knee down on an sd compared to a superbike?

Alright people, had my white 08 sdfor about 3 months now and I'm luvin it, been riding for 3 years and my bike list is this... Vfr400 nc30, 2001 r1 blue (crashed, lowside front!), cbr600 f2 track faired daytime mot, 2001 r1 red, 2008 sd. Got the duke after getting fed up of Wrist and Bollock ache and ridculous speeds on the r1! Sd is a much better road bike! Here's my problem, on the blue r1 I got my need down on three seperate occassions and was getting comfortable then after the crash (not knee down related) I sold it and got the steel framed cbr which just felt too heavy up top when I tried, never tried on the later r1... Been getting the urge to go try on the duke, it feels and is much taller than the r1, do I have to lean further? And sd specific tips for me, aside from the usual stuff online. if we ever get a dry day in the uk again I'm gonna get out an have a go!-)

maybe just a handful of track days is the safest recommendation I'd make to getting your knee down. Personally, I'm too chicken to reach kneedown speeds on public roads here but theres my 2c
3 months aint that long on this bike, so give it time, you'll get it!

Not about speed for knee down.

You can get your knee down on the road on the SD (hand off like a gibbon) but it safer and more worth while on track.

^^^ He's pic whoring again ^^^

I've never got the knee down on the SD, no matter what speed it's been at (think I've been close a few times, judging by tyre wear). But as PBRnr says, have a track day or two and I'm sure I'd/you'd be able to do it with practice.

Honestly you'd never see me whoring like that

I agree, but it is all nostalgia for Superdan now isnt it.

I am sure if he looks through his albums he has a photo of him and Freestyler both elbow down (on the Aprilia dealers spares counter ) waiting for parts.

Yea ur right, think I'll jus take my time and build up, still feels a little alien at a good lean after so long on sports bikes... And there's some really quiet roads near me at weekends on industrial estates, that's where I'd go. On the r1 I was putting my knee down at 30mph, both cheeks of the seat tho no doubt looking ridiculous lol! I'll take my time, and wait for my new bridgestone s20's that'll be going on after christmas!-) I'll get some pics up when I get there, book a few more trackdays too... Cheers all. Anyone else swapped straight from a big sports bike wanna share their experiences?

Ooh nice, good luck with that dan, bike accident I guess?

Well it could have been a plethora of things due to the amount of crazy shit I do but alas was in a rugby game, 5 days in hospital and an operation later I'm still recouping at home. Was not pretty

Well at least there was no bike smashed to bits or insurance to deal with, funny how people get badly injured in things that shouldn't be that dangerous ! I was lucky when I came of my r1 at 65mphish on the inside of a bend with five cars on the outside, came of unscaved big bruise an a few grazes... Bike hit two cars which I sorted with cash, caught up with my mate went up his back wheel an snapped his gsxr's carbon akro in half! Then my missus cousin came off his moped on a seperate occassion at 15mph an broke his wrist an a few ribs! Well good luck with the recovery, I been on crutches before, until you experience that you really don't understand how difficult it makes everything!

get well soon Mr Dan

Cheers dudes, did not mean to thread crash with my ailments, was gonna post up from hospital but who cares I'm not dying haha.

Your right about crutches, trying to get food and drink into another room without spilling it is fun.

Anyway back on topic, I had a go on my first sports bike this summer, knee down is the same chin on tank and stick your knee, bum and elbows out

Whats wrong with your knees and all those cramped knee-avatars I enjoy my bike without it and probably having more fun than selected few of you all-together with you knee-downs WTF for this knee down thing is necessary overall? Feel free to explain it as half of us reading this forum does not know anything about it for sure (besides its very important, deciding by avatars ).

Believe me there is nothing like the elation of your first knee on tarmac and even now something fun about it. It's like trying to explain to non bikers why you ride.

Knee down does feel fooking great when you first do it. I used to try and drag it at every corner possible on track. Now I only touch down when the track comes to my knee rather than the other way around and use it as a guide to lean angle, it touches and I lift it slightly so it just skims the surface. I used to get through sliders quite quickly but did loads of days this year and hardly wore anything off my new ones. Get your arse off the seat to the inside of the bike, put your knee out and let the track come to your knee. If you get 1/2-3/4 of your arse off the seat you will touch down, just don't try and force it.

I never try and get my knee down on the road.

only problem with knee down on the road ... it puts holes through my Kevlar jeans (well the jean bit anyway)... there is always armour underneath so it doesn't hurt but still annoying.

stopped wearing leather pants on the road to slow me down a bit. that and i dont like getting heat stroke after being on the bike for a few hours. Yeah the first few times there were touch frowns... have since changed so I don't kill my gear

I remember how desperate I was to get my knee down when I first started track days. My mate got it real early on and, although I was going faster than him I felt it didn’t count for much as my sliders remained distinctly virginal. Max lean, max stretch of the leg but never even the slightest scrape of slider to tarmac.

Eventually the penny dropped, its all about body position, get a cheek off the inside of the seat, head and torso forward, down and also inside the turn, relax the arms and inside leg, lock the outside leg onto the tank and all of a sudden it was easy. I loved it and even when the novelty faded I would often grind slider on track just for the fun of it.

Never tried on the road, I think you look stupid hanging way off on the road and anyway I don’t wear sliders so it would hurt!

I did notice (and take quite a while to adjust to) a big difference in body position after decades on sports bikes when I got the SD. I have yet to track it but my guess is that the same would apply, get the body position right, relax the leg and slider grinding would result without any great drama or effort.

Like all these things its best to build it up little bit at a time though so have fun practicing

Me and my mate took a guy out on bikes we both know and stood on a corner solely for him to keep hitting the corner to get his knee down, he did it for the first time on the 7-8th attempt, was an open corner so you could see what what was coming, but thats the best way on the road IMO, or a quiet roundabout (but never got my knee down on a roundabout as I have never tried)

Just let it happen, don't try. Be smooth, look ahead where you want to go and the bike will fall right over. The only downside to cornering the SD vs a sportbike is the handlebars. Tends to wear your shoulders out holding your arms up so high.

I still fail to understand why people want to "get the knee down".
It happens naturally if you are going fast enough to require that lean angle along with the right body position.
I tried to keep my knee as much off the ground as possible as those sliders are expensive for something that doesn't make you go faster.

gotta agree with folks when they describe it as almost a deflowering, i've only ridden on track a few times now and before rode slow pokey bikes prior to the SD. feeling that slider on the ground gives u that much more proprio sense to know where you, the bike, and the road coexist. i'm no pilot, but maybe it's like pulling so many G's or surpassing some sort of other benchmark of performance? for bikes, maybe comparable to floating the front wheel,,,you and the bike suddenly feel totally different from a moment ago

sad part about our brains is that all that stuff that seems crazy to the inexperienced becomes so ordinary and expected for the rest of us...done ranting sorry

The Super Duke is just too damn tall for purposeful knee dragging, put one of the new lowering kits on it or lower it even more than the kit and then maybe there's a need for a knee The SD on the street or on the track is a two story building in a single story world IMO I see guys knee dragging on Supermoto bikes and think it looks slower......but then there's the Nicky Hayden Supermoto video and I regress

Have to say the Mojo belly pan is a nightmare for bottoming out. I have wear on both sides of it.

I don't have too much trouble on the SDR but I've got forks dropped and a 190/69 on the rear with rearsets 30mm up and rearward. II do have to change out my toe sliders. It could be that I'm just not going fastnough though

I have a SDR shock and SDR forks in but she still grinds at a couple of corners. Gooseneck at Cadwell is one of the worst.

I got both knees down at my first track day on the duke and at QR. In saying that I also ground half the right footpeg off too haha.

It was an effort and I really had to get the bike over but shit damn it was fun. On the fourth session I got round up by a ZX6R and got into chasing mode. What I found was I actually went faster just getting the top half of my body off. But that put me in the wrong position for knee down action.

I've seen a couple of avatars on here where the guys are hanging off and knee down - something I aspire too.

Hang off more than you do on the R1 to get your outer knee and lower leg locked properly. If you do that kneedowns are peanuts even with some lean angle left.

I dont find it too hard, but it certainly aint no quicker for me on the streets, just like wheelies for me, a time and a place......

If you imagine a cat has shit on your tank, and adopt a suitable body position (I see some members already use this trick!) you can get your knee down on anything!

Knee down at 30 degrees ....just looks plain stupid....the number of times I have overtaken a rider ....who has his knee down ......and I pass him without touching my knee down ........around the outside

Ideally knee down should come just before all the none movable bits start touching down.....working as a leanometre so...... if your not touching down you can go faster.......and when it is touching down you have reached Max Lean angle.....and you need to get off the bike more and most importantly ......bring your knee in to match and recalibrate Leanometre / brain to go faster to reach this point.

When you have reached this point ......getting off the bike becomes an intrinsic part of going round the corner at that speed .....so as you get tired .....lazy ..or just plum forget.....to hang off .........you crash

Alot of very fast riders do not get knee down .....because leanometre is working to well and tells knee to move in.......or it will hit the tarmac ......as it really is not not normal to drag your knee on the floor at 90mph +.......this i have found is the problem that a lot of riders have....but do not know.....they move their knee in as an Involuntary reaction ...to the knee getting close to touching.....until they stop doing this they will never get Knee down....I have followed riders who look for all the world like they have fully cranked over knee down....only to see untouched Virginal slidders in the pits.......