Just Scraping By

So I have this tendency to lean a bit on the corners. There’s nothing quite like slicing into a well cambered turn. You approach the bend, eyeing it and plotting your path. You’ve gotta hit the apex just right to achieve full contact (and effect). You prepare your body and your bike…maybe you slide a bit to the inside, maybe shift your feet forward or back a bit…and then the curve is upon you.

You start your lean, slowing just enough to allow the front tire to fall into place, guiding you into the sweep of the bend. Your gaze is already safely through, having latched onto a destination point on the far side, which beckons to you. You lean the bike over further and further as it descends, wanting to succumb to Gravity’s gentle invitation. Toying with the throttle, you tease the cylinders with sometimes-more, sometimes-less octane as you maintain that delicate tug-of-war balance. The reward for your efforts? That satisfying sound of your floorboard leaving your mark, laying claim to another piece of blacktop.

It begins with a light scraping – contact has been made! Swiftly now; lean down hard and hit the throttle. The familiar tug towards the inside is felt as steel meets asphalt. But Gravity shall not have victory this day! The scraping devolves into an angry grinding as the machine and the pavement leave their mark upon each other. The triumphant shriek of steel as it carves its path…the roadway’s protesting cry as its skin is laid bare. And then it’s done; the corner has been added to the collection. Throttle on up and straighten things back to an upright plane and begin searching for the next victim.

Sounds pretty grand, eh? Well, back in what we like to call “Reality”, the floorboards can only handle so many battles before they start to look pretty rough and haggard. My floorboards have looked fairly beaten up for some time and I know I face the probability of having to replace them at some point. But that’s “then”, and I’m not at “then” just yet. For now, I’ll just lean more and more, until there’s nothing left to give. (Although, I do believe that the first time I try to carve a corner after having installed new floorboards, I’ll have quite the shock when end up on my ass. I’ll have expected to lean way over as usual, but there’ll be a chitload of new metal in the way, which might easily grab more pavement than my poor machine can gnash its way through and still maintain balance. Time will tell.)

Anyway, all tangents aside, let’s get to the real point of today’s post, shall we? Remember the heat wrap I put on my pipes? I noticed the other day that the wrapping on the bottom pipe was looking a bit tattered. Peering closer, I realized that the roadways had been lashing out at more than just my floorboard. Yes, I’ve been leaning so far over that I’m now dragging the bottom of the lower pipe, and subsequently; the wrapping is paying the price.

Snapped a couple of pics and you can see the wear and tear.

Nice, gentle lines...front of floorboard is good and solid...drifting back...well...not so much. Even the rubber is being ground off now, and that's on the top of the board!

Is it bad if the scraping extends all the way down to (and includes) the main mounting bracket?

Hmmm...well that can't be very good...

Even the back tip of the pipe is getting in on the action. (Not sure if you can make it out in the pic or not, but the hose clamp has been introduced to the pavement a few times as well.)


So, what to do? Well, who can say for sure, but I can’t see how the wrap will last, now that its integrity has been compromised. But if I re-wrap it, I’ll only wind up with the same problem again. I suppose I could stop grinding the hell out of the corners…but that ain’t gonna happen. I guess for now I’ll just keep on, keepin’ on and when the wrap finally lets go (or that hose clamp shears through!), then I’ll have to make a decision. Until then…keep grinding!

Ride Hard, Take Chances