cornering problems

There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots.....

Just weird to not hear that coming from my boss....

Anyways... I hang out with lots of guys with Gixxers and R6s, there is no way to can even hope to keep up with them once they decide to make you tiny in their rearview. My bike does well, but like Kmoe said, our machine and equipment just wasn't built for that kinda stuff. It does make me a pretty solid rolling camera platform though!

 

ya i get that i wont be able to keep up i was just wondering if there is anything i can do to the bike to help it corner better that may have not been done in the factory

 

in its stock setup the factory did a fine job

 

Darren. I think you're probably asking the wrong audience. This is (primarily) an old guy site for old guys who like fettling old bikes (well that's my take) - it's also the politest (most polite?) forum I visit. I suspect you're probably younger than most. The advise thus far is good, no-one is going to recommend anything that might end up making stuff worse however.
The only suggestion I might have is to contact the guy who made the GSXR front-end swap and get his view. A lot of work really (so you might just as well get another machine) but if you're determined...

 

52 is NOT old!
I prefer mature, or sophisticated, or ripened with wisdom.
Unfortunately I usually get, crazy old coot.

Just to throw my 2 cents in;
Your foot will do nothing but get mangled if you really start sliding, so keep it on the peg (which I think is where Polock was pointing to).
Your old bike with it's older front end suspension probably isn't giving a top performance pre-load to the front tire, hence the slip (as so many others have said).
Find a track with banked corners, then you will get better turning performance, but your buddies will still smoke you.
So ride it for what it is, not what you wish it was (again like so many others said)

Well given that I guess you could call me a dusty old parrot . . .

 

Stop trying to over-ride the bike. Stop trying to over-ride the road. Stop trying to over-ride the laws of physics.

You may be used to riding dirt bikes/etc......your on a street bike now, and you need to learn what the new limitations are.

You WON'T corner like a crotch rocket....

You're asking questions like: how can I get my 3500 dually to corner as tightly as a corvette?

You want a bike to keep up with you friends who are going too fast, you'll need more common sense....

 

Remember when we were in our twenties and we thought being 50 was old? 50 is 2 years away for me but we're OLD here...Gurgle, ghasp, grunt.Members who are 60+ still riding must be considered Ancient. Embrace the gray!

Gary H.

 

your all youngsters to me.

 

Not really; not without essentially turning it into an entirely custom machine. The Maxims were never intended to be sportsbikes. Even the sportsbikes of that era were a handful to ride fast in comparison to the machines we have today (or even 20 years ago).

The best thing I think you can do is work at improving your skills on the street, then look at moving on to a different machine. Even an EX500 will out-corner what you have now (and that may be just the thing for you at this stage of your stret-riding career).



a100man, Your take is pretty well correct, but I wouldn't say that the majority are done with riding aggressively; we're just a bit smarter than we once were about the when and where of it.

 

Old is a state of mind

http://www.svt.se/nyheter/96-arige-olle-kor-fortfarande-isracing

 

I'm glad I didn't start riding until I was older. I looked at bikes in my senior year, but never made the purchase. I probably would have killed myself. Now, with two years to go before I hit 50, I go nice and easy around the corners. I just don't think casket is a good look.

 

I sold my RD350 last year. It was a fast, fast bike, and cornered like a dream. I am a very experienced rider, and under 60mph I could run rings around less experienced riders on new sportbikes. The bike was light, fast and it turned so well it was borderline twitchy at speed. I lowered the front end, put stiffer springs in, longer shocks out back, stripped it down to the bare essentials, etc.

My point? I had some close calls at speed, and the old bike was a maintenance wh*re, so I happily "upgraded" to my XJ. It doesn't turn like the RD, and its like riding atop an aircraft carrier by comparison. If you have a Maxim and not a Seca, you have a long way to go. Better turning prowess will be had by altering the bikes geometry to allow for more weight on the front wheel- like raising the forks in the triple clamps to drop the front end a bit. Some thicker oil and stiffer springs up front will go a long way too. But you're sacrificing comfort in a big way. My RD was nimble and fast but after about 100 miles you were looking for a rest. I have a fork brace for my Seca, some new shocks on order, I put thick oil and preload spacers in the forks...it turns ok. The brakes need some attention as slowing the behemoth down is a bit of a chore as well.

 

He's running a smaller front wheel, so his front-end geometry is already adjusted for quicker turning. There might be a bit more to gain from moving the forks a little though.

The big advantage he has is all those years of riding dirt. Every bit of that skillset is transferable (exccept for putting a foot down), and he has an advantage over someone who only learned to ride on the street when the tires start to slide.

 

Yup, 100%. I've been riding Enduro and MX since I was just a little tot on a Mini Trail 50. Riding offroad teaches you to be completely comfortable with the tires moving around underneath you/the bike. A little slippage is totally cool.

I didn't realize that the front wheel he mentioned was smaller. But for sure, geometry plays a huge part here, I would argue larger than the tire profile. Gotta be able to get that weight forward. Like MX guys that get their cojones up on the gas cap when cornering.

 

I wonder where @Darren is? Is he riding? Is he reading? I hope that he sticks around.

 

ya im still here so i have the front forks and rear swing arm off a radian so its no the stock maxim set up

 

i guess at this point its really just a radian with a 550 frame lol

 

Show us a good side view of the machine (photo).

 

Oi! I'm still riding like a hooligan.

 

it looks just like a radian it just has an xj550 frame for cheaper insurance