The history of knee dragging has been the subject of another Common Tread article, so I don’t have to cover that all over again, but the CliffsNotes are it developed organically over the 1960s and rose to prominence with Kenny Roberts in the mid-1970s. Just like Rossi’s leg dangle, if Kenny was doing it and winning, why wouldn’t others adopt the same style? It spread quickly after that, but Kenny was not the very first.
Aesop’s Fables has the story “The Fox and the Grapes,” where a fox covets some high-hanging grapes but finds them out of reach. In his frustration, he declares the grapes must be sour. That’s the source of the expression “sour grapes.” Many riders who haven’t been able or had the opportunity to drag their knee have sometimes taken that position, stating, “It’s not that important,” “I’m focusing on my skills,” “It’s not worth the risk,” or some other statement. We’ve all done this in one area of our lives or another. It’s sometimes referred to as “self-serving bias.” With that said, I have witnessed blazing fast riders who rarely, if ever, touch a knee down running circles around riders who regularly grind their knee pucks to nothing. Knee dragging is not a reliable indicator of speed or skill.
Let’s get some context, however. In my opinion, if you are going fast enough to drag your knee on a public road, you are generating enough lateral acceleration that altering your line for a sudden change of conditions lies somewhere between difficult and impossible. Excessive speed on public roads has a more sinister layer beyond exposing the rider to danger: it exposes other motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and bystanders, who never agreed to that level of danger, to life-threatening scenarios.
However, dragging your knee is like your first kiss: You’re likely to remember it for the rest of your life. I did a poll on social media asking whether wheelies or dragging a knee was more desirable, and the knee down won by a significant margin. In a way, it’s transformative, but why? How can skidding your knee across the asphalt be important? Some drag the side of their boot and don’t get anywhere near the “moment” the knee provides. There must be something to it.
Are there any real benefits to dragging a knee?
I think there are a few things. The first that comes to mind is what my father, Keith, wrote back in 1982 in “A Twist of The Wrist Volume I” “Knee dragging gives you a sense of security. It is strange how this works, and I don’t really understand it, but somehow being in close proximity to the pavement makes falling off seem less dangerous. Perhaps it is because you have already contacted the enemy and know where he is.”
Perhaps the most practical advantage, in my opinion, has to do with proprioception. Proprioception is the body’s ability to sense its position, movement, and orientation in space. It helps you know where your limbs are without looking and allows for coordinated movements. As a lean angle gauge, the knee is probably more accurate and sensitive than you might think. Even a millimeter of movement on the hip joint can be perceived with ease, giving the rider a very keen sense of lean and, sometimes more importantly, changes in lean in a corner.
What do you think about dragging a knee?
