Foot Position on Pegs

[Trinity765]

When I started advance riding moons ago I was taught to ride with the balls of my feet on the pegs as my ankle joint would form part of my body's suspension. I now couldn't ride any other way as it feels very natural and I feel a lot more balanced on a bike.

It's this common practice throughout all motorcycle disciplines - for instance on track as you do then have to move your foot to brake/change gear?

If you don't ride with the balls of your feet on the pegs, why not?

[Noggin]

I was taught to ride on the balls of my feet - but not until I started going on track. No one I was involved with riding on the road mentioned foot position, but it was probably my second or third track day when I was told to change

Like you, I don't feel right not doing it now!

[Horse]

Q: will you need to change gear?

Q: can your toes reach the gear lever when you have the ball of your foot on the peg?

Q: do your toes stick out / down if riding with instep on pegs?

Q: during cornering, are you leaning far enough that your toes my touch down?

Q: are you comfortable moving your foot position when appropriate?

Q: can you work the rest out?

[Noggin]

Q: will you need to change gear? I hope so!

Q: can your toes reach the gear lever when you have the ball of your foot on the peg? Of course not - but my toes can't reach the lever if I have my foot on the peg 'normally'! I need to balance my heel on the peg to have a fighting change

Q: do your toes stick out / down if riding with instep on pegs? Can't remember, but I did scrape a boot when riding like that so, maybe

Q: during cornering, are you leaning far enough that your toes my touch down? See above

Q: are you comfortable moving your foot position when appropriate? Totally

Q: can you work the rest out? Probably!! LOL



For me, the second one means that foot position in relation to gear change makes little difference to me. I have to move my foot anyway. Comfort and feeling balanced is better

[Horse]

It also depends on things like how much you need/want to move around on the bike.

When I was a svelte 9 1/2 stone, riding a BMW RT luxo-barge, clambering around like gibbon foraging for fruit on a tree would have given me little benefit. That was everyday - sometimes enthusiastic - riding on public roads. If I'd been riding on a track, going for every last bit of lean out of the tyres, lifting and shifting body weight might have been more important.

Also, on some bikes (like the RTs), the pegs are more 'below' your body, see easier to stand/lift anyway. Very occasionally I'd do that when cornering (slightly lifting off the seat) to 'decouple' my mass from the bike, so the bike could move about if it needed to. Other times (very poor surfaces) I'd stand up traily style (again, RT high bars help).

[Trinity765]

Q: will you need to change gear?

Q: can your toes reach the gear lever when you have the ball of your foot on the peg?

Q: do your toes stick out / down if riding with instep on pegs?

Q: during cornering, are you leaning far enough that your toes my touch down?

Q: are you comfortable moving your foot position when appropriate?

Q: can you work the rest out?

No. What?

I would say that there is an advantage to riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs. What are you saying?

[Horse]

Q: will you need to change gear?

Q: can your toes reach the gear lever when you have the ball of your foot on the peg?

Q: do your toes stick out / down if riding with instep on pegs?

Q: during cornering, are you leaning far enough that your toes my touch down?

Q: are you comfortable moving your foot position when appropriate?

Q: can you work the rest out?

No. What?

I would say that there is an advantage to riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs. What are you saying?

See Nogg's answers YMMV

There might be an advantage, but it's not an either-or decision.

How do you mean that it is, or you feel (that's two different things), more 'balanced'?

I'm saying that you need to be aware of what you're doing and why. Taken to a ridiculous extreme, if you don't fall off if you ride with your instep on the rests, how much more balanced do you need to be?

So, what's the difference in how you feel?

Has it altered with your recent change of bikes, presumably they have different bar/seat/peg layouts (guessing, the new bike's pegs are lower and the bars are higher)?

[Supermofo]

I tend to move my feet as I'm riding. Commuting to work or on a dual carriageway I ride more with the instep on the pegs as I'm changing gear lots, braking etc and your feet aren't in the way. But if I come to a decent set of corners or on a blast I move my feet back so my feet are out of the way and the balls of my feet are on the peg. I don't ride that way all the time though, especially after my ACL operation as my knee starts complaining.

So for me it depends on what I'm doing, if I'm spending an hour on a dual carriageway having the balls of my feet on the pegs is an unnecessary discomfort for no benefit. The only benefit I can see of having the balls of your feet on the pegs is ground clearance.

[wheelnut]

I would agree that riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs is probably the best technique.

It gives you anchor to help your knees grip the tank and also an anchor for counter steering inputs. It also lessens the chance of your toes scraping the floor when cornering.

Plus, for me, it just feels right.

[Trinity765]

Q: will you need to change gear?

Q: can your toes reach the gear lever when you have the ball of your foot on the peg?

Q: do your toes stick out / down if riding with instep on pegs?

Q: during cornering, are you leaning far enough that your toes my touch down?

Q: are you comfortable moving your foot position when appropriate?

Q: can you work the rest out?

No. What?

I would say that there is an advantage to riding with the balls of your feet on the pegs. What are you saying?

.............

Has it altered with your recent change of bikes, presumably they have different bar/seat/peg layouts (guessing, the new bike's pegs are lower and the bars are higher)?

Nope, nothing to do with my change of bike but rather that I judge other riders by their foot position in that I consider someone who rides with the balls of their feet on the pegs more advanced. I'm working out if that's a fair judgement. Why do some riders do it and others don't and what is the advantage?

[DefTrap]

Yeah, balls of feet on pegs. It just feels like you're better prepared imo. Yes contradictory because you need to shift about for gears and brakes but that's not a bad thing is it.

[Trinity765]

The advantages as I see them have nothing to do with ground clearance but feel, balance and control.

Putting even a tiny bit of weight on both pegs when traveling over bumpy terrain really helps and then, changing my weight from one peg to the other really helps depending on where I want the bike to go. On the rare occasion that I want to pivot my knee out - it also helps. The disadvantage is that I have to move my foot to brake, change gear. I sometimes cover or feather the back brake so in that instance, my foot would remain forward but otherwise - I sit with the balls of my feet on the pegs and it feels good.

[Horse]

Like I said, I could quite happily lift up off the seat with instep on the pegs. But, with lower pegs, my toes were 'vulnerable'. K-RTs used to have the pegs angled slightly too!

I'm not saying either is right or wrong. One of the ways I used to assess (and I guess that's what you mean by 'judge', you're not actually making a judgement ) riders was:
- do they know what they're doing?
- do they make a conscious decision to do it?
- do they know why they're doing it?

[Horse]

I consider someone who rides with the balls of their feet on the pegs more advanced.

How many certificates do I need?

I would be more concerned about someone using any technique just because they were told to.

[War story warning]
Out on an advanced session with a rider who claimed on their website to be 'one of the best instructors in the South of England'. He was following a car, no chance of overtaking for some distance ahead. About 0.5-0.6 second back, in-line with the centre of the car.

How would you assess / judge that?

I considered it too close.

"I was taught to ride like that!"

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Tarmac going for it - balls of feet on pegs
Tarmac tootling around - instep on peg as it's more comfortable
Dirt - always with the instep on the peg, anything else will result in injured feet if you're not slow.

I've only dragged my toes a few times, mostly on LCs on the road when I was 18 (1985) and hadn't worked out moving my foot back, the other times were on supermotos, which I always rode like MX bikes with my foot fully on the peg and pushing through the pegs to make the bike steer quicker (queue lots of counter steering comments)

[Horse]

(queue lots of counter steering comments)

Cue lots of pedants

[Trinity765]

I consider someone who rides with the balls of their feet on the pegs more advanced.

How many certificates do I need?

I would be more concerned about someone using any technique just because they were told to.

[War story warning]
Out on an advanced session with a rider who claimed on their website to be 'one of the best instructors in the South of England'. He was following a car, no chance of overtaking for some distance ahead. About 0.5-0.6 second back, in-line with the centre of the car.

How would you assess / judge that?

I considered it too close.

"I was taught to ride like that!"

I said "I" because I mean me, just me and only me, my independent views, I represent no one else and I could be wrong And, I don't know what your qualifications are?

In bike riding I don't do anything because I'm told too and only then because I understand the advantage. Having said that, I temporarily changed the way I used my gears to satisfy the IAM test requirement.

[Supermofo]

Nope, nothing to do with my change of bike but rather that I judge other riders by their foot position in that I consider someone who rides with the balls of their feet on the pegs more advanced. I'm working out if that's a fair judgement. Why do some riders do it and others don't and what is the advantage?

I think you can tell something from that, for example. My mate hadn't ridden a bike since 2002 and got a bike again in 2021. On his 3rd ride he crashed following me round a roundabout. When I asked him what happened he said he got the peg down and panicked, I said there was no way he had the peg down on a 2011 Street Triple R at the speed we were riding at. I was no where close on my 690 Duke and it was 4c with salt on the road in April so I was riding very sedately. He then amended it and said he'd caught his foot, he has size 11 feet and was wearing chunky TCX fashion type boots, I was asking about foot position and he said he'd been riding with almost his heel on the peg and it was only when I mentioned it he recalled back in the day riding with the balls of his feet on the peg and he'd forgotten.

Later when he'd got the bike back I commented to him (I was following this time) that he was riding with sideshow Bob feet still and move them further back. Spin also noted this when my mate did a session with him. I'm used to riding with people who've been riding for 20yrs plus and it was noticeable so I would say people who have ridden for a while ride with their feet further on the balls.

Having said that I still tend to move my feet about. I wouldn't say I ever ride with my feet far forward but I definitely move them back when attacking corners and there are benefits there. But I wouldn't leave my feet in the position I use for track/attacking corners all the time as there isn't a benefit for me, it's uncomfortable for hours and it takes splits of a second to shift them if you need to.

[mangocrazy]

For most of the time on 'A' and 'B' roads its balls of the feet on the pegs, and do the gearchange tap-dance as required. In heavy, slow moving traffic it's mainly insteps on the pegs, due to the amount of gear changing and braking involved. To be honest I rarely think about it now, it's become pretty much second nature.

On the (mercifully rare) occasions I do motorways, it's instep on the pegs, although I reserve the right to bust out some funky dance moves on the pegs if I get really bored.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

A couple of years ago I followed a bloke on an early GSXR750 round Cadwell, he had huge feet (but was shorter than me), on every corner his feet were dragging on the ground, when we came into the pits, I politely spoke to him about his foot positioning, his mate laughed and said they'd been telling him for years.