Knee down or tank hugger

I seem to be in the minority as I have a natural tendancy to corner with the knee against the tank. Even when I am on the track ( I do track marshal duties ) I still do the knee forward against the tank. Most of my riding is on the road though and I am more comfortable with this style than any other.

Are you a knee down man or against the tank or are you Bi ??:smile:

 

If your cornering on the track and off the seat, as you should be to keep your bikes lean angle at a minimum, then there is no way your knee is going to be against the tank. Everyone has there own style but to get maximum corning speed out of your machine the knee on the tank is not going to cut it....

 

I'm with Brian, but I had to learn how to hang-off correctly. It didn't come naturally.

BZ

 

I have a friend who is without a doubt a "senior" rider. He physically cannot put his knee out. He is a fast rider who is about to move up to the Advanced class with NESBA. He has had at least a few low sides. Is his knee/leg issue to blame? Probably not 100% but have no doubt that it contributes to his problem.

You'd be best suited to get the leg out and away from the tank.

 

To piggy back off Two, I'd say its not the knee out that matters, its the getting off the bike/ transfer of weight that matters.

The knee down is just part of that process.

BZ

 

My most recent advance, from sitting squarely on the seat at all times, is to get my butt off the seat and place my knee against the tank. A skilled rider I know also told me to get my helmet as close to the mirror as I could. To do this, my knee feels better against the tank.

 

I admit, I do both: knee in the tank and knee off the tank. It depends upon the corner and my speed. I always shift my weight to the inside of the corner. A few years ago, I began hanging off my Valkyrie--a habit that I carried over to the VFR. The technique improved my speed, handling, and confidence on the big bike. It took awhile to get used to hanging off the side and now I do it instinctively.

I agree with Drewl, checking that your head is in front or looking over the mirror is a good way to determine if you're shifting your weight.

 

It's really interesting all this talk about getting a knee down, like mentioned above it's more about getting the CG down in a different spot to keep the bike more up right as possible to get through said corner, if you get a knee down cool, but it's not necessary. A lot of racers I've talk with do the knee thing, not so much as a weight transfer all thou it is some what a part of the process, but a means of detecting where they are in their lean angle, I've seen guys lift their bike back up with their knees. if you watch the race scene there's a lot of different styles, so if one works for you, that's cool, also putting a knee down on the back roads is an indicator things are getting to a pace that's getting unwise, unless you are totally a ware of the conditions. My avatar pic is me coming through a 20mph 90 degree left hander, It has a good straight right befor you enter that makes it easy for a good line, should have been easy for a knee, but I would have had to take it at 80+, as it was, I was doing 65+ in that shot and no where near needing to put a knee down all that was needed was a bit of ass off the seat and a bit of tuck and swoosh!!!! that was plenty fast enough for those conditions. besides in another 100 feet there was a 30 mph right hander, so off to the other side I was.. that was fun..

 

Knee down or close for me.

 

Still working on my technique but with pics like this at my last track day a few weeks ago at Button Willow Ca., I can see what I need to improve on. November 23 Reg, Tori and I will be at Willow springs where I will see about moving up on the seat a bit and getting my body a bit less twisted. No knee down for me as you can see I dont have sliders on my leathers yet. But as stated above not really my main goal but getting the form right to be able to take the corners at a faster clip.

 

I find that some guy's just cannot master the knee down technique, when I marshal on the track I can see the difference between the track racer and the street guys. I know I sit in the street guy catagory even though I correct a lot of guy's body positioning. Short guys can use the knee foward technique atually very well, you are still hanging of the bike but the knee is well forward and shoulders dropped with you ass well off the seat.

The other noticable thing is that soem guys corner really well to the left, mostly street guys, the track guys are the other way around.