Tle man speaks the truth, replace your cover like NOW, and learn the hang your Harley. Slightly hang off the side and lean low while trying to keep the bike as upright as u can safely, dont try riding it like a flattrack bike it an altogether dif style tech for two dif types of bikes.

 

I'm with him.

 

here are some pics... http://www.rickclemson.com/Photo_Det...=482&index=380 disregard the name across the middle ...i dont own them yet....you can see the shiny triangle underneath the derby cover. The bike is a street bob with no change in rear suspension, I did add some progressive springs up front which i think raised the front a little. I do try changing my positions on the bike and will work more with that and see how it does. I might need to stiffen my rear shocks a bit after looking at the pictures again and seeing the compression.

 

Try this technique: move your butt on the seat to the inside of the turn and lean off the edge of the bike just enough to minimize the need to tip the bike to far as to not tear your primary or pipes, your still tipping the bike just not half as much by lowering the bikes center of gravity. it's kinda like if your doing a u-turn but instead of moving your butt to the outside of the turn you do the inside and lean over slightly.

With a little practice you'll increase your corning speeds a tad bit and not scrape at the same time.

I've laid a bike down twice at high speed over the years, trust me the last thing you want to do is take the pressure/traction off your tires and put it on your pegs or anything else for that matter.

 

Check your rear shock settings.

I only weigh 170 lbs. and have them set at 4 for riding the twisties - actually, now I leave them at 4 all the time. A little stiffer ride, but better handling and less scraping.

 

Some serious leaning. Street bikes weren't designed for that. A good Indy mech should be able to tell you how thick the primary case is. My worry would be in that type of lean on asphalt or concrete would be that if anything went wrong, (wet spot, gravel/sand, pot hole etc) that you might leave part of yourself on the road. Get a dirt bike to take all those primal urges out on.

 

I like your 96 Springer bike, a bit old school but functional for touring also. What type of seat is that?

 

Hey, here's an idea...carry some JB weld with you in the tool pouch....will fill that hole in a pinch but like somebody else said...start looking for a new one while you don't need it. You can alway have the old one welded to fill in the hole and would work as a spare...

 

+1 on hanging you butt off the seat. I want to expand on that technique though.

One cheek on and one cheek off. Lean your upper body further into the turn so you are behind your mirrors looking through the turn.

I see you have forward controls. My opinion is get get the mids back on there for aggressive riding. Because you can put more weight on your legs while hanging off the bike. The more of your weight on your legs you have on the inside of an aggressive turn the less lean you will need. ALSO, your pegs will scrape before your primary - serving as an early warning system. You don't want to create a pivot system with your top weight and your tires. With the mids when you start getting weight on the peg, you can transfer your weight to your knee on the tank with your outside leg if needed. You should also be on the ball of you foot on the inside of the turn with your heel up in as close to the bike as you can while having your knee pointed in the direction of the turn (dont want to drag your heel or toes). Keep the weight off your arms and hands. All of it should be on your legs.

I moved to metzler on my last tire change and I went one size up on the back tire (180 I think???) and the first thing I noticed was I was NOT using all of the tire tread where as on my dunlops I was. This led me to believe my next step is to get taller shocks since I have the tread capability now.

I only ride like this on roads I know very well with good visivility and NO traffic. That being said (just to give you an idea) - I usually go into a 20mph posted turn at 40 and come out 45-50. 25 @50 comming out at about 55, maybe more, etc etc...and I have only lightly scraped my primary once because of an emergency line adjustment moment. There are some connecting highway roads with some 40mph posted, and at 70-75 it starts to get that "no longer on rails" feeling but still very manageable. As another side note. My spirited riding is usually 5-10mph over the speed limited and yes, it does make finding good roads difficult...and yes...I am saving up for the track so I can keep it in a safe environment. Just need $3k more for gear, mods and equipment for my Ninja + $300 entry fee +uhaul for the 115-250 mile trip and motel fees.

If you are like the rest of us and dont have several thousands of dollars to drop on a new to you sport bike and stuff, look up instructional videos on the web. Better than tryin to learn it all on your own the hard way.

 

That technique can be done with forwards too... the mids just contact to soon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hJIZC3P5SU