So I'm riding around a beautiful lake with smooth, sweeping curves around it and having a blast without leaning the bike over too much. Then the road changes to a slightly rougher, narrower road connected by 2nd gear turns throughout. I'm approaching a crest and being new to this road, slow down to a "safe" speed as I go over. I initiated the turn in for the curve I saw but as soon as I got past my first apex I noticed the road almost folded back on itself right on top of the crest. I roll off the throttle and hang off the bike a little more, but I think i rolled off the throttle a little too quickly as I turned in more at the same time. My front started slipping out from under me so thanks to MSF, I quickly let go of the front brake, straighten out and reapply the brakes as firmly as I could. I was still going 20mph when I ran off the road into really soft soil but I kept the bike as straight as possible - lucky for me there was no oncoming traffic and the drop off I was headed straight towards wasn't 10 feet closer.

     I do realize that I'm inexperienced and I'm not trying to shrug the fault off of myself, but I'm wondering if the bike played a small role in it also. A thought I had on the slow ride home was that the shift in weight from balanced to front as I made the correction mid-turn might have been amplified by the incredibly soft stock suspension. Doing all of this at the top of a crest probably didn't help too much either.

     I was a little spooked by this whole thing because it dawned on me how quickly things could go bad. As a new rider, I was hoping to learn a bit from this awesome community so if you have any advice or stories I'd love to hear. 

4 points:

Unfamiliar road.  Slow down to a "safe" speed.  Was this the posted speed limit, that you slowed down to?

Your off throttle response overloaded the front tire, when you needed to keep an even throttle to even out the available traction (front/back) and actually lean/turn more/look through the turn.

Hanging off the bike upsets the bike and made it stand up more, making it go straight(er, right off the road); when you needed to lean more to make the turn.

Where were you looking?

The last speed limit sign posted was 50mph, but I was down to a little above 30 when I took the turn. By "safe" I just mean I judged (perhaps misjudged) it as a safe speed for the curve that I saw initially.

The curve had a wall of brush on the right side and a drop off to a lake on the other, so I was looking as far ahead as possible around the curve. I remember at the point where I lost control I was looking about 2 seconds ahead before the road disappeared behind the brush.

Sounds like you made it out lucky. This is why I try to avoid unfamiliar roads at night, there's nothing around here that can sneak up on you in plain daylight.

I edited my previous post.

It helps to know if it was a left or a right turn.

S-turns on the street are best handled squarely in the saddle so as not to upset the bike, and so you can concentrate on steering, leaning, throttle, handlbar pressure, anchor points, braking, braking pressure...

Late apexing would have helped, too.  Sometimes staying wide through a turn can help you see around a turn.

Was this going down hill?

If so, you might have been leaning on the bars too much, to support your upper body weight, which in turn, is what you're fighting against when you try to apply pressure to the inside grip.  Your weight is on both ends of the bar!  This is where gripping the tank with your knees and tightening up your stomach muscles to support your upper body weight, takes the weight off the bars, so you're not fighting yourself.  And, it gets you lower to the pivoting plane of the handlebars, making it easier to steer.

Quote from: scratch on October 22, 2010, 03:09:09 PM

Your off throttle response overloaded the front tire, when you needed to keep an even throttle to even out the available traction (front/back) and actually lean/turn more/look through the turn.

Hanging off the bike upsets the bike and made it stand up more, making it go straight(er, right off the road); when you needed to lean more to make the turn.

Yep..what he said.  Get "Twist of the Wrist II"   

What Scratch said.

When you come off the throttle, the weight moves to the front. Do it mid turn and the bike stands. So as you Think you're going too fast for the turn you come off the throttle - but - that makes to stand the bike and less likely for you to now make the turn.

Solution, as stated, Lean More. BUT, as a Learner you feel Unable to lean more and probably don't understand how Others are able to lean so much. PLUS, you will have a Lean Preference - where you are more comfortable leaning one way over the other and can get further over on your preference side. This Lean Preference will dissipate as your technique and confidence increase/improve.

As the solution was to Lean More, you now understand why it isn't wise to ride to the limits on the road. Cause if you have Max Lean and suddenly find you need to lean more, you're up the creek without a paddle.

Chalk this up to Rider Error. And now you know why I take it Real easy on unfamiliar roads - and - specially where the direction of the road is unsighted due to a crest.

Michael