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Front tire feels like its sliding

You're alright, man. I love your enthusiasm. Knowing everything is impossible. Just my cheap advice.
 
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OP, all tire discussions aside, what I find most common on riders who believe the front is sliding when they are no where near max lean is unintentional bar inputs, usually caused by not having your lower body properly secured to the motorcycle, forcing you to (ever so slightly) 'hang on' with your hands. Add in your stated poor vision techniques, and I can imagine the bike feeling like it's doing all kinds of things when the reality is usually just rider error and incorrect inputs. Adding throttle and lean angle at the same time as you are doing the above can very easily explain the discomfort you were experiencing on the bike.

Yes, having good tires is important. There are extreme differences a good suspension set up can make. These things are important. I'm disinclined to believe they were the cause of what you were feeling.
 
Honey Badger said:
OP, all tire discussions aside, what I find most common on riders who believe the front is sliding when they are no where near max lean is unintentional bar inputs, usually caused by not having your lower body properly secured to the motorcycle, forcing you to (ever so slightly) 'hang on' with your hands. Add in your stated poor vision techniques, and I can imagine the bike feeling like it's doing all kinds of things when the reality is usually just rider error and incorrect inputs. Adding throttle and lean angle at the same time as you are doing the above can very easily explain the discomfort you were experiencing on the bike.

Yes, having good tires is important. There are extreme differences a good suspension set up can make. These things are important. I'm disinclined to believe they were the cause of what you were feeling.
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Good point :hail

Question: is it possible to "lose" the front (lose traction) even though you are no where near "max" lean angle ? What sort of inputs could cause the bike to lose the front when relatively upright, in a corner ?
 
planegray said:
Question: is it possible to "lose" the front (lose traction) even though you are no where near "max" lean angle ? What sort of inputs could cause the bike to lose the front when relatively upright, in a corner ?
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:Popcorn
 
planegray said:
Good point :hail

Question: is it possible to "lose" the front (lose traction) even though you are no where near "max" lean angle ? What sort of inputs could cause the bike to lose the front when relatively upright, in a corner ?
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Yes. cold tires, abrupt counter steering or dabbing the brakes too hard. Gravel, dust, moisture, oil.
 
I don't believe OP stated any of those though :dunno
 
KazMan said:
I don't believe OP stated any of those though :dunno
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nope, but sometimes (especially when you're not sure what happened) it helps to run down the checklist :)


This might also be the time to talk about the 3 things our tires get used for ( acceleration, brake, turn(lean) ) the proportions they can be used for, and where/when this occurs.

you know.... one of you track instructor guys that knows all that stuff real good !! :) :p
 
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I'm thinking Honey Badger may have come close. Quite possibly just a bit of bar input at the wrong moment. Riding a bike with handlebars, not clipons, on the track, I am still amazed at how little pressure will make a huge change.
 
afm199 said:
I'm thinking Honey Badger may have come close. Quite possibly just a bit of bar input at the wrong moment. Riding a bike with handlebars, not clipons, on the track, I am still amazed at how little pressure will make a huge change.
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me too. I was lucky to learn that at American Supercamp, by crashing in the same corner like 3 times in a row. A cracked rib provided the incentive I needed to start doing something different :laughing
 
afm199 said:
I'm thinking Honey Badger may have come close. Quite possibly just a bit of bar input at the wrong moment. Riding a bike with handlebars, not clipons, on the track, I am still amazed at how little pressure will make a huge change.
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I'm thinking so too, however, just seeing if she can draw out the information she needs to give even more input. :teeth
 
KazMan said:
I'm thinking so too, however, just seeing if she can draw out the information she needs to give even more input. :teeth
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The hard part here is whether the OP actually felt the front slide, or if he was feeling the reduced traction his a) increased lean mid corner and b) adding lean and throttle, were causing without actually losing traction. Additionally, his inputs may have given the sensation of losing traction when the reality was that his inputs, body, and vision were all working at odds with the bike and had he relaxed, looked up, and been smooth there would be no issues with traction or the sensation of losing traction. Honestly, unless someone has a fair bit of "other" experience (such as dirt riding), most newer street riders are not going to be sensitive enough to really feel traction. Hell, I'm just getting to that point myself of really being able to feel it and understand what's going on and why. Still have a ways to go before I start utilizing that to my advantage beyond keeping the rubber down:laughing

In the OP he said he was already in the corner, tightened his line, stood the bike up, then tightened his line again, both times due to looking/focusing/fixating on the inside of the corner. He later also stated he was adding lean and throttle.

My main question at this point would be to try to determine when throttle was added - was it every time he leaned over/fixated, the entire time (doubtful as most of people would subconsciously roll off experiencing what he was), or each time he corrected his line.

In all reality, I think the focus here ought to be on correcting positioning on the bike (lower body holding himself on properly) and vision. IMO, from what I've read, those two things likely would have prevented this from being a concern. Too much analysis tends to cause the underlying issues to be ignored. K.I.S.S. ignoring the brain puke above :teeth
 
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I'm thinkin the same Honey Badger. Didn't want to comment, having nothing to go by...
But ... also wanted to agree with your take on this. :thumbup
 
afm199 said:
Yes. cold tires, abrupt counter steering or dabbing the brakes too hard. Gravel, dust, moisture, oil.
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How can abrupt counter steering wash out the front? Doesn't Keith Code claim that you can push as hard as you want, even claiming to see racers with bent handlebars?

Or is he simply talking about force, and not speed?
 
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