Chicken strips

[sunny]

 

[Journeyman]

It’s twisty where I live, so you tend to wear the sides first. On my Roadster I dragged the pegs often and wore tires nearly to the edge. I was riding the 3R similarly, until I went down on an oil patch. Now, my strips are a little wider (less ego, more intelligence . Here’s a post showing my front tire. Scroll down to see @Paul Bryant ’s completely bald rear.
Post in thread 'Chicken stripes??'
Chicken stripes??

 

[acim]

Wash that dirty Rocket.

I just arrived from a trip through Dolomites and Alps. Snow is melting there so lot of wet spots.

 

[acim]

Very good, track or road?

 

[sunny]

Very good, track or road?

track

 

[acim]

Mine is from the road ride.

 

[Gimlet]

This is one of the dumbest topics in motorcycling because it's all about ego and fear of other riders opinions. With my Exedra Max on the rear I get use of pretty much all of the tire while the front Cruisetec doesn't even come close. Here and there my boots and occasionally pegs will scrape but I'm not aiming for that, I just ride how I like. There are plenty of posers on youtube who will take a scotch brite pad and work the edges of the tires until their egos are satisfied.

There are two ways of looking at it really. Either the OP is massaging his ego or demonstrating his appreciation of the remarkable handling abilities of a bike of this size and mass. When I read the thread I assumed the latter.

It is true that it's very foolish to chase your tyre strips rather than ride the road (I've had that conversation with youngsters many times) and that if your road craft and riding technique is proficient the strips will take care of themselves. I'm a bricklayer by trade and novices and intermediates in that business are often similarly obsessed with speed, but the same rule applies: don't look to lay fast. Look to lay well and the speed will come by itself.
I imagine there's very few of us on this forum under 40, so I'm guessing most of us have been on that journey with our bike riding long ago.

I have a Ducati supernaked and a KTM adventure bike. Neither have any strips at all (I don't like the term "chicken" since it implies that fast cornering is only a matter of nerve, a misconception held by novices often with catastrophic results) and I wouldn't expect them to. Both are essentially sports bikes, albeit one of them on stilts, and they are designed to encourage and facilitate fast riding.
Non-Rocketeers, and the biking press to be fair, generally assume that the R3 is a fat, lazy Harley-esque grunt monster intended only for straight-line thrust. We know it's much more than that. The two questions I'm most commonly asked about mine is how do you hang on to it (the same way as you do any other bike) and how does it go round corners (ditto, with the proviso that it turns faster, flatter and smoother if you stay on the power). @acim 's pics demonstrate this.

 

[Protonhound]

There are two ways of looking at it really. Either the OP is massaging his ego or demonstrating his appreciation of the remarkable handling abilities of a bike of this size and mass. When I read the thread I assumed the latter.

It is true that it's very foolish to chase your tyre strips rather than ride the road (I've had that conversation with youngsters many times) and that if your road craft and riding technique is proficient the strips will take care of themselves. I'm a bricklayer by trade and novices and intermediates in that business are often similarly obsessed with speed, but the same rule applies: don't look to lay fast. Look to lay well and the speed will come by itself.
I imagine there's very few of us on this forum under 40, so I'm guessing most of us have been on that journey with our bike riding long ago.

I have a Ducati supernaked and a KTM adventure bike. Neither have any strips at all (I don't like the term "chicken" since it implies that fast cornering is only a matter of nerve, a misconception held by novices often with catastrophic results) and I wouldn't expect them to. Both are essentially sports bikes, albeit one of them on stilts, and they are designed to encourage and facilitate fast riding.
Non-Rocketeers, and the biking press to be fair, generally assume that the R3 is a fat, lazy Harley-esque grunt monster intended only for straight-line thrust. We know it's much more than that. The two questions I'm most commonly asked about mine is how do you hang on to it (the same way as you do any other bike) and how does it go round corners (ditto, with the proviso that it turns faster, flatter and smoother if you stay on the power). @acim 's pics demonstrate this.

Agree, that's a good way of looking at it.

 

[acim]

Wash that dirty Rocket.

Better?

 

[Protonhound]

Even my traditional non-black R3 stays surprisingly clean enough for me in dry weather. I've "cleaned" the wheels maybe twice since buying it in Feb 2024 and the lack of offensive chrome and other bling certainly helps.