| Author | Message | ||
     Pkforbes87 |
I constantly see these badass pictures of guys riding their Buells leaned over at ridiculous angles, and I want to do that!  I know that the main ingredient in being comfortable enough to lean that far is rider skill. I've been riding for a little less than four years, about 33,000 miles combined between four different Buells. Since buying my XT last October, I feel like I've hit a wall on it where I'm no longer progressing and becoming a better rider. Not faster, not smoother, just not changing at all. I wanna learn something on that bike. I can climb on my X1 after a few months of unfamiliarity with the bike and within 100 miles I'm effortlessly scraping the rider pegs. Just can't seem to pull that off with the XT. The weird thing is, the XT feels like it takes less effort to ride, the X1 seems to respond well to more aggressive input from me. Are sticky tires a must-have for getting the bike over that far? I always ride with pretty hard compound tires. Syncs, Stradas, Angels. What about the effect of rider weight? I'm a pretty small guy at 5'8" 135 lbs. Anyone have some pointers? | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Just comfort with throwing it in, and the proper palce to do it, and proper body position and skill to keep it safe. Don't let anyone tell you that you need race rubber to get a bike over. This was taken in a parking lot, cracks, grass growing through, and with the stock Syncs on it.  And race rubber:  I've never really got after it on an XT, so not sure the limits of that, but with the taller suspension I would imagine it would take much more to get peg. (maybe you just have to be partly nuts?)  | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
For me, it was getting off the bike a little more and finding a spot where I was comfortable locking my knee into the pocket of the airbox cover. I also NEVER felt confident in the traction of the pegs. I roughed mine up with a Dremel. Everyone is playing with the same lean angles. The trick for me is to get yourself off the bike more and reserve the extra lean angle in the pegs. I feel that if I'm dragging, I don't have my body positioned correctly.  | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I've never dragged my knee either. Glad you mentioned the pegs, Jeremy. I've never been real comfortable with the XT pegs either, always feels like my outside foot doesn't have anything to hang on to while the rest of my body leans to the inside. By the way, that picture of you and Jim riding was in the 2009 GlitchCo calendar.. the December photo is still hanging on my wall for inspiration  | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I've also heard somewhere before, that a rider can look at his chicken strips and tell where he is most comfortable in a corner. My rear tire is always 1/4" or less, while the outer 1" on the front never touches asphalt. IIRC, the original source said that rear tire shows how hard you accelerate out of the corner while leaned over, and the front is affected by a combination of braking late and diving in quickly. Any truth to that? | ||
| Augustus74 |
If you take a MSF Rider Course, they will make you lean that far over, most people just don't have the confidence. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Following comment is my opinion: The place to put your knee down is at the track. I see people put their knees down on the street all the time, when they didn't need to do so. They're doing it just for the sake of doing it. Imperfections in the road surface make dragging your knee on the street a dangerous proposition. I overtake people in corners all the time, they have their knee down, and I'm barely shifting my weight to the side. Just saying. Please be careful, whatever you do. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
I've taken four of them. Basic, Experienced, and I've taken the Sportbike course twice. Never got a peg or knee down, although I was damn close while riding the Blast in the BRC  After some more self-analysis from a video that was taken by a buddy riding behind me a couple weeks ago, I think I need to start with trusting the tires more. At times it feels like I can't possibly lean the bike over any further without losing traction, but seeing myself ride for the first time from another point of view makes it look like there's a lot of lean angle left to play with. | ||
| Nillaice |
look, lean, and loose. look where you want to go lean not just one cheek off to the inside, get your shoulders over too loosen your grip, and don't tense-up. be poised. practice in a controlled area. some parking lots are not under police jurrisdition ... as far as traffic infractions. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I don't mess much with dragging a knee...but I routinely drag the outside of my toes (and yes, I ride balls-of-my-feet when I'm riding hard). And that includes the UlyX, which, by the way, has no chicken strips on the rear D616. The rest of the bikes have about 1/4" or so on the rear - and I chalk that up to most of my hard riding time being on the Uly. I could hang off more and probably get a knee down...but at street speeds, I don't see the need to throw sparks off the titanium bits inside my knees | ||
| Doughnut |
I have never been in a situation where I have needed to get a knee down. If racing the situation is different. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Unnecessary but fun knee downs: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-188061507 1565967158# http://gallery.me.com/garyp74#100087 Mostly for show. The principal is the same. For me, and I'm not the fastest guy you'll ever ride with, I rarely drag pegs. I want to hang off in order to keep as much in the traction bank as possible. I couldn't care less what my chicken strips are. For the street, keeping a quarter inch of tire never touched means you have left a little more of the contact patch in the event that the curve radius decreases, a dog runs out in front of you, or you roll over a walnut. I'd work on body position and not worry about touching a knee. That will come. | ||
| 86129squids |
I'd like to think I ride like Gary Nixon- I keep knees tucked in, focusing on my best inputs. I'd like to learn to ride harder at 45-48 degrees lean, but on the street, aint gonna happen. Too many variables. Riding fast on the street shouldn't be more than 8/10ths of what you consider your best effort. Not worth the risk. Maintain good tires. | ||
| Iman501 |
i know my body position sucks! I would like to improve this, I watched a few youtube videos on body position, they generally say something along the lines of "if I'm turning right i need to slide my body off the bike and lean in towards the right (or direction of my turn)." pretty much like the pictures you guys have above. My bad habits are that instead i tend to lean the opposite way and want to keep my body as vertical as i can, while i lean the bike left or right. I've succeed in scraping the toe of my boot/pegs by using my poor method, but i know its wrong. I was just interested in what tips you guys have on how to break my bad habits and relearn body position the correct way. i've tried getting off the bike and practicing the proper technique, yet it feels weird to me. | ||
| 86129squids |
Iman- "A Twist of the Wrist"... and a lot of luck and not so common sense... | ||
| Niceguyeddy |
I always tell passengers to "follow me,not fight me." It seems the same with me and the bike. I haven't scraped the pegs on the 12 but, my boots are beveled. | ||
| Greg_e |
It's funny... My 9R is the first bike I have never wanted to shift my weight in a tight turn. Older machines you kind of needed to hang off to get them to turn in, but not my 9R. I just kind of sit there and lean it way over, only about another 1/2 to 1/4 inch of unused rubber on the sides of the rear tire, which is way over on the street and getting a little past the sane and safe lean angle. Using Mich. Pilot Powers on both wheels and they seem to grip forever. The only thing I really need to watch out for is the crack repair tar, that stuff gets slick and leaned over like that there is no room left for a slide if you hit a big patch. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
everything you see on the track.... do the opposite on dirty forest roads.... Mess it up and you are in for a world of hurt, and fast. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Yep. Favorite bombing run has a section of gravel road. It's amazing how different I have to ride just that section than the rest of the run. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Getting a knee down on the public highways is a wank anyway. Save that sh*t for the track. | ||
| Danger_dave |
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| Danger_dave |
I've survived 35 years of riding more tan most. I'll give you my tip for road riding. Try and corner at speeds where counter-steering is an option. Don't get so far off that you can't 'push' the bike around an un-expected obstacle. An errant diesel filler cap on a prime mover, a cracked radiator hose dumping Glycol. Sooner or later you'll encounter them. I say leave a margin - trust only what you can see and don't worry about lean angles. I had two friends who were knee sliders on the road. They are both dead now. On the track I love it. California Superbike School is very impressive. The trainer here is a friend. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Dave, fantastic clip! If you want to get a knee down, make it a goal and sign up for some track days. I got it on my second one (xb9sx). I'm not interested in doing it anywhere that lacks corner workers with flags, managed track surface, single directional traffic, and engineered run-offs. On the street, Its very rare to even touch a peg on the 9sx or the XB12X (not even an XT). Used to do it on the M2 all the time, but that bit me once when there was a hidden (smooth) divot in the road surface. With proper body position, there just isn't much need. | ||
| Boliver |
Danger Dave Quote:I had two friends who were knee sliders on the road. They are both dead now. Um I think that says it all.Be sure to ONLY try this at the track. I've never had enough money to totally disregard the fact that if I go down I may need to spend more money on my paid for bike. | ||
| Iman501 |
i dont necicarrely want to get a knee down, but i do want to improve my form, i will have to find that book mentioned above! | ||
| Teeps |
To answer the title question. Race School: 'nuf said... | ||
| Danger_dave |
Sorry - didn't mean any lecturing tone. I do actually talk to a lot of kids about it. I tell them same thing about stunting. Time and place. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I rarely touch a knee down. If I do, it is usually a result of an emergency corrective action. That corner pictured is "Gixxer Corner". It's the "hero" corner where nice, knee down pictures are taken. I don't believe that I've touched down any where else in Suches. | ||
| 99buellx1 |
Agree. As a note to my pictures above, they are both in a controlled environment. I have and will never touch knee on the street, no need. | ||
| Barker |
You get more aggressive lean angles if you stay straight up on the bike. (where is that pic of froggy going thru gixxer corner on the uly? That is a great illustration. Carrying the same speed thru the same turn when you are hanging off the bike will lean less, stay more upright. The shift in CG allows the bike to stay more up-right. IMHO the trick to knee down is to move your shoulders and butt off of the bike before you turn.   (Message edited by barker on September 27, 2010) |
