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[Fxr4Rider]

Let's assume a stock bike (in my case it is a 2012 SG) and a dry clean road.
I am also sure there are other variables and if there is no simple answer I'll accept that.
I am curious, at what angle or lean would be too much before the bike comes out from under you.
Or will some thing on the bike scrape first, and then that action could be the demise of going down.

Just curious.

[stevehd]

The CVO brochure has 32 degrees to the right and 30 degrees to the left as the lean angles.

[GregKhougaz]

According to Harley Davidson's specifications, Lean Angle, Right (deg.)32; Lean Angle, Left (deg.)30.  

There is a thread by Jonga where he had floor board extensions and scraped the supports, thus laying the bike down.  

[Midnight Rider]

You won't run out of tire traction before hard, unforgiving parts start leveraging the rear tire off the ground, or washing the front end out from under you.  The floorboards themselves give a little, though it's still startling to scrape them...beyond that point, it's the supports, and they don't give.  On a stock SG, it's slightly worse, as they are lowered from the factory.

I would also bet money that HD specs are unladen, or at least with the suspension at the top of it's travel, and the suspension, ESPECIALLY STOCK, will always be compressed in a curve, making matters less predictable.  Just think how much your front end dives under moderate front braking.

[Bigtow]

Who out there put floorboard spacers, I’m using ¾ inch , and haven’t had any problems on hard leans.

[Midnight Rider]

Who out there put floorboard spacers, I’m using ¾ inch , and haven’t had any problems on hard leans.

3/4" are probably OK, but some folks have put 1" or more on their bikes.  That's asking for trouble, IMO.  I have 3/4" on my SERGU and the outside of my floorboards scrape if I'm really agressive, but they give a little, and I've got full travel, non-stock suspension.  If I scrape the boards on my bike, I'm leaned over about as much as I dare.  That happens very, very rarely on this bike.

There's really only one way to know for sure:  Throw an old quilt out on your driveway, lay the bike over while somebody else observes what hits first...repeat on other side.  Or, you can duct tape some heater hose to the crash bars and do the same, without the quilt.  If floorboard supports hit, you've got issues.

[naitram]

Who out there put floorboard spacers, I’m using ¾ inch , and haven’t had any problems on hard leans.

stock or lowered suspension?

i had issues with the spacers and lower suspension combination

[michaelbmenaker]

Look at all those You Tube videos of motor officers tearing up the handling courses. More lean angle than most of us can ever use. These are FLHs, not YZRs...

[Fired00d]

Look at all those You Tube videos of motor officers tearing up the handling courses. More lean angle than most of us can ever use. These are FLHs, not YZRs...

They are using every bit of their lean angle up to an including dragging/grinding away the floorboards until they are wafer thin. If you ever get to see one of their competitions in person check out their floorboards you'd be surprised at how much of the back end(s) of them have been ground away.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[Bigtow]

3/4" are probably OK, but some folks have put 1" or more on their bikes.  That's asking for trouble, IMO.  I have 3/4" on my SERGU and the outside of my floorboards scrape if I'm really agressive, but they give a little, and I've got full travel, non-stock suspension.  If I scrape the boards on my bike, I'm leaned over about as much as I dare.  That happens very, very rarely on this bike.

There's really only one way to know for sure:  Throw an old quilt out on your driveway, lay the bike over while somebody else observes what hits first...repeat on other side.  Or, you can duct tape some heater hose to the crash bars and do the same, without the quilt.  If floorboard supports hit, you've got issues.

I did lean her over a little too much one time at slow speed in a parking lot, and the floorboard support scraped first. The parking lot had an incline. Makes me wonder.

[JCZ]

You won't run out of tire traction before hard, unforgiving parts start leveraging the rear tire off the ground, or washing the front end out from under you.  The floorboards themselves give a little, though it's still startling to scrape them...beyond that point, it's the supports, and they don't give.  On a stock SG, it's slightly worse, as they are lowered from the factory.

I would also bet money that HD specs are unladen, or at least with the suspension at the top of it's travel, and the suspension, ESPECIALLY STOCK, will always be compressed in a curve, making matters less predictable.  Just think how much your front end dives under moderate front braking.

That's provided that your bike is stock height and stock floorboard positions.  If you've lowered the bike and/or installed floorboard extenders then you run the risk of hitting on hard parts (parts other than the floorboard that are designed to fold up, allowing the bike to keep traction).

In stock position and ride height, I've scraped my floorboards on a number of occassions.  However, one of our members lowered his bike and installed floorboard extenders and he didn't experience any flex parts......hit hard parts (floor board support brackets) and went down.

[scttgr8]

I have scrapes on both footboard supports but dont think I corner that hard all the time...just when chasing a fellow worker on his sportster!!

[Skillet]

I took a whole mountain curve on the floorboards to surprise some rice rocket photographers that were taking photos. Not totally recommended but !!!

[T-Hawk]

I took a whole mountain curve on the floorboards to surprise some rice rocket photographers that were taking photos. Not totally recommended but !!!

I've dragged the left front highway peg racing down a hill into Fairbanks (also not recommended) but as far as I could tell, the stock floor board on that side never touched.

When I got home and changed my pants,  I attempted to lean the bike down to the highway peg just to get an idea of how far is too far... I couldn't do it by myself but with a little help, well let's just say, if you start dragging parts then somethings likely to go wrong sooner than later.

Touching the highway peg to the floor wasn't very far from actually laying the bike down, mind that it was unladen and on a flat surface.  Still, won't be trying to do that on purpose any time soon.   

[grc]

The first thing to remember is, you're riding a heavy low slung Harley with a cheap suspension, not a crotch rocket.  If you want to play boy racer, head on over to the Suzuki/Yamaha/Kawasaki/Honda dealer and get the appropriate hardware. 

It makes no sense to push a Harley hard enough to drag solid parts, especially on anything other than a perfect surface.  And I don't know about the roads in your area, but I can assure you there are no roads around here that could be rated more than barely adequate these days, and definitely none that are perfect.  All that talk about crumbling infrastructure isn't just talk.

Anyone worried about such things needs to learn how to hang off the bike to shift the center of gravity, which is how those road racers manage to navigate corners at ridiculous speeds without dragging hard parts or running out of tire.  Done properly, you can keep the bike a little more upright while turning just as hard or harder than you could just sitting on the seat like you always do.  It's a good thing to know how to do for those times when you get into a corner too hot, since it could mean the difference between going off the road and/or dropping the bike, or making it through the curve with a much higher heart rate but still in one piece.


Jerry