How bad are these chicken strips?

C

ChiGGz

Active member
I was riding a friends SV650 and noticed I had some issues leaning into a turn...felt like the bike just wanted to stay straight. I couldn't figure it out and chalked it up to my riding technique. But then after I looked at the wheels and now I'm thinking its the chicken strips. I'm planning to buy one myself but I just didn't feel comfortable leaning into the turn and not sure if its:
a) the bike b) the wheel c) my technique

What do you guys think? Is this enough to affect one's ability to turn? Felt like I was riding in street car rails at times.

20130524_201417[1].jpg20130524_201348[1].jpg
 
Not sure what the chicken strips have to do with it but L-Twins tend to want to stand up more than inline 4's. That is, they naturally have a tendency to stand up due to how the engine is setup.

You do have to put more effort in to leaning it but they have more linear power than an inline 4 with a lot more low and mid range torque.
 
Make sure your brain knows how counter steering works. Watch Twist of the Wrist 2 and see if you're doing stuff wrong. And them are some BIG chicken strips :)

chicken_strips.jpg
 
ChiGGz said:
I was riding a friends SV650 and noticed I had some issues leaning into a turn...felt like the bike just wanted to stay straight. I couldn't figure it out and chalked it up to my riding technique. But then after I looked at the wheels and now I'm thinking its the chicken strips. I'm planning to buy one myself but I just didn't feel comfortable leaning into the turn and not sure if its:
a) the bike b) the wheel c) my technique

What do you guys think? Is this enough to affect one's ability to turn? Felt like I was riding in street car rails at times.

View attachment 32294View attachment 32295
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What other bike are you comparing the handling to?
 
Might be hard to tell from the angle, but do the wheels look flat in the middle?

I don't rule out my own riding skills as being at fault, but it definitely felt like I needed to put alot more into the lean vs a ninja 250 which I frequently ride. Will definitely look up that video though...thanks for the link.
 
The second photo looks like the tire is squared off a bit - that would make the initial turn in a little harder.
How is the suspension set up? For someone heavier or lighter than you? Are the top of the forks flush with the upper triple or are the forks slid up a bit?
Lots of variables that would make handling go wonky.
 
if those are the stock tires then i say its your tires. when i changed the stock tires on my sv, it made a huge difference
 
My friend probably has 35 lbs over me, I'm not sure if he changed his forks but that's probably one of the first things I'll do on my new bike.

Do the wheels look like it will be hard to round it back to normal, there's still quite alot of tread left.

danesetti said:
if those are the stock tires then i say its your tires. when i changed the stock tires on my sv, it made a huge difference
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They are Dunlop SportMax D220
 
I've had all SS bikes and they all took a while to get used to. All bikes and tires for that matter handle a bit different.
 
lostinspace said:
Not sure what the chicken strips have to do with it but L-Twins tend to want to stand up more than inline 4's. That is, they naturally have a tendency to stand up due to how the engine is setup.

You do have to put more effort in to leaning it but they have more linear power than an inline 4 with a lot more low and mid range torque.
Click to expand...

Learn something new everyday lol.
 
On my SV the stock tires were the issue, once those were changed the bike handled much better. Also riding a 250 then jumping on a 650 it would take some time to get used to things. Lastly my SV is for sale :p
 
When I had my SV I upgraded the suspension and got rid of the dunlops for a sweet set of S20's! Completely different bike after that.
 
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