I rolled 11,000 miles on the DL on Saturday, riding down to my Mom’s.
I finally am noticing the front-end loft. I pulled 2 definitive wheelies on my ride. The first was at the top of a merge lane. In Portland, we have lots of ramps with traffic lights on hte actual ramp to throttle the flow entering the freeway. On Saturday, the lights are off. The result for me is most effort is applied to getting a good position before the lanes merge. The front wheel came up as I passed a couple SUVs. I can’t see around them, so I try to squirt around them to a place where I can see the traffic flow in front of me. The second wheelie was pulling away from a traffic light with an uphill slope. I noticed the lack of steering control and rolled off a bit.
I have orientation at PCC tonight. We’ll have to see how that goes.
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Lacking sleep, I saddled up. I tend to rocket off the line when I get going. Today was no different. The front wheel lifted as I squared off the first turn.
Why is it that I can’t tell when the front end is lofting?
On my DL, the long travel makes the front end feel vague 75% of the time. I can only feel it clearly when I am trail braking into a corner. Once I open the throttle the bike rocks back and it’s all about lean angles. The FJR has so much power I can lift the front end without effort or intent.
Why can’t I ‘feel’ it? I only notice when the front end returns to the Earth with that slight jerk.
Could it be all of those years on mountain bikes? Railing a full suspension bike downhill requires a certain disconnection from the terrain. I loosen my grip and let the bike float. I don’t give a second thought to the handle bar rising and falling. My feet, locked into my Speed Play pedals, give me all of the physical feedback. Like motorcycles, turning is about lean angles and not steering inputs.
Translation: I am used to the handlebars moving, a lot. So I don’t notice the bars on my motorcycles lifting closer to my chest.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Maybe, I’m just impaired.
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