Good Catch! .. I have to work on my left foot placement more in order to get the right knee down. That is the root of my problem because I can't get my lower body off the bike nearly enough on that side. Unfortunately this knowledge came a little late and the weather is too cold to be practicing anymore. Looks like next riding season before I can post up some figure 8's.

Being that I will have all this time not riding,I will be using JBrowns resources and learning alot about my suspension (Thanks). And you're right JBrown ... once I convienced myself that my bike could be dropped trying that left hand turn and just went with it and hoped my frame slider would do its job. Sure enough it was ok and just one big worry on my part that was limiting my ability to go further with my bike.

 

I would recommendfirst setting your stock suspension properly,seek out the assistance of an experienced person for this which will save youa lot of time. Get a base setting for static sag, compression and rebound and then see how it feels. Make small incremental adjustments to fine tune, make one changeat a time only andthen get a feel forwhat that change does or doesn't do for you.

You can get byon the street with suspension that is setup just so-so, you cangreatly improve rideability on the street with proper adjustmentsbutsuspension performancebecomes a limiting factor as you push the envelope at speed on the track or the street since it's what keeps the rubber to the road and minimizes chassis instability. If you progress past the limits of the stock suspensionto keep the bikeplantedand stable at the speeds you're runningthen you may want to explore anupgrade and it doesn't always require tossing the stock bits away. I had fork revalving done on a stock 929for about $300.00 and it made a world of difference over the bumpystuff. If you've got more cashto play with there'sgreat options there too. I thinkitcomes down to two questions, 1)Are the current suspensiondynamics holding me back from the performance level I wantto achieve?2) if yes to #1 then how much am I willing to invest?

You strike me as a guywho wants to testthe performance of the bike and yourself to the limits, whichreminds me of myselfsome years ago. So as to the tire question I couldn't say whether the Pilot Powers will be night and day from what you're using now, but they're very good street tires after warmed upwith a reputation ofneeding a touch extra warmupbefore being pushed. But.....and here's where I may get preachy.....if you plan to seriously test any limits and are the kind of guy who willkeeping seeking the next bit of performance thentake itoff the street andtothe track.At the track use race compound tires or at least tires rated as street/track, many will say streetcompound tires are fine fortrack days but I'm no longer of that school after experiencing the limits of some OEM Dunlops.

Right handers vs. left handers, interesting topic. I also found it much easier to hang-off on left handers then on right handers. What helped me was a suggestion a buddy of mine made.I think most riders tend to keep their hand/wrist perpendicular to the throttle. If you just sit on the bike and practice hanging off to the right you'll find that keeping your wrist perfectly perpendicular to the throttle limitsyour body position, your elbow sort of jams into your body and you can't drop your shoulder down. The suggestion that helped me was while dropping in to a right hander hold the throttle more like you would a screw driver then the handle of a lawn mower, this allows the elbow to extend outwardmore which allows the shoulderand upper torso to more easily drop down to the side.

Best of luck, be fast but be safe out there!

 

I see that this is an old post, but something important to remember: Your tires aren't going to warm up enough on the street to try dragging knees safely (not that dragging knees on the street is the best idea anyway ). On track they'll get much hotter and stickier from all of the friction making it safer and less likely to wash out.

 

In a little late on this one but there are two things I disagree with in this thread:

I can safely say that statementisn't true. Slowest I've been with a knee downis around 15mph and it wasn't all that difficult.

What's harder than gettinga knee down at 15mphis shifting weight and flopping the bike to the other side.

They certainly will....only difference is the safety factor which has nothing to do with tire temps.


FWIW: When it's available,a few of us gather to practice riding tecniques at a very large parking lot where an MSF course is held. It seems to be tolerated and, judging by some of the "audiences", even somewhat welcomedby the owners of the property as we have not been kicked off the property and no LEO's have shown up.

Something to considertohelp keep it off the public roads.

EDIT: Bad Engrish

 

Thanks again guys. Definately keeping this off the road. Of course when I firststarted riding, I was in the mindset that thats what ridings about... but I quickly understood why this should be kept to the track. Next riding season I will be hitting the trackdays as much as I can. .. When temps warm up I'll be working on my right turns and getting my head down more.