Getin ya knee down

[Becky B]

If any one has got any useful info on how to get ya knee down i would like to know as im doin a pretty crap job of it on my own

[r6paul]

Hang off your seat like a monkey always seems to work for me

[stu600cc]

find a nice roundabout plenty of space and not to busy and hang off like a monkey:laugh1

[Mi5ter E]

dont listen to fall of boy

[DJMCJERICO]

Knee down is for weekend riders, you want to be aiming for the pegs :laugh1

[Webby]

Sugar!

Pegs on mine are halfway up the side of the bike.. Get pegs down and its "Asta la vista" or whatever it should be.

[stu600cc]

listen to fall off boy

:laugh1 :laugh1

[Mi5ter E]

im sure i said DONT lol

[DJMCJERICO]

Hang off your seat like a monkey always seems to work for me

That's how I ride naturally and I've only ever had my knee down once...........







And my back and my head and my................... :grin2

[Perilous]

Before I did any track day or races, after poncing around for ages trying to get my knee down (after having never bothered to try in years of road riding) I was always told to get your bum half off the seat stick your knee out but then concentrate on the cornering and don't actually conciously try to get your knee down.
The theory behind this was that riders spent so much time concentrating on trying to scrap the sliders they didn't actually get the bike lent over.

It worked. The first time my knee went down on the Burnham bends (in the days before they were mostly a traffic jam:rolleyes: ) it made me jump so much I nearly fell off.:grin2 After that it just came naturally but to be honest I stopped bothering on the road as I couldn't see the point, except on a 98 fireblade because the ground clearance was so cr#p the left hand engine casing used to scrap if you pushed hard and didn't get right off the bike.

The most embarrasing sight on the road is some one hanging off like a chimpanzee while the bike is bolt upright.:grin2

[r6paul]

That's how I ride naturally and I've only ever had my knee down once...........







And my back and my head and my................... :grin2



Your not trying hard enough ;)



The most embarrasing sight on the road is some one hanging off like a chimpanzee while the bike is bolt upright.

That would be me :grin2

[Becky B]

It just bugs me that much that i cant do it that i want to do it if that makes any sense dont want to end up on my arse watchin my bike slide off up the rd either

[MICKTLS]

sounds like you have seen one or two of the people on this site then lol

[rembrandt]

I wonder who that is Mick:laugh1 :laugh1 :laugh1 :laughboun

[harriebird]

If any one has got any useful info on how to get ya knee down i would like to know as im doin a pretty crap job of it on my own

hey becky

check this out

http://www.bikegirl.co.uk/resources/tips/kneedown.html

they have some great tips on all manner of stuff including wheelies :grin2

i agree with perilous, every time i've been trying to get my knee down on a trackday i just end up concentrating on that rather than riding well round the corner. so i've given up now, i lean enough (because i scrape my toes, and my pegs on my CBR400), i'm going fast enough, i just feel stuuuupid sticking my knee out. but i'll keep trying but not too hard, and then hopefully it will happen when im not expecting it.

although it throws me right off my concentration when i scrape anything - i just giggle!

good luck and don't try too hard :grin2

[Perilous]

It just bugs me that much that i cant do it that i want to do it if that makes any sense dont want to end up on my arse watchin my bike slide off up the rd either

The classic MCN techique is to just go round and round a roundabout hanging off and leaning a bit further each time you go round.
The theory is OK because the going round and round warms up the inside of the tyre etc. Personnaly have seen so many people come off on diesel etc on roundabouts I've never had any urges to do that and prefer corners anyway.

The biggest issue I've deffinitely seen with road riders and track day rinders is as I said, that fixate so much on the knee down bit they forget to actually lean the bike.
If you forget your knee and just confident leaning the bike first IMHO you'll find it a lot easier.

As with learning a track you don't have to do the heroic rush up to a corner flat out and stand on the brakes routine. With the Burnham bends for example when I was younger I used to grind all the heads off the screws on the belly pan GPZ900 on the old cross ply tyres (pirelli Phantoms I think). Bikes before that didn't count because 250 LCs , z750s and 1000s have no ground clearance.
Anyway the point I'm making is if you can do that comfortable on an old GPZ900 on cross ply tyres a modern bike with modern tyres (warm) will easily go over far enough for you to comfortable get your knee down.

At the end of the day it's the whole weight shifting thing that hanging off is all about. The knee down just tells you how far over you are. At a lot of circuits I pick my knee up mid corner because catching the curbs (Paddock at Brands and Lydden for example) bloody hurts.:grin2

If you can find a nice sequence of reasonably tight bends I think it helps. (e,g Burnham bends)
To get the hand of the Burnham bends properly I'd actually more or less stay at the speed that I needed for the bend in between corners. That way I only had to think about the corner. Once I was confident with the corners then I gave it the full banzai death knackers all the way through.:grin2

The beauty of bends like the Burnham ones (There was a time when you could ride up and dowmn them all evening and hardly see a car or bike)is that you can purposely tighten them up so if you make amistake you can just plain and simply pick the bike up. Or if you jump out of your skin like I did when I first got my knee down:grin2 )

Failing that do the round and round a quiet roundabout routine to get used to leaning the bike.

It seems to be the prefered method these days, its just me really who prefers the corners but what ever way you go about it you do have to lean the bike.:grin2

All my mates who had the knee down obsession managed it once I could get them to stop fixating on the knee bit and concentrate on getting the bike lent over. Then they wondered what all the fuss was about.

The other thing is you do need to be comfortable hanging of. Once you've got in the one bum cheek off the seat position with you knee out etc your higher leg should be nicely locked into the tank so if you let go of the handle bars you wouldn't fall off the bike.
On test days I can quite happily take my hand off the handle bar and wave at Lenny half way round Druids without loosing balance, that's how comfortable you should be. (Although don't try taking your hand off mid corner:grin2 )
When the knee down on the road craze first started you could peer in shedas and see people falling off the side of their bikes on the side stand every where because MCN and printed an article saying that was the way to practice geeting comfortable.:grin2

[DoodleBug]

sounds like you have seen one or two of the people on this site then lol

Ahem!

[Perilous]

Mind I forgot to add. Take no notice of me. My crash ratio per track outing in nearly as bad as Stu and Doodle's. :grin2

[Perilous]

hey becky

check this out

http://www.bikegirl.co.uk/resources/tips/kneedown.html

they have some great tips on all manner of stuff including wheelies :grin2

i agree with perilous, every time i've been trying to get my knee down on a trackday i just end up concentrating on that rather than riding well round the corner. so i've given up now, i lean enough (because i scrape my toes, and my pegs on my CBR400), i'm going fast enough, i just feel stuuuupid sticking my knee out. but i'll keep trying but not too hard, and then hopefully it will happen when im not expecting it.

although it throws me right off my concentration when i scrape anything - i just giggle!

good luck and don't try too hard :grin2


Knee down will just be par the course once you start racing.;)

Mind the dragging your knee bit doesn't make you quicker, only the weight transfer.

I was doing my track day hero bit round Druids on the Fireblade and Phil Mac Cullum rode round the outside of me sitting up like he was going shopping.:grin2

Neil Hodgson did the same to my mate Colonel round Gerhards at Malllory when he was on his RS250 Aprilia. Neil was testing a Pan Eurpoean with fulll panniers and everything for a mag at the time. :grin2
Anything above 54 rond Brands on the 400 and I don't touch my knee anywhere.

[S Boy]

My Fav knee down was a Mallory, Gerrards, i was flying round, knee scraping the whole way, til Chris Walker overtook me and left me standing.
For a brief moment he was about 3 ft from my front wheel, cranked all the way over on a MV Augusta !!! Loved it !:love1

[SDM]

The classic MCN techique is to just go round and round a roundabout hanging off and leaning a bit further each time you go round.

This is best done at Dover, where you can easily get on a Ferry for France in the afternoon and do the left handers...........:laugh1 :laugh1

[gixer400]

Dont try.

It will come naturally with confidence and greatness :)

Honestly though, dont try too much or you will fall off. but hang off a bit, be confident and let the good times roll.

[RaceMeNSee]

i found that when you lean off the bike....if you not only lean into the corner - but also lean kinda off the bike and also lean into the handlebars (with countersteer for instance) it helps get your body positioning perfectly in order! hope this helps! but like all the other peoplel have said just keep practicing! i can pretty much swear to you...if you ride your bike loads......you will learn everything about it....and it wil all just fall into place naturally! hope at least some of my mindless ramblings help!

[stu600cc]

i found that when you lean off the bike....if you not only lean into the corner - but also lean kinda off the bike and also lean into the handlebars (with countersteer for instance) it helps get your body positioning perfectly in order! hope this helps! but like all the other peoplel have said just keep practicing! i can pretty much swear to you...if you ride your bike loads......you will learn everything about it....and it wil all just fall into place naturally! hope at least some of my mindless ramblings help!


What?

You rambling again

:laugh1

[DoGbOt]

well i didnt try any of those but this worked for me, i found a deserted roundabout, went at it second gear 50mph, round & round trying what felt comfortable i found that toes on the pegs saddle in my left knee right knee swung out & keep leaning till it touches, then try this position till it becomes natural, & then ever since all roundabouts & sweeping lefthanders are kneedown territory, but be warned it is addictive im on my 5th set of sliders in 18months (or maybe im just a loon! ) best of luck whichever way works for you but the main thing is to go with whatever feels comfortable & natural for you but dont force to much as thats when accidents happen!! it will all click into place with practice, Natural & comfortable are Key though!!!

Ray. O an it is urm illegal to go round the same roundabout more than 3 times so be carefull & kneedown position the fuzz love to call without due care & attention but best of luck!!

[Perilous]

Well we were so impressed with this post we actually tried this out with the Cagiva race bike this afternoon.

I got right off the bike so the saddle was behind my left knee like you say, stuck the right knee out and as low as it would go and sure enough my knee touched the ground.

Only thing is the bike was still bolt upright on the paddock stand :grin2 . so yup that's the best technique of the lot. I reckon you could get your knee down on a quad bike doing it that way.:grin2
All those years and years of development the motorcycle designers put into building bikes with 56 deg lean angles blown to the weeds in an instant when all you have to do is hang halfway down the bike.:grin2 :grin2

[stusgsx]

just hang off like a little chimp and get it cranked over, quicker the easyer but more chance of spanking it! Sometimes when i dont bother getin me knee down i find myself leaning too far and comin off the edge of the tyre which makes my pooper go funny! i had my old RS 250 expansion chamber grindin round a roundabout then think the wheels tried comin off the ground so never did it again!

[two]

If any one has got any useful info on how to get ya knee down i would like to know as im doin a pretty crap job of it on my own

get someone who can knee down to help you.... video your attempt / take pictures and your'll be able to see where you are going wrong

as your in chelmsford..head towards braintree... numerous roundabouts to practise on...

always circle the roundabout a couple of times before going for it.. to warm the edge of the tyres and check for dangers...

if the roundabout is fairly big use 3rd gear to practise..throttle inputs will have less of an effect on front/rear weight transfers than 2nd gear and your'll be more at ease

like a bend .. rolling on the throttle slighty will make the bike more stable (more weight on the rear tyre which has bigger contact patch = more grip)

a good way to get your body in the right position is to hang off sideways (don't pivot round the tank) and move into a position as if your going to kiss the mirror (this will stop you twisting your body)
lots of folks advise to push your knee towards the rear of the bike

countersteer... and put weight on the outside peg

you should feel comfortable...if not your position is most likely wrong

if you feel tried...legs/knee/arms stop and take a break

how big are your chicken strips on the back tyre.... even if you've got an inch to go you should be able to get your knee down by doing the monkey and hanging off by a baboon

best place to learn is on a trackday... but roundabouts are cheaper (and then any nice bend)

[DoGbOt]

yep sure your rite the bike will still be bolt upright but the knee has contacted the ground & thus is building confidence without spanking it down the road!!! so know that you got the feel for the knee on the floor , lean the bike in further & further, remember you cant run before you can walk & you cant walk before you can crawl like i say its a confidence & balance thing, but i did leave this out of the original post my apologies i was rushing,

[Webby]

I'll leave the sarcy comments to others in this thread. Obviously bored.

As some have said, take your time, build your confidence.

To get to know your bike and just how far it will go and how much you really can lean before you lose all hope, try this:

Get to a desrted car park/industrial estate or similar. Instaed of tonking round your local tesco roundabout over and over, go very gently simulating a slalom course. As you weave in and out at very low speed, just see how far you can get the bike to lean without you thinking you are about to "fall inwards". You will be amazed how far and how slow you can do this at. Build your confidence practising in this manner and when out on road or track the Lean/Knee down will seem second nature.

Having trouble with the slow speed and slalom practise? Try pushiong the bar slightly in the opposite direction to the bend. So turning right you push more on the left bar. Turning left push on the right bar. Again, providing you are travelling at more than 15mph on most bikes this will help you to get more lean whilst feeling confident about your bike and your own ability. Lean doesn't have to be practised at speed.