WHEN you see a rider with worn-out knee sliders on his leather suit, you tend to accord a certain 'respect' to him.

Surveying his motorbike, you spot worn foot pegs and tyres scruffed to the edge.

In your good books, this rider is definitely a track guru.

Knee sliders are palm-sized plastics which protect the sides of your knees during cornering.

The lower you bank your motorcycle, the more likely your knee will scrape the tarmac.

And without knee sliders, cornering would be a painful experience.

So what makes a greenhorn aspire to get his knee down at the track?

Well, two circuit pros, Mr Joseph Lee and MrShaiful Bahari, said it's all about street credibility.

Said Mr Shaiful, 35, who races in Sepang for Team Looi's Motor/Metzeler: 'When you watch MotoGP riders corner low and scrape their knees, naturally you want to be like them.

'You don't have to tell others how 'terror' you are. You just have to show them your worn-out knee sliders as proof.'

Mr Lee, 51, said: 'It's simply fascinating (to scrape your knee sliders). It shows how low you dare to go.'

But battered knee-sliders do not prove that you are fast, said Mr Lee, technical advisor for suspension specialist Ohlins in Singapore.

Mr Lee added: 'I have seen some guys who corner low and scrape their knees at every corner, but they're not the fastest riders around in the circuit.'

Depending on the type of corner and entry speed into the corner, scraping your knees will sometimes slow you down, said Mr Shaiful.

Mr Shaiful said that at Pasir Gudang circuit, where his lap time is about 1min 40secs, his knees barely graze the tarmac at turns 2, 5, 7 and 8.

Yet, the basic principle still applies.

You need speed in order to bank your bike low and eventually scrape your knees, Mr Lee said.

He added: 'Without speed or if your cornering lines are wrong, you're not going to get your knee down in that corner.'

So here's how to go on bended knees at the circuit.

All you need is to turn quickly, take a deep cornering line and adjust how you sit on your motorcycle.

Get these three right and you're on your way to become a knee-sliding cornering god.

Before attempting the knee-slide, choose a grippy corner at the circuit.

Just before you enter the corner, prepare for the set-up, which involves braking and blipping the throttle.

At the same time, shift your bum so that one cheek is off the seat.

As you corner, counter-steer with your handlebars and lean your body into the corner.

Naturally, your knee will follow.

Remember to relax your grip on the handlebars and keep your eye-line glued to the horizon, not at your front wheel.

When you reach the apex of the corner, open up with your throttle gently.

If you're still not scraping your knees, go faster and shift your body progressively.

Also approach the corner with a different line by turning in later.

Beginners will often be alarmed when their knee sliders start to drag along the tarmac.

Said Mr Shaiful: 'When their (new riders) knees touch the ground for the first time, they panic and straighten up the bike mid-corner. This will make them go wide in the corner. It's a case of getting used to the feeling of scraping your knees, that's all.'

However, such aggressive cornering should not be done on roads as it is dangerous, said Mr Lee.

This article was first published in The New Paper on May 17, 2008.