Help. I have bad form. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Help. I have bad form.

daisoman

Well-known member
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What's wrong with my form? I feel comfortable on the bike and I know I can get pretty low but my knee can't scrape. Even in Ontario roads I almost have no chicken strips.

I know there are more important things than knee scraping but for the life of me I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Ill be at tmp this Saturday so I'll get some good practice there.

Thanks. I'm on the red cbr.

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I don't think you should be learning how to drag knee on the street, but since you'll be at the track here's what I'm seeing:

You're not hanging off the bike enough. The biker in the 2nd photo has his left butt cheek completely off the bike and he's resting his bodyweight on his right knee against the right side of the bike. If you look at your picture, there is a huge space between your right knee and the bike. Also, move your upper body so your helmet is kissing your left mirror. Look at where his left shoulder is in comparison to yours.

You can lean the bike a bit further. The Killboy photo has been rotated counter-clockwise by quite a bit. If you rotate the picture back so the trees are vertical, you'll see he has much more lean angle than you do. This is just a product of more speed and more counter-steering.

Tuck those toes in (your sig picture)! As you lean further, those will be the first thing that scrape and you don't want that to be the limiting factor. More important for your inside foot, most racers will hook their outside heel on the peg for better stability, but your inside toe has to be clear of the ground to give you more clearance for more lean angle.

Again, I wouldn't recommend practicing this on the street. Hanging off is an aggressive, committed riding position in a corner and doesn't give you much recovery options should a car, animal or child runs out in the road in front of you.
 
here's a good vid from MCN: http://youtu.be/QCg3BMGe52M

+1 on Lightcycle's post

the only thing I'd add is to turn your upper body TOWARDS the turn - even the guy you give as an example is turned a bit away from it.
 
I never drag nee on the stree, and Iv tried.
went to the track for the first time last week and tried, still couldnt do it.
after I gave up on trying to drag nee I just tried to be faster, after about 30 min it was dragging without trying.
forget about dragging your nee and just try to be faster, it will happen by itself.

kyle doesnt count because he can drag nee going straight
 
Peek under the mirror.
 
Thanks lightcycle. I won't be trying to drag knees in Ontario but when I was at the dragon there were so many guys dragging knees. I even kinda kept up with a rider who was dragging at every corner.

So consensus says I should lean the bike more and hang off further.

I will report back after my track day.
 
I've seen twist the wrist but so much information I kinda forget all of the info.
 
At a race track with good grip (like Grand Bend today) ... I'll touch a knee down every lap. Today I even surprised myself by touching my left knee down, despite having a bad hip joint on that side.

On the street ... in 24 years of street riding, I've never done it, and if it were to happen, I would consider it an indication that I am going too fast for conditions.
 
Go take a Total Control Class, they will get your body position better
 
At a race track with good grip (like Grand Bend today) ... I'll touch a knee down every lap. Today I even surprised myself by touching my left knee down, despite having a bad hip joint on that side.

On the street ... in 24 years of street riding, I've never done it, and if it were to happen, I would consider it an indication that I am going too fast for conditions.

Same. I get a knee down on track without trying. On the street, never happens.
 
I don't think I touched a knee all weekend. Don't get too hung up on it, it doesn't make you fast.
 
Layered it for you to visualize. There's more room to lean yourself over . I'll save the "take it to track advice" since other's have pointed it out already. Cheers.

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Advice

1. Get the balls of your feet on the pegs and stop skicking your toes out.
2. Stop worrying about getting a knee down
3. Rotate your body more into the turn.
4. Turn your head more, the further you look thru the turn the rest will follow.
5. Move your upper body more down and t the inside. (Might have to push your butt back in the seat to do this)
 

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