There is a big difference between decades of riding or experience and same mistakes repeated for decades. Does a biker have 20 years experience or 1 year experience repeated 20 times.

Put my foot down too early a few years ago, hit an uneven spot and broke my leg. Ended up in a ditch unable to hold the bike up.

 

I put my feet down when I lose my balance. So far I've not dropped this bike. It must be working.

 

Clutch goes out, feet go up. Power gets applied. It's a gyroscope we're riding ya'll and its more stable that way... Nothing wrong with dabbing a foot down when needed, put put your damn feet on the pegs when you take off

 

The reason they put the pegs under the seat on performance oriented or dual sport bikes is so the rider can apply more of their body weigh lower down. When you support all or part of your weight on the pegs you lower your center of gravity a substantial amount from just sitting on the bike with the legs unsupported. It actually makes the bike a lot more stable and controllable. This is the main reason you see experienced riders stand on the pegs or floor boards when riding rough terrain or sometimes during close quarters maneuvering.

 

Well said. It also allows the rider to come out of the saddle when going over speed bumps, curbs and other uneven terrain. This takes the jarring off the spine and allows the legs to act as shock absorbers. It's also easier to squeeze the tank with your knees for better control.

 

I thought the reason I did that riding MX was because it provided additional travel and absorption for lack of a better term and kept me from knocking my spine up through the top of my head. I have also tried trials before (failed miserably) you stand on the pegs to again allow more movement of the bike using your hands and feet. At a slow almost negative speed the gyroscopic action of the wheels doesn't apply to help keep you inline and upright so you stand up to shift your weight around on the bike and you can lean it over at extreme angles.

Sometimes in trials on very technical portions you may even have both hands on 1 grip your foot on the peg with your foot on the same side of bike or seat with the bike leaning to the opposite side.

So I guess short, in my experience standing up it isn't so much about a low center of gravity as it is about being able to shift the weight of the bike, the center of gravity, move the contact patch on the wheels, use your legs as an additional shock absorber, add up and down travel.

Ok now I am confused maybe we are saying the same thing. We are talking about paddle boats right?

Ultimately though if someone puts their feet down that is their gig doesn't bother me and frankly I don't mind at all in that it gives me a visual signal to keep well away from that person. however, muscle memory is a weird thing and if someone developed that habit and reinforced it... Really hard to break that. Like it point shooting or CQB training repetition is the key. You do it over and over again so that when you have to do it you don't think about it you just do it.

And that is why people like me with teeny tiny lil brains are still alive...

 

Gonna start riding with my feet down just to aggravate folks. See how long it takes em to snap. Bet someone forms a committee tryin to get a law passed outlawing it too.

 

Mind your business! OP from July of 2009. Old post, half of the riders on this thread dont even own a Harley anymore.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Fmb...eature=related

 

It's not really one thing or the other. It's all that and more. It's counter weighting, using legs as extra shock absorbers to save the spine, it's using your legs and knees to squeeze the tank for extra control, it for leaning the bike side to side and bracing yourself with your knees against the tank for support, and so on.