What
if you drag a peg?
Most
of us do not need to test limits, but it still happens that you might someday
find yourself 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
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. 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.