Toes on pegs take a little while to get used to, but you'll never go back after (unless on a long motorway run). Bought a Honda e-cushion seat (from eBay). Lot more comfortable.
Always done it and feels strange flat footed. sometimes after a decent run the knees ache a little . Ever stretched the leg whilst riding and cramp kicks in and you can't be arsed to stop but are in extreme pain (Whats that all about)?
Feet flat on pegs feels wrong, feel as though i need to be on one of those classy 125cc cruisers. Also on the balls against tank thing, anybody feel free to butt` in, and correct me , but, if trying knee down(after watching a recent video of CSS showing someone from PB how to do it), by what they said you have to lock your knee in, so therefore your ass must be way back up the seat?
Depends on what you mean by feet flat on pegs I suppose. I ride with the ball of my foot on the peg as opposed to the arch of my foot. Would appreciate an explanation of why toes on peg is better, not something I've heard before.
As you said, i ride with balls of feet on pegs, not arch of foot, but surely when hard cornering you get better grip with arch of foot for stability?
According to Ron Haslams instructors, you're supposed to move your feet as you move your body around the bike for cornering. The default position is supposed to be the balls of your feet on the pegs which makes the movement easier We talked about it in the peg weighting thread a while back and used this picture of Mcauley Culkin using the balls and arch of his feet at the same time. Bloody show off!
Can only speak from my own experience, but I seldom use the arch of my foot, other than perhaps a long motorway trek just to rest a bit. When cornering hard, I turn my foot in so that the ball of my foot moves to the end of the peg, much better for kneedown if that's your bag If you use the arch of your foot your knee will actually lift away from the deck if you move your bumcheek off the seat! The stability comes from gripping the tank with your outside knee.
Okay, I was released this morning by Mrs Ken and went off for a bimble on the bike and had a go at some of you guy's advisory's. Ball's of my feet on the pegs is going to take a bit more perserverence but it did do something interesting. Apart from definitely spreading the pressure of my lardy arse better on the saddle, the change in stance definitely gave my knees better lock on the tank in the corners. Weighting the pegs. I was a complete virgin to this and don't think I've ever done it even subconciously before, unlike counter steering, which I've always done, even before I'd heard of it. I found it quite an odd sensation as even the tiniest input seemed to have a disproportionate effect to the turn radius. I suspect that this technique needs a fair bit of finesse-ing to nail it. There you go then. Thanks for the input. As you can see I've had a go and will attempt to add these tips to my riding. I thought you knee down dogs might like some feedback form a noob.
Nice one! I wouldn't worry too much about weighting the pegs for the moment, there is a danger in trying to remember too much. Once you get around to trackdays then weighting your pegs is worth getting the hang of.
Mmmmm, Been riding on road for approx 25 yrs now. Been riding motorbikes almost as soon as I could ride a pedal bike. Off and on road. Ive dropped em, burnt em, seized em, flipped em and blown em up. I guess you obtain years of knowledge of riding bikes by simply making mistakes and learning from them. Plus doing a few positive things as well. I know my road riding style is nothing like my track riding for example. And If I raced, that would be all together different from T/D riding. I mean, I could not commit to corners on the road like I do on track as there is just too much going on, on the road. I really would not want to end up under a tractor! Same for track riding, I push but not to the point off binning it (Well, 99% of the time, ahem.) cos when you do, it hurts too much and can get in the way of day to day life, lol. At least there is run off and no cars coming the other way. On road, I can ride alone or with mates. I have to trust mates riding styles though and never really get sucked into the "got to keep up game." I guess road riding is about getting from A to B in one piece, with a smile on ya face. Track day riding is about learning what you and your bike can do. Racing is...............sod that Im too slow and dont bounce very well anymore, lol. I do know that track riding has slowed me down on the road. Im just not interested in testing my luck on the highway.
I like riding on my own most of the time but have occasionally gone out with a mate. Tried group riding and hated it. I like to ride at whatever pace I feel like at any given time, in a group I sort of feel trapped. Also I am not really into following rules, so best if I do not have any :haha:. I was trained to drive cars and Fire Appliances at high speeds and they used the book the Police used to train their drivers on, I think it was called 'Roadcraft'. It was a real eye opener at the time and covers many aspects of road skills generally (not bike specific). It taught me to read the road more and anticipate better, this paid off a lot with my bike riding. I have been riding for 38 years and have tried a variety of techniques, some good, some bad and I still manage to get it wrong sometimes ! I have always used the ball of my foot (apart from when poodling on a long journey) when I just try to get comfortable. I only ride on the road and don't feel the need to hang off, I use more of a Doohan style and keep pretty central on the bike and just lean her over. I like to think I am a smooth rider and try to focus on right place on the road, right speed, right gear etc. I get it right most of the time but still scare myself every now and again. Most of my mistakes occur when I am not riding smoothly, like having to brake hard cos I've misjudged the bend or got the wrong line. Being a bit old, it takes me longer these days to get used to a new bike. After 6 months with a bike I am comfortable, after a year I am confident, after 18 months it feels like the bike and I are one. The blade after 220 miles now is going to be quicker to get used to than all my other bikes and I am already riding it harder round the twisty's than I did with my Ducati which I had for 18 months. Although I like to ride fast I am not as fast as some I see on the roads, but that is not necessarily me being slow.I ride defensively and always expect the vehicle in the side road to pull out at the last minute or the car I am overtaking to want to suddenly turn right....thats why I go past as quick as I can and get back onto the right side of the road.
