I discovered yesterday that when you scrape the pegs (at least the right one), it hits on the end rather than the bottom. It was more like the peg jamming into the asphalt than a scrape.

I was taking a right-hander that's not quite 90 degrees at speed, probably about 35 mph. The road is smooth there, but I think there's a little bit of a dip, and that's how I managed to jam the peg down. I don't know if I reacted and straightened the bike up or if it bounced up when I hit the peg, but I found myself over the centerline very quickly. I made sure there was nobody coming before attempting the corner at that speed.

So I'm finding the bike's limits. I really don't want to find it again that way. It was rather disconcerting.  

As you have found out, pegs are "hard parts." When they start dragging, undesirable results occur.

What youzguyz said is good advice. Start by practicing in a smooth parking lot. I also took an MSF advanced class with the Savage and was dragging pegs all the way around the corners. The instructor had me demonstrating how tight a corner could be taken before the MC starts sliding on the hard parts, and how you could take the same line through the curve at the same speed without dragging hard parts by shifting your weight. Racers do this all the time, at much much faster speeds of course.

Good advice, Youzguyz. An MSF advanced course is in my future, certainly.

All that I can say is "Good job!"  Personally, I've always wished that I could see the sparks at night.

Ain't it great?

Sounds like you were real close to doing a pinwheel on the peg. Not a pretty maneuver, when done as I have only once, on a borrowed 60s Honda 160cc Dream.

Who would have guessed that with such a spongy and low suspension that the pegs were solid mounted and had no spring loaded fold back built into them? When the solid peg hit the ground, the tires lifted, and the little bike went right into opposing traffic in the other lane sliding along on the foot peg. Fortunately, my butt got much better traction, and I was just left sitting in the middle of the road in my lane! Still lucky some dang fool didn't come around the corner and run over me before I could get up and dust off though.

The Honda wasn't so lucky. It got wedged under a bumper, and the car had to back off of it. It was pretty well screwed after that. Good news, the guy I borrowed it from only had about $100 in the bike in the 70s. One cycling lesson learned... kind of cheap. Better to spend money than get hurt.

When I started riding a Norton, someone more experienced than myself showed me how to feel for the pavement with my boot, so the ground approaching my pegs wouldn't surprise me! Real handy trick if you insist on going around corners fast.

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:10:


Right. I just get excited. It's all that time in the hospital that's boring.