Today I went up and down my favorite mountain twisties. The front side of the mountain is comprised of very tight, decreasing radius turns. The back side is made up of sweepers that allow greater speed. My problem today was on the front side: I was hanging off on a couple of the very tight turns and two times I scraped peg (not the feeler, but the actual peg, since I removed my feelers). I believe I have the correct technique -- 1 cheek off the saddle into the turn, knee out into the turn, butt back, body low, upper body into the turn, and head low near the turn side mirror. I don't know if this description if confusing, but basically I followed the directions in Keith Code books, track school, and race vids. Anyway, I'm wondering what my problem is because hanging off is supposed to reduce the amount one needs to lean,; therefore, peg scraping should not be occuring. I'm going fast, but not too fast; all the little CBRs and GSXRs use the mountain as a race track and go faster than me. Is it because the VFR's pegs are lower than the RR bikes? Am I not hanging off enough?
Just wondering if any of you peeps can provide some insight.
Thanks!!
are you trying to drag knee or go faster around corners
Its better to appear dumb then to open your mouth and remove all doubt
Trying to go faster around corners with less lean angle.Originally Posted by matt1986vf500f
are you trying to drag knee or go faster around corners
the only thing i can share with is get further off the bike, i drag feelers alot but i keep myself close to the bike i.e. not hanging off of it
Its better to appear dumb then to open your mouth and remove all doubt
A suggestion, have you looked at your lines as you go through a curve? You want to be as smooth as possible and do as little sharp turns as you can.
Try watching motorcycle races, you'll notice that they don't make real dramatic turns, rather they start turning well in advance of the actual turn so they can carry a lot of momentum.
For what it's worth, I've never dragged a peg while hanging off and I've actually gone faster than some of the liter bikes up in the mountains. When you approach a curve are you going fast then braking hard, then making a sharp turn? If so, next time try reducing your line angles. For example, say, you see a left-hand curve. What you can do is get on the right-most side of the lane and as you approach the curve made a gradual turn to the right-most lane.
Here's a good video by Valentino Rossi: http://www.ebike-ridingtips.co.uk/video/mediaplayer.swf?file=rossi.flv
Even if you have your butt off the seat you still have your upper body to worry about. This guy has the butt part right but the upper body is counter-leaning.
Your bike's almost 150 pounds heavier than most sport bikes and you're a tall guy, you won't be able to match lean angle even if you match entry speed and line everything else the same.
Lame joke of the week:
Why do Motorcycles want to fall at stops? Because they're two tired!
somewhat low footpeg location, incorrectly set sag and sacked out suspension components can all play a hand in this.
^^^^^^
Along with the actual curvature of the road itself. Remember, public roads are generally crowed, even a little bit, and that can cause clearence issues too.
BZ
"The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it".
-H.L. Mencken
I guess I think it's weird that I still have some chicken strips on my front tire, but my pegs are scraping. That's why I think the pegs are low. Norcalboy made a good point about the suspension, though. I'm not too heavy at 170 lbs, but my susp. components are old and may need to be tuned up. Plus, my susp. needs to be redone to my weight (springs, valves, oil).
upgrading suspension helped this problem for me...
_____________________________________________________Reg71 - Central Coast, CA98 VFR 800 - 5G Brotherhood
What did you do to your susp?
THAT'S normal. It's geometry.
On most sportbikes you can use the rear tyre to the edge and still not be using the full width of the front.
Look around at the next bike meet......
Back in my sportscar autocross days, we used to check tyre/suspension/air pressure setup by drawing chalk lines across the tyre tread and seeing clearly how much rubber was in contact with road after a run.
Chalk your tyres and c what u c.
The VFR is relatively heavy, and you'd need to be Reg Pridmore or Fast Freddy Spenser to keep up with lightweight CBR's. Don't try to exceed your or the bike's limits.
Last edited by squirrelman; 10-18-2009 at 06:43 PM.
" Goin' to Hell in a bucket, but at least I'm enjoyin' the ride....... "
"It's no use, mate, the bottom's fallen out......."
So many variables to this, but for starters the VFR does have some low hanging bits which don't help, but add in suspension miss ques, weird of camber road bows and the like, you'll find yourself touching here and there. Joey made mention of said entry lines too, all this all plays into the equation.
If you are doing this on a public road,which it sounded like you did, I'm not preaching the warning we've all done it, but in today's light this is best figured out at the track where you can work out this and that and do it being as safe as possible. As you have figured, there's more to it than just body position, speaking of, where's Tori's feedback?
Hey, RVFR, delete some of your PMs so I can send you one; your inbox is full. I have a question about Loopsies.
LOL Thanks, Done, you're good go..
You might like to check out the below short low side Vid showing what can happen after a VFR800s centre stand decks out on a decreasing radius left hander, gotta love how he slides then roles onto his feet before stopping...
Lowside on the Oxley
It's them long ass limbs you got.
Just kiddin' Reg has the rear shock up-grade. Ohlins is one of the most popular but expensive. Penske used to make one, not sure if they still do. A lot of folks do the fork re-spring and valve up-grade as well. I doubt you would be very comfortable if you tried to raise your pegs, but that would keep them off the road.
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I've seen this video--not good!!You might like to check out the below short low side Vid showing what can happen after a VFR800s centre stand decks out on a decreasing radius left hander, gotta love how he slides then roles onto his feet before stopping...
Lowside on the Oxley
I'm not taking these turns too quickly, so I'm trying to figure out what I need to change technically and/or mechanically to prevent what happened in the video. I've got these pilot powers on my bike that give me all kinds of stick and these damn pegs are ruining it. But it's probably a good indicator that I can't push it any further.
About the turns, Joey, may have a point. Next weekend I'll test this. Normaly I try to delay the apex so that I have more visibility in the turn. This is especially the case for long turns and decreasing radius turns. If I initiate the turn too early, I'll run out of pavement because some of these turns keep going and going.
My mechanic is pretty efusive about a shock made by Wilber or something like that. He recommends it over penske and ohlins.
I'm thinking my bike will benefit more from a front end makeover initially and then I'll do the rear. Springs for my weight and gold valving, plus oil should make it handle better, but I'm not sure if that will solve this peg scraping thing. I must study this further. Reg says his susp upgrade helped so theirs hope.
The then owner of belows Gen 6 also preferred his Wilbers over Ohlins, from memory one reason was they were more approachable to his enquiries and the people he spoke to and suspension wise were very tech savey.
well, I bought a penske for the rear and upgraded the front with .95 racetech springs and gold valves. It wasn't cheap, but if you are gonna run a VFR hard, it needs it. I actually rode RW's bike and liked the way it tracked a line through bumps at triple digits that I knew I had to upgrade. Next time we meet up, remind me and you can try my setup and see how it feels to you...
_____________________________________________________Reg71 - Central Coast, CA98 VFR 800 - 5G Brotherhood
+1. Supersports have higher pegs, too, making them less likely to touch down in tight turns.
[QUOTE=reg71;214283]well, I bought a penske for the rear and upgraded the front with .95 racetech springs and gold valves. It wasn't cheap, but if you are gonna run a VFR hard, it needs it. I actually rode RW's bike and liked the way it tracked a line through bumps at triple digits that I knew I had to upgrade. Next time we meet up, remind me and you can try my setup and see how it feels to you...[/QUOTEThe then owner of belows Gen 6 also preferred his Wilbers over Ohlins, from memory one reason was they were more approachable to his enquiries and the people he spoke to and suspension wise were very tech savey.
That's a nice looking bike!
That's pretty much what I had in mind except for maybe a different rear shock. If I don't upgrade before we meet again, I'll take you up on the offer. Thanks.
Yep, it seems like those pegs are higher up and farther back.
By the way, I was quoted about 400-500 in parts for the front (springs, gold valves, and oil) and about 3-4 hours of labor. I don't know if this is something I want to take on myself, and my mechanic is really good at suspension work. Did you do it yourself?
Talk to Lee at Traxxion. He quoted me a respring, revalve, oil WITH labor for sub 600 for my FZ1. I don't know if Traxxion has all the parts for a VFR though.
EDIT: Though obviously, traxxion is out of state. This means you'll need to get your forks on/off yourself, but it's fairly easy.
Lame joke of the week:
Why do Motorcycles want to fall at stops? Because they're two tired!
This bike is trick! Isn't this the one from VFRD that has an R1 front end? Sweet ass bike. I wouldn't even mind having the VTEC on that bike!The then owner of belows Gen 6 also preferred his Wilbers over Ohlins, from memory one reason was they were more approachable to his enquiries and the people he spoke to and suspension wise were very tech savey.
Well spotted it is OzVFRs zRoYz from VFRDs old bike which he modded to the max, he is also very fussy in his motorcycling requirments so was letting you know like your mechanic he preferred a Wilbers rear over an Ohlins, the front '04 R1 forks were much modified internally.
The easist place to fine the Wilbers shocks are Thurn Motorsports out of Germany.
Go to their website and they have three choices in shock models.
I know a guy who has a Wilburs on his FJ1300 and he knows his suspension "stuff". Appears to be a good shock for the cash.
It would be nice to see your hang off style in pics. That can also say alot.
BZ
"The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it".
-H.L. Mencken
upper body off more (elbow on tank filler), preload +max
2006 Ducati 999S Nero Mono Limited Edition
1992 Honda VFR750F (reborn)
2004 Ducati 998S Final Edition
2002 Royal Enfield Bullet
1992 Honda VFR750F
1993 Suzuki GSX-R 750W
1990 Honda CBR600F
1989 Honda CBR600F
1973 Schwinn Stingray 3 Speed
You will find that even w/ suspension set up the pegs still hit.
$500.00 to sato for rear sets will eliminate this problem.
If anyone else knows of another company that sells rear sets please chime in.
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