Tire wear and scraping pegs

[Festus]

Well there's enough there to start a holy war on some forums, but not here!

Just really a curiosity of mine. I never scrape my pegs. I don't think I've ever done it. I've dragged the toe of my boot before but that's been when I've forgotten to put my feet it the right place Viper Dad and I talk way too much about riding and analyze things far more than we probably should but after riding the Back of the Dragon, all through WV and down 58 below Mt. Rogers, at the end of the day, my back tire had wear all the way to the edge of the tire. There was no tire part left that hadn't been ridden on. I was fine with that, but it made me wonder, how am I riding different than those who are scraping their pegs. There's the Internet Wonder Boy for FJR's riding through the Tail of the Dragon shouting out "SCRAPE" every time he scrapes a peg.

I don't want to scrape pegs, don't really care if others do, but I was curious how that's happening if I'm at the edge of my tires, how much more do I have to go?

Is it my riding style that's preventing it? I had my Garmin camera down on my Caynon Cage and it scraped and scared the crap out of me. Enough that I stood it up slightly to try and stop it. I didn't know it was my camera at the time

So I'm not looking for advice on how to scrape my pegs, just working late, my machines are running, so I'm killing time.

[extrememarine]

Body position and weight.

Working late sucks.

[0face]

You're not supposed to scrape your pegs. Period.

[SLK50]

Had any suspension work done?
I used to drag my pegs frequently
and I found it disturbing.
So, I replaced my shock with one
with a stiffer spring, installed stiffer
fork springs and switched to a 199/55
rear tire to gain a little height.
The results? No more peg dragging!
The bike handles better, is more stable
and certainly inspires confidence.
Don’t miss the peg dragging at all.

[Festus]

So I'm doing it right?

Ray and Bill setup my suspension, it's stock but it's setup right.

[raYzerman]

Just my spin... I think of peg feelers as meaning to tell you you've reached the safe limit of lean angle... I have heard from experienced super canyon carvers that if you're scraping pegs you're doing something wrong. I have tried to follow some of these guys and rather marvel at their ability to pick a line and go through a corner faster than me seemingly effortlessly. They have small chicken strips, but they have them. So I don't know really what to say about no chicken strips, I'd have thought pegs would touch... However, any time my pegs touched, seems to me the suspension was in compression to cause that, or I made an error. As soon as I upgraded the suspension, I haven't scraped pegs. Putting on a 190/55 rear tire raised the rear another 1/4". So now if I scrape a peg, I'll kinda think I did something wrong. I have scraped boots, mostly because I didn't watch where I had my foot.
OTOH, I now can follow good canyon riders fairly well, and my chicken strips on the 190 are bigger, mostly because of the tire. We all kid each other about chicken strips and peg scraping as if it were some badge of honour..... sure, it shows you can ride faster/harder/more aggressive than a whole bunch of others, maybe including me, but I don't care if I'm in that club. I think those that took a riding course like Lee Parks learned a bit more about keeping your weight forward or shifting your weight so the bike stays a little more upright.... probably no peg scraping.
What do the guys on the track do..... the extreme of course, but they got tires so sticky and they are pros... and they crash sometimes, everything at the limit.
But, I'm interested to hear from those that scrape pegs too, or from those that do track days..... what can we learn....

[jwilly]

There's the Internet Wonder Boy for FJR's riding through the Tail of the Dragon shouting out "SCRAPE" every time he scrapes a peg.

That's some funny shit right there! He also runs off the road and into the ditch...

I only scrape pegs because Bill Lumberg likes the sparkles as he waits on me to get out of the way..

Like others have said, with proper body position you shouldn't be scraping pegs all the time.

[wheatonFJR]

When I'm scraping pegs, it means my suspension is too soft...or I just did something really bad.

[FJRPittsburgh]

I don't scrape pegs either, but I do catch the toe of my boot once in a while. However, scraping a peg is better than scraping the whole side of your bike.

[Festus]

That's some funny shit right there! He also runs off the road and into the ditch...

That was a hard video to watch. So many bad practices. Passing going into a blind curve, saying he needed to catch up with the guys on the sportbikes, etc. I’m not sure if it was the same trip but one of his buddies went down and hit a guardrail on video.

Really, really hard to watch.

I’m good with never scraping pegs. I’d rather ride slower with better technique than ride faster with poorer technique.

[Cav47]

Personal questions aside, load on the bike makes a difference. “How much do you really weigh Festus?......127” Lol

Camping gear on the bike on stock (worn out) suspension was certainly a major factor in my scraping. Poor body position was also a contributing factor. Unload the same bike and scraping was not as frequent with the same poor position. On the old 04, I replaced the suspension and scrape almost went away. Fix body position and no scraping.

Get a 15 ES (with the suspension set right) and fix body position and there is no scraping.

Pants and I rode at a rather rapid pace in California on some very aggressive curves. I was not being lazy and nary was a peg scrapped. Despite railing the living Hell out of our bikes. Both bikes were loaded up heavy after YFO. When we stopped and checked the tires, they were gummy all the way out to the edge. We were living right!

So to recap, lose some weight, get your body position right, and make sure your suspension is not fatigued.


I will add that one guy I have ridden with has peg feelers that are at least 2 times longer than normal. He could darn near use them things as a kickstand. Yeah he scrapped all the time.

[bill lumberg]

I don’t run peg feelers. They get razor sharp and are hard on boots and pants.

[bungie4]

I've only jammed the pegs hard once or twice. Totally rider error. I've given them a grazing more than a few times. That's my signal to either back off, or, get serious about body position.

Overheard in my headset riding two up on the Rt 16 with Line.
Line: "You can go faster you know"
Steve: <picks up the pace>
FJR: <SCRAAAPE>
Line: "What was that noise"
Steve: "Footpeg scraping the ground along with my sidestand foot"
Line: "Thats not good right?"
Steve: "No, not good"
LIne: "Okay, you can slow down then"
Steve: "Yes dear"

Oh ya, I've said for years that judging rider ability by chicken strips is complete and total bullshit. I know you don't know shit about riding when you judge somebody elses chicken strips.

[philharmonic]

The pegs on my 07 were pretty worn, so I got out a set of OEM's I took off my 03 before I sold it, and they were a little longer than the OEM ones that came off my 07. Hmmm, no wonder the 03 scraped the pegs all the time. ALSO, I used to scrape the 07 pegs now and then, until Old But Not Dead, gave me the "like new" shock he took off his 14, and I haven't scraped a peg since. {and the shock no longer "bottoms out" when we ride two up, YEAH!}

[Festus]

So to recap, lose some weight, get your body position right, and make sure your suspension is not fatigued.

Lose some weight? But I'm not a fatty I'm NOT scraping pegs.

I don't care about chicken strips. I do like them, with BBQ sauce, but on tires, the only thing it tells me is how far away from good roads you live. Unfortunately for everyone around here, they are unavoidable. I'd never seriously comment on anyone else's riding preferences. Everyone gets something different from riding.

[Intech]

I scraped pegs quite often with the '07 before I did the GP suspension upgrade. After that if I scraped a peg I had done something wrong and I usually knew it was coming. With the 15ES I think I may have touched a peg once or twice and for the same reason. Did some spirited riding this past weekend 2-up and never touched a peg. I also can run the tire to the edges without touching a peg.

[0face]

When I'm scraping pegs, it means my suspension is too soft...or I just did something really bad.

So is scraping your helmet... that's really, really bad.

[raYzerman]

When I'm scraping pegs, it means my suspension is too soft...or I just did something really bad.

So is scraping your helmet... that's really, really bad.

Yep...... head too soft and underinflated, LOL

[Uncle Hud]

^^^ I wore my rear chicken strips down to one-eighth of an inch ... but my tire was going flat.

My Vstar 950 Tour often scraped the fixed brackets supporting the floorboards, and my riding partner always said she enjoyed the sparkler show. It was fun until the rear tire lifted off the pavement a second time (the first time was "fun"). Traded it in the next day.

My FJR has scraped peg feelers twice in 80,000 miles (129,000 km); both times accelerating hard from a stop sign. Don't have a left peg feeler any more and I'm not spending money to get a new one.

(Hey, I just realized 129,000 kilometers = 129 Megameters, which could be written as 129Mm and thereby misinterpreted as 129 mm or millimeters -- a DRASTICALLY different length. Good thing we Americans still use the Imperial system.)

[wheatonFJR]

(Hey, I just realized 129,000 kilometers = 129 Megameters, which could be written as 129Mm and thereby misinterpreted as 129 mm or millimeters -- a DRASTICALLY different length. Good thing we Americans still use the Imperial system.)

Geekage failure.

This thread is about scraping pegs you threadshitter!