When hanging off.......

Ssky0078

Ssky0078

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the seat in a corner, what is the proper position of the inside knee?

1. Is it up against the tank tucked in?

2. Is it bent in the direction of your turn? (like a lunge type)
 
street : keep knee against tank and lean in with upperbody. I do not move my bottom more then max half a cheeck off the sadle, but keeping the knee close to the tank
racetrack: knee turned in direction of turn and to be used as a sensor on your lean angle. No pressure on your inside peg!
 
Why would the street be different. The whole purpose of leaning in is to keep the bike more upright for better contact patch on the road. I would think it would be just as important on the street?
 
while most motorcycle tires give better traction on higher lean angles....

start "ass-steering" after you don't have chicken strips that is if you really want to go that fast on public roads...
 
I rarely hang off my bike. I just don't need to on the street. I do shift my weight, but I usually keep my knees against the bike. Can I go faster hanging off? You bet, but that's just too damn fast to not be on a track.
 
On the street, I always found myself dragging left, and tucking right.... left turns, I'm starting outside, coming towards the center and have plenty of room to get the knee down... Right turns... I sometime found myself putting knee down, and finding my tires on the line, and my knee off of the pavement... so... I quit putting the right knee down.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ZQrNW4UKY]This angle doesn't work.... - YouTube[/ame]
 
I just want to say I didn't post the question to find ways go faster, but if that is the point of hanging off then I get it. I was prompted to ask the question because I was looking at pictures on Rock Store Photo from my Mulholland trip. The first morning I was pretty bolt upright and inside knee tucked into the bike. I remember feeling like I didn't have the best traction, and steering/making adjustments in the middle of a corner was more difficult. At the end of the second day as I was hanging off more I was going quicker but also felt way more stable and confident. I was looking at photos of other riders as well. Some of them were still going very quick but had their knee tucked in to the tank.

I just find that I am learning more and more about how the whole riding experience works out. I also was wondering does my height and weight play a role. I'm 6'4" and 245. When I sit up right and lean I feel like my body weight throws the center of gravity too far into the corner and I will tip over/low side. If I bend at the waist then I feel more planted on the bike and into the corner. If I throw a knee into the corner I feel even better and seem to go quicker with a lot less effort. I'm not hanging off to touch a knee down but just to give what feels like the best position for the bike to do it's thing without kicking me off.
 
One of the main things that turning your inside knee out helps with is it helps you to dig the out side knee into the tank. Why is this important. This is what gives you support and connection to the bike. Its what allows you to stay as light as possible on the bars. The balls of your feet sould be up on the pegs. Having your knee turned out also helps with turning your torso into the corner, it is the basis for getting your body position together. Is hanging off the bike important for the street. Well if you dont have "chicken strips" and have no intention on slowing your pace down you are going to need to find a way of getting some lean angle out of the bike before you start running out of contact patch. That being said whats wrong with using/learning techniques that have been established as propper and making them automatic vs. riding in a lazy fashion then having to think about what your doing when you turn the pace up. Personally I would rather have it be automatic.

There is a lot to all of these techiques that are very hard to convey across the internet. Trackdays and coaching are your best avenues.
 
DenArnold said:
street : keep knee against tank and lean in with upperbody. I do not move my bottom more then max half a cheeck off the sadle, but keeping the knee close to the tank
racetrack: knee turned in direction of turn and to be used as a sensor on your lean angle. No pressure on your inside peg!
Click to expand...


If you really want an in depth explanation out the link below. Even if the math looks like a foreign language the text explains what they are trying to say pretty well. In short your center of mass (position of your weight relative to the bike) and the lean angle make the bike turn, not where your knee is. So the faster you go the more you have to shift your weight and increase lean. DenArnold said it best I think. So put your knee where your most comfortable, so long as you're aware of how much tire you have left to turn with. :nerd:

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~fajans/pub/pdffiles/SteerBikeAJP.PDF
 
street and track differ

street and track do differ.....I drag my knee at the track. Definitely not on the street.

I saw this last weekend in Austin ;) :D
 
The key is, and the announcers have pointed this out, that he gets his bike more upright than other racers because of hanging his body more. Look at him in a corner vs. Pedrosa, Rossi, etc. He has his bike actually up more!! That allows more acceleration throttle. ;)

Here is a photo from last year in moto2:
 
johnnyontherocks said:
One of the main things that turning your inside knee out helps with is it helps you to dig the out side knee into the tank. Why is this important. This is what gives you support and connection to the bike. Its what allows you to stay as light as possible on the bars. The balls of your feet sould be up on the pegs. Having your knee turned out also helps with turning your torso into the corner, it is the basis for getting your body position together. Is hanging off the bike important for the street. Well if you dont have "chicken strips" and have no intention on slowing your pace down you are going to need to find a way of getting some lean angle out of the bike before you start running out of contact patch. That being said whats wrong with using/learning techniques that have been established as propper and making them automatic vs. riding in a lazy fashion then having to think about what your doing when you turn the pace up. Personally I would rather have it be automatic.

There is a lot to all of these techiques that are very hard to convey across the internet. Trackdays and coaching are your best avenues.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I have definitely noticed being up on the balls of my feet on the pegs, turning the inside knee into the turn and gripping with the outside knee on the tank, keeping weight off the bars is a lot better riding position than sitting stiff as board.

I picked up some of that on Mulholland Highway riding the 'snake' and have been playing around with it more. I like to practice it all the time so it does become more automatic. Plus it provides a little bit of exercise into my daily commute.

I will be trying to get to a track day on the 18th. It's a finance thing right now but hopefully it will all work out.
 
Resurrection thread

So, after my first crash on the Fz6 because I was sitting in middle of seat, going the speed limit and still crashed I basically have always hung off the seat or shifted body position while riding on the street now. I don't go full lean or get to really crazy speeds but I have found just being on the balls of the feet and sliding my ass over makes for a safer and more enjoyable ride.

Enjoy this clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADkS5yFUNPA#t=37
 
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