I don't know whatsup this time, it might just be my imagination but so I'm on my way to work this afternoon and I pass through a construction area, nothing new have been taking this route for awhile now.  So I come up to my turn and start to make it, down shift a few times.. well I didn't release the shifter enough the first time so I ended up not shifting down far enough and by the time I realized it I was already halfway through the turn and it was time to speed the hell up so I grabbed alittle throttle (notice I said alittle, not alot) and released the clutch.  Well the back end slid about six inches to a foot, it suprized me but I just kept on my way and made a mental note not to do it again.  So on the way home tonight I could have sworn it felt like it was drifting out of line with the front of the bike on it's own, only about an inch at a time if that.  Anyone know what is going on here?  Rear wheel alignment?

did this happen while driving in a straight line? (the second part)

Air pressure?

Or your front tire could have been chasing grooves.

Construction area usually = debris, even small stuff in conjunction with a moderately aggressive downshift in a turn will break the rear loose. When there's no traffic I'll do it everyonce in a while just to practice break and recovery. Fun? 

+1, check pressure.  Check alignment of the rear wheel, youll see the alignment notches on the swingarm.  If all is good then you are probably chasing groves.  As for the tire slide i have don't it as well.  It happens when you let the clutch out to fast and don't have the rpm's matched perfectly for the downshift.  When you release the clutch there is a momentary slide because of the engine braking.  And it can be a little unnerving if you aren't looking out for it.

I noticed a similar problem with low air pressure. Boosted it up and everything was fine

I'll check pressure, wasn't road snakes, I take the same way home everynight.

If you were trying to re-engage the power to your wheels in the middle of the turn and didn't match engine to road speed I think that could have caused the problem. When my tires have been cold or wet and I use engine braking up to a light a little too aggressively I've noticed the tendency for the back tire to skip and remind me of the MSF course and slow consistent squeeze/release of the clutch. Maybe I'm reading the scenario wrong, but it sounds like there's a combination of a couple issues. Were you not properly set up for the turn before you entered it and then tried to recover from the shifting mistake or is this how you typically take turn?

Quote from: EMTkid on May 11, 2006, 10:43:43 AM
If you were trying to re-engage the power to your wheels in the middle of the turn and didn't match engine to road speed I think that could have caused the problem. When my tires have been cold or wet and I use engine braking up to a light a little too aggressively I've noticed the tendency for the back tire to skip and remind me of the MSF course and slow consistent squeeze/release of the clutch. Maybe I'm reading the scenario wrong, but it sounds like there's a combination of a couple issues. Were you not properly set up for the turn before you entered it and then tried to recover from the shifting mistake or is this how you typically take turn?

Thats not the problem, I know I screwed up there. It was on my way home, on the road I take every night where I felt the back end drifting out ever so slightly from the front.  I just didn't take the time to run it down through the gears when I entered the turn and ended up skipping gears and not knowing which I was in.