knee down probs

[clegganator]

ello everyone (whispering becoz hes the new boy to the forums)

i need some help and reasureing.

my prob is that i wanted to go knee down on my ZXR400L and i achieved that but not b4 i got my exhaust on the deck. (coughs) im not a small chap im only 6ft 2inchs.....

the thing that worrys me is that i have heard stories and articals that i have to have 1 butt cheek of the seat and get you head low near the mirrors (so on) and as a result i got the exhaust down so i leaned my body further and finaly made that sweet contact on the knee and not the exhaust

im just worried that i have to get the bike on the deck to achive the contact or is it just my postion.

anyone have any tips, opinions or tales
like a helpful hand but i dont mind the smack talk

Clegg

[RedexRobB]

Hello mate welcome to the forum! Sounds like you have problems with your body position. When you hang off you need to sit back on the seat slightly and move your entire body over so that your spine is in parallel with the bike. Then hopefully when you tip it in your in knee down heaven! It feels weird, really weird when you hang off like that but the more you do it the more you get used to it.

[wonderpupp]

6 foot 2? !!

Blimey, big boy!

Imagine the nose screen is a door and you want to look around it, and get your left shoulder out to the left, but don't twist your knee out.

With your knee length, it should be no probs. But knee down isn't for all of us. It's just not my style. (meaning i have a 28inch inside leg and that's silly-short.)

[RedexRobB]

Im 6'1" Pupp. The way Pupp put it is exactly right, imagine the screen is a door your looking round. Sitting back slightly stops you twisting your body round the tank which just pushes your knee up the side of the fairing, so sitting back allows you to get your body over to one side without twisting.

[Jamz]

Relaxation is the key! That's what messes up most peoples body positioning and makes them twist themselves up, either because they're nervous or trying too hard!

Also, if you are having to try to reach for the knee-down (everyone does at first), remember to push your knee downwards and not out to the side! Once you're confident in knee-down you should have the leg totally relaxed and it will just happen...

Remember that getting your knee down is a gauge used to judge the ground clearance before the bike grounds out. As a flip side to this, the weight transfer of hanging off the bike will mean the actual bike can be kept MORE upright when your knee is on the ground, so if the bike is scraping the pegs before your knee scrapes, that means it's your body position that's wrong!

I'm a big believer in the rule that if you can scrape your toes/footpegs, then you can get your knee down.

[Jamz]

Also, some people find the 'Colin Edwards' position a great help in getting the knee down.









OK, so that last one isn't him, but you get the message - he's looking THROUGH the corner as much as he possibly can.

This greatly improves body positioning, as when you're worrying about the road immediatly ahead, you're only committing to that piece of road, and not the whole corner!

[deviant]

With your knee length, it should be no probs. But knee down isn't for all of us. It's just not my style. (meaning i have a 28inch inside leg and that's silly-short.)

I'm not convinced.

The longer your legs, the longer your shins and hence the higher your knees are off the ground when your feet are on the pegs. I think this must offset any ability to stick it out further.

[superman]

Does gettin the knee down serve a real purpose? not sure myself some ppl say it helps you turn tighter others say its just a show off???? still its somethin every rider must have a bash at an i think if you can get the exhaust down without your elbow, chin etc your on route to the knee (practice makes perfect)

[Jamz]

If you do it right you'll be keeping the bike more upright through the turn and so in theory will have more grip and more ground clearance.

People say it's showing off because they assume that you're leaning the bike over and doing silly stuff on the roads, but it's possible to get your knee down at almost any speed.

In general, it's the people who can't do it who say it's dangerous and unnecessary and actually slows you down - and I know, because I used to be one before I felt the scrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........

[deviant]

it's just meant to be an indicator of how far over you are leaning, isn't it?

i haven't yet, i'll admit it looks cool, but i'm not about to go out and lap roundabouts trying to do it - i'd rather work on riding the bike (safely) faster and faster and wait till it happens. I tend to hang off and stick a leg out because it feels more stable (and locks the other leg into the tank), not because I am willing it onto the deck.

you can corner dangerously with your knee pinned to the tank.

[Xphyral]

I'm not convinced.

The longer your legs, the longer your shins and hence the higher your knees are off the ground when your feet are on the pegs. I think this must offset any ability to stick it out further.

Not when you place an butt cheek off the seat, the ball of your foot on the peg and hang off, if you imagine the tops of your knees are always planar then from your knee position on the outside leg to your inside knee is a greater length than someone with shorter legs, the actual height of the knee from ground to top is the same for any leg size because peg postioning places your feet inline with your spine and so the size difference becomes mostly horizontal not vertical. You can twist your hips slightly to lower your knee by small amount but this tends to just twist your body around the tank.

Knee downs are a by product of trying to put as much weight on the inside of the bike as possible. i've heard people claim that the drag on the slider causes you to turn quicker, nope. It's use as a lean indicator is largely irrelevant too, you can feel how far over the bike is with experience anyway and if you watch some GP riders closely they quite often try not to keep the knee in contact with the tarmac although i know it feels more reassuring to know where the floor is. Theres also the saying that you can save a front end slide with the knee but no ones ever done it except by accident so far. Aside from that knee downs just look cool

hanging your weight off the bike is actually safer around any corner because like jamz said it keeps the bike in a more upright position although obviously straining for a knee down in the wet is taking the bike to a lean angle that generally isnt safe for those road conditions but it can be done with the right tyres on the right road

[RedexRobB]

I managed to get my knee down on a wet freezing roundabout at the beginning of the year. That was on Viper sports on my 7R

[Xphyral]

nice one, i've tried couple of times on my M1's but they wont have any of it, once their off the centre tread the grip is "dry days only"

[clegganator]

thanx RobB for the welcome hopefully ill be joining a meet or a track day soon.

thanx for the info guys, it does sound like right becoz i was right againts the tank lent over, then side 1 cheack off and lean me and my knee as far as i could. So i think i was trying to hard and 'twisting' my body.
when i next get the chance ill try it out.

so i need to :- sit further back in the seat and get my head down to the side of the bike.

but with the position when sideing 1 cheak off do i want to go side ways or sota slide off and down the seat? dont know if i sound stupid.


also how you get pics as sigs i thought it was [img][/img]

[deviant]

Knee downs are a by product of trying to put as much weight on the inside of the bike as possible.

Presuming you mean shift the weight inside from the centreline rather than trying to put the weight through the inside peg then i agree.

i've heard people claim that the drag on the slider causes you to turn quicker, nope.

clearly a load of crap.

Theres also the saying that you can save a front end slide with the knee but no ones ever done it except by accident so far.

colin edward has been quoted in interviews several times saying he knows he's properly on the limit when he catches a front end slide on his knee a couple of times a lap.

Aside from that knee downs just look cool

well yeah

hanging your weight off the bike is actually safer around any corner because like jamz said it keeps the bike in a more upright position

absolutely. i hang off and move around more in the rain because i'm trying to avoid leaning the bike over.