Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Hangin' off question

[yeti]

After Snotty Snett, I'm convinced I need to hang off more and dump my Hailwood sit up and beg style.

I grabbed a destructor at Snett and he showed me how to wedge my offside leg between tank and peg, rest offside forearm on tank, shuffle bum across seat by a bum cheek's width and stick my knee out. He also showed me how important it was to drop the inside shoulder and move upper body outside of the fairing line toward the inside of the turn.

Anyway, I tried all of the above - which is why my times were slow as heck and it felt 'orrible. Not in control of the bike at all. Everybody says it will get better and I'll gain the confidence, but it's a long time till the next track day and I want to think about this and get my head round the technique over winter.

Anyone got anything to add to the above? Any alternative techniques? Felt the same out of control feeling? Be interesting to read the comments from those of you who have mastered the art.

:s ing:

[Clippy]

I felt dead awkward trying to do the hanging off thing at first, but found that this was because I was thinking too much about left arm here, left leg there etc etc.

All I do now is relax, shift one buttock as prescribed and make a point of moving my head to look over or through the point where the bike mirror on the inside of the corner would be (or still is if you're running road kit).

This drops the inside shoulder if you're relaxed and the rest seems to sort itself out without any need to spare it any specific attention.

So now I'm moving about the bike smoothly, hanging off and still slow instead of tense, jerky and slow!!!

Helpful as ever...?!

Giles

[Edited on 4-11-2004 by Clippy]

[pguenet]

The more you wrap yourself around the tank the better. I don't hang off much either but it makes a lot of difference when you actually lean your body forward over the tank.

motogp boys lean so far over that they don't hang off much too but they are virtually stuck to the tank.

Additionally, being like that would make you bend your arms a lot and feel a lot more relaxed, instead of tensing.

Biggest piece of advice I received as well doing California is that your upper body has to move with the bike. As if the shoulders were connected to the upper fairing. You may lean further (Tamada style) but never less than the bike. If you look at the Picman pictures from the DSC in Rocky, you'll see a lot of people quite clearly having their shoulders working totally opposit to the rest of the bike like a MotoXer would do. Clearly a superbike does not turn like a Xer!!

Cheers
p

[yeti]

good advice guys, keep em coming.

[Lily]

Someone suggested to me that angling your elbow towards your knee was a good wayt to keep it on a suitable line. It seems to work for me.

When I was told I should start doing this I felt a complete arse (and still do) but to get into the habit of doing it I started to do it all the time, even on the roads on easy corners etc. Not necessarily very quick and you look a total prat sometimes, but it gets you into the habit of doing it.

I still dont hang off much and dont really stick me knee out very often, but the extra does help with getting on the gas earlier for me.

[dickieducati]

it really is something you just need to practice. i feel very comfortable on the bike but still need to hang off more and get my upper body lower. but if im not hanging off with my knee out now if feels wrong. get out there and practice. the CSS will help too

[skidlids]

Originally posted by yeti
Anyway, I tried all of the above - which is why my times were slow as heck and it felt 'orrible. Not in control of the bike at all.

I know how you feel and tend to have a non hang off riding style, probably from riding roadbikes back in the 70s. I go along with what Philipe says.

Originally posted by pguenet
The more you wrap yourself around the tank the better. I don't hang off much either but it makes a lot of difference when you actually lean your body forward over the tank.
p

A few years back I got hold of one of my racer mates who had also been a bike training instructor as I was always impressed by his style when following around Gerrards at Mallory or Honda Curve at Pembrey to try and teach me how to do it, but even with his instruction I just couldn't get a confident feeling with doing all the things he suggested.

So I stick with what I know and what I'm confident in doing, I'm sure if I could master it and be confident in doing it I would improve my lap times, that said I am no slower than this mate in the race meetings and finish ahead of him as often as he finishes ahead of me.

Kev

[dickieducati]

i also beleive there is no right or wrong way. everyone can have a different style that works. just look at troy bayliss and colin edwards. 2 completely different styles but both quite quick.

[yellow916]

Yeti

I'm certainly no expert but what Philippe says makes sense. What you don't want to do is get your backside off the saddle but keet your head above the centre of the bike. You want to almost look round the side of the screen! In TOTW 2 (Chapter 19) there's a bit about pivot steering, where you pivot on the outside peg, which helps push your weight forward and off the bike to the inside, which is where you need it. Feels really strange at first but I think it's right. But others may have another view!

Andrew

[skidlids]

Also consider that one of the first things that a top rider does when he changes bike is to get the footpegs, bars and even seat adjusted to suit his style/body position.
Bradders found it much easier to move around on his bike after he fitted some rearset adapter plates that allowed him to relocate the standard pegs for a bit more leg room. For the track on my R6 and 748 I have the bars set slightly more splayed compared to what I use on the road. I would like to set my rearsets a bit higher but with the metal in my legs I tend to get cramps in my hip area.