Modern Vespa

Scooters have a tendency to scrape the center stand during spirited riding in the twisties. I've been worried that one day I'll actually lever up my rear wheel and slide out if my lean angle goes too far.

On a sport bike you can just drop a knee to the ground to measure lean angle (assuming you have knee pucks). This won't work on scooters, but sliding your foot over the road gives good feedback:

I was actually following a dual-sport riding in the twisties doing exactly this. Is this the "correct" way to measure lean angle for spirited scooter riding? Assuming your careful to not let your foot catch on something, is this what other riders do.

name that tune...

After riding my Suzuki for quite some time now, I seem to be treating my Vespa like a sport bike. I get my butt off the seat a little and shift my weight to one side of the scooter depending on what turn I'm taking. I scrape sometimes but I rarely do because I have enough weight offset to not lean the scooter to scraping point.

Personally, I wouldn't stick my feet out like that because if my shoe were to catch traction, it would throw off my balance.

Cool video, what a crazy rider

Who says you cannot drag you knee on a scooter.

If you have a center stand.. The best way is to lean until you just start to hear the center stand scrap.

If you leaning that far over, take it to the race track.

Joe

Misirlou - It's an old Greek song. Popularized in 1962 when Dick Dale released a "surf guitar" version of the song.

Regarding the sticking your feet out around corners. It looks cool but is not something you want to jump into with abandon. If you do it on a rough surface (many roads are rougher then they look), you can easily snag your foot and get a heck of a whack. Worse yet, break an ankle.

-Craig

I actually did that once, minus the sliding out.  I over-leaned in the middle of an otherwise mundane left turn through an intersection and had a brief moment of power oversteer. 

It didn't amount to much more than a waggle in my course, more amusing than dramatic.

i saw a guy once drag the feet around a corner, foot caught on something briefly, poor guy ran over his foot with the back wheel - didn't look pretty - coming off your bike is bad enough !!

The film is "Taxi", done by Luc Besson, the one who done The big blue, Nikita, .... French film

just buy some curb feelers from the 70's. with the proper mounting you'have your angle gauge and you'll save your toes, boots and anckles.

thats probably the easiest way to break an ankle

I hardly think so! "Spirited" riding is one thing ... having a death wish is another. Sticking your leg out on turns is a sure fire way to guarantee major injury. Perhaps you could get away with it for a while ... but at some point you are bound to accidentally straighten your knee at the exact wrong time, your foot hits the ground and you pole vault off your scooter.

Nah, keep your foot on the scoot at all times. If you want to lean the much, take up track racing and drag your knee like the rest of em.

I liked his dismount though. I'd give him an 8.5!

Last edited by TrafficJammer on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:01:19 +0000; edited 1 time

Entertaining video - thanks for sharing! I hope to never ever see or experience any of this other than the cloudless sunny sky.

Yeah, I'd probably try that, but I'm afraid my scooter would fall over before I could turn around and catch it.

I've scraped side and center stands on quite a few bikes. The rocker covers on my R80 and R100 were scuffed from the pavement.

It would take a combination of circumstances and road conditions to lever the rear tire off the ground, and isn't likely.

Scraping isn't that dangerous, or even scary after you've done it a few times.

Dangling your foot sounds like an amputation just waiting to happen.

I'd hate to have to call you stumpy.

P.

You're such a wuss Danny. Always playing it safe. (suck teeth now)

You'll never succeed in life if you don't grab for that brass ring! Go for it and throw in a full twist while you're at it if you want the extra points for degree of difficulty ... to make it a perfect 10!

I love love love that show. It was hilarious. Hooray for subtitles! The Hollywood version is a long way off (so I heard, haven't actually watched that).

I sometimes stick my foot out like that, probably not a good practice but I find my lazy butt pretty much firmly stuck on the LXV seat to shift around much.

That's a great picture, Rex!

Me too. Totally concerned about my scooter. Otherwise no problem.

only leg pointing a little further forward, I have also seen Valentino Rossi and the young Australian MotoGP rider do something like this before entering a corner and wondered what it was all about. If you call that spirited scooter riding I would quit while you are ahead or make a career out of it. crazy!!

I have it on good authority from a friend who's an ex-motocross racer that the foot out thing is only to weight the front end of the bike. You don't actually put your foot down. I think the SuperMoto guys do something similar, but may put their heel down since the SM boots have replaceable soles.

And yes, if you lean too far over on the right, you'll drag your "security loop", and if the move is abrupt you can unsettle the scoot and run wide in the turn. The centerstand will also drag. But you can get a little more clearance by increasing your preload on the rear shocks.

Or hang off a bit, as the previous poster said.

Look at the guy in the center with his, what the fuck look on his face. He looks drunk and the one to the right look shocked, the guy on the left looks like he is on med's. Cartoon images originally posted by REX. I just switched them up.