rotor, believe me, as I stood there trying to frame those pics on my camera, I was flipping my phone back and forth. I ended up going with the vertical aspect because it was the only way to get the full scope of the trees, without pulling back too far and minimizing the bike. In particular, the shot with the Reading Tree kept including too many other things when I tried holding the camera horizontally.
Normally, though, you're absolutely correct.
Ulvetanna, the only explanation I could come up with as to why nothing ever touched down echoes what you're saying about the importance of a properly dialed chassis and overall setup. I've had other bikes with greater ground clearance scrape pegs, centerstands, exhausts, whatever, and it usually occurs when the bike unweights itself and comes back down too quickly in response to a sudden dip in the road, or in an off-camber corner riddled with bumps. Too little rebound damping is often the culprit, or the bike pitches back and forth as a result of choppy throttle response.
It was the utter absence of these factors that I first noticed during the initial bumpy section in the foothills, and was cemented for me on Mosquito Ridge. So many times I would physically and mentally prepare myself for the jolt or rough patch that I'm accustomed to having to ride through, but with this CB there was no need. Nothing ever upset the chassis. Rolling on and off the throttle creates no chassis pitch whatsoever, because there is no drive lash or abruptness from the fueling. In terms of the suspension, most bumps simply become non-bumps. No matter what I threw at her, her chassis remained level and unflustered, her forward momentum resolute.
It was the opposite of the usual racy feeling one experiences from something like a Street Triple, in which you're constantly on and off the throttle, shifting gears, braking hard, throwing the bike around.
You know...sport riding.
With the CB there was none of that. I simply left it in third gear and rolled on and off the throttle. Rather than a sudden slowing followed by a massive rush of acceleration, there was almost no engine braking or big hits of power, so the speed remained relatively constant. It was like riding a monorail, rather than driving a go-kart. When I did snick down to second gear to bring the revs up into the 5-7K range, it was more of the same, the only differences being the higher-pitched engine note and increased acceleration.
It's the seamless integration of each system working together to create a perfectly balanced package. The bike simply never strays from its appointed path, and without those sudden oscillations to upset the chassis the relative lack of ground clearance ceases to be an issue.
All I can think from watching the bike scrape in so many videos is that those guys are intentionally trying to make it scrape. They're doing something in their riding to upset the balance of the chassis.
Either that, or, yep, I just suck.
