Seth first enlightened me to the fact that dragging knees was so blase in the world of two wheeled mayhem, by exposing me to elbows are the order of the day. Now it seems there is a new world record for the antics Josh Herrin beats Marc Marquez: as elbow-drag record holder | GPone.com . Almost 102feet at 100mph......are face plants right around the corner !?!?!?!!!
Fabio Quatararo told a photog to stand at a particular location last year because a bunch of riders were nearly shoulder down.
If you poke around you cand find supermoto riders playing at the helmet down game. But that's just silly.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
I already thought motorcycle racers were a special kind of crazy..
If you poke around you can find supermoto riders playing at the helmet down game.
that's just another level..
Next week can we cover the whole straight leg into a turn motocross style? Seems like a hip buster to me .
I knew they were crazy the first time I saw a vintage bike racer that had the open unfiltered intake of his carb aimed right at his marriage tackle maybe 2 inches away. Just waiting for that last backfire through the carb, I guess.
A Jerry Lee Lewis moment for sure (Great Balls of Fire)
mazdeuce - Seth said:Fabio Quatararo told a photog to stand at a particular location last year because a bunch of riders were nearly shoulder down.
If you poke around you cand find supermoto riders playing at the helmet down game. But that's just silly.
I have done that a few times, not intentional.. All have ended with me being dislodged from my bike and tumbling down the track, two of which where followed with a ride in an ambulance and surgery to repair collar bones.. All that and i still want to get back out there and drag a knee, I am good with the knee only.
So as a non rider, what's the point in being sideways through a turn?
I'm assuming lower center of gravity and shorter distance traveled lets you carry some extra speed through, but getting back up again surely has to pull off some of the benefits of almost skinning yourself?
In reply to RevRico :
When you ride you are part of the bike in a way that you're not in a car. Those bikes weight about 350lbs (as per the rules) and most of the riders are in the 150lb range. So our of 500lbs 30% of it is movable balast. To add to that, modern tires turn best at absurd lean angles. If you look at the picture above he actually has to tuck his knee and elbow in to get the lean angle that the bike wants.
There are a couple of good articles/videos out there explaining the evolution of riding style and how we got where we are. It's not dissimilar to looking at how slip angle in car tires has changed through time as compound and construction changed, it's just the dude hanging off the side of the bike makes is look a bit dramatic.
Even on the bikes I ride at the level I do (where I'm half the weight that's riding around) just putting on a tire with a different profile means you have to adjust your riding.
Lower center of gravity = reduced lean angle required to cut a given arc at a given speed. A rider sitting upright would reach that lean angle at a lower speed. Hanging off lets you increase the speed through that arc.
And yes, it's a very physical game. No race seats and belts on a bike... you have to use your body to counteract all the cornering, acceleration and braking forces.
When I was racing bikes, touching down an elbow was just starting to happen with the top end racers (not counting the Youtube knuckleheads). The tire technology that makes this possible is pretty amazing.
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