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
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
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.
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