I Modded my MT! (or What Good are Peg Feelers?)

[Triple Jim]

I was at Deals Gap with my MT-07 all last week.  On my first trip through the Dragon I got warmed up and approached some turns.  I slid over on the seat and got my knee out just right, then got into a turn.  Before my knee puck hit, I heard a horrible scraping noise and my peg started to fold up.  My brain said I was crashing.  It was just the huge peg feeler dragging!  Only once in that run was I able to get my knee down, and the feeler was scraping at the same time I was hanging way too far off.

I've never had them on any pegs of my motorcycles before, and when I got back to my room I unscrewed the feelers and said good riddance to them.  What I don't understand is how any possible good could ever come to anyone from those things.  If they're supposed to warn an inexperienced rider that he's leaning a lot, it's more likely they'd scare him into wobbling off the road or worse!

Edited May 11, 2021 by Triple Jim

[Nealsmo]

I feel the same way.  They also have a nasty habit of getting caught on my boot when rolling away from a stop.  

If they were a bit shorter it wouldn't be a nuisance.

[D.A.]

I use the side stand and muffler as feeler pegs. 
When they start scraping I know it’s time to back off. 

Edited May 11, 2021 by D.A.

[DewMan]

2 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

 What I don't understand is how any possible good could ever come to anyone from those things.  If they're supposed to warn an inexperienced rider that he's leaning a lot, it's more likely they'd scare him into wobbling off the road or worse!

If I'm  an inexperienced rider I'd rather know I was getting close to the limit long before I got there.. Hence the peg feelers?

I'm guessing it's a liability thing for Yamaha.

That being said, removing them was one of my 1st "mods" as well. 

[Triple Jim]

19 minutes ago, DewMan said:

I'm guessing it's a liability thing for Yamaha.

That's my guess too.  Somehow the lawyers have caused these terrible things to exist.

[Mad]

Installing the ktech suspension ,the problem was a lot less noticeable but still! I was forced to use something because the pegs were wearing off -.- and I used shortish titanium screws .

All fine and dandy, some sporadical scrape but noting major ... until last month  

I was a little to frisky on the track and I wear off all the titanium, a little off the kick stand and the brake pedal looked strange (  I discovered than it was making prolonged contact with the road and so rolling )

long story short, rear sets are needed if you start to touch the brake pedal, and it is easy on stock suspension 

[Triple Jim]

14 minutes ago, Mad said:

...rear sets are needed if you start to touch the brake pedal, and it is easy on stock suspension 

Is yours an FZ or an MT?  My MT's stock suspension is not soft for my 170 lbs.

[stickshift]

4 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

Is yours an FZ or an MT?  My MT's stock suspension is not soft for my 170 lbs.

It's because you can raise the rear with most aftermarket shocks, to increase ground clearance.

[klx678]

7 hours ago, Triple Jim said:

That's my guess too.  Somehow the lawyers have caused these terrible things to exist.

I doubt it.  I'd think it might be that they want to have repeat customers is likely the reason.  Really, which would you rather have hit first,  those feelers or the exhaust or some other hard part?    One will fold the peg the other may lift a wheel.   I'd rather be a bit scared when the peg feeler hits than when a solid part hits.  But hey, that's just me.   Of course I will say I don't ride that hard on the street, I can't afford to deal with the results if I push too far.  Now on the dual sport, that's a different story.

I do remember that there were some bikes back when that had short nubs to save the pegs, that could be used in place of the long ones.

[Triple Jim]

1 hour ago, klx678 said:

Really, which would you rather have hit first,  those feelers or the exhaust or some other hard part?

The problem for me is that the feelers hit before I could even get a knee down.  Once I took them off, nothing hit.  If they're going to warn me of a hard part dragging, they don't need to be anywhere near that long.

[klx678]

I don't have that problem, I don't trust the streets that well.   Might be different at a track, but not on the street.  Gone into corners with a layer of the reflective glass bead in it, friend lost the front end on his dual sport, I was in the tire path - luck of the draw.  Then there was the patch of near invisible pea gravel in another corner.   Not gonna be dragging knees with that kind of stuff possible.

 

I did mention there are shorter ones from other models.   I remember that from the mid 2000s.

Edited May 12, 2021 by klx678

[Triple Jim]

42 minutes ago, klx678 said:

I don't have that problem, I don't trust the streets that well.

I don't normally either, but the Dragon is a well ridden road, kept clean and with a known surface that'll take knee dragging.  I'm riding a friend's RZ350 in this photo.

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Triple Jim

[klx678]

Be careful,  I understand the LEOs don't look kindly on speed there.  Don't go and stick any of your bodywork on that tree I've seen pictures of...  

[Triple Jim]

36 minutes ago, klx678 said:

Be careful,  I understand the LEOs don't look kindly on speed there.

In most of the turns you can drag a knee at 35 mph or so... some lower than that.  The speed limit is 30, but I've never seen them ticket below 40.  The whole area is supported by motorcycle tourism.  Some guys like to tear down the straights as fast as they can, but I just stay at 40 or below and get ready for the next turn.   I've been going to the annual week-long 2-stroke meet there every year for 12 years now, so at least I don't have many surprises.     It must have been pretty interesting back when the speed limit was 55!

My daughter and I rode "The Devil's Triangle" in Tennessee while at this year's meet.  That was interesting, with several uphill switchbacks where the road doubled back on itself and you were going up the fall line in the turns.  If you enter in too high a gear you can stall and slide off the road!

The best bikes for the Dragon are the small ones.  This is my DT100 I set up just for that road:

Edited May 13, 2021 by Triple Jim

[cornerslider]

Just out of curiosity.... Why are you pushing so hard on the street? Why not learn the limits of your bike on a closed course track? I'm an avid track day rider/coach, but I honestly do more street miles, than track miles. The biggest thing I've learned from track riding, is how to be better street rider. Since I started track riding in 2008, my street riding has has become MUCH less "aggressive".... I still love every minute I'm on the street, just in a different way -

[Triple Jim]

8 minutes ago, cornerslider said:

Just out of curiosity.... Why are you pushing so hard on the street? Why not learn the limits of your bike on a closed course track?

I spend time on a track too.   If you have a chance to visit the Dragon I bet you don't mosey around it.       I'm anything but an aggressive rider on other public roads.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Triple Jim

[FZWes]

Angle grinder

[emmett]

I live near Port Jervis, NY. All the locals ride the Hawk's Nest, which is 5 miles away, along Rt. 97 in Sparrowbush, NY. It's sort of a mini Dragon's Tail. Last summer a hooligan blasted thru at 80+ mph. He hit the wall. The Gixer bounced across the road and clipped an old man taking pictures of the Delaware River. Poor bastard never knew what hit him. He died in the helicopter on the way to Westchester County Medical Center. The kid driving the Gixer was flown out too. Don't know if he survived. Two months prior to that, another kid was barreling thru the twisties and side swiped the wall. His bike slid down the road to a stop. The kid flew over the wall...all the way down, landing 40 ft from the river. He woke up 3 days later in a hospital. Couldn't figure out why so many of his bones were broken. I know his cousin, who I ride with. Guess he was 'lucky'. The point I'm trying to make here is, no matter how 'good' or 'fast' we think we are, we can never predict what the road Gods will throw at us or when we will outride our own abilities. That's why there are closed course tracks. There's a time and a place for everything and often the road isn't it. Please be careful, at least for the innocent bystanders and drivers. Use your heads. Sorry, don't mean to pontificate...I was young and dumb and full of cum, too. I was lucky enough to survive several lowsides myself.

[Triple Jim]

That's horrible stuff.  What isn't always understood about the Dragon is, as I posted above, that all the tight turns are so sharp you're going about 30 to drag a knee.

[D.A.]

I have a slightly different take on knee-dragging.

My theory is the further you hang off with your body, the less you have to lean the bike and in turn, the more traction you have. Keeping the bike as upright as possible means more traction in reserve should you suddenly need to push the bike lower.

It’s safer than keeping your body centered in the seat and unnecessarily making the bike lean those extra degrees. 

And as @Triple Jim suggests, it’s not always about going fast. In the photo below, which some of you have already seen, I was only doing about 25mph. 

Hanging off is the best way to get through a tight corner without low-siding.

Edited May 14, 2021 by D.A.

[Triple Jim]

45 minutes ago, D.A. said:

And as @Triple Jim suggests, it’s not always about going fast. In the photo below, which some of you have already seen, I was only doing about 25mph. 

I remember when I was first practicing touching down.  I got on a deserted cul-de-sac going about 15 and kept tightening the turn until my knee puck dragged.  There was nothing dangerous about it.

@D.A., your take is accurate.  On the supermoto (kart) track I ride, the surface is on the slick side, and if you don't keep the bike as upright as possible, you risk crashing.  Every turn resembles your photo above. 

This is at the VIR Kart track, riding my DT100.  The turn is a hairpin and I doubt if we're going more than 30 mph:

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Triple Jim

[stickshift]

I nearly had a nasty high side when my standard pegs (feelers removed) touched down at the track and weight was reduced on the rear tyre. I have a slightly longer shock fitted which gives a bit more peg clearance than the stock shock.

The standard alloy material wore down FAST! I now have aftermarket rearsets for better ground clearance...

[emmett]

DA is correct, except it's not just a 'theory'.  When GP racers hang over the bike to drag a knee and sometimes even a shoulder, it gives you two options: a.) you can lean the bike over less, or b.) you can go faster while keeping the same lean angle. I don't need to tell you what option GP pros choose. It's physics, nothing complicated, all about center of gravity, etc. There are plenty of tutorial on youtube explaining the dynamics of knee dragging. Personally, while on the road I like to reserve knee dragging for when I think I'm getting 'over my head' and need to lessen my lean angle; kind of like a 'safety net' before having to increase my turning radius. I learned this the hard way (lowsiding).  If I'm already knee dragging and realize I'm over my head, it's 'too bad, so sad.' Just my worthless opinion, but from experience, lowsiding is a drag (excuse the pun). It took me some years and falls to figure this out myself.

[emmett]

By the way, if I'm not mistaken, the speed limit on the Dragon is 35 mph or thereabouts...or so I'm told.

[Triple Jim]

44 minutes ago, emmett said:

By the way, if I'm not mistaken, the speed limit on the Dragon is 35 mph or thereabouts...or so I'm told.

It's currently 30.  As I said above, after 12 years of going there I've never seen a ticket given for less than 40.  The tight curves are challenging at 30-35.