Knee dragging on the Duke?

Depending on your height, the SD's seat height means you have to move your ass over more than on most sporties. Get your knee down though, better than sitting bolt upright.

On track its easy,on the road I don't really feel the need

Set-up a camera at the round-about.

Then up-load it here. I'm sure there are a couple of guys ( from the avatars pics more then that lol )

It seems you have to really hang it out:



Small differences in body positioning seem to make big differences...

http://www.hirevz.com/2007/10/knee-down-cornering.html

Thanks for the tips fellers, I will have to give it another try. Maybe tonight on the way home from work. Hopefully I won't end up in the hedge...

Easy on road and track TBH. I'd given up doing it on the road till I got the SD. Now along with all other sorts of stunts and tricks I can't resist

I can't do it on my SD and couldn't do it on my CBR6RR, although I think I know why (other than being cack).

The guy at a BH trackday was demonstrating on a static bike and said about looking down the side of the intrument display near the mirror, having your arm dragged across the tank and importantly having one arse cheak on the other half of the seat.

Now when he demonstrated this there was a massive hole / triangle between the peg, knee and seat and if was obvious that little lean was needed to touch down. Looked easy and he explained that the whole point is to enable the bike to remain more upright.

My problem seems to be that my knee doesn't so much go out to form a triangle but twists forward up the side of the tank. So even though my arse is over, my knee is still close to the bike when I'm fully spread. It just feels a bit risky to stay back in the seat without edging forward up the side of the tank.

Trackday soon to have another go.....

BD

I have only had 3 bikes for the road the first was a honda hornet tried getting knee down on track but was reletively new to biking and failed.

My second bike a triumph speed four got me my knee down for the first time on the road I could not stop laughing at the time it was only me second summer in biking.

My superduke likewise still get my knee down on the road/track, on the road it's only on this one corner a cambered left hander.

I agree it is pointless getting your knee down on the road but it is fun

However, I cant get my right knee down on road or track . Maybe I need to find some road abouts (or rotary) for those over the pond. But i know my body posistion differs on a right hander.

Got me knee down on the road today as a matter of fact, was pushin hard with the lovely weather and grip to be had, all in all an awsome day!

getting the Knee down on the roads is very cooll until
Oooohhh

That is strange, I would assume that lean angle is greatly affected by centre of gravity; everything else being equal (speed, posture...), a higher c-of-g bike should HAVE to lean further. Again assuming that the SD has the higher c-of-g of course.

I found I was getting my knee down on the SD at speeds I didn't on the Fireblade, but posture had a bit to do with that, though...

We need an expert here!

You have learnt your first track lesson: kneedown is not the fastest way.

Well, not if you are reaching out to the ground with your knee as many people do.

Watch a racer, preferably a 125 racer, and you will see he doesnt stick his knee out he pushes it forward to weight the front of the bike.

His knee may touch down. Generally this is because his lean angle is great enough due to the speed he is carrying. Or the ground is rising toward him - adverse camber.

There are plenty of people who can drag a knee with the bike almost upright road or track. And there are plenty of track riders that waste time hanging a knee out as soon as they brake for the corner.

Top racers use their knee as a lean angle gauge but they can only do this if they keep the knee reasonably close to the side of the bike. They can also save the front this way. You or I cant as we dont have their cat like reflexes!

The rest of us lean until we get a toe slider down. Then, if the corner continues wait until ourr knee brushes the ground and use this as a signal to start standing the bike back up.

Usually, when my knee scrapes the tarmac these days it is my left knee. I used to think this meant I leant further on my left side. It probibly means I am lazy correcting the steering on the left hence slower getting back on the throttle.

Hi Lobster

All of my kneedowns have been on track. I have never tried on the road. Usually you would need a long wide sweeper or a roundabout or somewhere that you know you can use both sides of the road into and out of the corner.

The trouble on roundabouts, for me, is vision. I just wouldnt feel comfortable with my head down on one side of the bike going round with the chance of cars emerging unseen.

What I have noticed is that the magazine testers use a totally different technique on the road. Last month I followed Michael Neeves around Brands and he was riding like a racer. - Half his ar*e off the seat, knee down and forward and good lean angle and corner speed.

When you see him in MCN testing road bikes he is hanging off like a gibbon. The bike is almost upright, there is a big V between his upper and lower leg and his ar*e is totally out the seat.

No critisism of Neevsie he gets paid to ride like that. but I think most of the info out there is based on carrying corner speed to bring the bike over enough and this is not always possible on the road.

If your tyre edge is cooked it sounds like you have enough lean angle. Next time you are out place your feet right on the outside edge of the footpegs. If your toesliders touch down on roundabouts / corners you definately have enough lean.

The rest can only be body position. If you are comfortable with it, try the exaggerated position you see in bike mags. But remember, its main purpose is to look good in photos not keep good control of the bike.

Otherwise, do a couple of trackdays - you will definately do it there. Best of luck.

Look, I'm an old guy who can't ride, but I'll tell you something that applies not only to the Duke but to all bikes in general: you either ride the bike the way it wants to be ridden or the way you want to ride it. Riding with the intention to drag your knee because it looks cool or makes you feel like a badass instead of riding the bike with proper entry, trail braking, apex and accelleration may not yield optimal results.

The Duke, owing to its higher riding position , makes it harder for the knee dragging thing. This weekend I was ripping up a back road; in one sweeper I moved farther forward on the bike and hung of the side farther than I had been doing.

The bike ran so wide in the turn I almost ran off the shoulder. Dramatically. I've never been on a bike that responded more nastily to being manhandled.

Once I started listening to the bike and not to my ego, things resumed a great ride. Moral of the story: kneedraggging looks cool but is unneccessary, and may be dangerous on a tall bike like this. If you want to drag your knees, maybe a GSXR or Ducati is what you need.

The whole objective is to get as much of the riders weight as possible low and to the inside of the tyres contact patch, so the bike doesn't have to be leaned over as much. You have more tyre in contact with the road, and better traction. The whole knee down thing isn't really necessary, it certainly doesn't stabilize you any better or anything like that. What is does is provide a gauge for the experienced racer to know how much more angle he has left in a corner. You never need to do this on the road- but yes it is fun. For those that cant do it, you need to keep your weight low over the tank, slide one cheek entirely off the bike, and keep your weight on the inside peg. Try to grip as much of the tank as possible with your outside knee and upper leg. Keep on the balls of your feet, and keep a light grip on the bars. You'll get it in no time.