I'm obsessed with dragging my knee

[HorizonXP]

And I can't seem to do it.

I've been riding for a while and think of myself to be a competent rider. I've been practicing proper body positioning for quite some time, and at my last race on a CBR125, I was so far off the bike that my bum was no longer on the seat. I was so low to the ground, I could almost taste it! But that knee never touched. My toes did a few times (reminding me to bring them further in) as did my feelers.

I tried to do the same on my 250, except in a parking lot at slow speed. I need to find a bigger and more flat parking lot because I kept getting freaked out even though I was keeping it at 30 km/h. My circles were not tight at all.

The biggest reason I want to do this is to be faster at my race on Aug 13. I'm back on the 125, and I want to be dragging knee this time. It's a brand new track with fresh asphalt. I can make this happen.

The issue I was having was simply stepping out of my comfort zone. In the tight infield at TMP, I can keep my speed up no problem, and that's where I was getting really low. But the fast corners is where I let off. The 125s barely top out at 120 km/h, especially with my 210lbs self, yet I'd still let off the gas and slow down into the corner. Apparently, the other guys were going almost flat out into turn 1.

How can I just get over this hump and get my knee down?

 

[yzfrickr1]

go do ramps on the 410 and practice a friend gave me a tip it may help you put the outside of your foot on the peg and bend your ankle in it allows you to get lower

 

[GSXMAER]

why is it everyone from TMP thinks their fast if they get the knee down....they ride around with their legs out like triangles....WTF

 

[HorizonXP]

go do ramps on the 410 and practice a friend gave me a tip it may help you put the outside of your foot on the peg and bend your ankle in it allows you to get lower

I know what you're talking about and I try my best to do this, but it's difficult in my boots. They really restrict my ankle movement.

why is it everyone from TMP thinks their fast if they get the knee down....they ride around with their legs out like triangles....WTF

I don't know? I'm just a newbie trying to learn how to go fast while not killing myself.

 

[dricked]

go do ramps on the 410 and practice

Exactly what NOT to do! Fresh asphalt isn't necissarily good (oily). It'll happen, be patient. This was my only goal on my first td but didn't happen till the second and now I could care less if it touches because a knee down doesn't make you fast. It feels awsome the first time though, it was actually somthing I wanted to do since I was 16 but knew doing this on the street was risky and dumb.

 

[FriendlyFoe]

If you're not dragging knee you should have good sized chicken strips. Lean the bike more and go faster. If you don't have huge chicken strips you're doing it wrong. Take a school.

 

[dizzy929]

go do ramps on the 410 and practice a friend gave me a tip it may help you put the outside of your foot on the peg and bend your ankle in it allows you to get lower

:confused1: Not gonna touch that one.


But to the O.P., my advice would be to stop thinking about getting your knee down. Don't try and force it, if your doing it right it will happen eventually. It will feel damn good too

Also dunno how tall you are but i'm about 5'7ish with short legs and I have to be going at a pretty decent pace for my knee to get anywhere close to touching. At TMP it's actually the slower corners...two hairpins and 3 that I find it hard not to drag my knee.

Good luck!

 

[GRAYZ]

Work on getting your corner speed up, when it is fast enough dragging knee will take care of itself.

 

[reciprocity]

Dragging your knee has NOTHING to do with going fast.

as soon as you forget about it, you'll go faster.

 

[caboose56]

I've had my sliders on my suit for a full season and a half now and there is still lots of meat left on them. I don't drag them very hard.. just glide along the pavement. Hard is for when im saving a lowside!

 

[bitzz]

I race vintage bikes, you know... the old bikes with SKINNY tires (I think the widest tire I own is a 130) and my 10 year pucks look brand new.
Knee dragging is so 1980s.

 

[HorizonXP]

Yeah, I think I have to agree with consensus that it will just happen, and I need to go faster. To the person above, I have taken Racer5, and I've been doing their Stage 3 weekends to race in SOAR on the 125s. My body positioning is likely not perfect, but the instructors haven't indicated it as being a problem. I know that I need more practice laps and I just need to get out of my comfort zone.

dizzy929, it's funny, my slowest corners are the hairpins, the 2nd left and the one after the 3rd left after the chicane. I can't seem to get comfortable carrying speed through there. I get so much drive going into those corners, and then I just shed off that speed with hard braking and go in slow. We're done with TMP for the summer, so not much I can do now short of a trackday.

So I guess my question is, how do I go faster?

 

[fastar1]

This is a thought-in-process so take it with a grain of salt, but how to go faster...

Get a feel for the cornering force that you are subjecting yourself to. Ride like you normally do for a while until you get a sense for this lateral force. You will start to notice that the cornering force is not always equal and even through a corner, or from one corner to another, or in different situations like when you have to negotiate traffic. You will also gain a sense of which inputs cause which effects on the bike and how that translates into the cornering feel. You should come to realize that there are periods where you are cornering quite a bit harder than usual without trying. Then, the next big step is to achieve that same increased cornering force purposefully.

With the knowledge you will have gained about how inputs, bumps, body position affect cornering, and with your increased level of comfort having experienced those higher levels of grip, try cornering harder. The best way I found to do that comfortably was not to go faster through a corner, but to exit tighter (not using the full track) at the same speed I was going before. So you practice that and then after a while the next step is to use all that new-found cornering grip to actually go faster. That means braking later, braking less, and puckering up a little bit more while you use the full width of the track cornering as hard as you feel comfortable now (which will be more than before).

Rinse, lather, repeat until the front or rear starts to show signs of giving way, and then you have to start working on increased smoothness, finer inputs, suspension adjustments, and staying on the throttle when things seem to be going pear-shaped.

 

[Ben G]

go do ramps on the 410 and practice a friend gave me a tip it may help you put the outside of your foot on the peg and bend your ankle in it allows you to get lower

..........."go do ramps on the 410 and practice........" Ummmmm ......... oh, and bend your ankle "in" it allows you to get lower .......... almost forgot that lap record setting advice. This is so far off the scale I have nothing to add......... nothing, this is just sad. BG

 

[Wingboy]

go do ramps on the 410 and practice a friend gave me a tip it may help you put the outside of your foot on the peg and bend your ankle in it allows you to get lower

Very bad advice.Ignore this.

Dragging your knee has NOTHING to do with going fast.

as soon as you forget about it, you'll go faster.

I love blowing past people on the outside of a turn that are trying soooo hard to get it down.Cyaaa! Recip said it right.

 

[SunnY S]

Work on getting your corner speed up, when it is fast enough dragging knee will take care of itself.

But to the O.P., my advice would be to stop thinking about getting your knee down. Don't try and force it, if your doing it right it will happen eventually. It will feel damn good too

!

Horizon.... Good advice above.

When I did Calabogie last year, all I thought about was getting that knee down. It didn't happen, even though the laptimes tumbled through out the day, which was nice.

However, on my last outing at TMP fairly recently, I just focused on going out there and having a good time and didn't even think of getting a knee down. You know what? It just happened and it amazed me cos I didn't expect it.

By the end of the session, I was dragging knee, toes, and even kickstands. LOL.

Can't wait for the next track day.

Just focus on riding, and the knee thing will take care of itself.



Pic : I had no idea I would be leaning that much on my last outing, that I will have to remove my centrestand at the next track day!

.








.

 

[Franko!]

Forget about getting your knee down, for now...
Focus on your reference points and find a rhythm. Try to increase your pace and at some point your lean angle will allow your knee to touch. Then you will lift your knee to save your sliders.

 

[Fiery254]

I've had my sliders on my suit for a full season and a half now and there is still lots of meat left on them. I don't drag them very hard.. just glide along the pavement. Hard is for when im saving a lowside!

Last time I really ground down a puck was pushing the bike back up as the front end slid away from me. Nowadays I find myself lifting my knee more and more to avoid contact with apex kerbs and such like.

But I still remember my first time. Do you?

 

[Wingboy]

Last time I really ground down a puck was pushing the bike back up as the front end slid away from me. Nowadays I find myself lifting my knee more and more to avoid contact with apex kerbs and such like.

But I still remember my first time. Do you?

Lol.I tried for a split second to push down on the left one at Calabogie.Didn't work.Guess i need to work out more...i mean some.

 

[fbm]

i do ramps when i cant make it out to the track aint nothing wrong with it. and it also depends on what you are trying to accomplish at/on the ramps