Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

Hey up guys.. Went to Brands on Tuesday eve... Ended up surprising myself big time in the sense that a) still not ever got me knee down... But b) have managed to grind off my hero blobs on the right peg? Anyone know if that's a dangerous place to be riding? In other words.. Should my knee be the indicator of aggressive lean well before my blobs?.

Am gobsmacked.. But and an awsome eve nonetheless [SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH]

I think it more has to do with body position as far as getting the knee down, as I get the knee down (occasionally), but not the peg. I'm absolutely no expert when it comes to riding quickly however.

I've never got my knee down but I put it down to being a short arsed little fecker lol, don't get me wrong I'm no straight line speed freak and prefer hanging off the bike leaning over as much as poss but I gave up years ago trying to get my knee to touch the floor, speaking to Jamie Wittam at the CW race school he said it won't make you go round a corner any quicker so I don't do it.

Your knee should be down before your blobs.

i gauge my lean angle by my knee being down ,maybe you need some aftermarket rear sets if you are going to do a few track days

What Kwacky said.

If the blob is touching down there's a good chance the tyre is at the limit of grip and on its "shoulder", have a look at the tyre and see for yourself.

Yeah I wasn't too confident on the last session as tyres felt a bit weird. Never experienced it before. Had to back off a bit. Tyres running are pilot road 3.. Yes shoulder seems bobbly with chunks of rubber.

Tyres will deform to stay on the shoulder (hopefully) if you get the pressures right. However if the hero blobs are down them you are plenty far enough over for knee down. It's all about body position.

My body position suck, and when I used to get my knee down on the SV, I was also scraping the pegs. Then I lost the front. Think I was too far over really due to bad body position.

If you are scraping your pegs, then the only way to go faster round corners would be to hang off more so you can stand the bike up a little.

scraping standard pegs isnt imo isnt being leant over to far ,aftermarket rearsets would fix that and also help you get a good body position

Agreed, aftermarket rearsets will help, as will body position.

If it helps, I got my belly pan down last time I was at Anglesey and didnt run out of tyre.

I got my elbow down up Fish Hill in July 2010.

Bratty wrote:I got my elbow down up Fish Hill in July 2010.

But you also got lots of other parts down as well

I totally agree with the above.: Your post suggests that your body position is wrong for the track.

On our 675.cc forum trackday last year, one of our highly experienced road riders did exactly what you are describing & you are likely to emanate him if you don’t address your riding style. In his case, he literally rode off the side of his tyres.!
Unfortunately for him he was riding entirely correctly, for the road.

Now don’t misunderstand me, I am not a skilled rider by any stretch. I simply enjoy wobbling round in my own inimitable way, being passed like I’m a lampost by the likes of Deegee, Matty, Godzilla & similar.
Fwiw however I have observed that all of those fast riders position themselves pretty much between the bike & the track. I try to do the same, & although it does feel bizarre hunkering against the side of your bike rather then sitting on the seat, it certainly does seem to help keep the weight distribution in the right sort of place.
My toe sliders are pretty shredded, & I do use my knee to feel where I am in relation to the track, but my crashes are rarely as a consequence of too much lean.

Hth.

/edited God.

I agree with a lot of what you said St Marks, but I guess there were other factors that came into play rather than just riding off the edge of the tyre. As said above on modern tyres its hard to run off the edge. I didnt and the belly pan was scraping.

Kwacky wrote:Your knee should be down before your blobs.

Have to agree with Kwacky on this one Rickster

Godzilla wrote:I agree with a lot of what you said St Marks, but I guess there were other factors that came into play rather than just riding off the edge of the tyre. As said above on modern tyres its hard to run off the edge. I didnt and the belly pan was scraping.

You should remove the Goldwing fairings and put the proper ones back on then.

This is my preferred method

Having seen your photos on facebook it's clear the bike is too far over. You don't have to get your knee down but you should hang off so that the bike is more upright.

Looks like you have the same problem a me Riccardo. Neil Hodgson told me if I didn't start hanging off more I'd end up in the kitty litter.

Spent the last two track days trying to improve my body position but was that knackered after 20 minutes I had to get someone to hold the bike while I got/fell off!

Obviously I'm doing something wrong as I know I'm not that unfit, but seriously considering getting some training.