didn't want to complicate the trackday thread but wanted to continue the topic of peg weighting.


i was lucky enough to do a series ( 12 classes ) that was originally developed by a guy in california which is now known as 'doc wong' clinic. lucky in that the guy running it is a keith code superbike instructor & endurance racer.

peg weighting . we had a good discussion about weighting the pegs and what was written in keiths book.


( not Verbatium - but what i got out of the conversation )

many read keiths book and assume that he's saying to weight the outside peg. keith agreed that it wasn't written clearly and we WAS NOT saying weight the outside peg.

i hope i can write this clearly. think of a X and your body.two hand upward and two feet apart. ( the quick drill was stand with your feet apart, lean forward with your hands againt the wall. lift your left foot off the floor.. then remove your left hand off the wall. ) you will notice your torso twist to keep your balance. if you lift your left foot & right hand you can balance without moving your body.

if you think of countersteering being a force on your hands it can be balanced by weighting the opposite peg. ( this of course would be the outside peg ) this weighting is of short duration and only during the steering input often refered to as an "steering pivot point".

after the bike is turned in the outside foot/leg then becomes an anchor point as weight is transfered to the inside peg.



tim

 

I couldn't get my shawk to turn hard w/out weighting the inside peg @ initial turn-in w/lots of counter-steer. Also, hanging off agressively didn't work for me. Smooth is rewarded more than aggro.

 

The only thing that confuses me about this is that this scenario assumes that constant input is required at the clip-on, which (for a properly set up bike) is not the case. Steering input should be minimal while leaned over in the apex. Personally, I use a push/pull method at the bars to minimize pushing my body from one side to the other. For corner entry and exit I agree that there needs to be some counteracting force to keep the body straight, but this is only a small part of the turn.

 

I've never been a fan of the push pull. It makes it feel like I'm fighting the bars. I apply pressure with the inside arm only, letting the outside just hang. That allows the bars to wobble and flop as much as they want, which IMO in a good thing. Forcing stillness and compliance in the steering makes for choppy and un-smooth turns.

 

you may be generally confused... but it's probably my writing. i used the common term 'steering pivot point' so the counteracting weighting of the peg is ONLY during the steering input which is a very small part of the turn.

push / pull : with all the great 20-25mph esses we have around here you'd think i'd have mastered this... if you want to get from full lean to full lean it's the only way your going to do it ( at speed ).

our local track has a nice chicane but it's not used for bikes 99% of the time ( for safety reasons ). too bad.

tim

 

Hmmmmm. I refined my ideas about this, and practised, whilst riding in the 3- and 6-hour production bike races we used to have down here. You had plenty of time to compare your own corner techniques lap after lap, try and feel changes, modify, mess around, try to stay awake etc.

I just found that peg weighting worked for me on a sealed track much better than conscious countersteering ever has. I countersteer a lot in the dirt and on sand, but these days do not even notice if I am doing it on a sealed surface.

I'm also acutely conscious that different techniques work better for different people. Accepted wisdom may not be wise to accept for you. That's why I usually talk of "ideas" rather than anything remotely like "rules" in riding technique.

 

It's not just the person, or the bike for that matter, but also the way the bike is set up. My VTR is setup so that just a bit of body lean/peg weighting makes a big difference on turn-in. The 1000RR is about the same way, but generally requires more input to the bars. The 600RR responds very well to only countersteering.

 

Greg, I agree with you, but caution everyone about over-analyzing and then trying to put isolated aspects of analyzed riding technique into practice.

There's nothing wrong with just sitting on the bike and pulling the wire. Then when you're comfortable, think about refining techniques.

I guess my way of looking at it is that your own riding is a system, just as your machine works as a mechanical system, not a bunch of unrelated bits.