Knee down

[jade]

I learnt to do it by practicing on a single corner - 2 roads over from my house there is a perfect 90 degree corner with a 25kph sign, The idea is to hang off the bike so you can leave the bike standing straighter so theres more grip, but the weight of the rider allows the bike to keep the same line as if it was banked over more, bring your outside leg hard into the seat and have your ass barely on the edge of the seat, you want to hang sideways, not forward
Make sure your in the right gear to accelerate as you need to be accelerating while you hang off.
You will probably find it easier to get your left down first because your throttle arm will be ' open ' rather than cramped when you go right
If you have your knee out, and you are accelerating but still not touching, you can lean further. by the way - its amazing how much weight you can put on your knee to hold the bike up - as you accelerate she stands up
btw on that 25kph corner - im knee down at 40-50km's in 2nd

[SHELRACING]

I've bee riding for 30 years and never got near to putting a knee down, until I started racing buckets. Some important points

Have confidence in your tyres you"ll be surprised at what they can do, give them a good warm up. Always make sure your tyre pressures are correct.

Ride with the balls of your feet on the footpegs it's much easier to move around on the bike.

Prepare for the corner early, move across the seat so one cheek of your ass is hanging off.

Drop your shoulder into the corner don't over do it though you'll over steer.

Practice this at a steady pace before going hard out. It doesn't matter if you don't get the knee down straight away get the technique right

I can get my knee down on the VTR now, I'd never thought it possible a year ago.

Good Luck
Steve

PS This is the technique that works for me, if your not comfortable with it ease up. Wouldn't want you coming off your pride and joy !!

[pritch]

Most guys who try to get their knee down do it wrong, they slide their arse across the seat but they sort of swivel their hips and the body remains upright. The body should remain parallel to the bike as someone already said.

I recently saw the advice "kiss the mirror" to explain the correct head position. If you look at my avatar that should give you the idea, #46 has pretty much mastered this knee down stuff

Having said all that if I ever get my knee down I'll be in serious shit.

[scracha]

Still not much closer to touchdown

http://www.speedsport.co.nz/index.ph...g2_itemId=4301

[Sketchy_Racer]

getting there though

Just a few more degrees of lean angle, and you'll be sorted

[Sidewinder]

I know it's sad, I know it doesn't make you go any faster but getting my knee down is one of my "must do's before I die". The fact that I've been riding 14 years and now have a trackbike doesn't make this pill easier to swallow.

Help. Someone gimmie the learn.

you dont have to be a knee scraping homo. um lean your knee foward and down. dont tri and be a bird and poke it out sideways,

ps dont get your knee down with jeans on or u will be as dumb as me lol

[Sparky Bills]

Relax and dont rush it.
Just focus on riding smooth and it will hit the deck.

[Deano]

Keep your spine parallel with the bike and when you move, slide your pelvis and shoulder sideways, keeping your body in line. Currently, by swinging your arse around the tank, it automatically tucks the inside leg down and towards the bike, not out and toward the ground.

...and yeah, heaps more lean. Good racey tyres help if you haven't got some already. The boost to your confidence being on good tyres can be all that you need...

go faster and all that, what hdtboy said, but get the confidence of leaning heaps and trusting your bike and abilities. And what I found, is just stop trying. I tried for 2 years, I was getting faster and faster, but for the life of me couldn't get my knee down. I so decided to forget about it and just concentrate more on the corners and my lines. Then all of a sudden, I was getting my knee down everywhere..

What these guys said.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Get back to work Tony!

When you get to NZ for good you can come and do some track days with me. Won't that be fun... there's a "have a go day" this weekend at a track not far from Christchurch - $60 for the whole day. Nice price eh? I'm thinking about a track day to practice cornering lines and the old getting the knee down thing. Might not be this weekend, but it definitely will happen!

I am going to try to organise a mid week "test day" at the Puna in the next few weeks.... apparently you can get track time on an afternoon for reasonable money. Not sure of the ins and outs but I will look into it. And the HAGD next Sunday is worth a look for sure.

[Deviant Esq]

I am going to try to organise a mid week "test day" at the Puna in the next few weeks.... apparently you can get track time on an afternoon for reasonable money. Not sure of the ins and outs but I will look into it. And the HAGD next Sunday is worth a look for sure.

For sure - I'll be keen. Not too sure on when I'll be able to attend though, my fork seals are rooted and will need doing before I get on the track... as well as my rear wheel, which needs to be "trued". Waiting on parts at the moment, so the wheels are in motion at least. I think they do bike days out there fairly often, but I've never really looked into it - anyone know how much it costs, and when they do it?

[Kickaha]

I am going to try to organise a mid week "test day" at the Puna in the next few weeks.... apparently you can get track time on an afternoon for reasonable money.

easy peasy, rock on up and pay your money, Tuesdays and Fridays

http://www.canterburycarclub.co.nz/T...ack%20Hire.php

[HenryDorsetCase]

easy peasy, rock on up and pay your money, Tuesdays and Fridays

http://www.canterburycarclub.co.nz/T...ack%20Hire.php

thanks for that I will give them a call. hardest thing will be organising a half day off at present

[Monsterbishi]

I learned 'kneedown' by accident, when I first got my YZF750R, rode it for a few months, then switched back to the CBR250R for a while, found myself riding it like it was a scooter, had got so used to the way the bigger bike wallowed when I went back to the considerably lighter bike I pitched it much further over.

[scracha]

What these guys said.

By gawd that 400 can lean more than my mind can cope with though. Was bricking it and backing off before that left hander going on to the (new for me) full track section of Manfield and then one one lap I forgot about the whole left turn thing until the last minute so had to throw the f#cker down and it went round quite the thing (in fact, it changed direction too quickly and I had to push the other bar).

I used to deck the pegs/exhausts out regularly on my FZ400 on public roads when I were a lad (TDM850 too but it decked out dead early so doesn't count) so it's all in my head why the hell I can't bring myself to do it on a racetrack with kitty litter and very sticky tyres.

Just so impressed watching a certain squid on his 150 crank it waaaay over in the rain at every corner. Felt a bit better when his bike fell over in the pits.

Too many years riding $hite old bikes on square tyres I reckon. Maybe I should take up drag racing like all the other old farts.

[scracha]

I did it yesterday...it's only taken 15 years . Start of the day at Taupo a wee chirp on the left hand (wasn't sure if it was my knee or the top of boot). Early afternoon and Toast was giving me the learn (by Jeevus he can turn in quick) and heard the lovely scrawping noise of my right kneeslider touching town. He then gapped about 3s as I hit a fit of giggles inside my helmet. Good times and that Ducati does obscene lean angles as I wasn't throwing my knee out. I think I'm still all wrong with left handers though...my right foot(yes you read that correctly) kept coming off the peg on the fast left hander (T8?) at Taupo.