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Racers use different tyres mate so its a completely different ball game. To be honest theres no reason why you cant get ya knee down in any weather, its just a case of making sure you have the grip, youll feel if the tyre isnt up to it; then just give it a miss.

Might just be a case of giving the tyre a bit more heat by doing a few laps of the corner first, which is summit you should always do anyway as a 'sighting lap' which will let you know what the surface is feeling like and also if theres any toad in the road, plus it will generate some heat in ya tyre

Yeah that's true. Although I'm sure wet race tyres on Brands on a Cold day must have about the same surface temp as a decent set of road tyres on a 18C or so day (like now?)

Know what you mean about checking the road out first, have had a friend go down on damp gravel before from not doing that, he was fine tho.

Time to get me some tyre warmers for the weekend jaunts me thinks, hehe

yay. i got my knee down on the zxr last night. felt a lot better than the gsxr ever did. with the gsxr ii was always right on the edge of the tyre and it would sometimes skip out, but i had loads of tyre left on the zxr and it felt soo nice.

Excellent, think I might go roundabout surfing this weekend (If it's dry)

supposed to have some decent weather for the next few days too

Just checked http://www.weather.co.uk and it says 21C and sunny today, wahey! Can't get the bike out tonight though as the Corrado is in bits in the way.. <damn VW taking their time with the 1 bolt I need>.. Raining tomorrow

a couple of ramps will sort that problem out ^_^ also video tape it and send it in as a cunning stunt

Haven't got the run up in front of the car

It's sorta stuck down the side at the front.. nice idea tho. Might have to get someone round and push it out onto the drive.

Heard it's going to be a cold winter this year (so they keep saying anyway) so want to get as much bike time in as I can before the road salting and frost sets in.

oh yeah.. the "big freeze" i'm sure we'll still find the occasional sunny sunday. dun mind much though i have my ultra low power work and back machine(VT125 shadow) for scratching around in the snow and ice, tis marvellous for those awful days when having over 40bhp scares the pants off you on every turn, i just look a little silly in a lucky strike race jacket while riding it.

Can you get your knee down on the old the shadow then?

only if i really hang off it, but the front get's really bouncey and feels awful and the pegs always deck out.

Haha.. we need some pics of that I think

i've always wanted to take it to a track day hell i race the kiddies round town on their rs125's

Well, it all goes in circles, doesn't it?

Baz is reviving old posts, and so am I now - but that's not the reason!

A few weeks ago my ZX9R lunched it's engine - something actually smashed the end of the #1 sparkplug totally flat and the engine seized.

Since then my friend very kindly lent me his Yamaha XT660 trailie/supermoto to get around on while mine was being fixed. I basically swapped engines on my 9r this weekend, and tonight was the second shakedown run.

Now, the XT660 was ridden like a proper supermoto. It took a while to get used to it, but now I fling it around, tyres almost to the edge, foot out, general supermoto thuggery. It's great!

The first shakedown of the 9r was just checking it worked, but tonight was about getting used to a sportsbike after the SM, because it just felt WEIRD. Like I was lay on all fours, and what I used to think was a big old tall sportsbike now feels like a tiny little low-down skateboard or something! So I went out alone so as not to embarrass myself by being scared to ride properly...

Damp patches in corners didn't help things , but in actual fact I was probably leaning the bike more than usual!

I proved this on the way back (again alone and riding at my own pace) by going for some knee-downs and totally making them!

There were a lot of corners where on the 444 I'd go around the outside of everyone knee-down (and on the last VFR I could scrape my knees), but have tried it on the 9r and failed.

Not tonight!

Knee-down pretty much wherever I wanted - and I was still holding back!

So I thought I'd find this post out again because now I'm 100% sure it's true - providing the sportsbike you get back on after an upright bike handles well in the first place... so you lot on 400's should do it EASILY!