foot scraping..

[Josh_kcco]

being as i am a new rider. 6 months+. i have gotten less scared to lean in the corners. maybe its where im placing my foot but when i lean on my right side( which i lean more on my right then i do on my left) i tend to scrap my foot along the ground. the toe of my foot i should say.
Does any one have any advice t prevent this?

[Bigballsofpaint]

Better body positioning

[jeffb502]

I touched my foot to the ground for the first time ever at the track a couple days ago, then did it a few more times. The track was mostly lefts, so I only touched down on the left side.

The consensus is lean your body more, and lean the bike less. The first thing to touch should be knee, not toe, but that comes with experience and proper body position. Once you're scraping toe that means you're using most of the lean angle the bike can give you, so it's time to reduce the bike's lean angle at the same speed by improving your body position.

See my thread here for additional discussion:

My First Track Day

[fishdip]

Originally Posted by Josh_kcco

being as i am a new rider. 6 months+. i have gotten less scared to lean in the corners. maybe its where im placing my foot but when i lean on my right side( which i lean more on my right then i do on my left) i tend to scrap my foot along the ground. the toe of my foot i should say.
Does any one have any advice t prevent this?

Move your foot back.

[Joshua763]

I noticed a lot of feet coming off and placing a foot down before corners last time I watched a race (jerez or whatever it was) why do they do that? I didn't think that was smart but I am not a track master or even beginner. it was like they where doing at the start of the apex then bringing foot up and over to the elbow or knee but I saw it a lot of times.......

[jeffb502]

Originally Posted by fishdip

Move your foot back.

This could be it also. Could angling the foot off the peg where the toes are kind of sticking out be an issue too? I was trying to focus on keeping my foot back, and tucked up against the side of the bike as most I could, when I knew I was going to be leaning a lot.

In a right corner where you had to brake before corner entry, do you remember to move your foot back after using the rear brake, and not cover the brake through the apex?

Going left, if you had to downshift before the corner did you remember to move your foot back after you finished shifting? I think my first scrape could have been because my foot was too far forward and/or off to the side of the peg, and that's why I scraped the spot under my toe slider instead of scraping the slider. Later in the day is when I removed some of the metal from my toe slider, and I'm pretty sure my foot was back because I had been telling myself repeatedly not to leave it forward by the shifter.

[Brother Michigan]

Originally Posted by Joshua763

I noticed a lot of feet coming off and placing a foot down before corners last time I watched a race (jerez or whatever it was) why do they do that? I didn't think that was smart but I am not a track master or even beginner. it was like they where doing at the start of the apex then bringing foot up and over to the elbow or knee but I saw it a lot of times.......

A lot of that is due to where different riders learned to race. Many of them learned on dirtbikes doing motocross racing, which is a place where you commonly see this technique. There's nothing really advantageous to starting a turn this way (AFAIK), it's just habit.

[Joshua763]

thanks man. so its the motocross background.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by Joshua763

I noticed a lot of feet coming off and placing a foot down before corners last time I watched a race (jerez or whatever it was) why do they do that? I didn't think that was smart but I am not a track master or even beginner. it was like they where doing at the start of the apex then bringing foot up and over to the elbow or knee but I saw it a lot of times.......

there is massive debate about purpose for this... but regardless of purpose it reveals part of a technique. using only the outside leg to support yourself. it leaves your inside leg to do whatever the hell you want. drag it on the floor to remind yourself where the road is, shift or use the rear brake or something, kick a cone out of the way or something. whatever you want.

its hard to do though from a normal seating position. depending on your height, you have to slide your butt off the seat to the inside so that the side of your leg is against the tank and you can lock your foot into the peg. in this position you should be able to touch your chin to the inside bar without using either of your hands or your inside foot for support. of course, its hard on your back and leg so do some workouts

one thing this kind of just naturally accomplishes though is that your body "wants" to fall into a correct BP and if you keep your arms relaxed, they kind of just go where they're supposed to.

[GONZOtheMAN]

you should be placing the balls of your feet on the pegs. twist of the wrist ii explains this very well.

[cadd]

How much lean angle do you generally have left after scraping the OEM footpegs?

I have never come close to scraping anything. At least I don't think I've came close. I do have 3/4 - 1" of chicken strips.

I want to experience scraping something so that when it does happen unexpectedly I wont panic and do something stupid.

[jeffb502]

Originally Posted by cadd

How much lean angle do you generally have left after scraping the OEM footpegs?

I have never come close to scraping anything. At least I don't think I've came close. I do have 3/4 - 1" of chicken strips.

I want to experience scraping something so that when it does happen unexpectedly I wont panic and do something stupid.

I was pretty much on the edge of my tread when I was scraping my toe. Here's what my tire looked like after a few track sessions.

Tire wear close.jpg

Here's the video of my first time scraping my toe, at 25 seconds in.

Link to original page on YouTube.

Notice how I wobble and my line widens a bit just after I scraped. It felt more dramatic at the time. I thought I chopped the throttle but in the video it doesn't sound like I did. If I did start to chop it at least I stopped myself and got back on quickly. I'm glad it happened on the track and not on the street.

The main thing I've always told myself when I feel like I'm leaning is "you may touch something to the ground. If you do, don't chop the throttle and don't panic/target fixate." Easier said than done. I think repeatedly rehearsing how you're going to react to a situation can help when that situation eventually happens, but when it does happen it's those unexpected things that can cause a startle reaction. For example I felt the rubber part of my boot grip the track in the video above. That startled me more than anything else about touching the ground, because I was expecting metal (either my footpeg or the toe slider) to be the first thing to touch the ground, not my grippy rubber sole.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by jeffb502

I'm glad it happened on the track and not on the street.

[ally99]

Balls of your feet (just under your toes) on the pegs at all times. Good lines and solid body position will make you drag knee before toe. Don't freak. There's a reason boots have toe sliders. It happens. Just learn from it. Read Twist of the Wrist and Total Control. HIGHLY recommend before you ride technical corners again.