Michael LeBlanc|Mechanical Engineering

Introduction:

 

Motivation:

While riding dirt bikes, whether on track or trail, it is ideal to maintain maximum contact with the arch of your foot to the pegs.  With the current stock and aftermarket pegs out on the market currently, this is simply not possible in all situations of riding.  Many times the rider is forced to extend their weight forward or back and this forces’ the riders’ foot to loose maximum contact with the teeth of the foot peg as their foot rotates forward or back depending on the situation.  The concept of a pivoting foot peg instead of the typical static peg would alleviate the contact issue.  Allowing a peg to rotate a certain amount of degrees forward and backwards would allow the riders’ foot to remain in maximum contact throughout the various movements made while on the bike.  These pegs will rotate forward or backward when the weight is distributed in that direction but will return to flat when the riders’ position is balanced on the pegs.  This device will allow every rider to maintain maximum contact to the pegs throughout all body positions and improve riding ability.

 

Engineering Merit:

Designing a set of foot pegs that pivot for a motocross bike require a great amount of analysis within the areas of weight reduction, material selection, peg design, strength, and durability.  Analysis of weight reduction will focus on various configurations, design methods, and materials to determine a set up that has results in a total weight of under two pounds and as well as have less weight than most other foot pegs on the market.  Material selection analysis ties in with the weight reduction analysis along with strength analysis.  The material selected will have to be light in weight while not sacrificing very much strength characteristics.  Analysis of peg design will include designs of a peg that can withstand forces such as rider weight and forces’ acting upon them as a rider goes over obstacles and the weight shifts.  The peg design will also include ways to reduce the overall weight of the peg by pushing limits of wall thicknesses.  Design will also have analysis on how to maximize grip towards the riders’ foot along with design of how to make the pegs rotate to a certain degree increment and be able to rotate back.  Strength analysis will come with determining the forces acting upon the pegs in a standard position along with how they act when the pegs is in the rotated position.  These values will be used then to help with material selection and fine tuning of the peg design to create the overall best product.  Durability is going to be determined by the ability for the material to last under various conditions such as weather elements and structural elements due to repeated cycles of various loading.