Footpeg 'feelers' removal?

has anybody removed the feelers or 'hero blobs' off their bike? until i get the much needed suspension upgrades, mine are dragging badly along with the exhaust mid pipe. without them as a warning, i'm a little worried that other hardparts will eventually drag and it could get ugly....

 

I took mine off because the previous owner had ground the l/h side one a bit too much and indeed it does look ugly. I dont know if I ever ride to that kind of limit where I need them to warn me of too much lean.

 

I took the thingys off. They serve no purpose I can see?

K

 

My God man!!!

You are either smokin' fast or your suspension settings are way off.

I wear my rear tires very near to the edge and I've never touched my peg feelers down, much less any part of my exhaust.

 

Every time I read posts about people dragging their feelers or even knees for that matter leave me wondering about their riding form. I also wear my tires nearly to the edge, within 1/8", and have never dragged anything, not my toes, feelers, or knees. I can hang off my bike at extreme lean angles, knee out, and high speed cornering and I simply never drag anything.

The picture I have in my head of these people scraping things on the ground is of the bike leaned way over and the rider sitting straight up with locked elbows instead of tucked in with their chin in line with the inside hand-grip. That is the only way I can see of riders getting such extreme leaning - poor form.

Good form and not dragging anything!


Couldn't find a picture of bad form, but pick up a copy of Sport-Riding Technique by Nick Ienatsch, Kenny Roberts and it will have examples of both.

 

I definitely agree with ZonaMan. THat's why I took mine off. If they never touch - why have em and carry the weight (albeit not many grams)?

Also, if they -were- to touch, wouldn't it be better not to have them too? I'll buy new pegs rather than have the feeler catch and cause a spill if I ever REALLY need to get the thing leaned over!

K

 

The point of the peg feelers IS that they touch first. The footpegs aren't fixed, they pivot up if the feelers touch tarmac, that's a good thing. You throw a few sparks and go on your way.

By removing the feelers you increase the chance that the first thing to touch down will be a hard part. This could lever the tire(s) off of the ground and cause a crash, that's a bad thing.

 

Your exhaust is dragging too? what kind of bike are we talking about???

 

Having big feet, the only thing I ever drag are my toe pucks on my boots. Even hanging off the bike I still catch toe on some of the tighter twisties. Hope my form is good, but I don't have tape of myself riding. My feelers are off, and I get damn low, but don't know how u could drag exhaust unless u were on a busa or a zx-14 or something with a low mount. Shrug?

 

yeah i ride the bike like my k6 gsxr. no problem with my form. i'm just concerned that some 'hard part' will touch down and unweight the tire. the exhaust drags on the 'midpipe' below the rt. peg.want pix?

 

that picture is also of a gsxr, not a vfr. nothing drags on my gsxr either.

 

I broke one off the first day I got it . I droped it in the geroge! Do you have an ABS modle that has the hand crank for the preload?

 

Since I set sag I don't drag the pegs nearly as often. I weigh 230 lbs and the only way to get sag close to 35mm front and 30mm rear was to crank the preload all the way in on the forks and one notch from hard on the shock.

I kept my peg feelers on so I wouldn't catch the toe of my boot like on my 919. I bought lowering blocks but took them off since it was way too easy (and distracting) to drag the pegs. Unless you have lowered your bike or have the preload set unusually soft you shouldn't be draging any hard parts.

 

I was looking at my exhaust headers and there is a flat spot right by thr right foot peg. I am guessing I slid mt pipe once or twice. it is possible. The peg feeler was un touched

 

correct

if the only way to drag other parts was bad form, you would never see the racers drag stuff, right? Not that it can't be bad form too, but it doesn't automatically indicate bad form.
or the motojournalists, who have more riding time, and access to excellent training, lots of time on free track days, would never complain about dragging the hard parts of a test bike

the feelers are never, ever, going to catch enough to cause a crash, not going to happen, they are rounded when new, and then once you drag them the first time, they are already angled

they are there, as said before, so that if you do start dragging something, it is not something hard and firm that would give you trouble, ideally they are located such that they drag just before anthing important and/or dangerous drags
they are designed and built to be easily replaceable with even the most basic of tools

seen pictures of several BMW K1200LTs with their saddlebags ground down, and even a Gold Wing with the same, so it can be done

that said, I don't think one should ever be that far leaned over on a public roadway, you don't have too much further to go if something were to happen

but I used hit the ground with the edge of my boot on a highway entrance ramp I used to take every day. No side entrances, light traffic at the time I would hit it, no cops (guardrail on both sides), and I would ride it 5 - 10 times a week. Got to know it pretty well, and I was younger and more foolish then.

heck, I know a lot of posters from the UK even talk about being able to drag a knee on a round about, what we call a traffic circle

And on a track day several years ago, when I was on my BMW K1200RS, I managed to drag my left peg hard enough to wear down the feeler, and then finally the peg, the peg eventually caught and ripped off. Had to ride home with a little nub of a peg.:smile:

 

that I would say check your suspension settings, you may have your suspension set to softly
but of course if that is how you like it, than it isn't worth changing
but it may mean with time and age you suspension has changed, since it happens incrementally (sp?) you don't notice it, but a revisit, may have you noticing a huge improvement
similar to how new tires always feel way better than the old brand x, but part of that is comparing worn tired tires, with fresh new ones, not necessarily just the design and build change

 

Wow, looking at that pic of the guy on the gixxer thou, I need to get my butt back on the passenger seat. Since I am on my laptop at the moment, I don't have a pic of me available to post up. I'll edit this post later.
Here are some pics of me in May 07 at the Dragon on my R6S. As you can see, in some places I amover pretty far, but no hard parts are close to touching down, and I tend to hang off the bike, sometimes more than necessary, lol.




That last one I am riding almost on the double yellow, but not quite. This is a short 'S' turn and I was trying to give myself plenty of room to flip back to the right. No need to warn me about the possibility of other vehicles approaching, I was fully aware of that at the time.