what happens???

[rayzuki]

What happens if you lean too much in a curve and the foot pegs hit the pavement? I have been a little timid in the twisties so far but I am ready to pick up the pace a little bit. I don't think I will lean enough to hit the footpegs but want to know what to expect if I ever do. I know they fold up so a slight "bump" should basically fold the footpeg up and move my foot up a little right? Am I close or way off?

[alanmcorcoran]

...you crap your pants.

(Sorry Patrick.)

[Graydog]

I'm not the best one to answer that. But when I was younger (long long ago in a galaxy far far away) I did it a lot on a dirt bike. Never on a street bike. Usually there was no harm done other than to my underwear as Alan has already pointed out. Now if the peg catches on something.....that is a different story. I have had the bike taken out from under me. But that was on hill climbs or trail runs and the speed was low enough that I was not hurt seriously.

Now someone else can probably answer that better as far as doing it on hard surface goes.

[Dupo]

Yes, you crap your pants. That cant be further from the truth lol.

First time i hit my peg on a turn i think my heart skipped a beat. BUT ... all that happened was the peg scraped and lifted a tad and i backed the heck off immediately. Its a reaction just like anything else. You will feel it and you WILL back off the throttle as soon as it happens.

One of these days id like to have the nuts it takes to scrape a peg around a corner and not think twice about it.

My buddy puts his peg in the heel rut of his boot so his heel is lower than the peg (as most do i assume). He scrapes his heel through turns like its nothing. I ride with the heel of the boot ON the peg so my feet are higher. I end up scraping a peg before my heel. Nothing really happens, just the peg lifts a bit and slides along the pavement. Lean a little more .... and you'll be sliding across the yellow line

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by rayzuki

I know they fold up so a slight "bump" should basically fold the footpeg up and move my foot up a little right? Am I close or way off?

Yes.

...you crap your pants.

and that too!!

However, a little explanation might be in order.
Although you stated it the way that most people say it, it's technically not correct..........and it's not nit picking; it makes a difference.

When the pegs scrape (you hope they scrape and fold before anything else does!) it really means that the BIKE is leaned over too far. That might mean that the RIDER is not leaned over ENOUGH. Something in the total rider/bike mass needs to get to the inside of the turn and closer to the ground; it can be either the bike OR the rider or a combination of the two.

Or it could mean that you are just going too f***ing fast. :oops:

[alanmcorcoran]

...experienced bicycle riders learn to get the inside pedal UP and the outside pedal DOWN when cornering. You can lean a bicycle over pretty damn far on just a run of the mill turn. Plus if your pedal is on a downstroke. they go lower to the ground than a peg. Even on fancy bikes with itty-bitty pedals, you can still catch -em if you pedal through a turn. Plus you also have itty bitty tires, to boot. Every once in a while, you forget the rule. If you stay loose, your instinct is typically is to straighten up and, assuming you aren't headed over the side of a cliff at that point, it's mostly just an "Oh SH--" moment. However, I have seen it lead to an over correction, or, in motorcycle terms, a "high-side."

I think unless you really hit it, you'll create more problems with your reaction than the actual peg hit. I never fully dumped myself on the bicycle with a pedal catch, but it sure gets the adrenaline flowing, expecially if you are cutting it tight on the way down a snaky mountain road. If you take a close look at most road bike pedals you'll see they've been scraped down a little on the sides. And we don't wear underwear.

[5th_bike]

Originally Posted by rayzuki

What happens if you lean too much in a curve and the foot pegs hit the pavement? I have been a little timid in the twisties so far but I am ready to pick up the pace a little bit. I don't think I will lean enough to hit the footpegs but want to know what to expect if I ever do. I know they fold up so a slight "bump" should basically fold the footpeg up and move my foot up a little right? Am I close or way off?

Right on the ball.

I usually have my feet stick out a bit so the side of my boots hits pavement first.

You can 'lift' the bike a bit by folding your inside curve knee down.

[patrick_777]

Read this. I can't say it any better.

http://www.msgroup.org/Tip.aspx?Num=045

I dragged my first peg during parking lot exercises ON PURPOSE because of this article. I can't count the number of times my pegs have touched in only the 3 or so months I've been riding my GZ. Since I knew what to expect and how to correct it, I didn't freak out. The pegs only let you know that you are reaching the bike's cornering limits...NOT that you have surpassed them. It simply tells you to roll ON the throttle and lean your body INTO the radius of the turn (like EZ said). Hard parts (ie. not pegs) are what will cause you to fall by upsetting the contact patch of the tires. The GZ has an amazingly deep throw for a cruiser.

Like 5th, the outside toe of my foot usually touches first, and that doesn't bother me...it just lets me know I've still got about 5 degrees more lean before I'm in any danger.

In fact...read this too. http://www.msgroup.org/Tip.aspx?Num=217&Set=187-217

[jonathan180iq]

As you may have noticed, the front pegs on all modern motorcycles are designed to fold up in the event that they meet asphault/concrete. This is so you don't lever the rear wheel off the ground, if the pegs do meet the ground.

However, YOU should be on the inside of the bike through a turn so that this doesn't happen. Most novice riders do what is called "dirt tracking", where their hips are in the right place but they sit up straight to instictively try to not let the bike fall over. Given a little practice, almost anyone can scrape pegs though a slow "U" turn.

In the sportbike crowd, this is considered "cool" because it makes them feel like the guys they see on Speedvision.
In all honesty, if you're scraping pegs on a rural road with as much ground clearance as most sportbikes have, you're riding incorrectly.

Anyway, back to us, scaping pegs is the first sign your bikes gives you which tells you to back off.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

... And we don't wear underwear.

TMI !! :blush: