My very close call tonight (Apr 20 '11)...

[TekNinja81]

Had a very close call tonight taking a turn a bit too slow/leaning the bike over too far. I know better than this, but got clumsy for a moment partially due to wearing uncomfortably limiting riding pants.



Still playing this over both via video and in my head, and not entirely sure how I avoided crashing...

Definitely an "OH S#!T!!!" moment.

[slogan]

glad you're ok!

[Chasem]

Remember cold tires don't grip very well either...

[Amazon]

Love the commentary :P But also glad you didn't wipe out

[Dr.Manhattan]

Remember cold tires don't grip very well either...

This. Also hate when they have the tar fill ins on the road, especially around corners like the one you went around, that is just a recipe for disaster.

[Dohhh]

noob lol

[TekNinja81]

This. Also hate when they have the tar fill ins on the road, especially around corners like the one you went around, that is just a recipe for disaster.

Yup, not a fan of tar snakes etc. There's a big stretch of the 401 westbound from the Port Hope-ish area where the leftmost lane is very littered with them. Have had more than one occasion where I got stuck in that part of the lane momentarily with heavy rainfall-- not a good feeling at all.

[matthew]

nice job blowing through the stop sign at the beginning of the video

[knowledge]

What cam setup are you using?

Good save, btw. The one time that happened to me, I saved it by kicking down really hard on the ground to let the tire catch

[TekNinja81]

nice job blowing through the stop sign at the beginning of the video

Yeah, not wise and not generally something I'd do; I'm pretty mindful about obeying laws etc, but I was definitely a bit off tonight. Been a long week...

What cam setup are you using? Good save, btw. The one time that happened to me, I saved it by kicking down really hard on the ground to let the tire catch

Here I was using my GoPro HD Hero 1080; I also have a ContourHD1080, which works a lot better at night, but I mostly have the GoPro with me as I prefer it for the daytime shooting and overall better audio quality. This is one of the few night-time clips where the video was actually fairly decent; unfortunately the GoPro generally seems to suck at night.

As for kicking out of the lean/fall -- to be honest, I'm still not real sure what I did, it happened so fast; but I *think* I accelerated out of the near right-side drop, which caused the bike to buck back up/over to the left; my left ankle is pretty sore so I must have kicked out my left foot or something when the bike nearly threw me off that side.

Wow, it's been several hours and my head's still spinning from the whole thing.

[UJelly]

think the 250 is too much of a bike for you.

the 125 will be more suitable LOL

[knowledge]

Here I was using my GoPro HD Hero 1080; I also have a ContourHD1080, which works a lot better at night, but I mostly have the GoPro with me as I prefer it for the daytime shooting and overall better audio quality. This is one of the few night-time clips where the video was actually fairly decent; unfortunately the GoPro generally seems to suck at night.

I'm actually really impressed with the sound quality. How is it so good with recording your talking? You don't have some sort of external mic set-up, do you? Unless the sound goes out the window once you reach highway speeds?

Good thing it's a 250 - a more powerful bike probably would've bucked you!

[alaywa]

Atually try not to acceleate or decelerate into, through or out of any turns at this stage...not until you develope extremely smooth throttle control and rev matching.

The bike's characteristics change with speed and you increase the unpredictability of the bike's behavior as you change speed; way too many factors to process for an novice to even intermediate rider.

Pick your speed and gear BEFORE you enter any turn, and maintain that exact speed throughout with a firm throttle hand. Look ahead, assess the conditions and pick the appropriate speed. If you do need to lay on throttle then try to be in second gear where the response wont be so jumpy, so a ham fisting will be mitigated by a sluggish gear slightly below the power band.

This way you illiminate many variables and can concentrate on road variables, tire grip etc.

Accelerating in the turn will also cause problems unless you are a master of "feel", weight distribution and throttle control. When you exist the turn, stand the bike up, get more contact patch on the ground, then accelerate. If you're upright and you ham fist it you migh get a mini (quite manageble) fish tail wiggle, but not some rodeo shananigans!

Like you said "off night".

Looks like you avoided crashing by not being too sideways when the tire regained traction, thus not tipping you over, while also being at a low enough speed to not fling you out of the bike!.

Many highsides actually see the bike go from leaning to standing, the rider gets flung, but the bike keeps going upright, because the force was departed and used up in 2 ways, to get the heavy bike upright from a lean angle, and also to fling the rider clear. If there is even greater force, the bike will continue flinging with the rider and go into a roll.

Your fishtail was slow enough speed that the forward forces didn't fling anyone (you or bike) more than to a full upright position where by any instability was minor enough that you could couter balance it with your natural weight / balancing reflexes (read arm flaling, legs akimbo, etc).

[slogan]

Atually try not to acceleate or decelerate into, through or out of any turns at this stage...not until you develope extremely smooth throttle control and rev matching.

The bike's characteristics change with speed and you increase the unpredictability of the bike's behavior as you change speed; way too many factors to process for an novice to even intermediate rider.

Pick your speed and gear BEFORE you enter any turn, and maintain that exact speed throughout with a firm throttle hand. Look ahead, assess the conditions and pick the appropriate speed. If you do need to lay on throttle then try to be in second gear where the response wont be so jumpy, so a ham fisting will be mitigated by a sluggish gear slightly below the power band.

This way you illiminate many variables and can concentrate on road variables, tire grip etc.

Accelerating in the turn will also cause problems unless you are a master of "feel", weight distribution and throttle control. When you exist the turn, stand the bike up, get more contact patch on the ground, then accelerate. If you're upright and you ham fist it you migh get a mini (quite manageble) fish tail wiggle, but not some rodeo shananigans!

Like you said "off night".

Yes, mom

[Myztyk]

Atually try not to acceleate or decelerate into, through or out of any turns at this stage...not until you develope extremely smooth throttle control and rev matching.

The bike's characteristics change with speed and you increase the unpredictability of the bike's behavior as you change speed; way too many factors to process for an novice to even intermediate rider.

Pick your speed and gear BEFORE you enter any turn, and maintain that exact speed throughout with a firm throttle hand. Look ahead, assess the conditions and pick the appropriate speed. If you do need to lay on throttle then try to be in second gear where the response wont be so jumpy, so a ham fisting will be mitigated by a sluggish gear slightly below the power band.

This way you illiminate many variables and can concentrate on road variables, tire grip etc.

Accelerating in the turn will also cause problems unless you are a master of "feel", weight distribution and throttle control. When you exist the turn, stand the bike up, get more contact patch on the ground, then accelerate. If you're upright and you ham fist it you migh get a mini (quite manageble) fish tail wiggle, but not some rodeo shananigans!

Like you said "off night".

Looks like you avoided crashing by not being too sideways when the tire regained traction, thus not tipping you over, while also being at a low enough speed to not fling you out of the bike!.

Many highsides actually see the bike go from leaning to standing, the rider gets flung, but the bike keeps going upright, because the force was departed and used up in 2 ways, to get the heavy bike upright from a lean angle, and also to fling the rider clear. If there is even greater force, the bike will continue flinging with the rider and go into a roll.

Your fishtail was slow enough speed that the forward forces didn't fling anyone (you or bike) more than to a full upright position where by any instability was minor enough that you could couter balance it with your natural weight / balancing reflexes (read arm flaling, legs akimbo, etc).

Good advice.

[alaywa]

Yes, mom

Mom makes you follow advice....and doesn't laugh when you go down.

You don't have to follow my advice, and I cannot gaurantee I will not laugh after you go down having called me "mom" sarcasticly.

[rafiki911]

Glad your ok Did you have the back cover with the holes in it? I used my go pro while snowboarding and the audio was crap with the sealed back cover.

[Dr.Manhattan]

Atually try not to acceleate or decelerate into, through or out of any turns at this stage...not until you develope extremely smooth throttle control and rev matching.

The bike's characteristics change with speed and you increase the unpredictability of the bike's behavior as you change speed; way too many factors to process for an novice to even intermediate rider.

Pick your speed and gear BEFORE you enter any turn, and maintain that exact speed throughout with a firm throttle hand. Look ahead, assess the conditions and pick the appropriate speed. If you do need to lay on throttle then try to be in second gear where the response wont be so jumpy, so a ham fisting will be mitigated by a sluggish gear slightly below the power band.

This way you illiminate many variables and can concentrate on road variables, tire grip etc.

Accelerating in the turn will also cause problems unless you are a master of "feel", weight distribution and throttle control. When you exist the turn, stand the bike up, get more contact patch on the ground, then accelerate. If you're upright and you ham fist it you migh get a mini (quite manageble) fish tail wiggle, but not some rodeo shananigans!

Like you said "off night".

Looks like you avoided crashing by not being too sideways when the tire regained traction, thus not tipping you over, while also being at a low enough speed to not fling you out of the bike!.

Many highsides actually see the bike go from leaning to standing, the rider gets flung, but the bike keeps going upright, because the force was departed and used up in 2 ways, to get the heavy bike upright from a lean angle, and also to fling the rider clear. If there is even greater force, the bike will continue flinging with the rider and go into a roll.

Your fishtail was slow enough speed that the forward forces didn't fling anyone (you or bike) more than to a full upright position where by any instability was minor enough that you could couter balance it with your natural weight / balancing reflexes (read arm flaling, legs akimbo, etc).

Pretty much. Highsides generally happen from the rider trying to compensate for the back tire sliding out by flicking the bike back, which causes them to fling off. The best thing to do is to avoid the human want to autocorrect, and apply a bit of throttle and trust the tires to re-grip the surface and pick you back up. Human instinct is to try and fight it, but that is what usually causes the problem. With automatic adjusting of the throttle and brakes with electronics in a lot of the new bikes, highsides and lowsides are a bit easier to handle, and don't happen as frequent, thank god. I've been in that situation before, and it sucks, it is hard to not try to correct it yourself, and still put faith in the machine to correct itself.

[KwikShift]

Cold weather was a factor yes...but do you think it had anything to do with you riding over your limits? You pretty much run a stop sign at the beginning of the video and you are clearly trying to catch your buddy up front. If you're on a 250 I think we can assume you're fairly new to riding. Take it easy - speed/smoothness will come. Sign up for some track days where you can focus on your throttle and brake controls without having to worry about too much else.

[snowboarder]

nice save! dunno if it's been said, was the front sliding or was it the rear, or both?