Posts Tagged ‘high-side crash’

High-Siding; Fickle February Weather

Monday, February 19th, 2018
snow on motorcycle

After perfect riding weather yesterday, this is what today is like. That’s February in Colorado.

I turned over 29,000 miles on my V-Strom Sunday. It was a fabulous, warm day to ride and there were a lot of bikes out. Temperatures were in the high 60s and everywhere I went there were motorcycles. Now today, Monday, it’s looking like that photo above. That wasn’t shot today but it may as well have been.

So yeah, I turned over that thousand-mile mark. Back in November all three of my bikes were very near turning over one thousand or another and I decided I would make it a point to turn each of them before the end of the year. Then in December my Mom’s illness and death stepped in and the only bike that made it past that 000 mark was the Concours. Of course I rode in January and again earlier in February, but I never did make it to that roll-over on the V-Strom till yesterday. I still haven’t gotten there on the CB750.

I had one bit of a thrill yesterday. It wasn’t part of my plan but I have been needing to stop in at some antique shops on South Broadway and I found myself in the area so what the heck. I was cruising fairly slowly up Broadway and spotted a parking space open in front of the shops I was headed for. I braked to pull over and Whoa! My rear tire locked up and slid out to the left and as I quickly let go of the brake the bike righted itself and shook the way it does when you high-side. I maintained control because I just wasn’t going that fast but it was a big surprise.

After I got parked I went over and looked at the pavement but there wasn’t even a skid mark to indicate my slide. I wanted to see if I had hit a bit of oil or sand or who knows what but the road all looked clear and with no skid mark I couldn’t be exactly sure where the slide happened. Oh well.

Now, I’ve taken a number of rider training courses and I know when your rear wheel locks up you are supposed to hold the brake on until you stop. If not, the result can be a high-side. And while I’ve never been thrown, I have had the experience leading up to it on a number of occasions, but ridden it out safely. It seems to be something I just haven’t gotten locked in my brain despite the training.

I think the reason it doesn’t come naturally is that it isn’t natural. On Sunday it all happened so quickly that I had no time at all to think. But another time I recall, I did have time to think. I was on I-25 in fairly heavy traffic and the car in front of me hit his brakes. I hit mine–I didn’t think that hard–and next thing I knew my rear wheel was sliding out. Well, I had time to think about riding it to a stop but I was on the freaking interstate in traffic and coming to a dead stop didn’t seem like such a good idea. So I eased off the brake.

Wham! The bike stood up and shook violently, with the force that throws you forward and over clearly discernible. Again, I was able to maintain–or regain–control and I stayed up. But that was pretty scary. And what else could I have done?

I’m going to have to think this one over. Maybe I can contact some experts and get their thoughts. If I learn anything I’ll be back to pass it along.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle is 10% hands and feet and 90% mind and eyes.

A Potentially Hazardous Ride

Monday, January 5th, 2015
motorcycle rider training

You learn a lot in rider training classes; what you need to do then is put that knowledge to use.

I like to think I’m a pretty good rider. Not only have I been riding plenty for 25 years, I have also taken the Beginning Rider Course, the Experienced Rider Course, and the Rider Coach training to teach others to ride. So I’ve learned a few things along the way. Presumably I put at least some of what I’ve learned to use.

I was coming south on I-25 recently and traffic was middling thick. Apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention because all of a sudden I saw brake lights coming on in a hurry on the cars ahead and I was way too close to the guy right in front of me.

I went for the brakes hard and felt my rear tire lock up and start to slide sideways. I wasn’t overly concerned because I’ve experienced this before and reacted by pulling my foot off the brake. We had even practiced exactly this in a track day lesson I took one time.

This time was unlike any in the past. Whether it was because I was going faster, or I wasn’t as quick at getting off the brake, or whatever, when I did pull my foot off, the bike certainly straightened out and stood up right away but the front end also shook violently. I realized that that was exactly the sort of physics that would, under more extreme conditions, result in my getting through over the front end in a high-side crash. Fortunately, this time I rode it out.

That got me thinking about what we discussed in class. The general rule of thumb is that if your front end starts to slide you release the brake immediately. When the rear starts to slide the teaching is to ride it out, because if you don’t, you’re looking for a high-side.

But there seem to be discrepancies here. As I said, at a track day class we practiced braking till the slide started and then releasing. And that makes sense. If you don’t slide too much the counter action when you release presumably won’t be that great. Apparently, though, at higher speeds, and the further you’ve gone into the slide, the greater the counter action.

So what do you do in a case like the one I was in? In the split-second I had to think there was no thought in my mind of riding it out because I was pretty sure if I didn’t get off the brake right now that my back end was going to sweep around and I’d go down in a low-side crash. And I didn’t want to do that. So I raised my foot.

I don’t have the textbook answer as to what I should have done in this situation. I do know that what I did worked, so I have to think that wasn’t a totally bad response. But I’m thinking I need to discuss this with some of the very experienced rider coaches I know and get their thoughts. If I learn anything valuable I’ll let you know.

Biker Quote for Today

If you get it out of shape, gas it hard. It may not help but it’ll make it spectacular for anyone watching!