Getting one's knee down ?

Given you've never done it, how would you know?

You are coming across as a safety nazi.

What you might fail to realise is that there are plenty of people here
with riding experience to match yours and probably much more ability.

You really shouldn't wade in without realising how the group works,
unless you want to make yourself look like a mindless ****.

 

Yes you can - you have the scars to prove it. Sadly (or luckily,
depending on your POV) you just don't do it when anyone's watching.

 

And *smack* went the hammer on the head of the nail.

 

Aww - ta. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, I have fallen off doing it.
I hardly think I was 'pushing the bike to its limits' though (although I
think I may have rubbed gravity up the wrong way), and as I wasn't injured,
I'd say that was pretty safe. Didn't notice any juggernauts coming the other
way in that car park either.

And **** it anyway, I didn't get into biking to help me live to 100.

 

Actually, one of the blokes on that Superbike video is _nearly_ doing it on
a sports bike. Whilst I'm confident doing it on my CB500, I haven't risked
trying it on the '6R yet.

 

I can't wheelie for shit though.

 

Falling off isn't necessarily such a terrible thing. As long as you're
sensible, and are trying new tricks somewhere that a mistake will mean no
more than a scratched fairing, then trying 'pointless stunts' can't help but
improve your machine control.

FWIW, I've fallen off twice while GMKD - once at 5mph in a car park, once at
about 30mph on a clear roundabout at night. Total damage - a couple of
bruises and about £40 in parts for the latter, an appearance on Dave's vid
for the former. And I reckon I've learnt a hell of a lot about bike control
in the learning process, which will put me in better stead when a real
emergency happens, and I've got to ride out of it.

Did you have a pushbike as a kid? How many times did you fall off that? Are
you dead?

 

Dave Swindell says...

Things like sidecar combinations. Fucking large, sluggish and cumbersome
things they are, and invariably driven[1] by overweight old cunts with
no sense of fun or humour.

[1] I cannot bring myself to use the word 'ridden' when refering to a
sidecar outfit.

 

I really don't see any correlation between GYKD & being on the very edge
of control. It implies that in order to GYKD, you have to lean the bike
over close to its limits & that simply isn't the case. The photo of
Molly grinning at the camera that you referred to elsewhere kind of
proves the point. Yes her knee's down, but the lean angle of the bike is
nowhere near its limit imho.

I've only ever seen two people close up GTKD on the road. One was a RSV
Mille on a roundabout and I rode around the outside of him on my Tiger
(a stupid thing to do but I couldn't resist ;-)). Even doing that I
wasn't on the limit, which is easily found on a Tiger - the pegs touch
down. The second occasion was a guy on a SP1 or 2 who was genuinely
quick. I was chasing him on the Tiger, & lost several ounces of footpeg
metal in the process. On one long left-hander he hung off & showered me
with sparks off his knee slider.

The similarity with both of these was that the riders had virtually
their entire ass hanging off, not just the single buttock like wot they
do on the telly. On both occasions, the bikes had a lot left in reserve.
Had they been close to the limit, there's no way my lardy old Tiger with
its soggy suspension & trail tyres would've been able to carry the same
corner speed.

So what I'm trying to say with all this rambling is that GYKD is more to
do with how much you hang off & how long your legs are than how far you
lean the bike, ime. Either way, if people enjoy doing it, no matter how
stupid they may look, who gives a flying ****? We've already got enough
PC & nannying in this country. Let people have some fun ffs!

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

It was always thus.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

I'm sure it is, I just don't ride the sort of bike that lend themselves to
such shenanigains

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

Honestly, I can't see how you could possibly get your knee down anyway,
what with that pole up your arse.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Monkey"

Len Vale-Onslow did; and look what happened to him.

A lesson there for us all, I'm thinking.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

Monkey wrote

Yes it bloody is. There is no mileage in having to admit you are a
twat. Unless you are one of those dickheads who wears his "spills" as a
badge of pride.

 

Now, you *know* you're just being silly!

You assume that hanging off is both unnatural and dangerous. Hanging
off a bit, or enough to get a knee down? One of my bikes *seems* to
respond well to me moving my weight about a bit, particularly in the
wet, though it could just be me.

Thanks for your kindly concern about riders looking like "pratts" BTW.
This does appear to be your main concern as you've used the word so
often. Just let us worry about that, eh?

A bike doesn't have to be high-powered to corner fast. Reading that
paragraph again, fast cornering itself is OK then? How fast? As fast
as or faster than someone who may be dragging his knee?

In fact, has anyone ever carried out a proper test to see if getting
one's knee down really *does* reduce control? Or even just hanging off
a bit? And how much *less* control or ability to change direction
would they have compared to a similar rider on a similar bike who
*wasn't* dragging their knee? I guess a magazine must have done a test
by now. Anyone?

I agree that fast cornering (knee down or not) with other traffic
around (more and more likely these days) is an increased risk. And of
course, the faster you go, the closer you are to your bike's, your own
and the road's limits, taking into account surface grip and visibility
in particular, as has been pointed out.

On the relatively rare occasions I have a go, I do take very great
care about where I do it, what the conditions are and what traffic is
about.

 

Well said, that, err, simian (with a small 's').

 

Shit, you think so? I was thinking of taking refuge in that tactic
seeing as I seem to be more prone to falling off lately.

 

Pip Luscher wrote

Yebbut being considered a twat is hardly new territory for you is it?

 

Git.

 

Pip Luscher wrote

Old git, if you please.