Getting a knee down

[Signal 50]

I just got my first pair of leathers in preparation for a colder riding season, and springtime track days. I have had about one afternoon worth of racing instruction, but it was mostly off the bike. I met with some control riders who showed me a lot about body positioning and technique. I try my best to apply those things to when I ride on the street but it is not the safest place to push myself beyond the limit of comfort.

That said, I am just interested to see if anyone is able to get their knee down on the FZ-6 while either on track days or street riding. I am well aware that putting your knee down does not automatically mean you have the right technique. I'm more interested to see what the general consensus of the bikes limitations are. In other words, if I spend two weeks practicing, I'm just looking to gauge my progress against other FZ riders.

 

[Hellgate]

Do a track day and you should have it down by session two or three. The bike is fine.

Oh, and getting thick sliders helps.

 

[oldfast007]

My initial response at the thread title was, I only get a knee down when I'm praying, but after reading it all I see you are inclined to know when before knowing how...good. I presume on rare occasions on the street it may happen, but typically I will save that skill for the track when I do finally get to go. I have no qualms about the bikes ability.

Good luck in your endeavors...stay safe.

 

[Wavex]

Limitations are you, not the bike A lot of ppl remove the peg feelers and centerstand for the track though...

Oh and I don't think you should expect or strive to get a knee down in any specific session or time frame... just ride your ride, work on your technique, and increase the speed by small increments... eventually, it will just happen and if you follow the above, it will happen safely and smoothly (imho).

Good luck.

 

[rsw81]

I got my knee down the first day I got the bike leaned over... with 6 inch thick knee pucks:ban:

In all honesty, just ride your ride, work on the proper technique. Way more important than putting your knee down bro.

 

[DefyInertia]

yes it can be done. I will take this opportunity to demonstrate how awesome I am:

I know at least a couple peeps that are much faster than me that don't drag knee..tall guys tend to drag knee easier I think.

 

[Wavex]

I will take this opportunity to demonstrate how awesome I am:

LOL ^ :rockon:

 

[mxgolf]

:needpics: Lets see the leathers? I bought mine from Hellgate. Sweet.

 

[ozzieboy]

I put my knee down once (so I could say I had...lol), but normally I think my knee is way off the deck. I have to stand on my footpeg to mount my bike comfortably though 'cause I am vertically challenged...LMAO:BLAA:, so even with my knee stuck out it doesn't stick out far, so I must be near scraping my Oggie Knobs when my knee is on the deck.

The knee down thing doesn't mean a lot though. I ride with folks that drag the knee regularly on the street, and I have no trouble keeping up (usually held up...lol), while some of them struggled to catch the FZ6 even on bigger bikes:rockon:.

I think the advice you're getting is spot on. Ride your bike, and work on technique, and sussing out what works best for you, and you'll find that the FZ6 is a very competitive bike in the tight stuff.

Definitely take off the the stand and feelers for the track.

 

[OZXJR]

I got my knee down recently....................only trouble was it didn't come back up again

 

[jrevans]

I was doing a lot of track days on my previous bike CBR600F4, and then did one on the FZ6 right after I got it. I was regularly getting my knee down with the F4, but did not get it down with the FZ6.

To me, it seemed like my body placement on the FZ6 was higher than on the F4. I got close to touching a knee when realllly hanging off, but for the most part that day, the different riding position of the FZ6 seemed to preclude dragging my knee unless I tried to do it just for the sake of saying that I had dragged my knee.

 

[yoshiki]

i got my knees down on my 1st track session with my fz6. not sure if stock footrest will work as i was using adjustable rearsets. centrestand have to be removed, cause i even scrapped the tip of my sidestand.

 

[Ridgeback]

I've never gone out of my way to stick my knee down.It all depends on the corner.My problem is remembering whether I'm wearing my leathers or my Draggins

 

[Dennis in NH]

I'm with most everyone saying not to worry about knee down. Work on technique and it will come.

One thing I think would be very helpful is to try doing big figure eights or circles in a clean parking lot (with tire pressures a few pounds lower than typical for you and tires warmed up). Either wear your track suit equipped with pucks or use a strap-on puck -- I used some knee pads I had for my inline skating days (aim these where the pucks go on the track suit). Lean over as far as necessary to get the turn with whatever speed and have someone video tape or photograph you. Look at the photos and gauge reality of your lean angle vs. what you feel the lean angle is and go from there.

I found that with someone watching, they noticed I was close to the ground -- all this time I was frustrated that I wasn't touching knee only to find that I was pretty darn close (the instructor had me use the strap-on puck and sure enough, the knee touched). But it felt like I was leaned way over -- farther than ever before.

If I recall, the stock FZ6 wasn't fully conducive to hanging off. FZ1 bars helped here.

Dennis