Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[prstaples1911]

I am not a canyon carver, but I am scraping floorboards left and right when making normal turns into parking lots and at intersections.  I came off a Fat Bob with forward controls and never had this issue.  It is so bad that I actually fear (resent) riding the bike anywhere I will be required to lean her over.  I don't mind the scraping a little, but one of these days it may result in an accident.

Since I cannot sell a $30k motorcycle 3 months after I bought it, and I love everything else about it, I need to look into raising the bike up or replacing the floor boards with some that won't scrape.

Has anyone raised bike via a new shock?  I can increase pre load on mine, but that fundamentally changes the ride = not ideal.
Has anyone replaced the floor boards with shorter ones?  They currently scrape at the rear outer edge, so shorter/narrower ones would help.

Thanks!!!

[TxDrifter]

I have to say, this is pretty amusing.  I too came from Fat Bob and went to the FLSTSE3.  I love the bike, but the lean angle is definitely reduced.  I just had to learn to not lean as far in some of the corners.  It is primarily as you described, a sharp turn in one direction or the other.  I think the only other option is to raise the bike.

[Deep Blue Dives]

My last bike was a softail - and the best way I can describe to take sharper turns is to plan ahead.  You have to work your way through the turn (vs. carving through them), and sometimes your just going to scrape.  The bike is naturally low, so your speed and lean angle will have to be adjusted for the curve to ensure you don't scrape.

Just don't panic on the scrape, and try to adjust your lean angle if safety doesn't come into play.  I have pushed up the floorboards on my softail before, but it was what the conditions called for.  I am not encouraging scraping by any means, it just can happen.

On my Street Glide I can pop through corners much faster, and more stable than on my softail.  Now that I have gotten comfortable on my new ride, I have scraped the floorboards on my new ride.  Kinda surprised me that I could because I feel much higher off the ground than I am compared to the softail.

Lifting the bike is an option, but make sure you can still place both feet flat on the ground after your lift.  Shorter floorboards would be lest costly, just make sure you pay attention to where your boot heal is, or you may melt it a bit.

I miss the softail suspension, and I wouldn't compromise your overal ride experience by stiffening up the shocks.

[Jasray]

X2 on the comments regarding learning this functional limits of the ConV.  I have one and love it.  Yes you do have to be more careful in turns, but after a few thousand miles it will become second nature to you.  We pick our poison, every bike has its strenghts and weaknesses.

[Screamin]

Practice, practice, practice. Do some serious time in the parking lot to learn the limits then adjust your speed before going into the curves. Half way through a curve is no place to find out you're in too hot.

[kraut]

learn how to hang off - or just take it a bit easier 

[TinSpinner]

I can't see where you mentioned what kind of bike you are having this problem on. On my SEUC the floor boards have enough adjustment to them that I wold be scraping hard parts before the boards scraped in the uppermost position. Check your service manual or service manager if you prefer before you change the suspension. Next time you see a police bike notice how high their floorboards are mounted. That enables them to make quick sharp turns without leaving a trail of sparks.

[xpanther]

You could put forward controls on your conv.

[greglyon]

The answer is....a Ducati   Your being scared will be replaced with chronic back pain!   

[Musher Mark]

Practice, practice, practice. Do some serious time in the parking lot to learn the limits then adjust your speed before going into the curves. Half way through a curve is no place to find out you're in too hot.

Great advice!

[prstaples1911]

You could put forward controls on your conv.

Had 'em on the Fat Bob. Not for me.

[Willie D]

learn how to hang off - or just take it a bit easier 

I had a Fatboy Lo before the CVO and I got use to the scraping, sure did scare the crap out if folks that ride with ya though,
they were always looking to see who went down, or if it was them . . 

I don't think the bike would handle as good if you raised it enough to eliminate the scraping. Just get use to the new lean angle.

"Rubin' is Racin' - Scraping is Smilin'

[Red12SoftCVO]

I have researched this myself and although dont have the experience that others do riding I found that the FLSTSE3 is lowered 1 inch from the factory and is the lowest soft tail available. I looked into replacing the CVO shocks with standard soft tail equipment, or getting an aftermarket air ride rear suspension. The air ride is about $1800 bucks so this may not be an option but will let you ride from standard soft tail height (1in higher than stock CVO) to 3 inches lower. My wife and I are not thin people so when we both get on with the pre-load cranked up theres not alot of room.

[Red12SoftCVO]

Practicing in a parking lot is good advice. I spent some time in an open area doing slow manuveres leaning until it scraped just to see how far it would go. That way I'm not startled when it happens.

[Mr. Warlock]

Loosen your floor boards so they will pivot with ease, this will help ensure that you don't "dig in" and high side. Once the boards will pivot the worse thing about it is the screeching scraping noise. The noise always startles my wife, I just don't pay attention to it. Changing the riding characteristics of this bike is not an option for me that's one of the reasons I bought it.

You could take a grinder to the rear edges you would be surprised at how much difference grinding a 1/4" off will make. Your not going to hurt anything by doing so because your going to end up grinding them off anyhow.

There are slimmer and less thick boards to purchase as well and I think I saw a kit to move boards forward somewhere.... maybe Kuryakyn.