Do Bobbers handle?

[nvr2late]

How well do bobbers (Brat style) handle?

 

[Scrambled]

The best of them not very well and most of them are just dangerous. If you want a bike to ride, a resto -mod or a cafe , or tracker is the way to go .

 

[DIRTY DOG]

bull shit!! we ride our hartails everywhere my hard tailed xs handles and rides better than
my H/D softail did. It's not a goldwing or road king but they do ok they are light and quick ( just my opinion)

 

[pat_in_the_hat]

I love how mine rides. Its low, nimble and quick. Perfect for just cruising around town. Granted, you are only on about 3" of spring, so your back may get tired after a longer ride. But a bobber is not intended for long rides (at least in my mind)
I have had mine on the highway. Was only about 30 miles at 75mph but it did great. Felt super stable. And once my butt went numb from the vibration through the seat springs, it was completely fine.
If you embrace a bobber for what it is, then it will exceed your expectations

 

[Scrambled]

I have ridden hard tails and bobbed/chopped swingarm bikes too, I speak from experience . If you want a bike that you can ride hard build one with high quality suspension and if you are going to modify the frame check out the Minton Mods or talk to MMM at 650 central before you take a sawsall to it, once you cut the frame you are stuck with it .( Just my opinion .)

 

[barelycompetent]

Everyone has a different opinion, and no one person is right or wrong. I have a hardtail harley that I ride everywhere. Rode it over 1100 miles last year on a run to the Dragon in Tennessee. Im riding it to Sturgis, and back, again, next year. It will be my 3rd time. If they are set up right, the ride is not that bad. If they are set up wrong, you are on your own. If you have the opportunity to ride one, try it out and see how it feels, before you do anything to your bike. Its not for everyone. Course I do love my xs650 too, and this year its making the Dragon run in June lol.

 

[DIRTY DOG]

AMEN BROTHER

 

[CDNTX650]

Uhhh, corner carving and cruising are two completely different things. So both with "handle fine" in the straight road dept. Ill tell you from person experience my first hardtailed xs650 i did in 2006 was my last one. Rear suspension is fabulous.

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[barelycompetent]

Uhhh, corner carving and cruising are two completely different things. So both with "handle fine" in the straight road dept. Ill tell you from person experience my first hardtailed xs650 i did in 2006 was my last one. Rear suspension is fabulous.

Posted via Mobile

Ive ridden it down and back to the Dragon 4 times now. Its not a canyon carver by any means but it doesnt stop me from running the tail on it. It is nicer on the straightaways lol, but I still ride the hell out of it in the corners. Dirty Dog gets what Im saying lol.

 

[Scrambled]

Uhhh, corner carving and cruising are two completely different things. So both with "handle fine" in the straight road dept. Ill tell you from person experience my first hardtailed xs650 i did in 2006 was my last one. Rear suspension is fabulous.

Posted via Mobile

In my part of the world we have man eating pot holes , frost heaves and residual sand, salt gravel on the roads in the spring . It is hard enough to ride a bike with good suspension on roads like these and they would destroy a hardtail and rider in no time.

So if you only go for short rides in a straight line on smooth pavement I would still want a bike with suspension .They stopped making hardtails for a reason , that reason is they suck .

 

[fredintoon]

bull shit!! we ride our hartails everywhere my hard tailed xs handles and rides better than my H/D softail did. - - -

Hi Dog,
So does a drunk pushing a wheelbarrow full of horse manure.
How does your hardtail handle compared to when it still had rear suspension?
Honestly, back in the day all I could afford to ride were pre-war rigid framed bikes.
(Yeah, the ones that sell for a fortune these days)
As far as I'm concerned, rear suspension is the best thing since the front brake and hardtailing a suspended frame is the act of a masochist.
Or worse, one who thinks that Orange County Choppers builds ridable bikes, not advertizing artworks.

 

[Paulrxs650]

The bobber I built in my avatar last year handles fine and I enjoy riding it. Obviously rough roads and potholes are to be avoided

 

[Gene]

How well do bobbers (Brat style) handle?

What kind of bike exactly are you building? Between bobbers and a brat stlye bike, the range in the type of bike is rather large.

Heres some different style bikes that would fit in the brat category

Lowered, but still retains factory geometry. The apes really are not the greatest for aggressive riding.

I believe this is also a bratstyle bike. Lower bars, lowered suspension but again, the tires are the weak point. Still retains factory geometry.

now here is a bike that i'm sure doesn't handle well at all with even more crap tires and a springer front end

I put a set of clip-ons on my bike and it makes it feel more aggressive. Another one with some firestones that make it look cool.

For normal riding my brat inspired build handles just fine. I'm not dropping a knee around corners on the street, nor would I do it with my sportbikes. But as far as being responsive to input from the rider, i would say that a brat style bike is fine for spirited riding within your means.

 

[nj1639]

Thanks Gene for the Brat pics.....was wondering if this was going to be a stock or hardtail thread, ignoring brat in the op.

 

[DIRTY DOG]

I just need to say this everyone has there opnion, I have put apx 30,000 miles on my xs650 hard tails in the past few years. I am 50 years old with 4 screw's and 2 plates in my
back from an accadent 31 years ago on a bike with sup.I have been riding for over 40 years and I'll take a good set up hardtail over a road king any day up untill last year
we ( me and my wife ) would ride every time we could and our ave ride would be 200-400 miles a day just say'n ride what you love and love what you ride FTW. PS. I road xs650's when they new and raced one a little and they suck stock sorry but it true.

 

[Fndirtygreaser]

Here we go again....

 

[fredintoon]

now here is a bike that i'm sure doesn't handle well at all with even more crap tires and a springer front end

Hi Gene,
most likely with those fat tires it handles no worse than a Sunbeam S7 but look at what's been done to the muffler!
St. Peter rides a KSS and anyone who cut'n'shuts a Velocette fishtail into a bent abortion ain't gonna get into Heaven.

 

[fredintoon]

How well do bobbers (Brat style) handle?

Hi nvr2late,
getting back to the original question.
As I understand the term, a Bratstyle bobber has it's rear frame modified to fit a lowered solo seat but retains the stock rear suspension and steering geometry.
Apart from the styling change and letting riders with duck's disease get their whole foot on the ground at stop signs, what the Bratstyle mod does is lower the bike/rider C of G and that in turn will change the way the bike handles.
Better or worse is a matter of opinion, but differently for sure.

 

[nvr2late]

Thinking of building something close to the bikes in your first and third picture, i live in Yorkshire in the U.K., and pretty much all we have are, lots of twisty roads, and a couple of motorways/freeways, so as much as i like the look of a hardtail, a brat style, or streetracker, has to be the way to go

 

[nvr2late]

What kind of bike exactly are you building? Between bobbers and a brat stlye bike, the range in the type of bike is rather large.

Heres some different style bikes that would fit in the brat category

Lowered, but still retains factory geometry. The apes really are not the greatest for aggressive riding.

I believe this is also a bratstyle bike. Lower bars, lowered suspension but again, the tires are the weak point. Still retains factory geometry.

now here is a bike that i'm sure doesn't handle well at all with even more crap tires and a springer front end

I put a set of clip-ons on my bike and it makes it feel more aggressive. Another one with some firestones that make it look cool.

For normal riding my brat inspired build handles just fine. I'm not dropping a knee around corners on the street, nor would I do it with my sportbikes. But as far as being responsive to input from the rider, i would say that a brat style bike is fine for spirited riding within your means.

Thinking of building something close to the bikes in your first and third picture, i live in Yorkshire in the U.K., and pretty much all we have are, lots of twisty roads, and a couple of motorways/freeways, so as much as i like the look of a hardtail, a brat style, or streetracker, has to be the way to go