So - did I or did I not get my knee down?

Prace your bets!

After watching the bike racing on the tellybox this afternoon, I met up
with Molly for some biking fun in the sunshine.

Goal of the day, was to scuff my rather shiny unscuffed knee sliders.
Preferably whilst they were attached to my keens and in a controlled
manner - ie not followed by any other part of my body.

After some technical issues with radio setup, we decided we didn't need
radios anyway and got on with it. Some road riding and large roundabout
lapping ensued, to get the tyres warm and for Molly to get an idea of my
riding style.

Met up with some power rangers stopped beneath a motorway roundabout,
who were a little sheepish when Molly had lapped the roundabout half a
dozen times, knee down all the way, on the GS500 and then asked if any
of them could on their very shiny sprot bikes. Not one had any scuffs.
Oh and some twat on a zx9r decided to pull out on me and then pass Molly
on the inside, obviously his knee down needs were more important than
anyone elses. Or any kind of common sense safety.

On we then go for some twisty road action, to get me further used to
hanging off the bike in positions that seem like very advanced yoga

Then a 100 yard stretch of road seperated by two medium sized
roundabouts, perfect for looping and lapping and lapping etc.

So at the start of the day, my knee was closer to the tank than the
floor. By now, I was hanging off the bike, I'd got my knee stuck out,
and I'd got the bike leaning over futher than I've ever dared
previously. Chicken strips on 3 week old rear tyre are now less than a
quarter of an inch.

So - Did I get my knee down? [1]

Thanks to Molly for a fun afternoon, you're very patient and have a good
ability to describe what is happening, versus what should be happening
and how that should be achieved - making a good tutor, I thoroughly
recommend you to anyone who seeks a helping hand in such matters.

Oh and I wish I could have seen your face when you verticalled the bandit

[1] Photo's to follow.

 

And it was jolly good fun.

To be fair he refused the offer of swapping kneesliders.

It's a shame that those connectors decided not to connect.

scuffs.

Bless them, they were a little upset when I waved to them on a couple
of laps. They were OK though a little shocked but OK.

What an arsehole, he didn't have a clue. I had backed off because the
car in front was undecided but I think he was upset because they were
no where near getting the kneedown.

The key to GYK is body movement, as you can see from some shots my
bike wasn't leaning over *that* much.[1]

To be honest, the photo's don't do you justice, you were certainly
brushing the gravel aside.

Aw shuck DNC you're making me blush. I really enjoyed myself, anytime.

bandit

The power came on a bit sudden and I was left hanging from the bars.
It was almost vertical and I nearly flipped it.

http://www.jedi--knight.com/gowerschool/gowerschool.htm


[1] In some of the shots

 

Need to learn to lean your bike me thinks

Whereas I need to learn how to lean the bike less and hang off. [1]

[1] or get a back/leathers/brain that work.

 

He was actually scratching his pegs at one point.

You really frustrated me because all you had to do was stick out your
knee and you would certainly have touched down. If anything you were
leaning too much.

 

Frustrated you? How do you think I felt?

<goes back to studying Superbike DVD>

 

I'm just sticking with the notion that it's harder to do on a GSX-R then a
bike like a Bandit ;-)

 

Higher pegs do make KD harder.

 

than a bandit? Very much so. I used to scrape the pegs all the time on
my bandit, especially two up[1] but I've only ever done it once[2] on
the 'blade.


[1] though two-up, the centrestand tended to touch down first.
[2] I wasn't hanging off enough.

 

Doesnotcompute says...

Quite a bit unless your bandit's got rearsets.

 

Which is weird because I could never do it on the SV an yet found the
GSXRs pretty easy.

 

Actually it's harder for me on a Bandit than my gixxer. Strangely
enough the easiest bike for me to get my kneedown on was my old ZXR750
and that had rear sets, set on the highest setting. I'm fairly sure
that the ease of kneedown was due to the superb stability of the front
end. My Triumph is quite low but it's not easy to get my kneedown with
scuffing the exhausts. I really have to hang right off.

 

I don't know how you feel about this Champ but I've found that it's
not about just peg height, lean angle, clearance and hanging off. But
also a combination of front end stability, smooth throttle control and
the way the power is delivered. I find that some bikes require a
different approach to reach that fine balance point where you can push
the bike upright just with a twitch of the knee. The technique is
basically the same for all bikes but the execution is, in my opinion,
different.

 

Remember? You swivel your foot so the toes point downwards. Saying
that, I'm quit guilty of scrapping my toes as well, especially when I
had the nice slide on the gravel where the PR's were.

 

I don't think I've thought about it that hard - I just get on and ride
it

 

Fair point.

 

Conversely I was more than happy on the SV, and getting there with the
daytona. I tried it with Flook's R6 and almost got cramp in my leg.

I can't remember trying it on any other sporty bike, but I've found it
easier on non-sports machinery (SV, ZZR6).

The worst was Monz' TL. Didn't like doing that one at all.