Before the start of Superbike school at Laguna Seca a couple weeks ago, i noticed the staff applying this clear plastic pads to the sides of the school bikes. Looking more closely, I see that the pad is an array of cone shaped points, which seems to be a lot smarter than a gripper that relies on some kind of sticky adhesion which i would think would gum up your leathers and wear away.
Near the end of the day, they set up their tent w/ Superbike schwag including these pads. Since part of my problem that day was with body posture, I decided to buy the pads and install them before my last riding session.
I certainly felt much better attached to my bike, but by that time of the day, my knees were very sore as they always are after hours of spirited riding / hanging off.
However, the story doesn't end here. I stayed in Monterey overnight and rode my bike home several hours to San Francisco. With my knees recovered, I was able to really appreciate what a solid anchor the pads provided on the twisties. I was also happily surprised that though the points looks tortuous, they were not uncomfortable when I was only wearing aerostitch type pants (same with dragon jeans).
But here's the really amazing part. Last weekend, I did back to back track days at a different track. Not only was my riding posture the best it's ever been, but this was the first track day that i did not need / want to ice my knees in between riding sessions. Likewise, i've always had to ice my knees after lots of riding (especially if i'm doing back to back track days) but this time there just wasn't any knee inflamation. I'm guessing that the pads keep me from having to really grind my knee into the tank as I must have been doing before. I just wish there were an equivalent to do the same with skiing.
Here's a description of the pads from their UK site:
http://www.superbikeschool.co.uk/uk/ssl/sh...oduct.php?id=14
It looks like the pads can be bought in the US as well. Scroll down half down this page:
https://secure.echoalley.com/superbikeschool/store/
They were pricier than I had expected, but the benefit has proven to be so worth it (and so much less expensive than buying a bike with a proper tank shelf like a Tuono or MV Agusta)
