Footpegs and hero bobbins

[gruntygiggles]

Hi guys, I passed my test mid April, did about 300 miles on a Honda CG125 then last Saturday, finally gt my NC29 up and running and took it out for the first time. Absolutely love the thing and I feel so comfortable, it's scary.

I got my toe down on Friday, little scuff and a great big grin on my face. My toes weren't sticking out, I had them on the pegs and my heels tucked in...not a big issue. Yesterday though, my right footpeg went down. Scared the life out of me just because I wasn't expecting the noise. I thought it was my toe again, but with no new marks on my boot, checked the footpeg and I've taken a nice bit of my standard small hero bobbin off. Although scared......I have not been able to get the grin off my face since...lol

Yes, I'm a new rider, but Squirrel_Hunter was out with me and can confirmt this to be true.

He mentioned maybe getting my footpegs higher up so that I don't scrape them anymore as I'm a new rider and I shouldn't really be doing this. It's not because I'm trying to do it, the bike just dinks around easily and it feels comfortable.

Your thoughts please......should I remove hero bobbins and try and raise the pegs?

[chrisja2]

Hi, glad your having fun on your 29! Ive got 2 of them, one for the road with standard height pegs and one for the track with raised/back rearsets. I swopped them on my trackbike as i found i was grinding them too, although on track the lean angle and speed is greater. In my opinion id keep them as it tells you your quite near the limit, just like when your knee hits the deck. Maybe you could alter your body position on the bike to counter the lean angle? What does squirrel hunter think of it? Or just cut the bobbins off and use your toe slider as a gauge. Most aftermarket rearsets have fixed pegs, so if they hit the deck, theres a good chance you would be off!
Stay safe,

Chris.

[gruntygiggles]

Thanks Chris. If scraping the bobbins mean I've found the limit, then I guess that's a good thing as I'll know when to throttle on a bit and pick the bike up. I don't want to slide down the road if I can help it, but I also don't want to alter what is a natural way to ride for me. So, as long as the surface is good, tyres are warm and cambers allow for it, I'll still enjoy my roundabouts, but without those conditions, I'll definately be backing off.

[gruntygiggles]

Oh yeah......Squirrel_Hunter is quite rightly advising me to not do those lean angles and calm down. I haven't ridden like a nob.....just made a bit too much progress for someone that hasn't yet had to deal with a wobble or the back end stepping out etc. I've been practising leaning off the bike a bit, bringing my arm across the tank, hugging the tank with my outside knee....but a/ I don't have leathers or knee sliders yet and b/ I really don't want to run before I can walk doing this as I think it'll take a fair bit of time to be able to do it without unsteadying the bike when I move back onto the seat.

Tis good to have a scraped footpeg though

[chrisja2]

Im impressed you said to roll on the throttle and not to panic and back it off. Get yourself some leathers and join us on track, scrape your pegs and knees away all day safely then.

[gruntygiggles]

Ha....yeah, It's a weird one that. I've been so concious of not grabbing at the front brake (apart from when I relaised I couldn't make an overtake) that I've been shifting down into bends, then throttling on out.....sometimes a bit too soon. When this has happened, I've instinctively throttled off which lets the bike dip in more, keeping me in my lane, and then I can throttle out again. I know though that if I throttled off when cranked over on a roundabout, I'd pretty much guarantee a lowside (if that's what you call it?).

I'm just loving it and yes, in all honesty, I can't wait t get leathers and knee sliders and get on a track on it. I want to push the limits, it feels good and gives me a massive rush.....I've felt like I've pushed a bit too hard on some big open bends so have backed off the pace on them now, but sometimes, especially on roundabouts, it feels amazing to just slam it round...lol. I need to do it on the track though

Thanks for your advice Chris!

[tanuki]

I think you definatly need to look at 2 things...

body position and your suspension.

Those kind of lean angles are a bit extreme for the road and I have never put my peg down on track or road but my knee will go down whenever I fancy really.

remember there is no more to go once the peg is on the deck, apart from on your arse.

By hanging off the bike you lower the bikes COG therfore negating the need for extreme lean.

Go steady.

[Davez29]

Maybe a trip to ebay may help your understanding of cornering? I would search out the DVD or book "Twist Of The Wrist 2" by Keith Code. It definatly helped my road riding, although I sort of knew about the stuff mentioned it was only by viewing this DVD that I actually understood what I was attempting all these years.

[gruntygiggles]

Thanks Durka, will go look in a bit. :-)

Tanuki, what can I do with the suspension? I am a newbie and haven't had this mentioned by anyone yet. I've only really thought of suspension being changed when taking pillion or going from road to track!

Also yes......I shoulnd't be doing it....as much as it feels good to know that I have and was ok...it's not the right kind of riding for the roads. I don't want to lean off the bike too much as I've been on it a week...I don't want to shift weight around on the bike until I know I can do it without making it unsteady! So...I need to just lay off the lean angles for now!

Thanks for your help guys :-)

[tanuki]

your suspension is old and probably knackered....think about replacing the rear shoch with a CBR6/R6 model and getting the forks rebuilt or at least an oil change.