how do you put your knee down??

[Dafe]

[QUOTE=bugjuice]Racers put their knee on the ground round corners mainly to know how close they're leaning over, which lets them judge how much is left. The other 'trick' is, if the racer is lucky, if the grip slips, you can bang your knee do and get the grip back.. but you have to have rather large balls and luck to do that.


Hey Bugjuice, I've just been watching a DVD with interviews by Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz.
Wayne Rainey was the first guy to start putting his knee down.
Wayne explains that because of his Motocross background, he was used to steering the bike round corners. He would use his foot to provide a balance giving him stability when cornering.
Wayne would place a special adhesive tape under his boot to help him slide around the corners.
When Wayne went to roadracing he found that he was naturally wanting to place his knee outwards, trying to use the same stability method for high speed cornering but found when his leathers touched the ground they would grip to the concrete and could throw him off, so he reverted back to using his trusty old tape over his knees and he could now slide his knee.
From there progressed the design of plastic sliders.
Wayne is recognised as the first rider to introduce a new style of roadracing to the roadbike world. A rearwheel steerer, where as Schwantz was still a front wheel steerer. (Personally, I struggle to understand this term - rear wheel steerer, but thats what Schwantz called it).

So the kneedown style is not about distance judging, it is infact all about creating more stability in the corners, by allowing a lower centre of gravity.

[Dafe]

If riders put their knee-down, boyracers do drifting.
On the road, they're mainly about looks.

But, hey, I do want to put my knee down too (and I haven't managed to)

Not at all! read my previous post above. Its about stability! I've begun experimenting with this and it really does feel alot more stable at higher speeds. You're not having to drop so much speed going into the corner.

[Toast]

From the two bikes I've owned...CBR250 and ZX6R, I actually reckon that the bigger bike is quicker through almost any SINGLE corner on the road...owing to the greater grip and stability of the bigger bike...

however, on sets of corners where there's a quick transition required...the little bike can more than hold its own, and is oh so fun

Perhaps different on the race track though (I never took the 250 there), as stability is not such a major issue with the nice surface.

[Two Smoker]

Funny how there are so many experts on getting their knees down... I better keep my mouth shut...

[Dafe]

My advice to Ducatilover, don't be trying to put your knee down!
Instead concerntrate on your lines, looking through the corner and accelerating out of the apex. If you just get used to shifting off the seat and leaning out the knee then as you develop riding through the corners better (& over time), you'll find your knee will just start hitting the road surface.
My concern to you is, A GN250 tyre is probably not designed to be placed on this angle, you may end up getting yourself into alot of trouble.
I doubt a GN250 tyre has the rubber compound needed for sticking with such forces and the shape is probably very wrong for the angle. You shouldn't try these techniques on a GN250!!You need a sportbike!

As for the busa, he should cane you because his bike tyres will be alot more suitable to higher corner speeds.

[Dafe]

The real deal!

[marty]

i know it's been posted before, but it's sooo cool.....


this is what they mean by rear wheel steering.

[Motu]

Wayne Rainey was the first guy to start putting his knee down.

Obviously that's from Rainey's mouth - but it's pretty well accepted that it was Kenny Roberts who started knee down style,and he's says he copied it from others.But it was Kenny Roberts who brought in a new style than the universal ''classic'' line of the time - he developed a flattrack method in cornering a roadracer....a late entry,quick turn in with a throttle steered exit,the knee down is a version of the flattracker and speedway riders left foot out and steel shoe.

Dig out some real old photos of late 60s and early 70s roadracers,and you will see them with a cheek off the seat and the inside knee out,but it was Kenny Roberts who put it all together....just an extention of what was happening at the time,even he doesn't say he ''invented'' it.

[N4CR]

Funny how there are some many experts on getting their knees down... I better keep my mouth shut...

So that middle picture is on a two laned, one way road with you leaning the bike over on some tiny stand and then some sparks photoshopped in eh? ... you wouldn't be doing anything illegal right!? y-y-yy you wouldn't be that naughty r-rr right?

Looks nice man.

[Drunken Monkey]

k, so l may be I miss read the post - in which case, why are you even trying to keep up?!?!

Agreed! Even if he did have a 650, a 'busa may look big, fugly and heavy, but they aren't just fast in a straight line - you can steer them pretty quick. Same goes for those Blackbirds - Zed can show you how well they deal to corners as well as straight roads.

[FROSTY:Me]

Maybee I'm reading this all wrong but it looks to me like most everybody has missed the point. Duc you are trying the scrape ya knee on a GNU --Mate I guess given enough time and patience you can scrape ya knee on anything.
But a GNU would have to be right up there on my list of "too hard" bikes.
What I did do for a um verticly challenged person once (she was four foor 10) was fit a pair of higher pegs, rotated the gearshift on its spline and raised the rear brake pedal. I then fitted bars off of a XJ650 (2" raisefrom flat) redid the front shocks and poked em 25mm through the tripple clamps.I replaced the back shocks with (i think) a set of koni's off of a CB400n
It had a dicky little fairing on it.
Motor wise it wasnt changed but we tossed on a reverse cone megaphone muffler.
That was a shit load of work but the owner was very happy with the result.
Not worth the efffort
If i were you dont worry about knee scraping untill ya get something a tadd more sporty.

[2_SL0]

Getting a knee down, is it at all like getting a leg over?

[nudemetalz]

Getting a knee down, is it at all like getting a leg over?

ha ha,...if I tried to get my knee down and lean off while in the middle of it, the missus might complain....

Anyway, this is me about to get my knee down on my old RS-125 at Ruapuna back in 1996.
Definitely a good way of judging how far you can lean and where the traction is getting to it's limits.

With a 125, because the tyres are quite skinny (well, back then) you don't have a lot of warning when they let go (as my highside proved !!).

[notme]

Agree with one of the general themes here - that kneedown stuff is not necessarily needed to corner fast (especially on the road rather than track!).

Having said that, i tried and tried a while ago until i learned to do it just so that i could - and haven't done it since.

I've been finding that getting lines right and concentrating on slow in fast out type technique helps a LOT more for cornering quickly - and keeping my view UP at the vanishing point! May sound obvious, but i used to be more looking at the road directly in front of me, worried about the condition of the surface.

Following much better riders than myself and watching them helped a lot too!

[justsomeguy]

I've been finding that getting lines right and concentrating on slow in fast out type technique helps a LOT more for cornering quickly - and keeping my view UP at the vanishing point! May sound obvious, but i used to be more looking at the road directly in front of me, worried about the condition of the surface.

Farking tell me about it............