OK so the Savage isn't a sports bike.  However, when reading through one of the many threads on exhaust mods I find in Jim R's tale of dual pipes the following reply to a question as to whether his lean angle was now reduced or whether the pegs touch down first.  Jim, you said "Its the pegs, we tested".  Are you having us on as no matter how enthusiastically I weave The Lettuce through the twisties I'm yet to scrape anything  before my nerve gives out.  My '97 is on Dunlop Qualifiers which look just right but do not have rounded edges like sportsbike tyres.  

So, fellow Savages, are you all getting those pegs down and its just me that's a bit of a wuss?  

Salad_Shaker wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

I've touched a peg down once in 15 months/6000 miles -- as I was avoiding something which was too minor to remember.  I ride well below the capabilities of the motorcycle.  This way, when (not if) I run into a situation, I have wiggle room -- I can alter my line in or out and/or brake while in the curve.  The pegs fold upward when they touch -- you still have some wiggle room when you are at the just starting to scrape point.  I just prefer more.  

I like options.  I don't like commitments.

I have a sportbike and I haven't ever dragged a peg  

I get to scrape my pegs on average once a week! And I don't ride fast or lean over hard. Getting used to it now, gave me a real fright the first time

In the weekends I usually go on some sort of organised ride (between 2 and 20 of us, on a mixture of bikes) over our local "bikers racetrack" known as the "Rimutakas" which is a 13K climb up and down, all twisty with some pretty sharp turns. (Claims on average at least one bike a week, sports bike riders testing their limits usually)

I'm very lucky to live in NZ, some of  the best motorcycling roads in the World.

I like spirited riding, running it hard when appropriate, and I love curvy roads, but I do not like to push the mechanical limits of the machine.  I spent too many years in military aviation where pushing the limits of a machine can make for an immiate life threatening situation.  You must absolutely know the limits of the machine, and know your own limits as well, or you will die.  It is one thing trying to "ride the rail" of those limits (or even bend them out of shape on occasion) in combat when lives are on the line, but quite another when out for an afternoon's ride on bike.  Like Paladin, I leave room for the unexpected, and plan ahead for excape routes in the event something happens.

I would love to go the Kevin Schwantz racing school sometime to learn some skills, I have heard that a lot of those skills can be transferred directly back to street riding, making you a better all around rider and safer too.  Not having to worry about traffic when trying to run it hard like that would be a huge difference.  The school is not far from here so maybe in the not too distant future...

I suppose it's not a "common" occurrence for me but it's not rare either.  In fact, I just scuffed the left peg making a U-turn this morning.

I hadn't thought of it as a safety issue, more a question of bravado and bragging, my dad's bigger than your dad kind of thing.  You know, I got the pegs down, Well I got my knee down, We'll I got my elbow down. Don't laugh, if you ever saw Christian Saron go past Kevin Schwantz (or was it Freddie Spencer?) you'd know what I mean.  Its not so much that I want to push the limits more that I'd rather know where they lie.

911radioman wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:
well i dont think anybody "tries" to scrape there pegs for no reason.