Just How Do You get your knee down

I thought he said back in the seat for braking, forward in the seat when cornering / off the brakes? Does seem to support why i feel more confident sitting forward and over the tank when cornering though! But in those forward-sitting pics, none of their knees are anywhere near touching...

So now I'm confused again forward or not?!

Originally Posted by Bigmitch

Some great photo's there anteater! Not sure I agree with sitting back in the seat while cornering as been said previously by others, personally I like to get as much weight over the front end as possible.
Looking at the first photo in the link, the rider is clearly looking right through the corner, not directly infront of his front wheel, an important part of fast/smooth cornering.
Get the corner right speed, the body position right then the knee will go down!

Same opinion as me ;- as much weight over the front in the corner, sitting back is for on the brakes before the corner.

And your 100% right, pic 1 shows how it really should be done; thats Bruce Birnie, he's got more riding talent in his big toe than I've got in my whole body.

Originally Posted by darkdreamsgal

I thought he said back in the seat for braking, forward in the seat when cornering / off the brakes? Does seem to support why i feel more confident sitting forward and over the tank when cornering though! But in those forward-sitting pics, none of their knees are anywhere near touching...

So now I'm confused again forward or not?!

Thats a factor of the corners in question. Pic 1 and Pic 4 are the same corner as my first pic. 1st pic his knee is planted, Pic 4 for he's actually overtaking which skews the style a bit.

The last pic is the final bend over the start finish line - it's not really a knee down corner as knee down can slow that corner down, but the pic demonstrates the riding style is the same as the others

The point being, knee down is a function of riding style - not speed; get the basics in body position correct and knee down is something you will choose or not choose to do.

just relax and do lots of corners, dont force it down or you'll crash.

[sv4me]

100% agree with the thing of getting it out your system and then you can concentrate on getting fast(er)

Prob wouldnt recommend it now at this time of year but what I did was found a quiet roundabout in an industrial estate, good surface hardly any traffic and I know its sad but went round and round with a mate watching letting me know how close until scrapety scrape I was going at a real pedestrian pace in order to achieve this which proves knee down doesnt mean youre fast. Did show me how smooth you have to be with the throttle though

Now when I do trackdays I dont think about getting my knee down, I concentrate on getting on the power early, smooth lines and braking later and later.

Slight derail but has anyone tried the doctors dangle braking into a corner?? I did results were enough to make me never try again!

Originally Posted by sv4me

100% agree with the thing of getting it out your system and then you can concentrate on getting fast(er)

Prob wouldnt recommend it now at this time of year but what I did was found a quiet roundabout in an industrial estate, good surface hardly any traffic and I know its sad but went round and round with a mate watching letting me know how close until scrapety scrape

agree'd this is what i did, like said once its out of your system you wont bother after that

lol I'm sure that's the case but would nevertheless like to get it 'out of my system', so to speak I also want to know what it feels like so that it doesn't take me by surprise when it does happen, like the squiggle I did when I touched my toe sliders down for the first time - eek!

Equally will eventually want to learn how to do a wheelie, so I don't panic when I feel the lift at the top of the mountain, but that's a different thread altogether

Kwak - industrial estate is a really good idea, thanks. I did actually go roundabout hunting the other week but all too busy

[fastdruid]

Originally Posted by darkdreamsgal

Equally will eventually want to learn how to do a wheelie, so I don't panic when I feel the lift at the top of the mountain, but that's a different thread altogether

Just keep it nailed in 2nd, it wont go *too* high before it hits the limiter.


Cadwell Park - 2004 015

HTH

Druid

Hehehe Looking good It's not just the height though - it's making sure I'm not at an angle when it lifts, not pulling too hard on the bars 'cos I've panicked when I feel it lifting thereby causing it to wobble etc

Anyhoo, back on thread

[fastdruid]

Actually this is kind of back on thread but because it comes down to being relaxed, mostly the bike by itself will auto-recover, what frequently happens is the rider *forces* it to crash, normally by gripping the bars too tightly and holding the slide (until it crashes).

Just see the number of clips where a rider has fallen off and the bike has straightened up and continued (until normally running into the tyre wall).

Relaxing will make more of a difference than anything else to your riding (far more than getting your knee down tbh).

Oh and as for the mountain, you have to get the line sorted before you crest, stick it far right[1] and aim for the club house.

Druid

[1] Not too far otherwise you *ahem* run over the grass on the inside.