Well, I just had my first close "stupidity move" call. Making a turn into a somewhat blind T-junction, and someone else was coming straight across, kinda fast.
My "stupid move" was yanking on the front brake a bit too fast. As I had the front turned, no less!
Bike made a wierd shudder, and I got off the brake quick by instinct. I probably had my back wheel an inch or two off the ground.
Happily, collision averted, AND did not drop the bike either :cheers:
Thankfully, I had already slowed down a bit for the turn, or it could have been messy!
Sheesh your not wrong there. Bet that's gone in your knowledge bank under don't do that again.
Guess it didnt stick :-/
Went down last weekend. Happened so fast I'm not clear on why...
I dont think I squeezed front brake IN the turn. I'm fairly sure I started braking well before.
But maybe I held it too long, so when I leaned for the turn, then it flopped down on me? Does that happen?
It was a fairly deep-lean turn.
I'm miffed that I dont know whether it was a "dont continue holding brake in turn" issue, or a "dont lean over too quickly while you're holding brake", or....
damn! how ya holding up? have your gear on?
i'm not the most moto knowledgeable, but i do know that any braking in a lean will make the bike want to stand back up
so you ended up high siding?
Quote from: steezin_and_wheezin on August 25, 2011, 10:32:17 AM
damn! how ya holding up? have your gear on?
i'm not the most moto knowledgeable, but i do know that any braking in a lean will make the bike want to stand back up
so you ended up high siding?
yah, full gear. ALthough I have a worse injury on my leg than I should have, because it turns out, my leg gear did not FIT PROPERLY. ARRG! (pads were too low :( )
I... dont know if I high sided. happened so fast, I just found myself rolling, and lost all sense of anything.
The bike itself, did a left-side slide on a left side turn. thats where all the damage is anyway :-}
Happy to say that my scorpion XDR jacket did excellently. Not a scratch on my upper body.
Glad you lived to tell the tale and even more glad that you are trying to learn from the experience :thumb: If you were making a left turn and the damage is on the left side you probably low sided (bike slid out from under you).
First question is what kind of shape your tires are in and how old are they? There is a 4 digit build code near the DOT #. First 2 digits are the week (01 to 52 week of the year), last 2 digits are the year. So 0208 would be the 2nd week of 2008. If you only have a 3 digit code, the tires are made before 2000 and should be replaced.
Once we've established that the rubber is good, it has to be your technique. No matter how wide the tire, a motorcycle only touches the road in 2 spots about the size of a quarter (referred to as your contact patch). That little spot is all the traction you have to work with when you accelerate, brake and turn. There is a limited amount of traction available to be split between those 3 activities. When you brake you have less traction available to turn.
Assuming you are new to riding, my advice would be to try and seperate those 3 activities while you are still learning. Brake well before the turn so you can scrub off excess speed. If you do it correctly you will be off the brakes by the time you enter the turn leaving all your tires' traction capability available for turning. Once you complete the apex of the turn and you are starting to stand the bike back up you will have more traction available. At that point start rolling back on the throttle to maintain your momentum. Good luck and keep practicing and learning!
-Jessie
Quote from: BaltimoreGS on August 25, 2011, 10:46:26 AM
At that point start rolling back on the throttle to maintain I love YOUentum.
Anyone know why the word "momentum" tripped the profanity filter???
-Jessie
lol i love YOU mom
Quote from: reload on August 25, 2011, 10:56:21 AM
lol i love YOU mom
:confused: :icon_mrgreen: :icon_mrgreen: :icon_mrgreen: hilarious filtering.
Quote from: Phil B on August 25, 2011, 10:17:55 AM
I'm miffed that I dont know whether it was a "dont continue holding brake in turn" issue, or a "dont lean over too quickly while you're holding brake", or....
Probably more of a leaning instead of counter-steering issue. Glad you're ok bro. Here, read this: http://bit.ly/oGg9Fp
Quote from: BaltimoreGS on August 25, 2011, 10:48:35 AM
Quote from: BaltimoreGS on August 25, 2011, 10:46:26 AM
At that point start rolling back on the throttle to maintain I love YOUentum.
Anyone know why the word "momentum" tripped the profanity filter???
-Jessie
It is not momentum
It is y o u r m o m
as in y o u r m o m e n t u m
if typed without the spaces you will get: your momentum
Thank you!! That one had me confused :laugh:
-Jessie
BaltimoreGS' advice is definitely sound. I'm still pretty confident that in this case you were trying to lean the bike through the turn instead of steering it. You more than likely leaned the bike too hard to make up for the lack of steering input, cut the throttle, got a little loose, counter-leaned and lowsided. My first wreck was the same thing.
Watch this. It'll explain it in more detail. Good visual illustration of what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_A8k58ysSw
You're in Long Beach, right? I'm in Santa Ana. Let me know if you need any help wrenchin on the bike getting it back into shape. I have a stock set of bars/mirrors/signals if that'll help.
Take a look at that PDF link I posted too... It'll really change the way you ride and the confidence you have (and should have) in yourself as a rider.
Thanks, and thanks.
My steering/leaning, etc was pretty spot on up til then. I had gone through virtually the entire snake no problemo. The GS500 is so easy, I was flicking it over without even thinking about it.
But just before that point, .. ironically... I was thinking about how I should be maybe riding a little SAFER, and slowing down more for the turns.
So, I put the brake on longer and harder for that turn, I'm thinking. Too long.
splat.
Interestingly, I went down, on the lead INTO the turn, rather then in the middle of it.
Still wondering if the real culprit was the huge rock (larger than my FIST!) I saw in the road, after I had come off my bike :-/
Thanks muchly for the offer of a looksie. If you're bored on a weekend and wanna come lookie lookie, I'd welcome ya.
I lost my left mirror, and the thingie holding the left footpeg is bent. I'm debating whether i'll be okay attempting to straighten it, or whether I need to get a fresh new one. arg.
My handlebars were.. Umm.. "straightened".. by a friend. :) So they're usable, but not exactly even.
Would also be good to have a more experienced eye look at it, for things that I have no idea need fixing too :-/
Quote from: Phil B on August 25, 2011, 06:18:39 PM
Thanks, and thanks.
My steering/leaning, etc was pretty spot on up til then. I had gone through virtually the entire snake no problemo. The GS500 is so easy, I was flicking it over without even thinking about it.
But just before that point, .. ironically... I was thinking about how I should be maybe riding a little SAFER, and slowing down more for the turns.
So, I put the brake on longer and harder for that turn, I'm thinking. Too long.
splat.
Interestingly, I went down, on the lead INTO the turn, rather then in the middle of it.
Still wondering if the real culprit was the huge rock (larger than my FIST!) I saw in the road, after I had come off my bike :-/
Thanks muchly for the offer of a looksie. If you're bored on a weekend and wanna come lookie lookie, I'd welcome ya.
I lost my left mirror, and the thingie holding the left footpeg is bent. I'm debating whether i'll be okay attempting to straighten it, or whether I need to get a fresh new one. arg.
My handlebars were.. Umm.. "straightened".. by a friend. :) So they're usable, but not exactly even.
Would also be good to have a more experienced eye look at it, for things that I have no idea need fixing too :-/
Glad to see you're alright,
One of the things I'm always practicing is control over my controls. I spend quite a bit of time in a church parking lot down the street practicing quick stopping, turning, etc. It's good to be familiar with your front brake.
It's also fairly handy to stop at an intersection before a turn and look both ways. I never turn through without looking first. It's way to easy to end up on the other side of your handlebars in a knee jerk stopping reaction.