I learned something about my bike yesterday afternoon. I have been riding it, now for 24,000 miles, and it totally caught me off guard. I taught 2 ERC classes Saturday, and during the second one, while doing a demonstration of limited space maneuvers, I managed to lean the bike over far enough to fool the vehicle down sensor, and it cut the power just as I was pulling up out of the lean. I had dragged the hero knobs before, so no big deal, and I was being a little aggressive. I had folded the right footboard up against the brake pedal, and the engine just stopped....and the bike just stopped, right where it was. I was embarrassed, to say the least, but there is NO DAMAGE...since the bike never moved a millimeter, there was no scratching of anything! I guess that this is not a sport bike, after all, so I WILL remember not to do this again! If I had taken my W to this class, then I would not have learned the limits of lean for the Drifter. These classes are all about exploring the limits of environment, machine, and rider, after all.
Live and learn!! A few years ago I came into a corner hot, discovered the road engineers decided on negative camber for that corner, leaned so far left trying to stay out of the weeds that the left footboard was dragging hard; never shut the bike off though; good thing, that would have been a lousy place to discover that the tip over switch had those kind of limits! All's well that ends well, although the adrenalin rush cleaned out any cholesterol plugs that might have been lurking in my veins! ;D
Regards and such,
49Reo
Umm... you know there was a recall on that sensor... it could be out of position which causes it to shut down prematurely, or not allow the bike to start. I believe the sensor activates at an angle greater than 50 deg when correctly positioned.
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php/product/601/cat/all (http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php/product/601/cat/all)
I believe I just MIGHT have exceeded the 50 deg. with that demo....
Bike isn't named "Sally" is she??? remember the clapton song.... "lay down sally...."
Actually, never laid down... just stopped, resting on the corner of the guard bar...and my foot!
Troll, Not that I think it is a wise thing to do, But, for those who might want to eliminate that from happening for some reason, is there a way to bypass and eliminate that sensor?
Lumper
No....it's part of the injection game...Honda had trouble with them on GoldWings at first, too
Way better to have the tip-over switch a little over active than not having one; drop a bike and it stays running, the little man with a hammer starts knocking to come out....
Regards and such,
49Reo