Snake Bite!

Went for a little ride to Boone, NC last week. OK, it was a 6-day ride with a few of my "dirty biker" buddies from London, ON. We stayed at the Boone KOA and did a loop to Little Switzerland and another to Shady Valley. US Route 421 is known as The Snake, has 489 curves and in my humble opinion, easily rivals the Tail of the Dragon.




We rode it twice, so I guess that's almost 1,000 curves! We rode it on a Wednesday which was perfect because traffic was really light. The asphalt was in amazing shape and the curves just kept coming at me faster and faster. I do enjoy riding at a "spirited" pace. I don't hang my knee out or anything like that but it's not uncommon for a foot peg to scrape through the curve from time to time. On one particularly tight right-hand corner, I felt something touch down which felt a bit more solid than a foot peg. It wasn't alarming or anything but I thought that maybe it could be the centre stand as that was a regular occurrence on by previous bike - a '92 FJ1200. At the next gas stop I mentioned this to my riding buddies and proceeded to inspect the bike for marks. It was suggested that maybe it was an engine guard. I didn't think that was possible but upon further inspection, this is what I found:



The metal even turned a little blue so I guess it's heat treated now?

Here's a shot of the right side of the bike for some perspective:



...and the foot peg with a little weight shaved off:



Never did I think that the bike could lean over far enough to scrape the engine guard and still ride through the curve. She was rock-steady throughout and never felt like we were losing traction.

These are the R-Gaza engine guards. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced touch-down with their engine guards and if so, what brand are they? When I eventually upgrade my '06 to a newer model (and I will), If it doesn't have engine guards, one of the things I will compare is how low and how far they stick out.


Zwartie
2006 FJR1300
1977 KZ200