I'm in a good mood tonight. I just found out that two of the most useless members of upper management are no longer with my company and this sounded like fun. Post up those chicken strips for bragging rights. No fair if you scrubbed them off with a brick or sandpaper. It has to be from the LEAN! Mine aren't too shabby but nothing spectacular either. My riding buddy and MSF instructor literally has no strips on the Pilot Roads mounted on a Kawasaki ZZR1200.

Anyway, here's mine. about 425 miles since I put them on the bike a few weeks ago (9000 total on the bike)

Front:
http://home.houston.rr.com/essman/sloan/images/P3216111_front.JPG
And rear:
http://home.houston.rr.com/essman/sloan/images/P3216113_rear.JPG
Oh Yeah, and that is reflective yellow rim tape shining on the wheels. They look almost white with the bright camera flash but in a normal reflection and during the day, they match the yellow on our '04 nicely.

http://screaming3d.com/pics/bikes/grad_ride/IMG_0281.JPG

Haven't touched a peg down yet, but I'm curious how much further there is to go.

Haven't touched a peg down yet, but I'm curious how much further there is to go.
Sweet! I like to see Pilot Roads worn all the way to the edge when I have a couple of guys at work saying, "You can't lean on Pilot Roads. You need Powers."

Gotta show my ignorance... I hear the term a lot, and I've seen the pics... but what are chicken strips? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but so far I'm just not sure I understand.... :oops:

Gotta show my ignorance... I hear the term a lot, and I've seen the pics... but what are chicken strips? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but so far I'm just not sure I understand.... :oops:
You know those little... whiskers on the edges of your new tires? Well, the further you lean the bike over in turns, the quicker you wear those bad boys off. Calling them chicken strips refers to riders being too "chicken" to lean the bike far over enough to rub those whiskers off against the pavement. If you scroll up and look at Skier's pic, you'll see them worn down to just above nubs and what few Sloan has are little more than belly-button scars at this point.

I'll have to take a look to see where mine are at when I get home.

Gotta show my ignorance... I hear the term a lot, and I've seen the pics... but what are chicken strips? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but so far I'm just not sure I understand.... :oops:
You know those little... whiskers on the edges of your new tires? Well, the further you lean the bike over in turns, the quicker you wear those bad boys off. Calling them chicken strips refers to riders being too "chicken" to lean the bike far over enough to rub those whiskers off against the pavement. If you scroll up and look at Skier's pic, you'll see them worn down to just above nubs and what few Sloan has are little more than belly-button scars at this point.

I'll have to take a look to see where mine are at when I get home.

Pretty close! "Chicken strips" refer the the unused portion of the tire. It's a sign of how much of a lean you've put on your bike. It's not an indication of how fast or good a rider you are, simply how far you're willing to tilt your bike.

Those nubbins can show how often you're over on the side, not how far. :)

(edit)

Something like this:

http://screaming3d.com/pics/bikes/chickenstrips.jpg

Show offs! :P

Show offs! :P

Don't look at the other side of that tire, it's got plenty of unused meat. And as I said before, chicken strips mean very little to a rider's speed. I've seen fast riders with noticeable chicken strips and slower riders with no chicken strips,

Okay, I think I've got it. I had heard of the "scrub line" before, referring to the line breaking the used (worn) portion of the tire from the unused (not yet worn) portion. Mine are pretty close together still, as I have yet to break one kilomile. :(

As for the whiskers, when I worked in the tire biz we called them, well, um, titties. :oops: But that may have just been my boss' term for 'em. :lol:

When we got our bike the original tires had about 3400 miles on it and a lot bigger strips with what looked like a majority of highway miles on them and they stayed about the same for the next 5000 miles. Then we put the new tires on and the difference was like night and day. As this is our first motorcycle, nice, new, rounded tires was quite an experience. If I had known how having new tires was going to make it SO much easer to keep a steady lean, I would have replaced them a lot sooner. Still, I've been riding with some experienced guys (several MSF instructors too) and they've given me a lot of tips on technique so I think that has helped me a lot to wear the strips down pretty quickly. And speaking of speeds, I think we lean more on the slow, sharp corners with the yellow 15 and 20 mph warning signs than we go on the 40-50 mph corners with big, sweeping curves.

cool thread, I'll try and get a pic of my rear tyre at the weekend :) I think they're scrubbed pretty much to the edge.

Its true though, just because you have chicken strips doesn't mean you're slow. It can depend on tyre profiles and types, some are just easier to scrub to the edge... or if your riding technique involves hanging off the bike more then you won't need to the lean the bike as far, which is technically a better way to ride.

next thread: post pictures of your hero blob's ;) :P

Chicken Strips: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_strip

"Hero Blobs" are those funny "whisker" bolts sticking out of the bottom of UR foot peggs. It will (should) dragg before the peg does (or anything else) and is easily replaced.

Thanks for the clarification. Now I won't sound so foolish if I open my mouth at the Rock Store.

next thread: post pictures of your hero blob's ;) :P
Those are almost pristine on mine! I hit one of them once. Talk about being startled the first time you do that!

Okay, I got the camera out today.
Here's my chicken strip / scrub line and a couple of the whiskers.

Link here (http://www.blackcatresearch.com/photos/P3242285.JPG)

I'd rather have chicken strips than road rash on my bike.

I'd rather have chicken strips than road rash on my bike.
I can't argue with that.

I'd rather have chicken strips than road rash on my bike.

Hey! I resemble that remark! :D

(Thanks to Friday's no-speed dump. Grrr.) :oops:

I'd rather have chicken strips than road rash on my bike.

You make it sound like crashes are guaranteed if you use all your tire. I know more than a few riders than can prove otherwise. ;)

I don't think that's what SSS meant. We're all for leaning over, I'm thinking he was just reminding us to be careful... or am I wrong Steve?

Ok, I thought I had bad chicken strips, but looking at some of the photos here YOU GUYS have way to much strip left... :lol: :lol:

Here's the strips on my Pilot Powers. I've got just over a 1/4 inch on the right side, and a bit under a 1/4 inch on the left side.




http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/motogpfan26/ChickenStrips001.jpghttp://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/motogpfan26/ChickenStrips004.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/motogpfan26/ChickenStrips002.jpghttp://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q10/motogpfan26/ChickenStrips003.jpg



I plan on trying to get rid of these chicken strips before long. I'm thinking about taking a trip up to the Dragon...

:rad way to go moto ok ok as soon as my new camera gets here Imma run right out to the garage and take some pics batteries are staying in the charger so they will be fresh for the camera when it comes...... moto I think I have you beat by just a little bit :D ahh yeh I love to see someone else who rides hard >>> GIVE ME A MUTHA FUKKIN HEE YEA!!!!!!!!! :lol:

:rad way to go moto ok ok as soon as my new camera gets here Imma run right out to the garage and take some pics batteries are staying in the charger so they will be fresh for the camera when it comes...... moto I think I have you beat by just a little bit :D ahh yeh I love to see someone else who rides hard >>> GIVE ME A MUTHA FUKKIN HEE YEA!!!!!!!!! :lol:

8) 8)

I haven't really had a chance to get out on any twisties though! I want to ride on some serious twisties! I've only been able to ride around town, but I try to ride the roads with the most curves in them. I've been kind of embarassed because I have those chicken strips up there, but there really isn't anywhere that I can lean hard enough to get rid of what's left. My father-in-law has a friend who makes a couple of trips to the Dragon every year. I'm planning on going with him the next time he goes so I can REALLY get rid of those ugly strips.

For someone who's only been riding for 6 months now, and on Pilot Powers (gotta lean fairly agressively to get the sides of the tire), I don't think my tires look to very bad... 8) 8) ...I'm definitely no chicken...

I don't think that's what SSS meant. We're all for leaning over, I'm thinking he was just reminding us to be careful... or am I wrong Steve?

That's what I meant. If you're using all your tire you would be most likely far exceeding the speed limit. We all do this, but I don't want this thread to pressure people to push their limits so that they don't feel like a sub par rider.

I don't think that's what SSS meant. We're all for leaning over, I'm thinking he was just reminding us to be careful... or am I wrong Steve?

That's what I meant. If you're using all your tire you would be most likely far exceeding the speed limit.

If that's the case for most people, I sure like the roads around here. :twisted:

the chicken strips also depends on the shape of the tire some will have larger strips then others even with the same lean angle

good point dabinche different types of tires do make a difference

Wow, way to go Moto-Chris! That's pretty good! I've been riding for a year and mine are thicker than that!

What I'm trying to understand though is what non-twisty roads you're riding where you can lean your bike that much!?

Wow, way to go Moto-Chris! That's pretty good! I've been riding for a year and mine are thicker than that!

What I'm trying to understand though is what non-twisty roads you're riding where you can lean your bike that much!?

Well, I ride on roads with curves and stuff, it's just not exactly what I consider "real twisties." What I usually do is ride far to the outside and then fall in late so I have to lean more agressively to clear the curve...if this makes any sense. It's sort of my way of taking a standard curve and turning it in to a curve that is a little more agressive. The other thing is taking standard curves a little faster than normally, which forces me to have to lean a bit more to clear the curve.

I am careful doing it because going in to the curve wide and falling in late doesn't leave much room for error...so don't msitake what I'm saying...I'm very careful.

I just really need to get up to the Dragon where I don't have to do stuff like this to get an agressive feel when I'm riding.

Stay safe Chris. :thumbsup

Not to sound like a kill joy but please be safe out there... those strips are no indicator of your ability to ride or how fast you go... The street surface is dynamic and unpredictable, it isn't really the place to test out "pushing your limits" - find a local track to do that. It would suck to be on the edge, feel yourself going a bit wide and have nothing in reserve...

Finally got around to taking a few pictures after getting back from work today. I could blame the camera, but its probably my rubbish photography skills that meant I couldn't get them to come out as sharp as I would of liked:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/strips1.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/strips2.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/strips3.jpg

And a gratuitous shot of the bike:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o33/jimbokeeno/strips4.jpg

:thumbsup

PS: I need to wash it this weekend! my poor hornet looks a little abused from so close up :)

Jimbo...what kind of mirrors are those?

p.s. What chicken strips? I don't see any.

Jimbo...what kind of mirrors are those?

p.s. What chicken strips? I don't see any.

8) :P

The mirrors are sold in France by a company called 'chaft', the model is 'retro softy' (whatever that means)... but in the UK I've seen the exact same mirrors sold as Motrax items :? you can buy them here (http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MCYCLE&pcode=MTXMBK1). I like them alot, they vibrate more at speed than the standard items but otherwise the quality is quite good. They came with riser nuts to position them higher for a better view behind... when I had the standard handlebars on I needed the nuts, but when I fitted renthals I found I could see better without the risers which is good, because they also look a bit better lower :)

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/rndthought/ChickenStrip599.jpg

Ooooooooo. Melted rubber. Show off. :P

Yeah, didn't do that on the street... :evil:

Ooooooooo. Melted rubber. Show off. :P

Agreed....

Showoff.

And I probably ride worse than you Chris...point is, don't get too wrapped up in chicken strips. :mrgreen: