I Challenge You...

Lean angle and steering wheel rotation are the same. The more you have of it, the less you can use to brake (decelerate) or accelerate. Since it’s winter time, let’s use a car in today’s challenge and examples.

Let’s say you are in an empty parking lot. You have a low horsepower car at rest and the steering wheel has been welded, glued or stuck with a quarter turn of rotation. Once you get the car moving at a constant speed, the car makes circles. No surprise! If we let off the accelerator, the car makes smaller circles. If we put on the brakes the car makes even smaller circles. And the opposite happens depending on how much we press down on the accelerator. To simplify, the greater the deceleration, the smaller the circles. And the greater the acceleration, the larger the circles. Don’t believe me? Try it! Just don’t weld or glue your steering wheel.

The next time you are turning your car and you need the car to turn just a tiny-bit-more. I challenge you to leave the steering wheel in the same position but let off the accelerator. You’ll get the rotation you are looking for.

Why is this Important? In the motorcycle world, we equate lean angle to risk. It all boils down to traction; whether it’s a two or four wheeled vehicle. You have more grip with less steering wheel rotation. “But I’m only going 15 miles per hour!”, you may say. Yes, it’s winter time and there’s less grip. Think rain, snow or even, ice.