Spooked myself a little

[GSBandit6]

A co-worker and I did a after-work ride up through Deal's Gap and across the Cherohala Skyway yesterday. I have been getting a little more aggressive riding these roads as I learn them better. We were about 7 miles into the Skyway from the NC side and I did something for the first time ever on a motorcycle... I dragged a footpeg.

I have been getting more and more lean angle in the fast sweepers like those on the Skyway and with almost no one else on the route my friend and I turned up the wick a little. I was pushing it a little and as I hit the apex on a nice right-hand sweeper, crunch! I got the little tab that hangs down and the edge of my boot.

The main reason for posting this is what followed afterward. After doing something like this, did anyone else have issues getting comfortable with leaning again? It was really strange. I could still hang off and lean it through left-handers, but right-handers gave me trouble most the way down into Tellico Plains. It took me another 20 miles to get back over to anywhere near that lean angle to the right.

I am just curious if anyone else has had a similar situation. I am guessing the solution is just keep riding and work my comfort level back slowly, as with most things on a motorcycle.

 

[Wavex]

I am guessing the solution is just keep riding and work my comfort level back slowly, as with most things on a motorcycle.

+1 take it easy, take your time, try to work on your form.





When you start dragging these parts, then you need to seriously back off:

 

[MG-242]

Cool! Sounds like fun. I wish I lived close to roads like that!

A couple of suggestions assuming you have chosen to ride more aggressive under the right conditions and will continue to. Dragging a peg or a knee (on the track) for that matter, always gets your attention the first couple of times it happens. Once you realize it's no big deal, you'll actually start to feel comfortable doing it.
Some things you may want to consider are:
1. hanging off the bike a little which lowers the center of gravity, allows the bike to be more upright at the same speed thru the turn. Caution here - LEO's aren't real fond of this activity, so use this tool for good, not for evil .
2. the little pegs on the bottom of your pegs screw out. You can remove them.
3. Get you feet up on the balls of the foot on the peg. You're less likely to catch your foot under the peg (that hurts for a long time I hear) and less likely to wear a hole in you nice boots.
4. Get rearsets to move the pegs up and back a little. I've seen them for the FZ6 and they are currently on my shopping list as well.
5. Be sure and do NOT chop the throttle when you touch. Bad things happen. Hold it steady.

I haven't looked closely, but I would think you have a long ways to go before the hard parts touch which really impact how the motorcycle responds when a touch-down occurs. It's really just a matter of getting comfortable, not freaking out, keeping your line, and continuing to look through the turn.

Have fun with it!

 

[staticghost]

I know about what you saying about felt weird when you scraped your peg. Definitely get on the ball of your feet on your pegs, stick out your kee, shift your weight and shift your butt a half way as well. Just go into a huge parking lot and practice this until you feel more comfortable. It happed to me the same way, first I scraped the pegs, got a little more comfortable doing afterwards but I did not focus of scarping pegs by all means no, it’s never good to do this, and as I practiced more next thing I know I dragged my knee and that felt so good you have no idea. Practice, practice, practice.
Good luck and be safe.

 

[knightrider]

Great pic Wavex! The doctor is in.

 

[GSBandit6]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have decided that I am going to turn it back a couple of notches and work on my lines and work gradually towards getting more lean angle. As for the environment, the Skyway on deserted weekdays is the only time I ride this aggressively.

5. Be sure and do NOT chop the throttle when you touch. Bad things happen. Hold it steady.

Usually I have already gotten off the throttle before I begin the lean. I try to roll in some gas as I approach the apex to shift the weight back to the rear tire. Try being the operative word. I am starting to have some of the same complaints about off-throttle pickup of the EFI system that I have seen elsewhere. I was attempting to not roll all the way out of the gas to prevent the harsh lurch that can result from allowing the throttle to close all the way.

Thanks again!

 

[MG-242]

I understand your comments. It seems the little FZ is not real happy with a closed throttle.
What I was really trying to say is that as you roll on the throttle through the turn, then touch a peg, don't let the spook cause you to chop or close the throttle. That's all.

 

[abacall]

Screw 'em off. They really have no use, the pegs themselves can be used as "feelers" and it gives you a bit more clearance.
Take it easy though, as at those angles there is very little room for correction. If you can see all the way through the turn, and the road is in good shape and clear, fine. Otherwise, you may find some debris or oil and the bike will just slide under you. I've seen horrible cases where this has caused a rider to go sliding off into oncoming traffic. Take it easy.

 

[razteo]

See below:

Most of us do not need to test limits, but it still happens that you might find yourself one day leaning too far into a curve and hearing/feeling your peg start to drag. What should you do about it?

Well, let me start by telling you what most people, I believe, instinctively try and what is dead wrong! They immediately roll off the accelerator and lean away from the dragging peg. These are BOTH wrong things to do because each action either lowers the bike (rolling off the accelerator) or increases the lean angle and as a result the peg will no longer be gently scraping the asphalt but will try to gouge a trough into it.

There are three things that can be done as soon as you hear/feel a peg scrape:

•Increase throttle - (but note that you are already close to sliding and ANY increase in speed can be all she wrote)

•Counter-steer away from the dragging peg - (widen the turn)

•Shift body weight towards the dragging peg - (that is not a misprint)

Each of these actions tends to straighten the bike up. Any one of them will 'cure' the problem and is sufficient by itself. You can, of course, do two or all three of these things at the same time.

(The use of throttle to increase clearance is a VERY SHORT TERM GAIN and is quickly followed by the dragging part digging harder as the lean angle overwhelms the modest new height clearance.

Use of the throttle makes most sense, of course, at very slow speeds. At higher speeds it is by far the hardest technique to master in reacting to a dragging component and though I indicated it could 'cure' the problem all by itself, it actually REQUIRES that you simultaneously counter-steer a wider path.)

Note, however, that doing the wrong things, it seems to me, is instinctive and that you need to mentally prepare to do the right things in advance. But that is exactly why you are reading this tip - to determine what experience has shown others is the right thing to do without having to 'discover' by trial and potentially fatal error for yourself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let's see if this makes that third alternative clearer as it is your best choice. Here is a diagram that on the left shows a motorcycle that is about to drag a peg in a turn and on the right it shows what happens if the motorcyclist leans INTO the turn. (It lefts the peg off the ground.)

 

[abacall]

Good advice, with one caveat. Moving your body at extreme lean angles can seriously upset the suspension, especially on our soft forks, and cause a low-side.
The best alternative (once in the situation), to me, is to keep your line, body, and throttle steady.
Preventative motions are your key. Adjust your entry speed so that you won't need all the angle.
Or, best yet, flick faster and adjust your line so that you can get through the turn with the same speed, but require less lean angle.

 

[GSBandit6]

I actually had a tight enough line through the corner that I could reduce the lean angle by easing the pressure on the inside grip and still maintain my lane. I was already off the seat a good bit and didn't feel that it would have helped the situation to go any further off mid-corner. I really feel the primary problem was caused by too much speed on entry to the corner.

As I mentioned in another thread, this has me thinking that I need to step back now that I know I can do it and work on my body mechanics, throttle and brake control and line selection. Once I get these worked out, then it I will reconsider riding as hard. It's just so hard to hold back on a road like the Skyway. I consider it to be an almost perfect road for riding at a brisk pace.

abacall: I agree that body movement can upset the forks. I only took once for me to realize it's best to prepare for the corner and get off the seat prior to getting into the turn. Use counter-steering and throttle to adjust as needed and leave the body position as is.

 

[abacall]

Exactly, sounds like you have some good skills under your belt already.
Like they always say, "Charging the turn is the LAST thing you try."
Go in slower, work on flick-rate, getting on the gas a bit sooner and a bit harder, body position, braking points, and successive turns body position changes.

Oh yeah, one thing I have found to be especially useful for our bikes is learning how to brake and get the throttle cracked open at the same time. It is extremely difficult for me, and an very advanced technique, but when you get it right the bike doesn't have to deal with the initial lurch from our sensitive on/off throttle response.
The idea to the technique in steps:
Body off bike
Brake (75%)
Flick (still braking, but 25%)
Full lean (brake 25%, throttle 25%)
Full lean (throttle 25%)
Begin exit (throttle 50%)
Exit (throttle 80+%)

Cracking the throttle with the brakes on gets the bike settled faster and ready to go without the suspension getting upset mid-turn. Like I said, it's difficult and can be dangerous as you are really pushing the limits of grip. But if you start at lower speeds and slowly dial it up, you should be ok. Try on very open roads with no traffic. I'm still working on it, and like braking and throttle-blip downshifting at the same time, it requires a lot of practice.

 

[GSBandit6]

I'll try to keep that method in mind next time out. Now that I know pretty much where my limits lie, I am going to work on the mechanics and finer points of riding. Hopefully as my technique improves my limits will too. I do realize that if I try to push much harder than I was, I will likely need to look into taking it to the track.

Short of a trade in for an other bike, is there anything that can be done to lessen the harshness of the off throttle take up? Trying to keep the throttle cracked works somewhat, but it's an awfully fine line to walk at times. For the most part I love the FZ6. It has a few shortcomings, but the positives outweigh any of those. As my warranty closes in on expiring I will start to look into R6S forks and some other fixes, but I would really like to get this EFI issue sorted out if possible.