Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Trackdays & Race Schools > body positioning & weight (track riding)

[andyb]

Originally Posted by bradders

so if I sling the bike on its side, ala aforementioned schools, will it just topple over?!?


ok I'll own up; real reason I want to know is if I can lean the bike as far with me hanging off as I do when not hangimg off....get my knee down if I can!!

an example

OK so on this piccie, you look as though your sat on the spike thats in the centre of your seat...... if you had moved your ar$e over generally in preperation on arrival to the corner maybe as your braking in the straight line, so your left cheek was the only one on the seat pad oyu would virtually be knee down.

[andyb]

you could also practice by moving your head to around where the wing mirror would be....... look at someone pretty like rossi or whoever and try to mimmick their style.....it will feel alien but when you go look at the pictures at the track you will look right!

[bradders]

yep, do the head thing, especially on the road and on my bimmer!! have some good (better than above) pics of me doing that at brands, so kind of move my uppper body but not the bottom bit

s'pose I'll have to try and hope survival kicks in when its needed, not because it thinks its needed!!

[twpd]

If you're talking about wanting to ride fast then the key to that is comfort on the bike. You need to adopt a riding style and position that makes you feel comfortable and relaxed to the point where you are feeling no discomfort and positioning is not impinging on the job at hand - riding. This will allow you to concentrate properly.

What works for you might not work for someone else and in this case I really do think you need to figure this out for yourself. With all respect, you're a big lad so some skinny rake isn't going to help you with this. If you approach a corner and you're spending mental effort trying to position yourself in manner that someone else thinks is correct then you're not going to make the best job of that corner.

Compared to some people I barely hang off at all either on the road or on the track. This has both advantages and disadvantages, but it works for me.

[Glyn]

i found at first it does feel wrong but after a while you get used to the new position. i started by concentrating on getting my upper body over first, when that started to feel good i moved my backside out of the seat in order to help. when i got the hang of that i started to try and get the right wieght balance on my legs.
hanging your arse off and leaving the rest of you over the middle of the bike doesn't help at all

[bradders]

TWPD - I guess my main worry is running out of lean angle. I use all my tires on the road, have been known to scrape parts and carry a reasonable bit of corner speed too. If I want to go racing again (and I do!!) the only way I can up my corner speed is to use less lean anlge, and use my weight instead (so I'm told)

Glyn - I guess give it a go is the massage, ta

[twpd]

Originally Posted by bradders

TWPD - I guess my main worry is running out of lean angle. I use all my tires on the road, have been known to scrape parts and carry a reasonable bit of corner speed too. If I want to go racing again (and I do!!) the only way I can up my corner speed is to use less lean anlge, and use my weight instead (so I'm told)

In the main that is correct. Run out of tyre and you will crash. However, if you have even the slightest bit of tyre left you will be amazed at how many extra degrees of lean you have left. 2-3mm of tyre might give you another 5-10 degrees of lean depending upon tyres, tyre pressures and the corner/camber.

I look at your photo and to my mind you're not really anywhere near using up all that tyre. If you look at the foto of me below you will see I am achieving very high lean angles, but typically when I check the tyres I still have a bit left so, clearly there's more lean angle to be had. I have only once run out of tyre that I can recall.

[



I look at your positioning on the bike and you seem very stiff and set to me. Look at my arms and how they are bent compared to yours - yours are dead stiff and locked straight. At the risk of causing some offence, and I don't mean to, some of this is probably a result of your physique. That will dictate to you how to sit on the bike and until you change that physique it is going to be difficult to do much about your positioning or that way you clamber over the bike. By the same token tall blokes find it hard to tuck in, small blokes find it hard to keep a foot on the outside peg when cornering. Everyone's physique has a bearing on their positioning on the bike.

It's all very well someone telling you to hang off more, but if you can't for whatever reason then you are going to be forcing yourself to try to ride to a style that won't work for you.

You talk about upping corner speed - there's other aspects other than outright corner speed where you can gain time on the track.

[Chris Wood]

Do what you need to be fast? By feel.

I never got my knee down, felt better tucking it in and trying to get my head forward and over the front? Doohan style was my inspiration.

I used to push the bike down, got some coaching, " keep the bike as upright as possible, get you body over and down'.

Bradders, you're a big unit, no doubt, so can you pick yourself up and then down, just using your legs, from one side to the other, not just sitting on/in the seat?

[bradders]

Originally Posted by Chris Wood

Bradders, you're a big unit, no doubt, so can you pick yourself up and then down, just using your legs, from one side to the other, not just sitting on/in the seat?

made me laugh!

dont think I can no, tho not tried it...but the more I can use other than my arms, the more steering I can do

[TP]

They teach it perfectly at the California Superbike School Paul, why not give them a try?

http://www.superbikeschool.co.uk