Knee To Knee Why It's Important!

[rchase]

When I took Level 3 Dylan spent a huge amount of time with me trying to make sure I had the Knee to Knee and Hip flick down. For some reason or another I preferred to lift myself from the seat and settle back into the seat in the quick transitions. Until I saw what it looks like.

 

Here's a photo of me snapped during a transition using the wrong technique. It feels ok on the bike but looks absolutely terrifying from the outside. My weight is on the pegs and I only have 4 points of contact with the bike two of which are the bars. How stable is the bike in this photo? I'm going to force myself to do it the right way from now on!

 

[FieryRobot]

Hip flick is really hard (for me, at least). I still haven't gotten it. But I am doing better, I think. I was trying it at Thunderhill the other week. But I fear I'm doing exactly what you are doing.

[rchase]

Part of my trouble is being out of shape and not really flexible as I should be. That's the negative part of having a desk job where I work from my house. I'm going to make a much more conscious effort to get out more and get moving. I'm also going to practice moving around on my bike on the stands so that I get the muscle memory and get used to the sensation.

 

While you are transitioning and on the bike it seems ok "just for a second" but as the speeds increase I can see how it would really become a huge problem. When your weight settles the suspension compresses and you are also putting input into the bars as it's one of your points of contact supporting your upper body. At higher speeds I could see this actually upsetting the bike enough to even cause a loss of control. That loss of control could be a handful if you are "standing on" the bike. One other thing to worry about. What if your foot slipped off a peg.

 

Seeing that photo was a "holy @**$" moment for me and made me realize the problem of "doing it wrong".

[ScrmnDuc]

Robert, take a look at your right arm and your body. What is your left knee not doing?

[rchase]

Robert, take a look at your right arm and your body. What is your left knee not doing?

 

It's not touching the bike at all.

 

The one good thing is I completely understand the why now. I'm just glad I saw it in a photo rather than with a visit from the pavement gods.

 

I hope others find this photo useful. It's slightly embarrassing for me to post it.

[Stroker]

I have made an observation.Even GP riders bounce on the seat during transitions through the eses.

[rchase]

Well. They are much lighter than I am and are riding on top of suspension that costs more than my whole bike.

 

I have done it correctly before at the school and it does make the transition much smoother. My goal is to do it the right way.

[Stroker]

No, the point i was making is even they could benefit from CSS.Lol...

[rchase]

That's true too.

 

That's one of the things I really love about riding. No matter what your skill level there's always improvements that can be made.

[YellowDuck]

Good topic. This is a problem for me as well. Here is butt-cam video of me doing it mostly wrong during a race this year.

 

 

Honestly I am not sure I could move across the seat very well on my bike without lifting my weight with my feet, because of the shape of the seat and also the tank. The bike is not a modern supersport design. There are aftermarket race seats available however so maybe I should look into that.

[Hotfoot]

Just a reminder, the purposes of hip-flick include getting across the bike quicker AND not using the bars to pull yourself across the seat (why all know why THAT would be undesirable, right?).

 

That does not mean you still keep your full weight in the seat while you do it - part of the drill is to use your legs (mainly your quads) to lighten your butt in the seat, to make it easier to slide across, then using your knee/leg to pull your hips across the seat instead of trying to pull yourself across using the bars.

 

This drill is taught after the knee-to-knee because an important part of the exercise is to keep a solid lock on the bike as you transition.

 

For a comparison, think about what a typical inexperienced rider would try to do - which would usually be to try to move the upper body first by pulling on the handlebar (which of course creates an unwanted steering input) and then release both legs and hop over the seat with a bounce on the pegs to get the butt to follow. So we have an unnecessary and unwanted steering input followed by an abrupt bounce on the pegs, all of which can create instability in the bike DURING a direction change, at a moment when the rider is poorly locked on the bike.

 

Hip flick allows the whole transition to happen a lot faster (because your leg is strong and can rapidly and smoothly pull your hips across the bike), keeps you firmly attached to the bike throughout the process (the part that Robert is talking about in his original post!), and eliminates any need to pull on the handlebars. An additional benefit is that since you have at least one knee locked on at all times and you are light in the seat during the transition, you are in a good situation to handle any unexpected bumps or wiggles due to an irregular road surface or loss of traction.

[rchase]

Great video Yellowduck. It will be a while longer on my diet before I ever have the bravery to mount a butt-cam on my bike! That bike sounds awesome btw. Between you and Jeff I might end up adding a Ducati to my collection one of these days.

 

The other night in my trailer with my bike still in the wheel chocks for transport I practiced a bit and managed to identify a few other minor issues which were all working in tandem to make things way harder than they needed to be. It never ceases to amaze me how little things matter in such a major way and how they affect more than one thing.