Ride Position

[MoosesBusa]

I have installed the heli bars and the Corbin seat on my '05. I wanted to sit a little straighter in the saddle so my 6'2" 260lb. body would be comfortable on the longer rides ( Fingers still go numb after 2 hours ) I'm contemplating lowering the Busa to the middle notch in the rear lowering links and leaving the front where it's at. Here are my questions...A) How much will this effect the riding position? I am assuming it must from a simple physics point of view but thought it best to ask. B) Will this throw off the bikes natural road response characteristics? C) Will it look stupid? D) will I be scraping up my lowers on normal everyday ride situations? E) will it make the front end seem heavier/lighter. I do plan on strapping the front end down for playing at the track for harder launching. Your experience and responses are appreciated.

 

[BA BUSA]

Lowering won't change your riding position on the bike. As for being more comfortable on long rides it is a sport bike and will never be as comfortable as a cruiser. You need to relax and enjoy the ride. For the numbing hands don't grip the bars to tight and change your hand position occasionally. If your tense when riding and not relaxed you will tire more quickly. Being relaxed while riding doesn't mean ride carelessly just enjoy the ride.  

 

[stkr00]

Your riding position is only determine by the triangle geometry between the seat, foot pegs, and handle bars. You've already changed that so that's not an issue.

By lowering the rear only and leaving the front stock, your body position will be in a more vertical position, but only by a few degrees from where it is now. I don't think this is going to help you much, but I could be wrong. As far as handling goes...Lowering the FRONT allows for a more responsive steering and quicker turn-in, so I would think that lowering the REAR would have the opposite affect.

If you're not into riding the twisties too hard, then this may work out for you. Hope this was somewhat usefull.

Good Luck, and let us know how it works out.

 

[Revlis]

Ummm, The Corbin seat might also be screwing you up even more. It's thicker than stock, might be countering the benefit gained from the Heli's. I would recommend taking the seat OFF, then add a few inches of Towel, or Something you can sit on, Build up a little seat, hop on, and see how that feels... Just to try it out in the garage I mean.

I noticed that after cutting down my own seat about 2" or so, that I was WAY more comfortable on the Busa. My legs are tighter, but the lower seat wreally helped with comfort on the road. especially in my wrists and forearms.

So instead of anything else more radical try out a Lower seat, not a lowered bike. If you know someone in from the board with a Tobin seat ask if you can hop on for a second, you might be really surprised.

The shaved seat worked for me anyway...

 

[BulletTrain]

Dropping the back in the weeds and leaving the front up in the air will probably kill handling in the corners. As was already mentioned, lowering the front (or raising the rear) improves turn-in at the expense of giving up a little straight line stability. So, reversing that, you would likely gain a little straight line stability but lose turn-in/handling to some degree.

Besides stability, the only thing I can see that you'd stand to gain by doing this would be as Jim said... A bit less weight on your wrists (due to a few degrees less forward lean) but in the same exact riding "position" you're in now. I think this would be a band-aid for the real problem...

I had a problem with hand numbness on the busa at first, too. I thought about tryin' all the "fixes" but after reading a lot of great posts on the subject on this board I found that I was causing my own problem. Had nothing to do with the busa at all. I was supporting my upper body weight with my arms/wrists instead of with my torso muscles.

The busa has quite a reach to the grips, requiring a fair amount of body lean in riding position. It just seemed natural to me to support my weight with my arms when leaned forward like that. The result was tingling fingers and hands after about 15 minutes of riding and totally numb hands after 20-25 minutes. As I said, in my search for the answer I read a lot of posts here and found that my arms should be totally relaxed and that my weight should be supported by my torso muscles. I started concentrating on that when riding and saw an immediate improvement. After a short while I could ride as long as I wanted to without numb or tingling hands and I didn't have to spend a dime on the band-aids like heli-bars, gel grips/gloves and such, which would have only served to cushion my riding technique problem.

Another thought here. Isn't the Corbin seat thicker than the stocker? I've only seen pics... Never seen one in person or sat on one, but if it's thicker then it will sit your butt higher above the bike and increase forward lean angle, even if only by a degree or two. Regardless of how small the difference is, if you're supporting your upper body weight with your arms/hands every degree adds weight that you have to support and makes things worse...

Here's my take on your problem... You say your hands go numb after a couple hours. My guess is thats about when your back and abs start gettin' fatigued from helping support your weight and without consciously realizing it you start supporting more of your weight with your arms/wrists because your torso is getting tired. Makes sense because that's about how long I could ride Train before my torso started to fatigue.

Here's my take on some "fixes" that don't require spending money... Well, maybe gas money.

First of all, start taking some rides on familiar roads with little to no traffic and at slow paces and concentrate on keeping your arms totally 100% relaxed. Heck, flap your elbows up and down like bird wings if you have to just to keep them on your mind and keep them loosened up and relaxed. The slow pace and familiar roads should minimize the need to put all out concentration on "riding" and let you keep your mental focus on your arms. By keeping your arms totally relaxed you force your torso to support your upper body. It takes a little time but eventually you get used to it.

If you don't already, start doing some torso conditioning exercises to strengthen and condition those muscles so they are able to support you on longer rides before fatigue sets in. When I started going to the gym and doing sit-ups, crunches, and dead lifts as part of my workouts I saw a nice improvement in my comfort on the busa.

Another small tip is to ride as far forward on the seat as you can. I'm talkin' jambin' "the boys" against the tank as tight as you can stand. This shortens the reach to the controls, which means less required forward lean angle. May just be a fraction of an improvement but over a day long ride I promise you it will make a difference. Just before I sold Train I had started jambin' against the tank any time I wasn't blastin' twisties. In the twisties I like to slide back on the seat a little and lean forward more so I can maneuver back and forth across the bike smoother and quicker between corners. The front end also seems "lighter" when I'm back on the seat a little. Makes sense due to weight transfer and takin' some off of the front... When I'm just cruisin' I sit up more and being up on the tank makes things easier.

On the 10 I don't have to worry about all of this very much. The reach to the controls is shorter so I have to lean forward less. This is exactly why the 10R is FAR more comfortable for me on longer rides than the busa was. The only time I get tingly fingers is when I push the envelope a little past my known abilities and occasionally white knuckle the controls. If I'm within what I percieve as my abilities keeping my arms and hands relaxed has become second nature. When I'm pushin' it I guess my mind has more to process and sort of forgets to monitor grip pressure. When you're past your "edge" and concentrating on doin' everything else right it can be a little tricky concentratin' on keeping your grip on the controls relaxed.

Try "fixing" your riding position before you spend anymore money on band-aids. That's my $.02... Save the band-aid money for the cool mods.

 

[BulletTrain]

Ummm, The Corbin seat might also be screwing you up even more. It's thicker than stock, might be countering the benefit gained from the Heli's. I would recommend taking the seat OFF, then add a few inches of Towel, or Something you can sit on, Build up a little seat, hop on, and see how that feels... Just to try it out in the garage I mean.

I noticed that after cutting down my own seat about 2" or so, that I was WAY more comfortable on the Busa. My legs are tighter, but the lower seat wreally helped with comfort on the road. especially in my wrists and forearms.

So instead of anything else more radical try out a Lower seat, not a lowered bike. If you know someone in from the board with a Tobin seat ask if you can hop on for a second, you might be really surprised.

The shaved seat worked for me anyway...

Ahhh, took me too long to type all of that. Beat to the punch on the Corbin. I thougth it looked thicker in the pics I've seen.

 

[MoosesBusa]

Cecil... I'll meet up with you guys one day for a Sunday ride and maybe swap a seat for a bit. Did you get your bike to Johnny to look for any other damages? Come to the track with him tomorrow night and we I was told by Corbin that the seating position was in fact lowered by 1" from the Original height.
BA... I am actually relaxed 90% of the time while riding. The only time I'm a little excited is when cruising over 125mph. Of course then I'm leaning on the tank so My hands are carrying no load as my Gut is supporting me. I spent $10 an a throttle boss which makes "gripping" the bars to hold speed a thing of the past. My wrist rests gently on the Boss and eliminates the need for the fingers to drape over the front of the grips on the highway.
Bullet... I think you raised a good point and may have possibly fingered my main cause. My abs have not been near as strong as they used to be since the Dr. decided to cut through them 2 years ago. Of course if they had not been cut I wouldn't be around to have the issues I do today so I'l take that swap any day of the week!

I do in fact support my upper body weight thru my arms. I will concentrate on riding with relaxed arms and see how that helps.
Thanks guys for all of your suggestions!

 

[BulletTrain]

Cecil... I'll meet up with you guys one day for a Sunday ride and maybe swap a seat for a bit. Did you get your bike to Johnny to look for any other damages? Come to the track with him tomorrow night and we I was told by Corbin that the seating position was in fact lowered by 1" from the Original height.
BA... I am actually relaxed 90% of the time while riding. The only time I'm a little excited is when cruising over 125mph. Of course then I'm leaning on the tank so My hands are carrying no load as my Gut is supporting me. I spent $10 an a throttle boss which makes "gripping" the bars to hold speed a thing of the past. My wrist rests gently on the Boss and eliminates the need for the fingers to drape over the front of the grips on the highway.
Bullet... I think you raised a good point and may have possibly fingered my main cause. My abs have not been near as strong as they used to be since the Dr. decided to cut through them 2 years ago. Of course if they had not been cut I wouldn't be around to have the issues I do today so I'l take that swap any day of the week!

I do in fact support my upper body weight thru my arms. I will concentrate on riding with relaxed arms and see how that helps.
Thanks guys for all of your suggestions!

Cool. Let us know how it works out for ya.

 

[1300hemibusa]

I am 5'11" and the stock busa killed my hands and back ..I Used a set of lower links on the center hole ...Man what a difference it made for me! I'm a drag racer so i could careless about twisties ...Hey give it a try, you can allways put it back to stock.... Lee.