[iwannadie]

whats the slowest speed you can get over far enough to drag a knee around a turn?

[Anonymous]

whats the slowest speed you can get over far enough to drag a knee around a turn?

Depends on the corner...I've seen guys get their knee down in a parking lot at less than 30mph...

[iwannadie]

whats the slowest speed you can get over far enough to drag a knee around a turn?

Depends on the corner...I've seen guys get their knee down in a parking lot at less than 30mph...

i used to go to this blockbuster almost daily(sometimes twice) and every time i would make this sweeping uturn. i really thought after a while i could lean enough to get a knee down if i really wanted. i was only doing maybe 20-30 around the turn and felt totaly solid doing it, never wanted to push it and dump the bike in a parking lot though lol.

[Just5cents]

As Peter said, getting your butt off the inside of the seat will reduce your lean angle and keep you from dragging hard parts. I HOPE that when you were executing this maneuver, you were leaning WITH the bike and not to the outside of the turn effectively pushing the bike down -- aka motorcrossing it.

In the hands of a capable rider, Katanas can take turns as well as any supersport bike that is in the hands of an incapable rider. Because of its weight, however, it will never corner as well as a lighter bike.

This article gives pretty good detail on the matter of speedy cornering:

http://www.soundrider.com/archive/sa...ng_unglued.htm

Thats a great link! But i noticed somthing that...well kinda boosted my confindence!

its said:
[The first step in learning to hang off is to get yourself unglued. Many of us are paranoid about moving around in the saddle, because we’ve noticed that wiggling around on the bike does strange things to the handling. Rather than live in fear of things we don’t understand, let’s get a handle on what’s happening, so we can use our weight to advantage when it’s appropriate.]
To be completely honest, i always did that from the start when i rode!!!!

So im basically one step ahead? I really want to learn how to drag the knee.....especially cause when i graduate i want to get into racing!!!

[SKNL2]

I just recently learned myself. The thing that helped me most was foremost, new tires -- prperly scubbed in, of course. It is easy to have confidence in good tires.

The other thing that helped was an article that I can't find now that said essentially, "Hang off the bike as far as you can. Then, once you think you are hanging off as far as you can, hang off further." It was quite hard up and to touchdown. Meaning, it is a scary feeling searching with your knee to find the road, until you do it. Once I felt my slider touch, I instinctively pulled my knee up, then chuckled at myself for doing so. After that, I was able to take turns with knee feeling out the ground at will. You "know" where it is and it is less scary.

It's best to, when your knee does touch, pull it up just a hair. Then if it touches again, you know that you are getting ready to drag hard parts and are reaching the limits of your lean. This I read in another's post somewhere.

Here's an article that explains it a bit. Be sure your tires are warm!

http://www.champ.org.uk/bikes/kneedown.htm

*Attempt on a closed course and at your own risk.

[jlmilloway]

this is one of the things that i love so much about the Kat. On my FZ600, if I was strafing the curves like that i had to be EXTREMELY smooth on the throttle coming out of a lean. The first time I hit a cuve really hard on the Kat i was simply amazed at the way it kinda "corrected" itself...I had not really set my enrance on the curve, so i was drifting over a bit much and had to flick the trottle pretty hard to adjust...running stock tires, so (UH-OH) felt the rear slip...stayed on the throttle and the darn thing just corrected itself, straightened itself out and stood up out of the curve. I'm not sure about the physics of the thing, but i do know the Kat is VERY forgiving. I feel alot more confident throwing it over that any other bike i've ridden. I love the damn thing. And my a$$ comes over (not off) all the time. I've never studied why or when to do it...just feels like the natural thing to do when you are digging into the curves. But i'm not dragging any knees or hard parts (on purpose) until i get new tires!

[hartsell61]

I like to drag my entire body AND bike through a corner

HAHA hope never to get that far over

[TIGKAT]

Just one piece of advice learn from my mistake REMOVE THE CENTER STAND before you try leaning to far. I was stoped at an intersection- the ligt turned green - I turned left and half way through the turn the foot plate ( or what ever it is called) for the center stand scraped and it kicked my rear tire off the ground and put me into a small but scary wobble and some how I managed to get control and lucky for me there was nobody to my right because I needed the lane to my right to save my ass/pride as I was only going about 30 kph at the most!

[nitrostamped]

good info thx guys

[milano]

im fairly new rider when should i try to lean that far

[md86]

im fairly new rider when should i try to lean that far

When you are comfortable . I've had the Katana for like 4 or 5 years now , and I've STILL never drug a knee . It's JUTS outside of my comfort zone . I push myself a bit , but I don't wanna push TOO hard . That's when you panic and "bad things" happen .

[05Kat600]

Great thread! I got some of my own questions answered.

[sharpie6]

I just got some leathers with pucks and went out to try this knee dragging business. I was very surprised at how far off the seat and leaned over you need to be. I only made a couple unsuccessful passes before deciding I wasn't comfortable enough to go any further (For now). I thought I was leaned over enough to easily get a knee down. My cousin, riding behind me, told me i still had 6-9 inches to go! I couldn't believe it. I felt like I should have been dragging the whole time. After reading this thread though it sounds like I wasn't hanging off to the fullest potential.

[katman05]

whats the slowest speed you can get over far enough to drag a knee around a turn?

I've dragged my knee doing circles in a parking lot, probably doing about15 to 20 mph. After you do it once every time after gets easier and feels more natural.

[a4cruiser]

Years ago when the thread started, I was hitting the peg feelers. I have now learned to hang off the bike and haven't hit the feelers. Now I guess I am getting better and leaning the bike and myself further and further and only hit the feels once. When I hit the feel, it was a really tight, slow left turn. I was maybe doing 20 to 30 mph. Maybe I made a mistake when it hit by not hanging off far enough. It was at the end of a quick little S turn. Fun stuff.

Along with good tires, my confidence in cornering and maneuverability has gone up