Total Motorcycle Community Forums

When I'm hitting up the twisties, I'm really tempted to drop my knee down and see how much better it would be. However, I don't wear special pants that have the pucks over the knees.

I don't really understand how dragging a knee is better than dragging a peg. I know its generally better to drag the knee (since motogp riders do it) but I cant grasp the concept of it.

So you transfer your weight to the side your leaning towards, and your butt is hanging off, and your head is looking over the side your turning. Your bike is more "upright" but how does that translate to faster cornering? When I scrape my peg, my bike is leaning over a lot, so I assume I'm going way faster than someone who isnt leaning over as much since their knee is down.

Someone care to explain?

You kind of confused the issue.

First, don't drag a knee without protection unless you like bleeding and pain.

Second, to keep the bike from dragging parts like pegs, and to keep the bike more upright for better traction, a racer shifts his body to the inside of the turn. By putting his weight all the way into the turn he can, the bike stays more upright and can turn sharper. The act of shifting the weight into the turn tends to cause your knee to hang out. In addition, the lower the leg, the more weight is shifted to the inside. The pucks keeps the knee from grinding on the pavement. If they could shift their weight as much without dragging the knee, they would. However, the knee out attitude shifts the weight the most.

If you are not on a track, dragging a knee has a lot of bad consequences.

First, you are going to fast for the street. The street is not like a track, there are unknown factors, debris in the road, other traffic, slick spots, etc. Riding so hard that you drag a knee means there is NO margin for error or unexpected occurrences.

Streets have bumps and potholes. If you are dragging a knee and hit a manhole cover, a raised portion of road, a hole, you may not be walking well the rest of your life.

You can be pretty sure by the third lap of a track what the track looks like. But a street, even if you just rode on it ten minutes ago, may now have a dropped muffler, an oil or antifreeze spill or alike.

REad the news and you will see plenty of examples of riders who didn't realize these facts.

Remember, you want to read the news, not be the news.

Well said, Richard!

Thanks for the explanation. I just need to buy some pants.

And medical insurance.

Getting medical insurance sure helps my grasp the understanding of knee dragging. Thanks!

Getting medical insurance sure helps my grasp the understanding of knee dragging. Thanks!

Well, you mentioned the pants, but not the track, in your reply. According to the above explanation, if you try this on streets, you are going to need medical insurance.

MZ33 wrote:

Getting medical insurance sure helps my grasp the understanding of knee dragging. Thanks!

Well, you mentioned the pants, but not the track, in your reply. According to the above explanation, if you try this on streets, you are going to need medical insurance.

Everyone on a bike should get extra med insurance, chances are good medical isn't covered by regular auto/bike insurance. It costs extra.

I also didn't mention I had medical insurance, but why would I? Its irrelevant to what I was asking. I didn't mention I wear a helmet either. Everytime I come to this forum, I try to type very conservatively and thorough in order to minimize responses similar to Matthew's. It always seeps through somehow.

CT - getting back to the gist of your original question........ there's two books I've found very helpful in explaining various performance riding techniques, including conservation of lean angle (that's what the weight shift is for):

Nick Ienatsch, "Sport Riding Techniques"
Lee Parks, "Total Control"

They're not super-expensive (under $20 each from Amazon) and well worth the price.