GStwin.com GS500 Message Forum

OMG this motorcycling thing is serious freaking business.

Today.  Was on the freeway.  Fast lane.  All the cages decided to stop (I should have known, traffic always stops there -- 15N just S of the 91).  I hit the brakes.  I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure I just grabbed a bunch of front brake, but it's possible I stepped on the back.  I dove into the little gravelly emergency strip (but not into the dirt median).  A tire locked, cause I was definately skidding with that not-cool screechy noise. :o  Not sure if it was the front or the back. ?

Bike did this wobbly wobbly thing and it was like I was in slow motion.  I panicked and let my hand off the brake and all I could think of was I am a dumbass and now I am going to highside and I am only wearing jeans.  :o  Luckily, I guess I had already bled off enough speed that the bike stayed up and I was able to brake again, more gently.  Whew.  Put me in my place.  Time to go practice hard braking in a parking lot again... :oops:

had you locked the front you would have gone down.

Quote from: jen_OMG this motorcycling thing is serious freaking business.

I'm SO glad you're ok!!!  :kiss:

Now...about that gear, young lady...  :x  :dunno:

But STILL very glad you're ok!!!!!!  :kiss:  :cheers:  :mrgreen:

edit: I've done this lock-up thing before, and it is truly terrifying. I need to go back and practice emergency braking, too...

^ditto the practice.

Riders, seasoned or not, need to take one hour out of every week of their riding season to practive emergency manuevers.

Quote from: makenzie71had you locked the front you would have gone down.

You can lock the front without going down, if you're alert and have good balance (I've done it more times than I care to admit and haven't dropped it).  Letting go, as she did, will get you back on track again.  Locking the rear is generally a fairly blase experience, compared... wobbly wobbly makes me think front.

locking the front and pulling through is something done accidently and by the cycling gods only...especially with any side/side movement of thebike.  She said the front was wobbling...with a locked tire that would have spelled going down.  With half of your gyroscopic forces eliminated, any kind of movement and literally slam you down.

the wobbling was likely a mild slapper resulting from evasive movements and heavy braking.

Quote from: makenzie71... With half of your gyroscopic forces eliminated, any kind of movement and literally slam you down. the wobbling was likely a mild slapper resulting from evasive movements and heavy braking.

please translate

Quote from: subc

Quote from: makenzie71... With half of your gyroscopic forces eliminated, any kind of movement and literally slam you down. the wobbling was likely a mild slapper resulting from evasive movements and heavy braking.

please translate

which part?

Quote from: subc

Quote from: makenzie71... With half of your gyroscopic forces eliminated, any kind of movement and literally slam you down. the wobbling was likely a mild slapper resulting from evasive movements and heavy braking.

please translate

Translation:

Haha.  I think Makenzie is saying the wobbling was due to operator actions more so than a locked up front wheel. At least thats what I got out of it.  :P

Quote from: makenzie71

Quote from: subc

Quote from: makenzie71... With half of your gyroscopic forces eliminated, any kind of movement and literally slam you down. the wobbling was likely a mild slapper resulting from evasive movements and heavy braking.

please translate

which part?

"With."

I thought if you lock up your front tire, then you lose the ability to steer.  The rear causes the wobble effect, right?  Or did i remember things backwards from the MSF class?

Quote from: Roadstergal

Quote from: makenzie71

Quote from: subc

Quote from: makenzie71... With half of your gyroscopic forces eliminated, any kind of movement and literally slam you down. the wobbling was likely a mild slapper resulting from evasive movements and heavy braking.

please translate

which part?

"With."

do any of these fancy you?

con
avec
Mit
Met
com
с
med

~or my personal favorite~

具

Oh, you'll wobble when the front locks.  They had a nifty slow-mo replay video of the front locking that they showed at the MSF.  I've locked the rear and it really was pretty low on drama; the front is a crazy sickening very fast wobble.  Dunno the physics of it.

Quote from: RoadstergalOh, you'll wobble when the front locks.  They had a nifty slow-mo replay video of the front locking that they showed at the MSF.  I've locked the rear and it really was pretty low on drama; the front is a crazy sickening very fast wobble.  Dunno the physics of it.

Why not???

I slept through that bit?

Congrats - It sounds like you did fine on your braking - you stayed upright, let off the brake a little bit to release the "lock up"  and manage to keep control of your motorcycle!

Don't beat yourself up  - learn from what you did and perhaps what you could do better in the meantime (like not get into the circumstance in the first place).

Go practice some - that never hurts.

BUT YOU DID GREAT!!!! :thumb:

Good job on not laying your bike down - I realize it's California traffic, but next time leave yourself some more space to the car in front of you, and pay   more attention to the traffic ahead of you (these concepts are taught in the MSF class, if you took it).

Generally, If you lock the front wheel, let go of the brake and then reapply.  If you lock the back wheel, keep it locked.

those freeways are really terrible, especially on the 91 where traffic will be moving just fine and then all of a sudden everyone is braking from like 50-0 in like 100-150 ft.  anyway, the rear brake tends to lock up VERY easily, i've accidentally locked up when braking from like 10 mph, so be very gentle on it.  could be that u locked the rear, causing the screeching noises, had a handful of the front but not enough to lock it up, and the gravel plus braking plus weak front suspension gave u wobbliness.  oh well, just glad another 951er didn't go down :thumb:

~facio

My evasive maneuvers were subtle, sortof like changing lanes.  And I'm not positive I stepped on the rear brake, I was just thinking I *must* have since it is so much easier to lock up the back than the front.  I have locked the rear before, on wet pavement.  That wasn't scary like this; didn't have that "out of control" feeling.

Regardless, I scared the crap out of myself.  I guess it's good, since it spooked me back into paying more attention to everything.  I have been getting comfortable in the GS...too comfortable.

Makenzie71-- I like the idea about taking an hour week for skills practice.

facio57- Yeah, me dropping my bike on that 15/91 interchange would do wonders for everyone's evening commute. :roll:

I've been riding for a little over 20 years. When I first started riding, there was an article in one of the motorcycle mags that talked about playing the mental game "WHAT IF?" while you ride.

You would come up with scenerios in your head and solutions for them:

- What if ...that guy in the SUV doesn't see me and cuts into my lane?

- What if ...a deer runs out into traffic?

- What if... that car turning left in front of me doesn't see me?

- What if...that mattress that guy is hauling on top his car flys off?

It's a great excercise and I still use it today and teach it to my newbies.

I agree with makenzie71, i've slid my rear a few times with a wobble, but the only time I locked the front my bike literally slammed down, hard.  Thats exactly the way i would describe it, that the gyro forces stopped.  I'm sure you can lock the front and get away with it, but if you do your real lucky.

Glad you didn't go down... get some leather pants, I went down in the icon jeans which are stronger than normal jeans but i still got rash because of them... I'd have come out fine had i been wearing leather pants.

Jen, may all your mistakes be small learning experiences on the road to mastering the Practical Science of Motorcycling...

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/redshift/blueMCsmilie.gif)

Quote from: Roadstergal"With."

:lol:

Jen - glad you're allright. I've only locked up my front coming into a wet garage floor. The first time it went down. The second it just went straight and stopped.

Quote from: jen_OMG this motorcycling thing is serious freaking business.

yes it is. As long as you always remember that, you'll be fine. Glad you saved it. Lesson learned, not the hard way luckily. :thumb:

I've only locked up one of my tires and that was only once. The scary part is that I had my girlfriend on the back. I had to stop quickly and I stepped on the rear a bit too much. I just kept it straight up for a second and rode with the skid a little bit, then let off the brake and re-applied. It wasn't scary really at all. However, if you lock up the rear mid-turn, then that wouldn't be quite as "fun."  :)

Glad you are ok!

I use to live on Green River (91) and yah traffic sucks :(. Luckily I live in Huntington Beach now  :) . If you commute to the 55 be sure to get the Fast Trac pass for your bike. It's free for bikes!!!

Did you go down the gear box while you were braking. This can cause the back wheel to lock, it's best to slow down first and then select the correct gear.  Also you need to think why did you have to perform an emergency stop in this situation. How much stopping distance do you leave between you and the car in front? How far up the road are you looking?

GSmetal:

Great tip.  I do that mental excercise all the time.  There is always the unexpected but many things can be anticipated.  

Makenzie71:

Glad you made it through.  Similar thing happened to be once.  I was able to brake in time but the guy BEHIND me was not even paying attention.  Because I was in the left wheel track, the quickest way out of harms way was to pull into the middle of the road between the car in front of me and oncoming traffic.  The guy ended up stopping where I WAS the moment before.