.

So as you see, There will be limited "board on pavement" noise from me.

klay