Scraping the pegs on 1300

[robdogg]

another newbie observation/question

is it just me, or is this bike real easy to scrape pegs on? This is my 17th or 18th bike; second sport touring bike; but man, I've not had a bike that seems to be as easy to scrape; actually it's mostly my foot that hits the ground first; so now I make sure to position my feet so that the balls of my foot are resting on the peg instead of the more relaxed position where the toes point down at an angle

I read of some people putting peg lowering kits on there ST's. I could not imagine having them any lower; my last four large bikes were all big adventure types and they all had high ground clearances. I suppose I will get used to it but I have noticed I am a little apprehensive when going in to a tight turn now.

[Blrfl]

If you're scraping your toes before the hero nuts, make sure your feet are parallel to the frame and the problem should go away. There's a spot along my commute where I typically lean it waaay over and will end up having a toe dragger if I'm being sloppy.

--Mark

[HankSTer]

I'd say compared to a sport bike, it's easier to scrape the pegs for sure. But compared to a cruiser, well you know where this is going.

Check out this pic;

http://redst1300.home.comcast.net/P1010137.JPG

Even with those strips almost out to the edge, I only touched down slightly on the right side. So you do have to get it over pretty far, I'd suggest you get yer foot outta the way ;)

regards,

[LandRover]

The first few times I went to The Dragon, I as a scrapin' fool. Didn't think too much of it, as it seemed to be the norm.

This last trip, I had cranked the rear up a bit, to help compensate for the gear. I left same said gear at the campground, and attacked the Dragon while light on the bike. Lo and behold, not once did I hit bottom! My riding style hasn't changed much, and once I realized that I wasn't touching down, I started to lean a bit further.

I made a half dozen passes over the course of the day, and never touched. And the ride it vastly improved; both in the twisties, and on the highway. I'll keep fiddling till I find the "optimum", but for now, I am quite pleased.

Play with the settings a bit; I think you'll be suprised at the results.

Ride well, and be safe ....:04biker:

[nisbeam]

Same here, although I am also a lightweight 12 stone. With the rear preload jacked up there is approx 1" and a bit of sag only - but still a comfy (if firm) ride. I have no strips on either side of the tyres but I have never touched the pegs down. :03biker:

[GRN]

I typically ride with some extra gear weight - camera equip., some layers, etc.

I weigh 240, and keeping the rear preload pretty well cranked up I was down to hairline strips on the oems, only scraped once making a real deep adjustment for some debris that was blind when I picked the line. Sounds to me like suspension, or you're just digging in enough that you oughta think about diiferent rubber 'cause the 020's start to run out of tread when your gettin' down that far. Good luck, ride safe. :cool:

[dduelin]

Yes, crank up the preload to at least the middle of the range if you are light like me. A small change in cornering technique I picked up here also will help. At the entrance of the turn shift your weight to the inside of the seat. I'm not talking about hanging off or dragging a knee, just weighting the inside peg. Make sure the center of your breastbone is somewhere to the inside of the tank centerline. All it takes is a degree or three less heel angle combined with less rear suspension sag and you won't scrape and you will be faster thru the turn. At the Dragon I have to consciously do the opposite - like a dirt bike - stay on top of the bike, weighting the outside, and throw it down into the turn to scrape.

[pretbek]

At the Dragon I have to consciously do the opposite - like a dirt bike - stay on top of the bike, weighting the outside, and throw it down into the turn to scrape.

Why? Because it is more fun, or because it is faster/safer on a particularly winding road like that?
...Trying to learn, ya know.

[dduelin]

Why? Because it is more fun, or because it is faster/safer on a particularly winding road like that?
...Trying to learn, ya know.

No, it's not faster or safer. I admit it is just plain fun sometimes to scrape the hard parts so my point was that I have to work at scraping the pegs by doing it all wrong.

[robdogg]

It sounds like you were counter-weighting at the Dragon. Counter weighting comes natural for me since I have been riding dirt bikes for 30 years or so and I find myself using it a lot; probably more then I should when street riding. The main problem with c-w as I see it is that it is not a substitution for proper counter-steering. Counter weighting is not steering although c-w is very useful in slow manuvering and when you really have to crank the front wheel over in a decreasing radius turn or what not.

I have cranked the preload about as far as it will go; I'm a large guy so thats the first thing I dd. And I know about delayed apex, late entry approaches to corners, counter-weighting, counter-steering yada yada... but I guess it's mostly that I am not used to the low pegs on this thing; good thing I didn't buy a wing :D

I think I'll work more on my weight shifting technique that a lot of guys; like Lee Parks and even David Hough are suggesting as a viable riding techinque for street and not just track any more. David Hough explains that it is a proven way to get through a corner with less lean angle on the bike; which helps a number of things but chiefly the fact that your not loosing as much of your available traction (the Traction Pie as MSF calls it) but it also keeps the pegs higher off the ground.

thanks for the tips guys; no off to go practice :03biker:

[Carl_T]

Riding dirt bike style leaning the bike under you is both slower and decidedly more dangerous on blacktop... though much easier, far simpler, and less demanding of the rider. It's a dirt bike habit that needs to be broken and avoided unless you are on the dirt or lots of gravel. It's advantage is that the bike has a lot of distance to slide sideways under your body before you are hanging off the inside and you start pulling it down into a heavier lean while it continues to move sideways with the back tire. Once a bike moves sideways under you so far that you are hanging WAY off the inside of it and your weight pulls it into more lean, you end up low siding on the dirt.

Leaning the bike under you more than your body leans, gives the bike sideways slide movement room under you, at the expense of using up extra lean angle. So, where you are planning to slide sideways a lot, it is the technique of choice (giving away lean angle for the ability to keep it up sliding sideways). However on blacktop where that much sideways sliding leads to a rear tire grab and high-side, the techniques downside (eating up lean angle at a given speed) is still present, with no upside whatever.

Blacktop back to back turns (Dragon style or wherever) with proper pavement technique of inside body/butt weighting, is work involving precise timing and judgment (kind of like a complex dance or tumbling move). However when done correctly it is both considerably faster (though not easier) and extra degrees of lean safer than dirt bike style.

It is always a good thing to have a few degrees of lean in reserve on the street for odd surprises in the bend, and dirt bike style eats that away early on at a lower speed for a given radius.

If you aren't practiced enough for the inside butt timing yet, you are WAY better off, and safer, to at least remain centered and keep your body at the same angle as the bike (head level with horizon).

Much better yet if you can do it with decent timing, lead the bike lean to the inside with your shoulders, moving inside of the center line of the bike, At the same time move your shoulders a bit forward and down, arms loose and bent some (head level with horizon), keeping the bulk of your weight off of the bars and supported by your body legs, and feet.

That's a step back from also sliding the center of your butt inside to the seat edge, but it will still give you some bit of extra lean angle for a given radius, from a body centered position.

If you are scraping pegs with a full inside body position, know you are then riding without adequate lean reserve for emergencies.

I used to pick my spots (very carefully and infrequently) with the ST and scrape pegs with a full inside body lean, but you better da*n well not be mistaken, and pick right if you're going to do that. Because then your using up all your wiggle room should you need it. I didn't do it often at all, as I didn't think it was in any way intelligent or safe to ride without margin for error or surprise on the street.

[CruisingDog]

Try the "biting the mirror" trick (if you don't already do this). I can't recall who on this forum mentioned this but it's really good advice.

The idea is to lean your body over further when going around a corner. AKA biting the mirror.

Basically you move the center of gravity into the corner more and the bike is more upright as you go through the corner. If you look at professional racers, they do this to the extreme (knee dragging also). You can see that their bodies are shifted way over on the inside of the curve.

Hopefully this'll stop you scraping pegs as much since your bike wil be more upright in the corner.

[robdogg]

some nice replies; thanks again fellas. Like I said though, my dirt bike riding technique is only reserved for dirt; and/or times when I really need to scrub off speed in a tight turn so I wasn't suggesting it as standard for rideing.

mostly, I think it's just a matter of getting used to a bike with much lower ground clearance then I am used to; my last bike (and for sale) was a BMW 1150 GS that was set up as a super motard and with the ground clearnce on that thing it would really carve the corners - going to miss that bike but sure loving the ST, just need a few more thousand miles on it

[ST Nut]

I scrap my pegs sometimes too. First the ball of your foot should be on the peg, with most of your weight, that will solve the foot dragging problem. My technique for riding the twisties is to lean way off. This allows the same pace as before with less of a lean angle (very good for emergencies that might rise). I pretty much read "Smooth Riding" by Pridemore and bam, my pace was faster and safer no more dragging hard parts on the street or track.