knee dragging

i know its a newb question, but whats the point of dragging your knee? I get pretty low on my bike, I never feel the need to drag a knee. Sometimes I stick my knee out and lean off the side trying to mimmick what i see on TV, but I don't notice any advantage to it. My only guess is that it by putting your weight all to one side it lets you keep the bike more upright so you dont scrape.

Here is some info I found on a site. I wanted to give it a try so I put on my full leathers and went to a parking lot. Well I got both knees down, then I got the frame slider down =/. After reading this I realised I am doing some of it wrong. Another good idea is have someone photo you so youll see how far your actually getting off the bike. ........ Again this was taken from another site, so dont hold me liable! "Please, tell me how to get my knee down." I’ve heard it a hundred times. As a veteran instructor with STAR Motorcycle School, and a track day organizer who’s put on many dozens of track events and novice schools over the last several years, I talk with a lot of riders. Questions from riders are pretty varied. But the most common questions are certainly about riding position, weight shifting, and how to scrape knee pucks. Let’s start by asking what’s wrong with just sitting on the bike, centered across the seat and tank? Well, the answer depends on how fast you intend to corner. The fundamental notion of "hanging off" is that it allows you to keep the bike more upright, and that in turn provides a better tire contact patch. A better contact patch means better grip through corners and under acceleration. So it follows that with two riders traveling the same speed through the same corner on the same line, the rider who is centered on the bike has to lean the bike farther than the one hanging his weight off the bike. And the "centered" rider will have more difficulty managing the drive out of the corner because of his more severe lean angle and less desirable contact patch. Okay, let’s say you’re convinced that using your weight when cornering is wise. Where do you begin? Let’s break it down: Swivel around the tank Contrary to what a lot of beginners think, the movement of the lower body (legs and buttocks) is not a shift off the seat and away from the bike but rather a rotation around the tank. It’s a swivel. (This does not necessarily get your knee much closer to the ground -- let’s save that for later). Instead, focus on rotating hips and legs so that the forward leg corresponds to the turn direction. I.e., when setting up for a left corner, the left leg and knee are forward on the tank; the right inner thigh is pressed firmly against the right rear of the tank. Lead with the shoulder "Point the way" with the left shoulder for a left turn. Right shoulder for a right turn. Remember the rotation! Head and chest position Where’s most of your body weight? From the waist up, right? So use that body weight to your advantage. Your head and chest should not be centered over the tank. Position your head over your wrist. If you had mirrors, you would be trying to kiss the mirror! Keep elbows down and tucked in This is not flat track. Your elbows should be tucked in and kept low, with forearms parallel to the ground. This will help you stay relaxed on the bike -- it is harder to death-grip the handlebars and be stiff in the arms and shoulders. It will promote weight forward and chest down. And it positions your arms for the easiest and most effective steering input (nearly perpendicular to the angle of the forks). In a left corner you may find that your left elbow touches the tank or upper fairing, and your right elbow rests on the tank corner or even your thigh near the knee. Look through the corner Sure, everyone knows about target fixation and its danger. But it’s only dangerous if you’re looking where you don’t want to go! Find reference points to focus on to help you drive through the corner, and ones to aim for on the exits. Keep your eyes up, looking down the track and through the corners. This will also help you build confidence in speed, as everything slows down when you look farther out. Be smooth and use anchor points The bike is happiest without you on it. You force it to do unnatural things and fight its impulse for self-correction. One of toughest things for a bike to manage is jerky movement, whether it’s your braking and downshifting or your body weight moving or bouncing around. So, as you smoothly reposition your weight on the bike for an upcoming corner, use anchor points to "become one with the bike". That way suspension is handling one weight, not the bike doing one thing and you doing another. Use your "outside" heel (right heel in our example) on the foot peg heel guard, and press your outside thigh against tank. These anchor points are also useful to help turn the bike with your strong leg muscles. Stabilize your upper weight over the tank. Do NOT strangle the clip-ons. As you practice these techniques with the bike on a bike stand, see if you can let go of the handlebars while in your cornering position. If you cannot, then you’re using the clip-ons for support and that’s bad. Instead, use your stomach, back and leg muscles to support your weight. Have someone press on your back so you can feel the muscles you need to use to resist. Stick that knee out So, how about that knee? Well the truth is, if you want to use your knee as a gauge to measure lean angle, you have to stick it out. I mean, STICK IT OUT! Try this: stand up and imagine you’re facing 12 o’clock. Lift your left heel high, leaving your toes on the ground. Pivot your left leg on the ball of your foot so that your knee is pointing to 9 o’clock. That’s what you want. Can’t do it, or can’t do it in your leathers? Then you’re going to have to limber up or fix those leathers. In time, as your speed and lean angle increase, you will touch your knee down with much less effort. But the best way to get started is to exaggerate your motions. It is almost always the case that riders feel they’re leaning or hanging off far more than they really are. When they see pictures of themselves they often say, "Oh he caught me when I wasn’t practicing." There are obviously more techniques to use to help you steer, lean, and apply muscles and weight to improve cornering speed and skill (weighting foot pegs, counter-steering, throttle and brake control, among them). But practice the basics first and get them right. Remember, practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent. Learn to do it right early! For most people who haven't raced competitively and before you get enough experience at the track hanging off the bike may seem as much as showing off as a useless waste of energy when taking turns. The truth is that as a Professional Motorcyclist Racer could tell you, hanging off the bike is an important technique that does help to improve turning. Getting in more details as Rick Breuer from Learning Curves Learning Curves explained it to me hanging off the bike achieves the following objectives: 1. You can achieve closer radius of a turn with less tire surface (without going all the way to the edges) by hanging off the bike. Actually if you try you will see that you will have to go faster in order to have the need to use the edges of your tires. 2. It will help you get the bike all the way down to the edges of the tires if needed with less effort (less effort on the handle bars.) 3. And most important of all will give you the chance to put your knee down! Yes! This is an addicting act that will bring you tons of pleasure over and over again. The way to hang off the bike requires practice but it is fairly simple: 1. You must use only the ball of you feet on the foot pegs. 2. You must be able to stand off the seat slightly and hang off the bike from side to side. This should be done without dragging your rear and I mean your butt on the seat when going from side to side. 3. The leg on the opposite site you are hanging off to should hold to the gas tank and should not leave the foot Peg. If you look at your Gas Tank you will see that it actually has the form for the leg to hold on to. 4. When hanging off far enough your elbow (again on the opposite site you are hanging to) should also hold on to the tank. This will help you bring the bike down and help you stay on the bike. You can practice these techniques at your next track day. Ask your instructor or control rider to watch you and give you some tips. Here are a few pics of MightyDuc Racing to show you MightyDuc Racing wrote: I had a problem when I started. I felt like I was hanging off until I saw a picture of myself...lol. That actually showed me what I needed to do. Now I am working on getting my upper body farther forward in the corners. Here is the difference in me from Homestead (first pic) to Jennings (second pic) after seeing a pic of myself, then doing about five sessions working on it. It can be done quickly if you know what to work on. 2nd pic Different angle showing difference from Homestead (1st race) and Moroso (last race).

ok, well i think that should make the guiness book of world records for best answered question, thanks, that should be a stickie