chicken strips.

I wasn't trying to have a go - just saying that it sounded from my point of view that you were trying hard to get your knee down when in all honesty it doesn't mean anything when riding on the roads. I've been out with some amazing bikers, not from this forum, yet they never actually touch their knee down.

and the track is still daunting to me, where as the roads arnt.

This is something which seems to be common yet it really should always be the other way around! The track is the safest environment you can have for trying things like the knee down etc. Everyone going the same way, no tractor round the next corner, usually a nice run off as opposed to a hedge line.

ok came a cross as thogh you were but no problem , and yeh i know what you mean about the KD thing and you can still be fast without doing it, its just somthing that drew me to biking in the first place :/

and yeh it should be the other way round but its that thing where u are potentialy on ure own with no one u know and could be the slowest thing there, and i know it dosent matter but i dosent exactly give you much confidence when ure been lapped and lapped and geting in peoples way, also remebering the flags and stuf like that just tends to be a bit scary realy.

well im taking my mate when he passes his test, will take him when its dry to see what we can both do atleast im not the only noob , hes on a gsx-f 600 1991 plate (a tad old) will see what it can do vs the sv

An ex SV Ecosse member had no chicken strips, but when he cornered he looked like he was trying to lay the bike down on the tarmac whilst not touching the ground himself, such was the severity of his counter lean, body bolt upright at all times. Every corner I was convinced he was about to low side it. Because he had no chicken strips he thought he was a cornering god, truth is he wasn't that quick.

As for KD, if you've got a 34 inside leg and you lean off so far that your ar$e and thigh is right off the saddle, and you stick your knee out at 90 degrees, you'd probably not be far off KD when stationary on the sidestand!

My brother in law and I followed a rider recently who had his knee down on every roundabout and sharp bend, he was holding us up, afterwards we commented on how it was nice to know we were quick enough to get knees down if we wanted to.

It's all bollox, and neither chicken strips or KD have anything to do with how quick you are. Buy leathers with no kneesliders so you don't wanna put your knee down for fear of damaging them and forget about it.

^ lol thats a good solution actuly but i carnt just buy what i want lol so will have to do with what i have (leathers)

and i think one of the problems as far as my size goes (prety fat) is that i may not be able to get my leg that far out (as mentiond in the first post) im about 6ft1ish with medium-long legs but that where i carry my weight so have big thighs but i dont seem to have a problem geting off the bike so not sure if i have enough of a knee out, i supose the good thing about track days are that you can get some one to tell you all this stuf

[Nobbylad]

Seriously mate, trying to get rid of your chicken strips, or get your KD on the road is looking for trouble IMO. The track is the safest place to get do either of these things and as has been said, if you go out to just get a KD or get rid of the chicken strips, the likelihood is you'll bin it.

I did my 1st track day in September (as I said earlier) and although I wanted to get a KD, that wasn't the focus. The focus was to experience a track day, the ground pegs, worn toe sliders, KD and chicken strip reduction were just benefits of having a stonking good time going quick (in my mind at least!) around a surface built for it.

Yes I binned it on the track, however I got up and walked away, if it'd been on the road, I'd deffo have been in a LOT more trouble.

lol im not botherd about chicken strips i just thorght i was somthing to do with KD and as i sead will get on the track (in the dry) and just see how it goes

[Richie]

wasn't this thread answered before... Back in 2004... when I was a newbee...?

Originally Posted by ThEGr33k

Now on the Falco I have small chicken strips on the front (cos its a 120/70 vs the 120/60 on the SV) and none at all on the back, that's a 180/55 on a 6" rim. So as you can see its more to do with tyre/rim size than rider ability.

Nick, if you're runing a 6" rear rim then thats usually the 190/55 17 size. 5.5" is standard for 180/55 so rather than pinch, you've got spread which is why there's no chicken strips on the rear

C

hi barwel, the only time i have had my knee down was on a track, have tried going round roundabouts and no joy and the bigger they are the faster you have to go, even on the track i nearly had to get off the bike to do it, lol, but as has been mentioned getting the opposite and looking down the side of the mirrors is the way to go. i second trying it on country roads etc is pretty risky as you can't see though any bend that would be tight enough to get your knee down on. i am sure when you do your track day you will not have a problem with it, good luck but don't push it, you know what i mean, it's not worth it. rubber side down, andy.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by bluefishman

i second trying it on country roads etc is pretty risky as you can't see though any bend that would be tight enough to get your knee down on. i am sure when you do your track day you will not have a problem with it, good luck but don't push it, you know what i mean, it's not worth it. rubber side down, andy.

Absolutely agree if getting your knee down doesn't feel natural there's a good chance you'll kill yourself trying on the road. On the track I tried hanging off what felt ridiculously excessively, and it just made me even slower so I jacked it in. If it had of been on a tight country bend that suddenly tightened up without warning could have been painful.