Maybe a stupid question, But why when you lighten a bike does the handling suffer from the basic geometry? Thanks
One fork leg may seem like enough, but you're not supposed to remove suspension components, no matter how much they weigh.
Gordon Jennings once described a race bike that would not carburate cleanly until he wrapped a pound of lead wire around it--apparently altering the vibration frequency or something. so if you remove parts of the frame and suspension to save weight, try adding lead to get the handling back where you want it.
Every bike I've ever had ended up handling better when weight was taken off of it. I suppose you could remove so much that the suspension would not be sprung or valved correctly (running your Gold Wing as a naked stunter bike or something) but it can only help a racebike. Hence SS rules and minimum weights in some pro classes - to keep the cost factor down in pursuit of minimum weight.
well, the lighter the wheels were that they put on a gixxer in a test for sport rider a while back, the faster it would react, braking/accelerating. but it also with the real light wheels could get out of hand when really pushing it. my bar ends have fallen out and i've gotten used to them, but other touch the bike and thinks it vibrates to much.
I was thinking along the same lines. run a couple miles a week and youll be amazed how much faster your bike will be.
