I almost hit two squirrels today. What advice can anyone give when a squirrel has stopped dead ahead of my path. Will I be able to stay upright if I hit one? Thanks.

keep the bike upright, dont swerve if you know ur gonna hit it, maintain ur speed and you should ride right over the top of it no problem...its gross to clean off though    The big thing is to not panic..its just a squirrel..i wouldn't recommend this with say..ur neighbors dog or a sheep or something but using the same technique my uncle hit a deer on his harley and never went down. I've hit woodchucks like that and been ok.

I thought this sounded familiar....

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=29039.0

Quote from: bentrider on September 17, 2006, 07:09:07 AM
I almost hit two squirrels today. What advice can anyone give when a squirrel has stopped dead ahead of my path. Will I be able to stay upright if I hit one? Thanks.

Do what pastrana said. Stay your course and give it a bit of throttle to lighten the front end a little bit.

I saw a video of a sport biker making a fast wide turn. He was leaned over pretty far and there was a huge deer directly in front of him. He didn't panic, didn't swerve but stayed his course and he split the deer clean in two. Pretty astonishing movie.

Quote from: l3uddha on September 17, 2006, 07:30:01 AM
I thought this sounded familiar....

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=29039.0

Don't think twice and run over the damn thing.  Carry a BB gun so you can stop and shoot it if you don't hit it with your bike 

Quote from: tussey on September 17, 2006, 07:49:17 AM
I saw a video of a sport biker making a fast wide turn. He was leaned over pretty far and there was a huge deer directly in front of him. He didn't panic, didn't swerve but stayed his course and he split the deer clean in two. Pretty astonishing movie.

I would pay money to see that video!  You don't happen to have a link?

A Crane flying out of a canal almost hit me Thursday. I looked over @ the car next to me and the woman driving was shaking her head as if to say, yeah that did almost just happen.

-ash

For me, it's instict to try to avoid animals in the road...  But, it's way safer to just run over a little animal.   Just don't look back.

You can use the one meal rule.  If you can eat the animal in one sitting, I'd say to just stay your course.  Any largrer than that and I'd suggest taking action with either braking or maneuvering.

Bike: 400lbs
You: Anywhere from 100 to 250 or so

Squirrel: 1/2lb.

Just don't be at full lean or whatever.

I once ran over a squirrel on my bicycle. It shot out from a bush by the side of the road and and right under my front tire, like it had a death wish. Snapped it's little neck. I barely noticed it. I'm sure you'll be ok on the GS.

-James