Can I just give up on trying to get a knee down?

Hi all,
Newbie here.

I've been doing track days for 2 years and this year I'm thinking about doing some racing. I'm getting faster but for the life of me I can't get a knee anywhere near to down. Seems to be an issue with flexibility and short legs relative to height.

Can I just give up on it and focus on other aspects of riding? Is it really necessary for amateur racers?

TIA -benny

 

it will come , just keep riding and work on other things.. !!!

 

I actually had a friend that for the life of him was deathly afraid of touching his knee down. The hell of it was he actually got pretty damn fast and refused to scrape a knee puck. Stop thinking about it and just focus on riding, by making it your goal, your actually putting too much pressure on it and making it harder on yourself. In time my friend finally got used to it and started dragging, but has hardly gotten any faster since!
So, don't worry about it. Just focus on being a better, faster rider.

 

+1 it will happen when it is time. Focus on the track not your knees.

 

We all have wanted to drag our knees on the track, something about the coolness factor and not knowing any better. Anyway, just focus on speed and it will come. Now I'm trying to pull my knees off the ground some so I don't wear out the sliders so fast.

I doubt it's a height think, look at DiSalvo and Pedrobot, they're midgets.

 

Get off the bike more , Get your ass off the bike the knee will come

 

as said, it's should be a result, not a goal. :up:

 

It was a very cool feeling when I put my knee down the first time.:up:
Now, like paistes says, I'm trying to keep it off the ground.

If you're close to Mid-o, you can't help but to have it down through the keyhole.
I think that's the easiest place I've ever been to get a knee down.
I can run at Putnam and Nashville all day and never touch.

It's awesome at first, but after you burn through a couple sets of pucks, you calm down

 

Okay folks, it's time someone spilled the beans about getting your knee down. Don't listen to these guys, coming off all cool and acting like there's nothing to it.

Getting your knee down is everything. It's the holy grail of riding. The sensation you get when your knee slides across the pavement is better than a ten minute orgasm. Once you can get your knee down your wee-wee doubles in size and women won't leave you alone.

Okay, I'm exaggerating a little. But I will say this: Reaching the point at which I could get a knee down predictably made a *huge* difference in my capability as a rider. The ability to graze the surface of the tarmac with the knee slider made it possible for me to know exactly how far the bike was cranked over and to get instant feedback the moment a tire started to slip out.

Everyone has different personal styles and limitations, but the single most important step for me in getting to that point was when I began concentrating on putting my weight on the outside footpeg when leaning into a turn (rather than putting a lot of weight on the inside footpeg).

 

Tally is a pretty easy place to get one down, especially the one right hander. Plus, if you mess up and have to stand it up, you can ride it out.

 

I only got my knee down after I gave up trying. Now that my elbow's my "coolness" goal, the closest I've come (while still being able to control the bike) is when I haven't been trying to get my elbow low.

 

TrackjunkieX, what tracks do you ride on?

 

knee draggen

Holy crap,don't worry about that knee!! Focus on your riding all that knee is out there for is a feeler. You can be really fast and never drag your knee!!!

 

Ive ride in race group everywhere and never touched down, Ive given up and my friends just crack up when they follow me..........The best is passing a rider on the inside whilst THERE knee be buried in the asphalt and you just scoot by.

 

Finally got my elbow down for the first time, problem was it was at Summit in turn 1 after hitting some oil and crashing for the first time. Never want to get a elbow down again.

 

Knee dragging won't necessarily equate to fastness. I had learned to drag a knee for a few years before I set wheels on a track. I arrived at Talladega, saw how few of the novices had ever put a knee down, drug my knee through every single corner and only turned a 1:20 by the end of the day. I remember asking an instructor "What do you need to do to turn a 1:00?!?!" Wait till you have bought a few knee sliders and start adding up all the money from them.

 

or just keep going and return the paddock via the "gate of shame"...

 

Haha yeah that's why I added the control qualifier lol.. shit, I've dragged elbow lots of times.. also my shoulder, head, .. other shoulder, other elbow...

 

Don't worry about it, I can drag a knee almost anywhere but I'm slow. I know a bunch of people who are much faster then me and hardly ever drag a knee.
I'm tall (6.2) an draging knee is easy for me. The goal is not to drag knee just use it as a feeler. Knee pucks can get expensive.(at first it's cool then it just gets expensive - sort of like tires)

 

Joe Morris doesn't ever touch his knee and he spanks me every time (on the track....not off). I, however, like the feeling of my knee on the ground, so I will continue to do so. I may even lean off too much, but it's just what I'm used to. IMO, don't worry about it. Just do what feels natural.