No, you should not be doing it on the road and looking cool is the exact reason why you should never do it.

 

No, never on the streets.

When your knee goes down, you are nearing limits. Your skill limits, tire traction limits, etc... (before zaqwert6 starts screaming foul, note I said "nearing"). Problem is, the closer to a limit your get the less buffer you have. And staying safe on the streets is mostly about maximizing and judicious use of your buffers.

Tracks seldom have dogs, kids, potholes, manhole covers, college freshmen, texters, Priuses ( dammit, someone tell me if the plural of Prius Is Priusi or not) and so on. At such a lean angle on the street, riding with a very small (if any) buffer, you can narrow your options of what to do if you encounter one of those to 1:

PRAYER

 

i like to explain it the way it was explained to me, short and sweet. Knee down is a result, NOT a goal.

oh and its definitely not needed on the streets! i like how kuro put it, your near the limits if your on the street.

 

Makes sense to me, even a tiny pebble can throw us when we are too close to our limits.

 

If i remember, i'll take my GoPro into work with me tomorrow. There's a turn i obviously know very well (hit it 5 days a week) that'll clearly demonstrate what I mean.

Even if you're well within your limits, one thing to remember: the stupidity of others knows no bounds

 

tell me about it. When I left work yesterday there was a huge puddle at the traffic lights so I went to it's right even though I was turning left just to avoid it and some guy in a van just hurtled up on the inside straight through the puddle and soaked me. I was a touch upset about that but when the guy turned right at the junction and had to cut back accross in front of everyone I could think of many more names for him!

 

I have some footage of my trip home from the San Marino MotoGP race...the road was fun but there were a few times where I would have been in trouble if I were riding at the pace that would allow the knee to touch. I'll post it up once I get it edited and loaded to youtube..

 

coolio

 

I never see a need to drag knee.....i usually start dragging foot and peg long be for my knee touches. Plus when guys drag knee on the street they are doing it to try and look cool. I live in ky with tons of back roads and our corners are amazing. I road the other day with two 600's and now i need new shoes haha. I will post some riding footage.