Just wanted to see how much lean angle you guys have on here and what methods you used to get your knee down for the first time. Lately I have been really shrinking my chicken strips and my confidence has gone up a lot. What has helped me has been pushing my lean angle on slower corners say at 30 or 40mph so if it should go from under me then I hopefully wont damage the bike too much, but to be honest I could probably lean over so much more and not have a problem but 'my computer says no' and I lift it up again, been getting much better lately though, all confidence for me. Just wondered how this process has gone for everyone else in the past or present, did you go round and round your nearest roundabout like in MCN's video or was it a track day that you first touched your knee down. Anyone ever scraped their elbows on tarmac when cornering?
I did it on a roundabout maybe 2 months after getting my first bike which was an SV650. It's easy enough if you keep trying on a consitent roundabout you know (on a quit eunused industrial estate of course) but you rarely get the heat in your tyres and its not ideal. Get yourself on a trackday and I bet you do it before the end of the day without really trying. I did a trackday at rockingham national on my 600rr and was scraping everywhere, it so much easier at high speed you don't even have to try. I rarely do it on the road, it probably even makes me slower when I try.
Never got knee down on the road in the UK, i do every session on every track day though and have abroad on better German roads. The roundabout thing is kinda pointless unless its to prove to you it can be done, a track session or two is by far the best way to become a better rider and it will get the 'knee down' out your system cos if you constantly over try on uk roads you'll end up coming off IMO. No im not an old codger, im early 30's...... its just that when i was at the point of desperately wanting to get my knee down i found the track was the best place to do it and at which point you'll get hooked doing track days and ultimately be better for it
The track is the eaisest place to do it IMO no cars (idiots) and you can pick your line relax and enjoy it. I can do it on roundabouts local roads etc. I desperately wanted to get my knee down but couldnt do it for ages. Eventually (sad I know) I taped the end of an evian bottle to my slider with some masking tape to extend it about 2 inches. Headed of to my local roundabout and touched down within a minute, and was on the slider within 5. Then you spend the next two years scratching around every available roundabout lol
had my gsxr k1 600 for nearly 3 yrs got my knee down once over a favourite corner it was shod with michelin 2cts, had my blade and on the the first ride out with bridge stone bt015s on knee down on the same corner. i bought the bike 2 yrs old and the chicken strips on it were at least an inch on the rear. i soon got rid of those
Don't have any chicken strips on my BT016's .. but still a virgin with knee down action :faint: steady there ken :tongue:
Splennnnnnnndiiiiiiiiiid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't help it. I even think the phrase 'double entendre' sounds saucy.
Im pretty fast on a track day but I aint attempting getting my knee down on a street surface. Oil, big metal tins on wheels and general rubbish road surface doesnt inspire kneedragging confidence. My advice would be to sign for a track day and you will find out pretty quickly how much skill you have
Funnily enough my first KD was my left knee when on a trip to France, I must have gone round that damn roundabout a hundred times before I finally touched down, and then it gave me such a fright I pulled it up pretty sharply. I then left KDs alone for about 3 months, satisfied that I could say I'd done it, but then decided I needed to get the right side down, so roundabout surfing I went. Getting a decent bit of speed is paramount, along with good body position. On the road it's only a showboat thing surely, certainly won't make me any faster, don't see bike cops getting their knee down at work, but they certainly can shift. I do like to move about on the bike though. On the track KDs just happens naturally as most who have done a track day will probably vouch for.
I find trying to KD when road riding actually makes me slower and sloppy as im concentrating on getting my body position correct and keeping a good line throe a bend im not familiar with. If i just concentrate on the road then my cornering body poison comes naturally and if its a big enough bend i sometimes touch down very lightly but overall im riding a lot smoother and faster . Trying to touch down on every blind bend then cocking up my line just slows me down and i look like im riding like a tat. My sliders have battle scars now so i just concentrate on being smooth and flowing now and when i get it right i sometimes get rewarded with a little touch down.. Love the feeling
