How To Get Your Knee Down

[meggi46]

What You Need

Motorcycle in good working order. It does not have to be the latest race rep. I can comfortably get my knee down on my '82 GSX1100 streetfighter.
Good tyres - this is a must!
Knee sliders (First time I got my knee down was with leathers on, but no slider. It hurt and left a hole in my leathers and my knee - not recommended!)

Where

The best place is on a race track, but many people also use roundabouts or motorway slipway roads. Any long corner, over 120 degrees is good, because you spend a reasonable time at max lean.
The corner must have a good surface free of potholes, manhole covers etc.
NOTE; I do not know the legality of getting your knee down on a public road, but I doubt that the Police would be too happy if they see you. The best place is on the track.
The ideal corner is a 3rd gear corner. This means you will be traveling at a reasonable rate, but not too fast. 1st or 2nd gear corners are a bit tight and the bike tends to be snatchy on and off the throttle which can upset the motorbike.
If you you choose to use a roundabout pick a quiet one that gives you good visibility of traffic joining the roundabout.

Preparation

Make sure you are feeling comfortable on the motorcycle and you have done a few miles to warm the bike and tyres up.
Ensure the corner you are going to use is free of grit, diesel spills etc, you want to get your knee down not your arse!
Best way to do this is to get off your motorcycle and check. If not ride round a few times - this also helps warm the tyres.

Go For It! :thumbup:

Approach the corner at normal speed. Well before you get to the peel in point slide your arse over the seat get at least one cheek off, but better still get the whole of your arse off the seat so your outside leg is across the saddle. But only get off this far if you can keep your foot on the peg. Grip the tank with your outer leg and arm.
Then stick knee out a bit. The balls of your feet should be on pegs, but they should be there for all riding anyway.
You must move your whole body towards the inside of the motorcycle, not just your arse. Try not to twist your body.

Turn into the corner until you are leant right over. It is unlikely you will get your knee down straight away. So while lent over lean the bike down a little more. You can genitally lean down a bit more and then up again, a bit like racers do when warming tyres, except you are lent over.

Didn't work? If not have another go. This time hanging off more. It is generally easier to hang off the motorcycle more than lean it more. At first the amount you need to hang off will feel a bit odd. You do not need to be getting the bike over to anywhere near the edge of the tyres to get your knee down.

Still can not do it? Well there are plenty of fast riders who can not. Shelley pictured above races in the National Endurance championship, she can not get her knee down, but she can lap a race track faster than meanly everyone in the fast group on track days.
You can always buy some used sliders and tell your mates you managed it!

For great prices on Knee Sliders and other Motorcycle accessories go to Motorcycle Crash Helmets, Accessories, Indicators, Luggage & More - Motorbike-Crazy.com

My Get Out

This is advice from my experience. If you try following this advice you do so at your own risk.



How To Get Your Knee Down - Motorcycle Articles - motorbike news, information + resources

 

[lonesoldier84]

good info in there, but:

You can genitally lean down a bit more and then up again

ewwwwww........

 

[Wavex]

hmm... this whole article sounds very "squidly" to me.

It sounds like this dude's goal was not proper technique, but just to touch the ground with your knee while riding.... sure, if your goal is to touch your knee down, then you can follow his advice ("hang off more", "get your whole arse off the seat"...etc why don't you just jump off the bike while you're at it! lol), but that won't get you to be any faster or be more skilled imho.

Personally I think that getting your knee down shouldn't be a goal... the goal should be to learn proper technique... proper technique and speed will automatically yield a knee on the ground eventually... that's when you can brag about it. Not by sticking your body and knee as far out as you can to be able to say you dragged a knee (or buy used sliders lol).

 

[Motogiro]

hmm... this whole article sounds very "squidly" to me.

It sounds like this dude's goal was not proper technique, but just to touch the ground with your knee while riding.... sure, if your goal is to touch your knee down, then you can follow his advice ("hang off more", "get your whole arse off the seat"...etc why don't you just jump off the bike while you're at it! lol), but that won't get you to be any faster or be more skilled imho.

Personally I think that getting your knee down shouldn't be a goal... the goal should be to learn proper technique... proper technique and speed will automatically yield a knee on the ground eventually... that's when you can brag about it. Not by sticking your body and knee as far out as you can to be able to say you dragged a knee (or buy used sliders lol).

Personally I put my sliders in the bottom of my boots and grind them. Then put them back on my leathers. :rockon:
Actually, I've learned a lot of technique from watching you and Calirider and it's helped my speed and riding greatly! :rockon:

 

[Naykid]

hmm... this whole article sounds very "squidly" to me.

It sounds like this dude's goal was not proper technique, but just to touch the ground with your knee while riding.... sure, if your goal is to touch your knee down, then you can follow his advice ("hang off more", "get your whole arse off the seat"...etc why don't you just jump off the bike while you're at it! lol), but that won't get you to be any faster or be more skilled imho.

Personally I think that getting your knee down shouldn't be a goal... the goal should be to learn proper technique... proper technique and speed will automatically yield a knee on the ground eventually... that's when you can brag about it. Not by sticking your body and knee as far out as you can to be able to say you dragged a knee (or buy used sliders lol).

Exactly right. :thumbup:

 

[Norbert]

Don't forget to sandpaper your chicken strips so your friends will like you. :thumbup:

 

[Naykid]

Don't forget to sandpaper your chicken strips so your friends will like you. :thumbup:

And the knee pucks too....so you can look cool sitting at the bar impressing the skanks.

 

[Hellgate]

Personally I put my sliders in the bottom of my boots and grind them. Then put them back on my leathers. :rockon:
Actually, I've learned a lot of technique from watching you and Calirider and it's helped my speed and riding greatly! :rockon:

Holy crap! What didn't I think of that??? That is too easy.

 

[Hellgate]

Don't forget to sandpaper your chicken strips so your friends will like you. :thumbup:

Don't forget the wood rasp to add a few deeper gouges; it looks more convincing that way...

 

[Norbert]

Don't forget the wood rasp to add a few deeper gouges; it looks more convincing that way...

:rockon:


That will surely impress the baristas as I ride from Starbucks to Starbucks!

 

[FizzySix]

It sounds like this dude's goal was not proper technique, but just to touch the ground with your knee while riding

+1. I figure that if a knee goes down because it had to, I'm riding too fast for the road. If it touched pavement and it didn't have to, I'm doing it wrong.

But my riding pants are unscuffed, for what it's worth...

 

[Bikebiz]

+1. Knee down should be the indirect result, not the aim. If you're unnaturally contorting your riding style just to graze a scraper, you're asking for trouble.

 

[lonesoldier84]

some girls look really awkward that ive seen in youtube videos. they are reaching so badly to get a knee down and are so stiff while they do it. they are pretty though, usually. I like pretty girls. their hair smells like waterfalls.

 

[Bikebiz]

Drug are bad.......mkay???

 

[Motogiro]

Not to hurt anyone's feelings but even though he's knee down....this is not good form for a number of reasons. There are a lot of cool videos that explain good form so it shouldn't be hard to do a little research and develop good understanding, technique and riding skills.

 

[Motogiro]

some girls look really awkward that ive seen in youtube videos. they are reaching so badly to get a knee down and are so stiff while they do it. they are pretty though, usually. I like pretty girls. their hair smells like waterfalls.

:cheer:Hahaha! :rof::rof::rof:!!!! :cheer:

 

[oldfast007]

Don't forget to sandpaper your chicken strips so your friends will like you. :thumbup:

Pffft, I just went to the local race shop, and grabbed a set of shredded race slicks and threw them on for "cruise night" told everybody that two weeks ago they were brand new Supercorsa's....

 

[lonesoldier84]

Not to hurt anyone's feelings but even though he's knee down....this is not good form for a number of reasons. There are a lot of cool videos that explain good form so it shouldn't be hard to do a little research and develop good understanding, technique and riding skills.

that guy is PERILOUSLY close to falling off his bike. wow.