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Guzzi handling

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moto:
Yes, tires are always slipping when forces are being applied. As many know, it is possible to ride with substantial, palpable slip -- the "riding on marbles" sensation. It is pointless to argue this is imaginary.

This a precarious riding situation. If you are really good you can complete your corner in a drift, usually. This is barely safe on a race track with a well-understood surface.

If you find yourself in over your head there are a couple of things that work. One is to apply force to the road surface to right the bike. I remember as a teen first slamming my boot into the ground to save myself when both tires let go on black ice around a street corner. Marc Marquez has famously saved his motorcycle from similar track slides using his knees and elbows. Others do this too.

Nick Ienatsch was a successful American racer who regularly appeared on a Santa Monica public radio station program about motorcycling(!). He was so articulate that I listened carefully to him. I tried his advice to give it more gas when the front tire is washing out, and found this generally works if you do it aggressively. So when I have the chance to ride fast this is one of my tricks.

I think this was originally a dirt track maneuver, a way of transitioning to the tail-out flat-tracking position when needed. On a street bike the effect is usually not so extreme, but the application of force toward the center still helps. It also relieves the outward push of the front tire as the rear begins to bear the centrifugal load. Or so it seems.

Rather than trying to deduce what is possible from Newton's "Mathematical Principles" we might be better off with the inductive approach of his "Opticks". That is, we should observe facts first.

SIR REAL ED:

--- Quote from: Dukedesmo on May 13, 2026, 12:30:07 PM ---I was sliding both tyres through the bends on the road when I was just a teenager.       :thumb:   

As I went into the bend, I felt both wheels sliding, there was no heroic save however and this is not a tale of biking god-ness as I ended up face down in the road.

Best part was, my family were waiting for me at a restaurant where we were going for a meal as it was my 18th birthday and I arrived late due to the crash, covered in blood.    :grin:     

--- End quote ---

Alright My Man!!!!

I knew someone was going to "man up" and tell us that you can still ride a motorcycle with both tires in the air and only metal contacting the asphalt!!!  Right you are!!

I think that aluminum on asphalt will have a higher coefficient of friction than steel on asphalt!!!  Unless the aluminum is hard anodized!

The coefficients of aluminum and aluminium on asphalt are almost identical....

After you ate, did you order desert or as some would say dessert?

SIR REAL ED:

This thread reminds me of the time I bought those solid aluminum Land Speed Record wheels/tires they use at Bonneville for my track day bike.

I figured "Hey!  If it makes you faster on a dry salt lake, should work on the racetrack also....."

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