Getting your knee down..

[Pickledswede]

I know this is a topic which is gone over and over all the time, but I can't seem to find answers to my specific questions. Basically I want to try and get my knee down on a roundabout so that I know I've got my body positioning right, also it will hopefully give me more idea of how far the bike can lean in a panic situation. I have 3 questions:

1. At what point of the corner do you shift your weight over to one side? Before you turn in? As you turn in? I've been finding I need to move my bum and torso over to one side while still in a straight line, otherwise the bike feels quite unsettled turning in, which makes me feel like the wheel will slip out, but this means I have to lean the bike the opposite way 'til I'm ready to turn in. Any tips?

2. Do you normally get disorientated when hanging right off the bike? I find it very hard to judge my distance from the curb and be able to tell exactly where I am in the road, whereas when upright on the bike I can feel where I should be a lot easier. Will this come with experience?

3. Today I managed to scrape my pegs for the second time, the first time I was going round a roundabout but without even trying to get my knee down, just going a bit fast, however this time I was hanging off as much as I could thinking my knee was just about to touch down, when my peg starts scraping. What am I doing wrong?!

I think I might need to get a camera of some sort to be able to see what my position and level of lean is like, but I haven't got anyone who would film me, so I'd probably need to mount it on the bike, which surely wouldn't give me a very good idea of where my knee was, what my position was like or how far over I was!

Sorry for the essay!

[Whosthedaddy]

I really couldn't bothered about getting my knee down, I manage to get virtually no chicken strips on both sides with my ' normal' riding and thats without hanging off like a chimp.

No help to you I know.


____________________
Current : MSX 125 Past : CBR 900RR Monkeybike : c50 LAC : ZXR750 H2 : FZR600 : ZX7R P3 : YW100 : TRX850: Trophy 900 T309 : GSXR 600 L0: Monkeybike : XJ6S Whosthedaddy

[Pickledswede]

Yeah that's what was happening when I got my peg down the first time, but I've read a few stories about pegs digging in and flipping the bike and I'd rather that didn't happen. Since I've had new budget tyres fitted to my bike it feels a lot more squirmy so I am tending to move my weight around a bit more, also it doesn't have that much grunt, being restricted, so I can't add more speed and lean more in a corner, I pretty much go through at the speed I enter at, that's why I prefer to hang off a bit, because if I enter too fast I've got that extra safety blanket.

Obviously it's vanity too

[yuri2085]

[arry]

[Paulington]

1. I find cornering for me works better if I shift myself over just as I turn in, helps keep the bike settled on entry.

2. Disorientation I don't get whilst leant over, this may be because of your positioning?

3. Scraping the pegs? I'm not sure what bike you have but if you are scraping the pegs without scraping your knee chances are you aren't hanging off enough. There probably is more for you to hang off.

A video would help a lot. For us to see what's going on and for you to improve, you may have been mere millimetres away...
____________________
"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[supZ]

firstly what bike do you have?

but presuming you have a sports bike of sorts here are answers to your questions.

1. some of this is personal preference but personally the thing to do is to get your body position sorted just before you get to the corner. no need to stick your knee out like a sail at this point but grip the tank with your knees, shift your bum and move to kiss that mirror. then as you turn in you can stick your knee out, get your head lower and look through the corner.. keep chasing that vanishing point.

also, make sure you have a light grip on the bars other than the way you're pushing it and get your outside leg is up and locked into the tank. push up with your toes if you have to.. this is where all your weight is supposed to be so lock it in.

2. i've never had a problem with this. just make sure you're looking where you want to go and dont worry so much about the road. obviously on the road you have to keep an eye out for traffic, potholes, gravel etc.. but look where you want to go as much as possible and let the bike go there

3. as above, make sure you are hanging off properly. with your outside leg up locked in, bum back in the seat and with a cheek off AND most importantly your upper body off too 'kissing your mirror' <-- you basically want your face to be roughly where your mirror is


dont worry too much about how much lean you have etc.. just concentrate on getting your body position right and the rest will come. your peg scraping as you're not leaning off enough and/or trying to lean over too much.

if you dont hang off right and twist (i.e. the top half of your body is still over the bike) your inside leg will want to pull in meaning you cant get it out far enough and it'll be uncomfortable. a good body position naturally lets the leg come out and then its just a case of practice til it happens.

where abouts are you btw? do you not have any friends that can follow you and give you advice?
____________________
CBR954RR - Daily toy
CBR600RR - Trackbike

[Pickledswede]

Sorry, should have mentioned, it's a CB500, it feels like I am doing all those things, moving my body over aswell as my bum but I can't really tell as I can't see myself, and from what you've said maybe I'm moving my head but not my body, meaning I can't get my knee out!

I live in Fair Oak, near Eastleigh, I was trying this on a roundabout in Winchester today. Unfortunately I only know a couple of people with bikes, one has only just passed his test and the other doesn't seem particularly interested in getting the knee down, we went on a ride the other day and he said he was struggling to keep up round the corners (whether or not he was just bigging me up I don't know as he has a de-restricted zx-7r and has been riding a few months longer than me!)

[G]

Racing wise you should generally always hang off before you start braking for a corner - this way the weight shift doesn't affect any other movement in the bike.

It can 'feel' right to shift as you tip in, but the reality is that it's unsettling the bike more than you need to - however this is less of an issue for roundabout surfing.

Especially if you're not massively flexible, try and make sure your upper body is hanging off a little more than your arse - this way you are angling your legs towards the road.

Could always leave a camera filming at the side of the roundabout.

[Rowey]

[Pickledswede]

Just went and had a sit on the bike on the centre stand and I think one of my problems have have been not putting the ball of my foot on the end of the peg, also I found it really hard to get all my weight on the leg that wasn't down, which suggests I wasn't doing that!

Think I will have to work on getting my upper body in the right position as I'm sure this is what's making me disorientated. When I tried turning in as I shifted my weight it made the bike lean in too quick which I didn't really like as it felt like it'd overwhelm the rear, but it did feel a bit strange having to countersteer to lean the bike away from the corner because all my weight was on one side while I was still going straight and not ready to turn in!

Thanks for all the replies, will have another go tomorrow and give karma when I'm allowed! Glad I didn't get a bunch of 'power ranger' or 'use the search button!' replies!

[supZ]

eastleigh isnt 'too' far from me, me and some of the guys often go down that way to loomies.

if we're going in the near future i'll have to mention it to you so you can meet up with us. im happy to follow you for a bit and give you some tips

dont think i'll be doing much roundabout surfing myself tho for a while. only had a blade a week and im on brand new rubber so taking it easy getting used to my new toy
____________________
CBR954RR - Daily toy
CBR600RR - Trackbike

[Pickledswede]

Ah that'd be cool cheers! Problem for me is finding enough tight corners, which is why roundabouts are good fun, because my bike goes about 80 without too much hassle, but does take a little while to get there and rarely goes over it, which means on a lot of corners I can't get a good lean going on!

Yeah best to be careful with a blade on new rubber I would have thought!

Just thought of another thing, would the fact that on a CB the bars aren't too much of a stretch away mean it's harder to get the position right? Might mean it's harder to take weight off them and easier to get my head by the mirror without hanging off so much?

Will report back tomorrow!

[garth]

I'm close to Eastleigh. Should have the monster back on the road, daytime only, soon.

More than happy to help out.
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[Pickledswede]

Update on the kneedown attempt... cancelled for now, tried to change my brake discs today only to find out one of the pistons was very firmly stuck, leading to a very annoying and awkward impromptu caliper overhaul! Should be back on the road by the middle of next week.

[Paulington]

I filmed this of me roundabout surfing.

I guess it allowed me to see how much/how little I was hanging off, my general body position and where I was going right or wrong.

At around 2:30 is the first time I scraped my knee in front of the camera, scraped the pegs a few times.

After I came off and watched the vid back, I knew what kind of position to be in and went back to the roundabout and can do it fine on cue now.

Videos help like G said, well worth it. .
____________________
"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[Clanger]

[supZ]