I popped my Cherry

So I finally did it and got my knee down, I say finally did it but it's not something I've actually specifically tried to do before, I only started moving about on the bike more on an evening session at brands with a couple others from here last year and so this year I've been practising occassionally on a couple of road rides but had a proper continuous go again at the “Unofficial” track day at Cadwell in August on the superduke but the knee never went down that day although the superduke is well tall and apparently not an easy bike to get your knee down on so anyway I was out with the resident knee down guy from the KTM forum on our RC8s so it was the perfect opportunity to find out if my body position was correct and what I might need to do to pop my cherry.

We didn't go in for the usual merry go round technique of constantly going round as that's not the real deal really, in my opinion anyway, instead we found a nice "private” road with a series of roundabouts and a couple bits of dual carriageway linking them and used the one with the best visibility as the main focus, this way you had to properly set up going left onto the roundabout and then right and judge your speed and line of entry accordingly as well as picking it back up for the exit rather than just keep going faster and faster till you eventually do it but having no real feel of setting it up any other way.

So anyways off i went and within the first few circuits going all the way round the roundabout and back out the same road i entered it on I had a couple of brief touches, and then from that point on they just got longer until such time as I had it on the ground the whole way round and eventually had it so far over that my knee was being lifted towards the bike (obviously the road didn't move my knee actually stayed in the same place, it was the bike that was closing the angle but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say).

So then did a few left handers onto the other carriageway followed by a few right handers (3rd exit if that makes sense) so it was more like a 90 degree bend so you had less time to set it up, lay it over and then back up to line up the exit than holding it all the way round.

My mind wasn't really getting into doing the lefts and didn't feel right so decided to get my phone out and try and record some video going all the way round for prosperity.

It was at that point I chucked in a few one handers for good measure but unfortunately it was too dark and you can't really see much of what my body is doing and mainly see the bikes headlight whizzing past and the akra noise means you can't even hear the slider scraping.

So I'm well chuffed with how quickly I was able to do it and never in a million years did I think I'd be going round one handed so thanks to Spanwah from the KTM Forum for his good advice and good company as well as the monster and chocolate bar, who knew it could be so exhausting, my legs were cramping by the end.

I didn’t realise how far you need to move over to do it on the road and it’s not the quickest way to get from A to B on a set of twisties but it sure is a hell of a lot of fun and I have a very good idea where the edge of my tyres are now, so now I just need to dig out those titanium knee sliders I got for free a long time ago so I can get some good video next time I meet up for a night ride with him.

He said he’d like to come out with us lot sometime too, he’s always liked the Superduke and has been trying to convince his mate to buy one, he’s too into his sports bikes himself but his mate wants a naked, I naturally reinforced his opinion of how brilliant they are.

Here’s a picture of the battered knee slider, I know loads of you have seen a scraped kneeslider before but it’s my kneeslider and I’m proud of it.

Before and after (before from a different pair of trousers for those keen eyed people out there, same slider type though)

Before



After

Sweet!

I've done it a tiny bit and aspire to be you!

Fun post in its enthusiasm and "innocense" almost (most adults being afraind of showing too much enthusiams over something others have done and they finally did). Glad to hear your enthusiasm. I have to say, though, that if you're the guy pictured on the unicycle you have mastered something harder than getting a knee down, and I would have no doubt you could ride to the edge of the tyres, get a knee down, corner one-handed, and even do some slides on the track. Takes patience, coordination, balance, commitment to ride your unicycle so for sure you could get to the point of gliding your knee on each turn of a track if you want to. Biggest thing is overcoming fear!

Have fun but remember that there are consequences to putting that knee to the road too often on the street! Probably means you're going to fast on the street to get away with it forever (due to spilled fuel, unseen sand, motorists, etc.)

Good work buddy!! Congtrats

Managed to get mine down too You've done a better job of destroying that slider though. Time for a new one. You know you will never throw those away. Mine might even be having the pillow next to me tonight It is a fantastic feeling and one i'm sure I'll never forget. Hooray for everything

this is as close as i can get think i am going to give up cadwell y,day



25yrs of trying

lol but i am cheating its on the mountain at cadwell any body could wheelie there lol