| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
So, When I hit full lean at the track, it felt like I hit a stop. Once my knee hit touched the ground, there was NO more turning in, I was locked into that curve. It caused me to run a bit wider than I wanted to a few times. At first I thought it was a mental block, and it still very well could be... But upon inspecting the bike, I found that the pegs were also scraping (along with the kickstand and shifter). With the rear sets, the pegs scrape very differently than the factory setup. I was curious if it could be that the pegs, even though they're still spring loaded, weren't folding back because of them hitting the ground on the end of the peg, instead of the bottom. This is what I found:  Anybody every have a similar situation? I know I never felt the peg folding up or back. By hanging off, I know I was putting most of my weight on that inside peg, maybe I was holding it down, and not allowing it to fold up. I'd just like to trouble shoot this, before I go out and try to push further, and end up running wide or low siding due to dragging hard parts. | ||
| Spiderman |
were you hanging off? The more you shift your weight, the more your butt is off the seat, the center of gravity of the bike aloowing more lean at more speed. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I was hanging off as much as I felt I could. If I work at it, I might be able to get out a bit more. I was leaning enough to plant my knees, and eliminate chicken strips front and rear. | ||
| Lake_bueller |
You're definately not leaning enough. I've been able to get my knee to the ground on a stock XB12Ss. Trust me on this, get your butt over further and you'll stop scrapping pegs (and other parts  ) | ||
| Slaughter |
You really ought to consider making the kickstand removable for track days. That goes for any other non-essential hard parts. Hanging off isn't just a butt cheek or two - it's also getting your upper body off and leaning into the turn. Takes some getting used to but shortly becomes really a natural feeling way to go around turns. The footpegs will fold back. There's a psychological weirdness that happens when they touch ground but they are NOT going to prevent you from leaning. I'm assuming you're on the M2? You using the Banke foot peg relocaters or the full-on rearsets? The peg relocators don't really move the pegs out of the way but the full rearsets move your feet almost 4 inches back and 4 inches up from stock position. Pics of my S3:  | ||
| Jayvee |
On the footpeg, I don't think the pivot point cares what's touching, feeler or peg body, if it's 45 degrees fold-back, it shouldn't matter too. I would guess more likely something else, like the weight on the peg? If you have rearsets and you still can't lean over far enough, boy, that's really leaning. (Message edited by jayvee on October 07, 2007) | ||
| Knickers |
Even with full Banke rearsets its not hard to grind pegs when your body position is too upright.  Its taken a lot of practice to try to get rid of this habit and I'm still working on it. You'd be surprised how much more upright you can get the bike when you get your upper body leaned over and pretend to kiss the inside mirror. Kurt | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I'm not a big guy, so really leaning for me isn't shifting as much weight as most people. I really felt I was hanging off the bike, with my outside inner thigh holding me up. I do have the full Banke Rearsets. I'll use this picture since I haven't got a good one of mine; Upon further inspection, I was also hitting this bolt:  Which I believe WOULD make me stop turning in, as it gives NO cushion, unlike the pegs and kickstand. | ||
| Tattoodnscrewd |
You'd be surprised how much more upright you can get the bike when you get your upper body leaned over and pretend to kiss the inside mirror +1 It's not just about where you are in your seat.... ...if your upper body isn't shifted as well, you will still lean the bike farther than necessary .. What you want to do is have someone snap a photo, or shoot a quick video of you on the track so you can see just how far off you aren't hanging off.. Like you, I am not a big guy .. but neither are many of the pro level racers .. it makes a huge difference once you are used to really getting off the bike ... I found it easier to shift out of my seat ... it was the upper body, kissing your mirror lean at the same time as shifting off the seat that took a little while to get used to.... | ||
| Tattoodnscrewd |
Also consider shorter footpegs ... Rearsets on tube frame Buell's stick out a bit compared even to stock .. look at the XB's and any other sportbike .. the pegs are held in close to the bike .. that 1 inch difference in how far they stick out makes a huge difference in how soon they hit the ground ... My S1 looks like it has wings because of the rearsets .. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
M2 with Banke relocators, they drag a lot, even hanging off the bike. To keep hard parts off the track I have to get the inside of my outside knee against that side of the seat. So I really have to get out there. If you are also grinding hard parts from the primary cover you aren't gonna get any more angle out of the bike. Probably need to practice getting way out there. A few inches in your body position makes a big difference. In this pic I should have had my head/upper body out so you could see almost my entire helmet on the inside of the flyscreen, so like another 6-10" or so of upper body movement, just to keep my bike's stuff off the ground. The previous suggestion to get photos or video of you riding on the track, it helps a lot to see what you are doing on the bike. That made a huge difference for me, where I thought I was off the bike before (last track day) until I saw my pictures. Yeah, I'm showing off a bit, sorry...  | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Oh yeah, from your images of the probable lean angle you are really getting the bike over, it seems like if you were off the bike more you could decrease that angle a bit. Then you are keeping your bike further from a low side crash. You are pushing your tires' traction limits when you get over that far and lightening your tires by bumping hard parts on the track is a concern. Course, photos would tell it all I think. But maybe you might need to look into suspension mods, could be as simple as dialing in proper sag to keep you a little higher off the ground. Having my rear shock rebuilt also helped my track experience. -Mike (Message edited by littlebuggles on October 09, 2007) | ||
| Sportsman |
I don't know if they're still available but there used to be a "race use only" shock bracket to raise the back of the bike for more clearance and it steepened the fork angle for quicker turning in. | ||
| Knickers |
Mike, I ground that same bolt when I ran my S3 with rearsets. Bumping up the rear preload helped. Other things that helped - cutting my footpegs in half enabled me to get my toes tucked in more. Removing the sidestand kept it off the ground. Getting photos or video of your riding is key - I would always think my body position was leaned to the max until I saw myself in pictures. Bad...  Better...  (Message edited by knickers on October 09, 2007) | ||
| Jayvee |
Hey, what about that "ride-height adjustment" what's the deal on that? If you jack up the back won't that affect all the geometry. On the other hand, shouldn't it be usable for situations like this? Hasn't been discussed much in the context of the problem presented in this thread. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
We're on to something here. I have the WP rear shock, and to be honest, it is set as soft as it will go. Preload, Compression, and rebound. Weighing in at 125 plus gear, these settings are the only way the bike doesn't beat the crap out of me on not-so-perfect roads. I was considering bumping these settings up for the track day, but I figured, being my first track day, it would not be necessary. I will adjust these a couple clicks before I try to drag a knee again. Which, come to think about it, will be down yonder at MBV! Maybe I could get some help getting dialed in. I was concentrating on body position more than anything at this track day. Trying to hang off by my outside thigh, and kiss the mirror. Sadly, it wasn't till the last 2 sessions that I really got a feel for everything... and I'm assuming the photographer had left by then, so I didn't get any decent pictures. | ||
| Loki |
Mike, You might want to find a softer spring for the WP | ||
| Rick_a |
Still available from the race dept.
Settings for street and track use are two totally different parameters altogether. Some experts claim you need to keep your head centered over the triple trees. Personally, I tried it and it really didn't work out for me. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"Hey, what about that "ride-height adjustment" what's the deal on that"? I think only a Penske has the ride height adjustment. I dialed in about 3/8" more ride height on my M2 (measured at the seat) to quicken the steering a bit. If I was doing a track day, I'd dial in a bit more. You should definitely set your sag (a totally different parameter than ride height adjustment) to the bare minimum for sporting riding. | ||
| Sportsman |
B (Message edited by Sportsman on October 15, 2007) |
