Of Flapping Knees And Wagging Heads

[mugget]

So, flapping knees and waggling heads. I'm just finishing watching last weekends WSBK racing from San Marino and thought I'd ask about this. It's always stood out to me how some riders in particular like Haslam seem to make a energetic "flapping" motion with their knees as they're braking and downshifting for a corner. Also the commentator noticed how much Fabrizio moves his head at different points like exiting a corner and changing direction, getting setup for another corner etc. The comment was made that he's the only person outside of a rock band that moves his head so much.

 

I just kind of dismissed it as "their style", and I figure they know what works for them. But then I got a bit curious and wondered if anyone knows why they actually do those things? Maybe it's part of their "rhythm", or helps them with timing? Maybe those actions help to mentally prepare and "attack"?

 

It's interesting because those guys look like they're working really hard with those extra movements, but you look at Biaggi as an opposite example and he's always super-smooth with not a wheel out of line and no unneeded movements.

 

What do you think?

[Bullet]

So, flapping knees and waggling heads. I'm just finishing watching last weekends WSBK racing from San Marino and thought I'd ask about this. It's always stood out to me how some riders in particular like Haslam seem to make a energetic "flapping" motion with their knees as they're braking and downshifting for a corner. Also the commentator noticed how much Fabrizio moves his head at different points like exiting a corner and changing direction, getting setup for another corner etc. The comment was made that he's the only person outside of a rock band that moves his head so much.

 

I just kind of dismissed it as "their style", and I figure they know what works for them. But then I got a bit curious and wondered if anyone knows why they actually do those things? Maybe it's part of their "rhythm", or helps them with timing? Maybe those actions help to mentally prepare and "attack"?

 

It's interesting because those guys look like they're working really hard with those extra movements, but you look at Biaggi as an opposite example and he's always super-smooth with not a wheel out of line and no unneeded movements.

 

What do you think?

 

 

I think you've nailed it on the head Mugget, it's a style thing, and actually shows in many ways they're not very stable and locked onto their bikes. All that extra movement goes into the bike as well, and you can imagine it can't help. As you rightly said, it also looks dammned hard work to doesn't it?

 

I also remark when questioned about such things that the very, very best riders in the world (and lets be really clear, Haslam and all the WSB riders on the grid are very, very talented front to back), don't look like they're having a fight with their bikes. Stoner is very active on his bike perhaps compared with some of the others, but if you can spot, he's really implementing many of the drills on a bike we coach at CSS. The difference being, he's doing them mid turn (in some cases), with the bike sliding/spinning up, balancing the bike on gas/traction. That's a different thing to flapping around though, that's intimate skill and feel.

 

Bullet