How to highside at silly low speeds

[plext]

Limping out of the hospital on Monday afternoon having gotten over the anaesthetic of knee surgery, I saw right in front of me possibly the most avoidable spill ever unfold.

 

The road is a small access road for the hospital, is 40km/h due the slow moving pedestrians such as myself limping about and has a very mild right hand curve to the near T junction. Coming down this road was a guy on a gargantuan Victory of some sort; I would estimate his speed at 30-35 km/h tops, then he slowed down for the curve/T junction approaching.

 

Due to a lot of construction in the hospital at the moment, there was a line of gravel on the curve following the road. Our subject hit it doing maybe 25km/h and the front then rear wheel naturally enough stepped out on it. Lateral movement at most would have been 100mm, but I'd say closer to 50mm and one would suspect not a problem. It was to this guy, he:

 

Went as rigid as a 13 year old who has found dad's cache of playboys.

Chopped whatever throttle he had.

Slammed on the rear brake.

 

The behemoth fairly much stopped where it was due the low speed, but the momentum naturally enough had the rider off over the high side and the bike proceeded to drop like a ton of bricks.

 

Though it shouldn't, the complete lack of understanding of bike dynamics or even base physics appalled me, this was so unnecessary. I say shouldn't because this kind of thing continues to happen all too often. What is probably worst in this particular case is that the unskilled operator will doubtless blame the gravel and do nothing to improve his non existent skill set. We always look to blame something else and this is a habit we need to get out of if we're to improve the skill level over the range of riders out there.

 

Thankfully, our guy appeared unhurt other than ego bruising, but I'd be willing to bet that the once shiny land whale will take some cash to regain its glitter.

 

Stay loose on the bike guys, nine times out of ten it's more capable than we are and will see us through just fine if we just learn to trust it; if our guy had done nothing at all, the bike would have looked after him.

[4wheeldog]

As the hero in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy always said, "Don't panic!"

Over reacting is almost always worse than just waiting for things to square themselves up.....On a bike, anyway.

[David13]

Panic is one of the worst possible responses.

I was following a Toyota or Saturn in the fast lane today, about 75. I was back enough so it didn't much matter. The car applied a little brake and appeared to run over something.

Then slowed and pulled right.

After I started to get pelted with small burning chunks of rubber I realized he blew his front tire.

I was thankful to him for not panicking and stomping on the brake.

dc

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

I send a still of this to people at work when one of my emergencies is treated like an...emergency.

[ElevenFifty]

BEST advice I ever got on this site was about responding to these "Oh Crap" kind of moments when the unexpected occurs ...

 

"RIDE the damn bike".

 

[ryan_a1982]

Plext, Great post!

 

I was in San Francisco on Sunday on my RT. It was pouring down rain and foggy. It was the first time on the bike in the City and I really had to practice to 'stay loose' on the bike. I was riding through construction zone intersections with large metal plates and trolley tracks and all sorts of stuff. I felt the bike get a little sloppy a few times, but I just relaxed and we made it though.

 

My buddy on his Ducati wasn't relaxing as much and did a bit of fishtailing, but he didn't drop it.

 

-Ryan

[Indy Dave]

BEST advice I ever got on this site was about responding to these "Oh Crap" kind of moments when the unexpected occurs ...

 

"RIDE the damn bike".

 

The unfortunate part is that it takes a few 'oh crap' moments before one is able to counter the impulse to panic. If you're lucky enough to be at less than 9/10's, you might get away and develop a better comfort level, but not like one will pick up with 'advanced' formal training. I have yet to develop a comfort level with the bike sliding - even when I purposely ride through a small patch of fine gravel while turning onto my street.

[4wheeldog]

 

I know what you mean. I have a gravel driveway, with about 50' of it being pretty steep. I have gotten pretty comfy with the back end moving around........But the front end changing line on its own still promotes a pucker.

[ragtoplvr]

Years ago I flagged corners at a local race track, several times a rider and bike got crossed up, after the bike tossed it's rider it recovered and rolled straight until it fell over. If the rider had done nothing he would not have crashed maybe. Made an impression on me. Stay loose and never quit.

 

Hard to do isn't it!

 

Rod

[4wheeldog]

A few years back, their was a case of a Goldwing getting into what passes for a tank slapper with a bike of that class........Both the rider and passenger were pitched onto the road (Fatally), and the bike quit shaking and rolled along the verge until it came to a stop against the railing.......Never even fell over. Makes you wonder how many times we are the cause of the problem.

[plext]

Nearly always I'm thinking.

 

Some eleven odd years back while living in Sydney, I had occasion to be at work at some barbaric early hour to perform some testing. I dragged my noncompliant body out of bed, showered and headed off through the predawn glimmer lit streets of North Sydney.

 

About 1km from home I came to a red light were Miller St crosses Falcon St. Upon green, I had a quick glance then headed over the intersection, made it to far side and suddenly found myself in the air travelling perpendicular to my original route. I shot a good long way through the air, long enough to consider seemingly many times "this is going to hurt a lot", passed at an angle with more luck than I'm due through some telegraph poles and finally impacted the pavement between two of possibly the most startled pedestrians in Sydney that day.

 

Waking up in an ambulance is not something I commend, but will concede that it is vastly superior to some of the alternates....

 

It turned out that the police had been chasing a stolen Subaru WRX down the cross street which had pulled out around the stopped traffic, blown through the intersection and managed to just catch about the last 100mm of my rear wheel. At about 160km/h. This neatly explains the physics of my sudden flight, I can state with clarity that bikes make excellent catapults under the correct circumstance.

 

The upshot of this little piece of theatre was a bike ripped in two, a rider somewhat miraculously sustaining nothing more than a solid concussion (I see everything thrice!), two broken fingers and a few cracked ribs. Meanwhile, the police, the insurance company, the ambulance guys, in fact world plus dog generally agreed that this was all the fault of the loon in the stolen car.

 

I disagree. This was my fault; I should not have been on the bike without being fully alert; I should have looked more thoroughly into the intersection; I should have cleared the intersection faster than my dozy dawdle that morning. If I had broken just one of these links, this chain of events would never have happened.

 

Oh yes, it's nearly always us.

 

[JOHNNYWISHBONE]

the bmw owners' manual used to suggest taking the motorcycle to a large, grassy, wet field and ride it. get used to sliding and dumping, i guess.

the manual also wanted you to put at least 1000 miles on the bike before carryng a pillion passenger.

[Carl_T]

If I had broken just one of these links, this chain of events would never have happened.

This is likely true for any accident that happens.

It's rarely one thing that gets a rider but several that line up just right, any one of which goes missing and the accident doesn't actually happen. Remove or alter one in the right way, and the accident is a near miss instead of an accident.

 

The elements the rider has some control over changing, are the main ones to look at for help with future situations.

 

Learning to handle a dirt bike and ride out slides a little, is great experience for all riders to have.

[Danny S]

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

A guy I went to High School with recently bought a Harley. A week or so later he got T-Boned by a mini-van in an intersection and almost lost his leg.

 

He told me Evil Knievel (ok he's a redneck) couldn't have avoided getting hit. I asked him what happened and he told me he was following a truck through the intersection and as soon as the truck passed, the mini van pulled out and hit him. I didn't have the heart to tell him he shouldn't have been following a big truck through an intersection. If he would have left enough following distance the driver of the van may have seen him, and he could of stopped (or at least attempted to stop) when the van pulled out.

 

 

 

[philbytx]

We get to ride a good mix of road surface around here in the Hill Country!

Our Monday ride group ride leader (on his GS of course), likes to take us on a mix of small ranch roads, paved and otherwise !

All but three of us now have dual-sports, so I am in the minority!

 

Riding mainly on the trusty R1100R, I am now very comfortable riding 50/60mph on dirty, gritty roads! The bugger even did it when I was riding the RT and, although not pleased at stone chips on the paintwork, it wasn't too dramatic at all!

 

What I have learned is that along with a relaxed body, you just need a way more focussed mind LOL!

[plext]

I didn't have the heart to tell him he shouldn't have been following a big truck through an intersection. If he would have left enough following distance the driver of the van may have seen him, and he could of stopped (or at least attempted to stop) when the van pulled out.

The problem is, we need to tell them if they are to continue to enjoy motorcycles for very long.

 

I will concede that the approach of "Schmuck! What the hell were you thinking?" may well be problematic (if somewhat satisfying ), but you can attack it from an angle of: "You know, this is precisely why I don't follow trucks through intersections; it gives the traffic at cross streets time to see me and gives me room to stop when the fools pull out anyway"

 

The "there was nothing I could do" always winds me up. There is nearly always something we could have done, even if as you point out it meant doing it well before the accident was ever in the offing.

[Fubar]

I was in San Francisco on Sunday on my RT. It was pouring down rain and foggy. It was the first time on the bike in the City and I really had to practice to 'stay loose' on the bike. I was riding through construction zone intersections with large metal plates and trolley tracks and all sorts of stuff. I felt the bike get a little sloppy a few times, but I just relaxed and we made it though. -Ryan

After reading this thread, I recalled watching the Isle of Man TT races. To see, in slow motion replay, how much those bikes twitch and squirm just reacting to the road inputs is amazing. But the riders, well trained and experienced, just "let the reins hang loose".

As the hero in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy always said, "Don't panic!"

Over reacting is almost always worse than just waiting for things to square themselves up.....On a bike, anyway.

Zaphod is right (always listen to a man with two heads). In diving, this Rule #1. Panic kills underwater and can do the same on two wheels (or four or eighteen), while mountain climbing or crossing the street. We all need to learn to observe better and, like the Boy Scouts, "be prepared". Sometimes, doing nothing is much better.

[dduelin]

Possibly the best preparation I received for street riding today was riding dirt bikes as a teenager. It is perfectly OK for the bike to move around underneath us as it reacts to the road surface and to our inputs.

 

More broadly, panic has to be avoided at all costs. Panic triggers a series of reactions that rapidly eliminates options that might allow us to ride out of a close one.

[blueoval]

When the bike doesn't like what's going on and is getting unstable it will try and get rid of that which is upsetting it the most - and that is usually the rider. Then, once the rider is thrown off, it usually goes straight - as it was designed - until it has no momentum to stay upright!

 

I have ridden dirt bikes all of my life and learned early on to be light on the bars and let the bike just eat up the terrain. This is really noticed in the sandy southwest desert. When the bike just wanders around searching for traction it can be an uneasy feeling, but getting rigid on the bars can make a "seemingly unstable situation" a truly unstable situation.