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Post by duosport on Sept 22, 2010 17:23:32 GMT -5
So as some of you might know I bought a 250cc motorcycle. I dumped it today in my work parking lot. The lanes in the lot end at a sharp angle to an outer lane. A woman drove her car from a side roadturning into my parking lot lane.She was making the sharp corner and did so into the left side instead of the right side. She appeared right infront of me. I had only just taken off and had just shifted into second and there she was. I crammed on my brakes front and back. Apparently too hard. The wheels slid right out from under me. I think I had also cut the wheels to the right to avoid collisiom. Hard braking and turning. A no no. I was only going 15 miles an hour. I did not hit her car. I am really freeked out. it happened too easily.
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Post by 90GTVert on Sept 22, 2010 17:48:56 GMT -5
As long and you and the bike are okay, you can get over the freaked out part. If you feel unsure about your skill as a rider, you could try some MSF courses. They teach everything from basics to advanced riding and I know they spend time on accident/obstavle avoidance. www.msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm |
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Post by duosport on Sept 22, 2010 17:55:09 GMT -5
I have not had the safety course its true, but I have been doing the training from videos. I have done all the elements set up cones the works. the accident avoidance thing I also trained on. I was braking in a straight line in my training and using both brakes, I was practicing swerving but when push came to shove I simply reacted by braking hard and I think I also turned a bit. It was pure reaction. What is freaking me out is I was only going 15 mh. What if I was going 50? In the past month I have had a number of quick stop situtations where people did not see me. Much faster speeds than in my parking lot. I went back out there afterwards and looked. There was no gravel or anything.
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Post by duosport on Sept 22, 2010 17:57:09 GMT -5
I think my rear brakes are terrible. The mark on the gauge on it says it is OK but they are very very weak.
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Post by duosport on Sept 22, 2010 18:00:24 GMT -5
Oh by the way my body took most of the damage. The bike fell on my leg. The muffler was scraped a little on the edge as well as the head light cowling. the break fluid reservoir got a good grinding. It took most of it. The front fender has a grind on it. I bought boots yesterday. They are scraped to shit and my pants were ripped pretty good. My ankle is twisted and my shoulder is sore. My elbow is ground up as well as my knee.
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Post by 90GTVert on Sept 22, 2010 18:18:31 GMT -5
It's hard to make yourself react as you should when a car is heading at you head on. I'm no pro rider so the best advice I can offer is to keep doing your practice exercises periodically to make sure the skills are still there and read up until you have all the knowledge you think you need to handle whatever comes up. Experience is the best way I know of to really make yourself react the way you want. I don't really know how you do that safely. The best riders I know of are the ones that do crazy crap all the time. They get used to risks and not panicing and they get used to what their bikes are truly capable of. That said, you could always consider attending a few track days. Here's soemthing to check out too... www.msf-usa.org/imsc/proceedings/b-Shuman-DoIBrakeorDoISwerve.pdf |
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Post by duosport on Sept 22, 2010 18:39:03 GMT -5
It's hard to make yourself react as you should when a car is heading at you head on. I'm no pro rider so the best advice I can offer is to keep doing your practice exercises periodically to make sure the skills are still there and read up until you have all the knowledge you think you need to handle whatever comes up. Experience is the best way I know of to really make yourself react the way you want. I don't really know how you do that safely. The best riders I know of are the ones that do crazy crap all the time. They get used to risks and not panicing and they get used to what their bikes are truly capable of. That said, you could always consider attending a few track days. Here's soemthing to check out too... www.msf-usa.org/imsc/proceedings/b-Shuman-DoIBrakeorDoISwerve.pdfYou are right about the guys that do the crazy shit. I know when I was a teenager I did donuts in the parking lot and stuff and swerved around in the snow. all very good training. I am wondering about something though. I have a disk front brake and a drum back brake. I am getting very little braking power from the back. Maybe my brakes are weaker than normal in the back. I have not looked at the pads directly. If I have virtually no brakes in the back and I cram them in an emergency that is bad. |
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Post by 90GTVert on Sept 22, 2010 19:45:05 GMT -5
Do you have enough power to skid the rear tire? From what little I've been on bikes, the back brake is good when used properly, but usually you can't do much with it without skidding the rear. If it will skid the tire, you probably have enough.
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Post by duosport on Sept 22, 2010 19:49:02 GMT -5
I have yet to skid the back tire. I will give it a try in the parking lot. I have applied the back brakes alone fairly hard and all I did was gradually stop.
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Post by 90GTVert on Sept 22, 2010 19:57:44 GMT -5
70% or more of your braking power should be from the front, but I've never been on a big bike that won't skid the rear tire with a reasonable amount of ease. Then again, I've never rode a motorcycle with a rear drum other than moving a cruiser around slow.
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Post by duosport on Sept 22, 2010 20:04:16 GMT -5
My rear brake pedal is a bit messed up now from the fall. I have to look at it all anyway so I might as well start by having a look at the pads.
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Post by scooterrebel on Sept 22, 2010 23:42:12 GMT -5
I've never had a motorcycle with a rear disk brake, most of the ones I've had actually had front and rear drum brakes my current has a disk on the front. I've always had the impression that the rear was really just for slowing you and like Brent says, 70% of the braking comes from the front brake. Doing a downshift and letting the motor slow you has always been helpful to me. I do not know if that is in the book so to speak.
I stopped riding for a long time after a woman didn't see me in an intersection years ago, still has me overly concerned when I'm out on the bike.
All the gear, all the time.
Had you had riding gear on you wouldn't have a scraped up elbow and knee. Great that your boots took the punishment, guess what would have happened if you had athletic shoes or worse, sandals on. Seems to me that the boots did what they were supposed to.
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Post by 2strokd on Sept 23, 2010 1:57:59 GMT -5
 Bummer!! Im glad it wasnt any worse. Hope ya get comfy again soon duosport 
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Post by Goosey on Sept 23, 2010 8:31:47 GMT -5
Ouch, I empathize. Hope you recover quickly. Take the course. Around here you need to get signed up at least 3-4 months ahead. The main riding skills and tests are avoidance and quick stops. There was the figure 8, but it was a minor part of the score. I've seen enough damage to my gear to appreciate it, a good armored jacket can be bought for $50 if you look in the clearance racks this time of year.
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Post by duosport on Sept 23, 2010 21:35:43 GMT -5
... All the gear, all the time. Had you had riding gear on you wouldn't have a scraped up elbow and knee. Great that your boots took the punishment, guess what would have happened if you had athletic shoes or worse, sandals on. Seems to me that the boots did what they were supposed to. Yes very true. I am going to gear up more. I had a leather jacket on in the morning but at lunch I took it off because it was 92 degrees. Ironically I was going out to look at something a little cooler to wear. I did not make that shopping trip. If I had very good protection on I would not been hurt at all. Except for a sore shoulder and sprained ankle of course. |
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Bummer!!
