Quote from: RVertigo

Quote from: StevenESeriously, I think the guy in the picture is down, lowside.

He's gotta be...

Undeniably.  It's all over but the crying...

Quote from: nisus1i don't get it though, i.. when going around a sharp turn at speed, say a left curve... will lean my bike left and kinda move my body right to stay more upright.  This keeps your center of gravity and weight over the wheels more.  Feels natural to me and i can get my bike as far over as it can possibly go...

Still, cool pic.

like others have said. you want the BIKE as upright as possible and you achieve this by hanging off INTO the turn. this puts more of the meat of the rear tire on the ground, instead of the edges of the tire giving you more grip. thats why racers and track addicts do it-to go faster around a bend.

You are riding like someone rides a dirtbike, or riding slow maneuvers. get your body forward and inside the bike. look at my avatar.

Nick Iensatch's book is "Sport Riding Techniques" and is a GREAT book.

Quote from: pantablolook at my avatar.

sorry, I meant this:

it's like they say life on two wheels begins at 45 degrees.

As much as I dislike Yates..........

Quote from: pantablolike others have said. you want the BIKE as upright as possible and you achieve this by hanging off INTO the turn. this puts more of the meat of the rear tire on the ground, instead of the edges of the tire giving you more grip. thats why racers and track addicts do it-to go faster around a bend.

... I understand the words, but I don't quite understand the physics.  Assuming one rider is directly in line with his bike, and the bike is at 45 degrees to the ground, how does another rider hanging off their bike with the exact same lean turn any faster?

Is it just a matter of beginning a turn faster by not having to shift all your weight around a centre of gravity when pushing your bike over entering a turn?

I've made note of your dead tree reference Pablo, but do you have an online (read: free) one?  

C

(Not that I've ever ridden a motorcycle before, but...)

It seems to me like the idea of leaning way over while keeping your bike up is that you can can center of gravity down while keeping more tire contact.  The dude in the photo has quite a patch of tire on the ground.  If he had is bike all the way over with him, he's be riding on the sidewall (or not at all).

Quote from: aaronstj(Not that I've ever ridden a motorcycle before, but...)

It seems to me like the idea of leaning way over while keeping your bike up is that you can can center of gravity down while keeping more tire contact.  The dude in the photo has quite a patch of tire on the ground.  If he had is bike all the way over with him, he's be riding on the sidewall (or not at all).

Shifting your body weight around doesn't affect your tire's contact patches, only physically leaning the bike over does that.  If he was sitting up on his seat he could still lean the bike over just as far as the knee-draggers in the photos above, no?

I'm anxiously awaiting one of our track star comrades to straighten me out.

C

Right, but by leaning his body over, he lowers his center of gravity, so he can make a tighter turn.

Interesting (from a thread which used to involve the guy-hanging-off-a-toilet and guy-hanging-off-a-minivan pics):

QuoteNow, many think that this is so they can turn harder. This is not the case though. Really, this is so they know how much farther they have to lean before they lose traction and start dragging something important.

The knee is constant length and they know how close they are to the ground based on their knee dragging.

This makes sense to me, is there any more to it than this?

C

Quote from: cayInteresting (from a thread which used to involve the guy-hanging-off-a-toilet and guy-hanging-off-a-minivan pics):

QuoteNow, many think that this is so they can turn harder. This is not the case though. Really, this is so they know how much farther they have to lean before they lose traction and start dragging something important.

The knee is constant length and they know how close they are to the ground based on their knee dragging.

This makes sense to me, is there any more to it than this?

C

ok ...going to make it simple... while driving in straight line hang off left side of bike... now if you were to look at yourself head on you have a new center of gravity causing the bike to be more pitched to the left (right if from riders perspective) yet still you drive in a straight line.... so when leaning into a corner you have now given yourself MORE lean angle vs staying in the center of the bike. you are literally standing the bike more upright while in a corner... succesfully increasing the distance between your contact patch and the edge of the tire ...

Aerospike - I got my undergrad degree in Computer Science and Physics and it still took half a dozen readings of your post to get to the point where I think I might understand what you're saying.  I feel the need to go draw some diagrams.    

'04gs500f - That's a very interesting point too, have you noticed that you can  take a turn significantly more vertical when hanging off your bike (all other things being equal, of course)?  Damnit, now I *really* feel the need to go draw some diagrams!

Thanks, gentlemen.  This gives me another excuse to avoid packing this morning.

Cay

Hm...I've been told by some that I drag my a$$ through turns... does that count as an impressive riding technique?

I was kind of in denial...with the whole elbow thing...but after seeing the Aaron Yates pictures.....well...                        

BTW....according to the lee parks book...and keith code....hanging off more allows you to take a turn while keeping the bike's lean angle more upright...which equates more traction..etc.....

Jonah

does this help?

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

hahahahahhahahaha I can't stop laughing.............

Them are some big wheels.  :lol:

You can lean almost that far, though.

The owner of the dealership where I got my bike had his GSXR on display. The stator cover is ground down from dragging it through turns.

And before you ask, no, it's not from a lowside. The grinding is too regular, plus it's at an angle consistant with someone leaning instead of the bike sliding on it's side.