Like my Dad used to say " Never let anybody sh*t on your Birthday cake". If you friend doesn't automatically respect your riding style/comfort level then remain friends and stop riding with him. I have a friend just like that who is a really nice guy but has some really unsafe riding habits that he refuses to change. So, I don't ride with him.

Lots of good techniques and advice on here. But my bottom line is this: I try to never out drive my headlights, vision, riding ability, comfort level. Do you own thing and take YOUR time to learn and get comfortable with your bike.

If someone doesn't like it....too bad for them.

 

You might wanna look at "Proficient Motorcycling" by David Hough. He discusses items like this and addresses the things that might jump out at you going into different riding situations. I am a MotoGP fan, so I do occasionally look like I try to hang off in certain curves. Target fixation is the biggest thing to overcome on curves. There's gotta be a ton of youtube vids of some guy who looks at where he doesn't wanna go, and eats it. Look where you wanna go, and generally, your body and bike will follow.

 

I rounded a blind mountain curve and there was a car out of gas in my lane, guess what would have happened if I was hangin it out. Rocks, gravel, cars stopped, nothing wrong with backing off if you can't see ahead in fact if you don't you are just assuming the road is clear, your gamble

 

This is probably the best info you been given. But there is one more thing that goes with riding your own ride. There are 2 different styles of riding. There are the guys who enjoy riding on the edge for the adrenline rush and its what they ride for all the time. Then there are guys like me that just enjoy the aaaaaaahhhhhh moment riding gives. The relaxing enjoyment of the smells and sights, the wind in your face while lazily carving thru curves. When I started riding many moons ago, I was an agressive rider too, it was great. But if you ride on the edge all the time, it is just a matter of when, not if, that you will hit some gravel or wet leaves or my case a deer runs out in front of you, and then you're sliding on your butt, I don't care how good a rider you are. Plus the most dangerous sentence in the English language is "Hey watch this". (Damn railroad tracks anyways lol)---So ride the way you feel comfortable, cause that is the whole reason for riding, to chill out and enjoy. Try and at least maintain the speed limit to keep cages from trying to pass you, but let your friend haul butt out in front of you. Don't worry you will catch up with them.

 

Hoggy, my original advise stands, you ride how your comfortable and forget all about keeping up, if you push yourself beyond your ability you will wreck, its just common sense.
You have been riding a HD for 2 yrs, can i assume you started you started riding 2 yrs ago or at least just got to riding on the streets 2 yrs ago? here is the thing, a lot of guys have been riding for 10, 20, 30 or more years..you just need to be safe, learn and go home safe to do it agian, do not try to keep up with guys who have the experience and to be honest push even themselves beyond their ability, they do it for the rush, you dont have to have a rush to enjoy the ride.

 

Ride your own RIDE.

If they run away from you they will slow down and you will catch up.
It's when you think you know what your doing is when your guard is down, then you find yourself down.

Always ride your own ride, Never forget that.......

 

Lots of good advice on handling the bike etc, most of which you probably already know, but here is my take on the logic/theory of what is a safe speed to take a blind bend. Anyone encouraging you to go faster on a public road should be kept at arms length.

You should always be travelling at a speed that allows you to stop within the distance that you can see the road to be safe. Two bends of exactly the same radius and therefore both able to be ridden at the same speed due to the bike's capability, should not be ridden at the same speed if one is blind. On the blind bend you cannot see ahead as far, so you should be riding slower as the stopping distance is reduced.

If you are scraping floorboards or pegs in a blind bend you are probably going too fast.

To maximise the speed at which you can take a blind bend safely, you need to maximise visibility around the bend which means positioning yourself as far as possible to the outside of the bend, not hugging the inside. You must always position for safety, so if there is oncoming traffic you will need to move nearer to the centre of your lane, which naturally implies reduced forward visibility and therefore a need for reduced speed. Blind bends, being blind, mean that you may not be able to see oncoming traffic as you enter the bend, so if you are positioned for maximum visibility you may need to move from the outside of your lane to the centre of your lane by tightening the radius of your turn when oncoming traffic appears. You cannot do this if you are already at the limit, scraping your floorboards.

To sum up blind bends should be taken slower than open bends, and never at the bike's limit. To maximise the safe speed use position within your lane, but never sacrifice safety for better visibility. If you find an open bend with no oncoming vehicles, obstacles or bad road surface, let out a great big whoop and let the sparks fly!

 

lots of good advice, but don't forget to use common sense

 

It's good to be careful and not take curves past your limits, but at the same time it's not good to crawl in them. Sounds to me you need to relax some and ride the bike. I mean I'm not saying to drag knee, but man relax and ride the bike. Curves is the best part of riding IMO.

 

Don't ride beyond your comfort zone. Just because somebody is taking a blind corner at speed doesn't mean it's right. Many people ride beyond their abilities which often leads to crashing. Obviously you need to have a certain skill level to ride safely. Anyone who pressures you to ride beyond your comfort zone is not thinking clearly. If you find yourself in a position where traffic is constanly honking at you for not maintaining speed, then perhaps you need to question your skill level and maybe an advance motorcycle traning course is required. You should feel confident when you ride, but you shouldn't ride beyond your capabilities. Why should you want to scrape floorboards? This is a pretty good indication you are pushing your bike to it's limit. Ride Safe, Don't be a Goon Rider. Riding safe is much cooler than riding like a Goon!