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Leaning???

2K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  redwood650 
#1 ·
How did you guys learn to drag knees? I have an 07 and want to get the most out of my riding experience. I've been licensed for a while but still consider myself somewhat of a novice. I can get around town no problem on city streets but have yet to attempt the freeway. Any advice on how to start leaning hard?
 
#3 ·
Get use to the bike and riding first .. buy a one peice suit or two peice suit (paints/ jacket) with knee sliders .its best to learn on a track but some are not that lucky . you got to be confident with you tires and willing to hang off the bike. start small lean the bike as you would for you skill level but have one butt cheek on the seat and one off . stick your knee out and get use to the new body position after you start to feel confident continue but each time try to lean feather and feather till you ''touch down'' .. expect to crash its going to happen thats way this is best to do this only on a track with controled conditions ..
:fact
 
#5 ·
Before you start dragging knee make sure you are comfortable with the feeling of hanging off the bike, and it kinda gets scary when you see the ground a few feet away from you. My best advice on doing it would be find a road that has some nice curves, go down and up that road a few times making sure you find any faults in the road(i.e. Bumps, sand/gravel, sticks... things along the lines of that) and then start off slowly making sure to not brake in the corner, chop speed off before and change gears before the corner, if you must brake heavily then straighten the bike up and proceed to brake, and for light braking use the back brake VERRRY lightly, making sure not to lock the back wheel up, i also recommend going to a parking lot and getting used to how much pressure it takes to lock the back wheel up and feel what it feels like when it happens, again make sure to do that slowly, ya don't wana low side a new bike trying to learn how not to crash lol. Again just take it easy, and most of all, HAVE FUN!

sorry for the block of text lol!
 
#6 ·
Take your time there is no need to rush anything, you will learn the more you ride, and like others said get full gear and get on the track. Thats where you can ride safe at high speeds and get feed back from other riders and watch and learn from them also.

Also getting a knee down doesn't constitute you as being fast, being smooth and having good lines is what will make you fast
 
#8 ·
03SilvR6 said:
Take your time there is no need to rush anything, you will learn the more you ride, and like others said get full gear and get on the track. Thats where you can ride safe at high speeds and get feed back from other riders and watch and learn from them also.

Also getting a knee down doesn't constitute you as being fast, being smooth and having good lines is what will make you fast
+1. What he said.

There are plenty of people who are all about "All dangle, no angle". Just because youre practically falling off the bike, does not mean you have fast corner speed, let alone proper body position.
 
#11 ·
don't get caught up in weighting pegs, that's for making the bike turn in faster, and you have to be going super fast for it to make much difference. and I'm talking pro riders fast here.
they weight the inside peg to make the bike lean faster into the turn.

the seat is there for a reason, don't stand up on the pegs with your weight you will wear yourself out. and it will make you hang on with your hands. which you DON'T want to do either.

you live in Cali, there is a ton of tracks there. I'm with the other guys on this one, unless you are already a decent rider, leave the learning for a track. you will have a run off area in the grass if you get scared and stand the bike up. on a road, you usually have who knows what. and if you get hurt the track has EMT's less than a min away.
 
#12 · (Edited)
lots of seat time. if you havent put in at least a few trackdays and/or 5 or so thousand miles of canyon riding alone dont even worry about dragging a knee yet. yes it takes that long to do it with relative saftey. remember the point is to take a corner fast...thats it. getting a knee down is no big deal and just because you can doesnt mean you're fast at all.
i agree with serpentracer, weighting the pegs is just one school of riding thats seems to have gotten popular over the net. there are plenty of pro riders that dont do that. i personally use my outer leg on the tank and the seat to place my weight.
also dont go trying to drag knee through one or two particular corners over and over or in a parking lot. its not a very good idea simply in terms of traction issues. if you're going to practice in the canyons makes sure you're really warmed up and so are your tires. just keep riding through the whole road, it will happen eventually. also dont worry about body position too much. if you want to hang off alot than do it. its better to have your knee down long before you're at the fronts edge than vice versa for now.
 
#13 ·
Dragging knee will happen. Don't "try" to drag knee. It encourages improper form and body positioning and will likely cause you to crash.

Do some reading on proper technique and body positioning, then go to a few track days, concetrating on doing what you've read and being smooth. The knee will go down naturally.
 
#14 · (Edited)
The street is not the place to "try" and drag a knee. If you want to learn to go fast...take a class and get out on the track.
My focus is not dragging a knee its something that just happens. I use the knee as a lean indicator which lets me know how far I can go. I see a lot of people that try and drag the knee by reaching out for the ground. Dragging the knee just to drag it doesn't accomplish anything. just my two cents
 
#15 ·
herman818 said:
How did you guys learn to drag knees? I have an 07 and want to get the most out of my riding experience. I've been licensed for a while but still consider myself somewhat of a novice. I can get around town no problem on city streets but have yet to attempt the freeway. Any advice on how to start leaning hard?
You've never been on the freeway and your worried about dragging knees :dunce: Get comfortable with the basic first.
 
#19 ·
liquidicy said:
say you are turning left and leaning left and bike isn't leaning as far as you want it to, do you pull on the right handlebar with force or should you hang off even more and use your body weight only?
i wouldn't recommend pulling on the other handle bar. just enter the turn later and push the inside handlebar harder.
 
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