First Aussie ride :(

Well I had my first Aussie ride last weekend. All up, just under 500 km. Trip down to NSW, stayed over night and back lunchtime the next day

http://goo.gl/maps/TgkdN

Only problem was: hasn't ridden since my crash, new bike that is a LOT lowered so the front forks couldn't go down as far as the back so geometry is a little off, totally different type of bike =

complete lack of confidence on corners or with cornering ​

Felt bad for hubby for slowing him up on the twisties, but arrrggg feel like I'm back at the beginning again (for cornering that is). Even roundabouts are sending me into a frantic panic.

Gotta just take the bull by the horns and get over it, but god the brain does stupid things to you and makes you hesitate and question everything

 

Boooo...sorry to hear you didn't have a great ride first time back on the bike. Oh well, at least you have the weather for lots of practice

 

Stick with it Rachelle

 

It'll come back, it's just like falling off a... Hmmm, actually that's not the best analagy

You should get the suspension sorted out before you ride again though, I'm guessing you mean the front can't compress because it touches on the fender?
It's uncommon to brake hard enough to bottom out RWU fork, I'd seriously advise you to raise the suspension to it's stock height then drop by the same amount the rear has been.

Has the rear been actually lowered or is the preload just wound right down? If it's the preload then the that's going to cause all kinds of hassle in itself.
Can't really see well enough in the pic but it doesn't look as though the front is that low, can you get a close up of the top of the yoke side on?
Or measure the height of the fork above the top of the yoke.

Most important thing is that you're back out on a bike

 

good to hear out on two wheels, practice practice, then all of sudden your riding like you use to

 

Although I never got that far north I do recall some cracking roads that I would have preferred to be on my rather than the car I was in but I did have family with me! The furthest North i reached was my cousins in a little place called Yamba

 

love this game FILL IN THE BLANK I would have preferred to be on my rather than the car I was in
i am going to say skate board

 

Own?

 

Sofa?

 

If you ever get down to Melbourne, you have to do the Black Spur. Start at Kinglake or Healsville, then on to Marysville through the Black Spur and back down through Warburton. Several hours of non-stop twisties with good tarmac. Probably one of the best riding in Victoria.

Only time it gets hairy is if it has been dry for ages and then you get a little rain. The rain brings up the Eucalyptus oil and if there isn't enough rain to wash it away....well you get the idea.

 

How are you doing Yappa, did you get out on it again yet? Hope things are starting to feel a bit more familiar

 

Hmmm... Well went for a ride to go camping for our wedding anniversary last weekend. Headed to the gorgeous Somerset Dam (http://goo.gl/maps/3G5PS).

VERY twisty road with complete hairpins. Hubby left me for dead. I plodded. He even had a ride to see how bad the geometry is, and he said it is definitely not right and worried about the suspension.

Dunno what the answer is....thinking about having a play with hubby's ER6N to see if it is just psychological! Arg! Think I just need to go for a ride without hubby, get the feel for my new boy.

Also finding my clutch level is too far out to grab. Hubby ended up grinding some off so it'd come closer, but middle and ring finger is killing after riding for only 10 minutes. Lots of really bad slow riding here though. Never thought I'd say it, but I miss London riding! LOL

 

What did they do to lower the bike? Have they got the geometry wrong?

 

A metal fabricator measured the distance I needed to touch - which worked out to be 3.5cm. I didn't want to lower it that much so settled on less. I suggested 2.5-3cm. He then said he'd lower the front forks. However, I don't think he's done it the same as the back (distance wise) as the handlebars are in the way so could only lower it until it hit the handlebards. He's also cut some of the stand off and repositioned the stand plate to be the right angle.

Joe says it seems that the back is lower than the front and is obvious when going through corners. For me, it feels like the bum is flicking out. That's not the right way of wording as Joe reckons it doesn't slide but it does feel funny for me about half way through a corner.

I'll take a photo of the front forks/handle bars tomorrow to show you. Really frustrating cause it doesn't feel anywhere as good as Gus and questioning if I bought the wrong bike

 

How did they lower the back end Rachelle?. Some people think they know what they're doing, but they get the geometry wrong and ruin the handling. Not totally necessary to lower the front as much as the back and can cause stability problems if you go too far. I would put the front back to standard and sort the back out first?

 

Yep never a good idea to change everything at once

 

Hand made some new dog bones...

I think I'll take your advice guys and fix the front forks and see if it fixes the stupid cornering. If not I'll have to resort to putting on the old dog bones and not touching the ground - which I don't want to ride him if I can't reach the ground

 

I think some good old fashioned measuring could help - if the rake/trail aren't as they should be you'll know what to do next