Who has a cruiser too? Or rides a horse?

[R100Pilot]

One of the more cogent things I ever heard concerned the evolution of riding positions and their relationship to horses. American bikes tend to have a cowboy riding position - feet forward, slight slouch. European (and later Japanese) bikes have more of an English or jockey style ergonomic design - leaned forward, feet beneath your butt.

I've always ridden "English." Now, my girlfriend has had surgery and her brand new America has been sittin' for weeks and she wants me to take it for a spin now and again, and quite frankly, while I'd hop on a ZX14 in a heartbeat, with no reservations, the idea of ridin' kicked back with my feet way out front kinda spooks me. Just seems... unnatural (not to mention undignified). I rode her old Virago and kept missin' the pegs once I got rolling, and turns felt funny - the America's are waaaaay out there.

How do I get over this?

[ This message was edited by: R100Pilot on 2006-06-06 11:18 ]

[tealetm]

Sit on in in the garage until you fall asleep with your feet on the pegs. There are many times I get tired of the "English" position you refer to and want a cruiser

[maxed66]

Have me a Yama Vmax, and although the seating and peg position is upright, not leaned back or leaned forward, I have crash protectors up front that are perfect for putting my feet up and out. I can put down 500 miles a day on that bike and all I need is fuel and gas. I just switch between "english" and "american" positions when I get bored.

***** I wish I had the bike here with me! Oh well, the S3 has been pretty good for the week I have had her, but not the comfort of the ol' max. I dunno about puttin' 500 miles on the S3 in a day..... :-)

[bkrbil]

I have 7 bikes in my garage...each one has a slightly different riding position. I have a sport bike, standard, tourer, and cruisers. It's nothing to hop from one extreme to another. Don't think too much about it. Hop on, take it easy at first, and after a short time, you'll find it to be enjoyable. Even if it's not a triple, it's a bike, and it's better to ride something than nothing.

[gr8shandini]

I can't stand horses. Don't trust 'em either. I know they're just waiting to go past the perfect ravine where they can buck me off to my doom. Sneaky bastards.

However, I hadn't given motorcycle riding positions much thought till now. I think that saddle style thing a pretty good observation. But there's also a third option on the older style standards that works great: use the passenger pegs. I used to do that all the time on my Bonnie when I had to put down some serious highway miles. It sounds weird, but if you lay on the tank and hook your feet over the rear pegs it's comfortable enough to take a nap on. Far superior to "highway pegs" in my opinion.

[R100Pilot]

Yeah. I'm actually thinkin' it might be kinda fun once I quit trying to put my feet down on the pavement under my butt. The America's a fine looking bike.

[Avi8or]

Feet forward is ok for long straight smooth roads, like USA Not good for twisties like Europe or rough roads like Malta........

[thorick]

I have a screamin orange VT1100C with mid-height ape hangers (the color screams, NOT the engine :-) ). It's a great ride for in-no-hurry blub-blub-blubbing along. The feet forward position takes a little getting used to, but with a little practice I found it nice to do the Easy Rider thing.
Took that bike from CA to NY then down the east coast to Alabama and back to CA... It's a nice bike for that (if you're not in a hurry to be anywhere).

[Agentorange]

I find it to be good training in keeping me versatile to be able to adapt to any kind of riding style. So what if some bikes are more comfortable than others "it's all good" . :-D

[thorick]

On 2006-06-06 11:17, R100Pilot wrote:
Now, my girlfriend has had surgery and her brand new America has been sittin' for weeks and she wants me to take it for a spin now and again,..

Whoa hey.. does she have a sister ? (unattached and single ?) :-)