Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

After seeing various posts where people are getting a slatting for their body position etc, I have established mine needs work.

Going around a right hand bend I can hang off fine, not a problem, I feel comfortable doing so.


However, going around left hand bend my position is crap, it feels uncomfortable and I cant seem to sort it out. I twist around the tank, whilst most of my body/head stay centre.

Right hand is fine.......

http://trackdaydigitalimages.com/140...files/l123.jpg

Left hand is complete crap.......

http://trackdaydigitalimages.com/140...afiles/l63.jpg

I used to think it was because I mashed my left ankle up so couldnt twist it correctly which restricted me, but I have pretty much got over that now and I dont think its that.

It could also just be that I dont have the confidence to put alot of weight on my left foot for the same reason, as it often collapses in pain without notice which would result on me being on my **** in a left hand corner.

Suggestions and tips appreciated, how can I sort it out?

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

With regards to the ankle - strengthen it mate, I have the same problem, that it can give way sometimes. Get some decent support on it, it will feel a lot sturdier.

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

its most probably a confidence thing

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF oh and get your head down so your looking around your mirror (in a sense) and drop your shoulder makes a hell of a difference

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

I noticed that you seem to be covering the clutch in your lefthander. May have nothing to do with it but I thought I'd mention it.

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

I agree - it looks like your riding a little stiff through your shoulders on a left. Possibly cause you're worried about your ankle giving out. Try not to think about it too much, let it flow. Move off your seat laterally well ahead of the turn, balance your weight on your right foot/leg and try looking further ahead.

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

No idea why I do that, I often get comments about the strange positioning of my hands. Could make a difference as I wouldnt be countersteering so much. But I do it on both sides anyway which kind of rules it out. Its a strange left hand aswell I could have been changing up.

More than likely this I reckon too, I will have to try and concentrate more on the next day I book :(

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

Couple of things (and you're not doing anything 'wrong' - just some advice for improvement ;))

With regards to your ankle, Concentrate on getting the outside thigh/knee locked into the tank. Pushing down on the outside peg helps. you should find that you carry less weight on you inside ankle/foot and more through the tank.

Sitting further back on the seat and leaning over the tank more also will help with your body position. People have a tendency to sit quite upright. I always use the level I would be at to look through the screen (as much as you can), as a guide. Obviously when you hang off the bike, you'll look to the side of the screen, but it gives and indication of how low to get to the tank.

Lastly (and I think you know this :) ) try and keep your neck and spine parallel to the bike as you hang off.

Having trackday pics is cool to work on body positioning - especially because you can compare it to club/national/international racing pics and draw direct comparisons :thumbsup:

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

Good advice there Luke.

Photo's are OK mate.

Very minor points. I thought your body looks a little twisted, keeping the bike lower than your upper body, this is very natural as you keep the head high to see more and feel safer. Try to move your weight across rather than twist to hang your butt off. Head is a little up, lean your head in to the corner and your upper body should follow. This will mean your ankle has less twisting and therefore stress. As like says, keep the weight on the outside peg and lock the leg in

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

I noticed this; do you always cover the clutch? its ok, you dont have too - your riding a 4-stroke :D If you do have a habit of doing that, it might be making your arm tense. Relax your iside arm, it only need be tense if your altering your line (and therefore pushing on the inside handlebar) or if your riding my bike (which feels like carp lent over because the tyres are square)

Re: Body Position, What am I doing wrong?
 

Pretty much what Luke says.

Shifting yourself back in the seat really helps in three ways. It evens out weight distribution on the bike, it allows your hips to slide across the seat easier without your body rolling around the rear of the tank, and it keeps frontal area down to a minimum thereby keeping speed up. It feels alien at first, but you soon get used to it. One of the things I kept being told was "stop shagging the tank" and he was right. I used to be right up against it.

Another thing I was told was to try and keep my inside elbow lower than my hand, it's a way of pushing your shoulder down into the turn. Weighting the outside peg and gripping against the side of the tank helps stabilise the bike mid-corner, so on a left hander your left ankle shouldn't be taking much strain at all.

In all fairness the angle of the shot of you doing the left hander isn't flattering. From that angle any rider dragging his elbow on the tarmac would look like they aren't shifting their upper body over. I've got one similar from Silverstone, where my exhaust is about 5mm off the deck and I know for certain I'm hanging off like a monkey because my knee is nowhere near right angles to the bike and well planted on the deck, but it looks like my head and body are centre of the screen.