Kneelers

[Sherman]

These kneeling chairs are popular with some people.

In regards to us:

When riding your feet are below your CG and the legs offer little help in terms on front rear weight-shift control.

Arms tend to bear weight from our semi-aggressive riding position.

Pillions put the squeeze on personal space during braking.

Pressure on Naughty Bits is uncomfortable. (Yeah yeah - weight loss would help.)

I wish to maintain a little space between myself and the tank for pressure and heat reduction, but pushing back on the bars is tiring. These blocks eliminate all unwanted pressure on my arms and limit my pelvis to a fixed distance to the tank.

Because we need to have our feet free to control the shifter and rear brakes we are limited to knee pads further up:

The kneeling blocks are shaped out of wood. (Yes these are ugly, but I have better ideas.) I made a small 18 gage stainless piece, wrapped in friction tape, that hooks under the leading edge of the fuel tank and screwed a 3/4 piece of oak to act as a lever. The blocks are hooked just above the plastic side cover. There is super velcro on the frame under the blocks. This is less than optimal, but these are for proof on concept only. I envision a 4" wide by 18 gage stainless strap under the tank wrapped around the frame in an upside down U-shape. The pads could be on a springed hinge welded to that strap for quick release. This strap could easily be through bolted via the main fairing screws near the sliders. However, these prototype models are easy on and off.

Here I am sitting on the bike showing the position. It would help if my footpegs were set further back for the thighs to be more vertical.

The final model should hinge to flip up out of the way for around town, and perhaps be adjustable on the fly for more aggressive riding. They are OK around town now provided there is not too much weight on the knees for normal riding (I had to shave wood off of the blocks and curve them to allow my legs to bend and release more easily.) I hope to travel several hundred miles over the next week for more trials.

So before I build my second iteration I thought I would throw it to the wolf pack for some feedback on this Thursday which is not a Friday thank you.

 

[fjrshanta]

Unique and creative idea :good:

Good work! You may just be on to something. Here is my 2.8 cents(due to inflation).

1) How will the paint on the flip-out fairing be affected?

2) Will the outward position of the flip-out fairing be lost?

Other than that....it looks like a good idea. Cant wait to see the next generation..

 

[Sherman]

I have a Gen1, so the flip out fairing is not an issue for me. Next time I am around a Gen2 bike I'll take a look.

 

[Silent]

Interesting concept.

 

[bikerskier]

At 6'2", I can already touch my knees on my Gen 1 fairing, when riding with elbows dropped and the boys up against the tank, but its not real comfortable on the knees. However, with about a 1/2 inch of pad, this idea has much merit, since I move forward and down when riding sweepers and twisties. Sockmonkey and I did a lot of this on our NAFO ride, since he is about the same height and he commented several times on how much better he could see his corner lines and entries doing this.

 

[monk69]

Just a FYI,I bought one of those chairs a few years back.It worked well for about a week,then it started bothering my knees.I tried softer,and smoother cloths,etc.,it would be ok for a while,then same old thing.......Could just be me.....Food for thought....

 

[zip]

This is a hell-of-an-interesting idea. I used a kneeling chair for many years starting in college, and miss it now. I've been thinking of getting another. Keeps one more attentive, and works the posture, I find. I could sit it in for several hours at a time.

Like "skier" above, I'm tall - 6'4" - and have to actively keep from having my knees hit the back corners of the cowling. But I could see this being comfortable while cruising at distance, especially for nard comfort.

I, too, have a Gen I bike and would enjoy seeing it on this bike. I could see you selling this kind of thing to ST and BMW owners as well. You should consider a patent on the thing. Please keep the price point reasonable, but get paid for your work!

If you're seeking a development or manufacturing partner, maybe you should contact Garauld?

 

[monk69]

Just thinking a little more on this,It could work out better than what the stool did,because my feet would be assisting in the knee pressure(the stool left my feet suspended)......I really like the concept....Great idea....

 

[phil]

At 6'2", I can already touch my knees on my Gen 1 fairing, when riding with elbows dropped and the boys up against the tank, but its not real comfortable on the knees. However, with about a 1/2 inch of pad, this idea has much merit, since I move forward and down when riding sweepers and twisties. Sockmonkey and I did a lot of this on our NAFO ride, since he is about the same height and he commented several times on how much better he could see his corner lines and entries doing this.

I agree 100%. Found out several months back that by moving forward on the Russell saddle:

(1) My arms are relieved of some of the stretching to reach the grips, which is a problem many of us have mentioned. And my shoulders are more relaxed because of this.

(2) The pressure on the back of my thighs by the "winged" saddle is relieved.

(3) Weight bias is moved forward to improve steering response.

Only drawback to this position is that I'm reaching further BACK with my legs, to place my feet on the pegs. Since I'm only 5'9, my knees barely touch the fairing wings. I have some self-adhesive foam pads about 1/2" thick. Think I will try this concept. Thanks for the idea! phil

 

[Sherman]

I purchased the foam blocks from NRS. They have other shapes and sizes too.

I used two sided carpet tape to fasten them to the backs of the pad's peel off paper. This way I can take them off over and over. When I get a final shape then I will remove the paper and permanently affix the pads to the blocks.

 

[paulie]

I'll be damned. There IS something new under the sun! Hope you can make this work - what a great idea.

I wonder if you could do the same thing with thicker foam, eliminating the wood blocks altogether. It looks like you could start with a piece about 4-5" thick and carve it to the right angle to keep your knee tucked in tight to the tank. You could even hollow out the foam to the shape of your knee. It would be easy to affix it directly to the fairing with hook and loop tape. Interesting interesting.

 

[Knifemaker]

An intresting concept.

I should point out that the chair using this idea was made so the seat part was at such an angle that you kind of slid forward, so you had weight on your knees.. and to be precise, you were not supposed to have the weight on your knees, but just under them , on the upper shin bone. (See the photo in the OP? the ladies knees are off the edge of the pad)

So , not sure what use a knee pad on the fairing would have unless you could actualy put some of your weight on them, and , being another one here with bad knees, you would have to lower the pad so my knees were not the contact point, but just under them.

As an alternative to highway pegs this might be usefull, but again, the problem most have with long time in the saddle is having the knees bent , so one would still want highway pegs to stretch the legs out.

It does look like a real good idea to keep you from sliding forward under heavy or sudden braking.

KM