Are monsters harder than speed bikes when it comes to putting ur knee down?

[Slide Panda]

He's also crossed up, tense and target fixates. Pick a mistake.. he made it.

[freeclimbmtb]

I would say flagging a knee out in jeans is problems 1, 2, and 3.  Problems 4-19 you can put in order as you see fit.  to the OP, I have the same pants/jacket as you, I bought the setup with track aspirations but like you, want to see if i can get a little scuff in the meantime...ive never gotten closer than an inch (follower estimated) partly because I also am still learning HOW to hang and partly im terrified of what my reaction will be and the street is the wrong place to do...well...what that guy did. 

Body position is huge...but I found that the stock bars on the new gen monsters really prevented me from hanging very far at all...might be my size (5'6") so ive got shorter arms and shorter legs...my legs arent getting as close to the road, and my outside arm actually restricts my "hang off" range...  Clipons gave me a lot more range of motion by bringing that outside arm closer to the centerline of the bike.  Still, I was always told to try and "kiss your mirror" to get a better body position... (people that know what they are talking about...not me...can confirm/deny/correct this as they wish.)  Another fine point...your pegs...I had a "fear of slipping" my outside foot off the pegs, I got some super grippy rizomas and it was a huge confidence boost.


EDIT:  BTW...Use all that advice at a riding school or track day and not on the street...and Ill try and do the same...

[dk1six]

Looking at your video it seems like you might want to concentrate on having good form first and getting your knee down much later if at all?  It looked like you really didn't come off the bike much in trying to get your knee down and so the bike had to lean further or for you than it would have had to if you were positioned better.  It also looked like you were coming off the bike late in the turn for the amount you did move off the bike but what I noticed most of all was your proximity to the on coming traffic as you leaned further in their direction in the pursuit of puck wear.  I wondered if you noticed that but like it was said, a parking lot is a good place to practice if you've got to have your knee down and it's safer.

[He Man]

im short legged, if i drag a knee on the street i am doing one of 3 things


1) i am going way to freaking slow
2) I am going way to freaking fast
3) i am about to crash was the first thing to touch was my damn knee.

[Blackout]

As others have said here I think it's a waste of time "trying" to get a knee down on the street.
Looked to me like the guy on the R6 panicked when his boot touched down.

As far as critiquing your ride vid the only thing I saw was your apparent use of the clutch on upshifts. If you wanna get there faster pulling in the clutch slows you down. Learn how to shift up without the clutch. It's easy, fun and doesn't hurt your bike.

[desmodoktor]

As far as critiquing your ride vid the only thing I saw was your apparent use of the clutch on upshifts. If you wanna get there faster pulling in the clutch slows you down. Learn how to shift up without the clutch. It's easy, fun and doesn't hurt your bike.

yeah ive been practicing that.. but i have to practice a little more bcos the 1100evo is poppin wheelies on every gear .. not used to it yet

[Duc796canada]

This guy's a classic example of hunting for a knee down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL547QPaR1c&hd=1#

Ouch! Track bike anyone?

[FrankenDuc]

Seems like a great place to talk about "knee down" riding.
Since I was 14 (I'm 37 now), on the street, I've gotten my knee down exactly once.

I had about 1hr sleep in the past 48, was just trying to get home, was used to a certain pace, and I ran into a familiar corner at my usual speed (waaaayyy too fast for my condition).  The rear washed out real good, I dug my knee into the pavement... And totally saved it !!!  

Except, a fraction of a second later, once the rear caught, the front washed out  I was on the throttle, but not hard enough for the situation... My body parts were in all the wrong locations... after departing the bike, I almost had the perfect baseball "slide to home", except my throttle hand index and middle fingers got caught between the front brake lever and the grip when the bike hit the ground, and I gave up a couple of ribs for the incident.

My morals:
1) I get some rest... If not, I stay home, today's not a good day to go out and ride
2)  For me, knee down seems to be the first thing that happens before the rest of me goes down   so knee down on the track, OK find the road..., on the street though, it's a last resort...

I think the only thing I did right in the entire incident was to look exactly where I wanted to go...

[OzzyRob]

Monsters are harder to ctach if ridden well. 

[koko64]

I drag my knee at the track without trying to or thinking about it. On the street I have done it twice by accident on sportbikes, 916 and YZF750. I have never done it on my Monster. On the Monster, I find the toe slider can touch quite regularly, even with my foot raised on the peg. On an old Monster, I find the toe slider protudes just past the footpeg when I'm on the balls of my feet. I dont ride hard on the street.

[militar3rd]

On the street, its REALLY hard to put a knee down because of many factors. One of which is the limited amount of legal space you can operate the bike in. One lane is around 10-13 feet, how are you gonna safely scrape your knee with the apex is in the path of the oncoming car?

On the track ,its REALLY easy to learn.

[memper]

from what i understand, the honed track riders and pros are never trying for a knee. they are trying to get around and upright as fast as possible. Shouldnt that be your goal as well? So big whoop, you get your knee down, did you get smoked in the process?

[Slide Panda]

fthey are trying to get around and upright as fast as possible.

Correct - especially on the big bikes. You can spend more time on the power and more of your power the more traction you have. You have them most traction you will have when the bike is up n down. I can't recall what pro rider said it, but basically he said that he views a track as a series of connected straights and his job is to find the way to make each as long as possible so he can spend the most time on the gas.

Smaller bikes, one rides a bit more differently as a Ninja 250 isn't going to break the rear loose as easily if you gas it in a turn as say and R1 would. So the little bikes are more about coner entry speeds and keeping that speed - but that's a whole different discussion.

[Triple J]

Smaller bikes, one rides a bit more differently as a Ninja 250 isn't going to break the rear loose as easily if you gas it in a turn as say and R1 would. So the litter bikes are more about coner entry speeds and keeping that speed - but that's a whole different discussion.

Are you saying the liter bikes are more about corner speed (can't tell if the "litter" typo is supposed to be liter or little).

Small displacement bikes are more about carrying corner speed because you don't have the horsepower to get out of the corner otherwise. Liter bikes are more point and shoot since they have the grunt, so you can deal with lower corner speed.

[Slide Panda]

Wow.. fumble fingers which I corrected.

Yes Little is what I meant. Smaller displacement lighter machines like a ninja 250 are about that corner speed vs the point-n-shoot of a 1000