Maybe I need to take a break?

DavidWhite said:
So, I should match the speed of the vehicles slowing down in the lane next to me? Sounds like a really good way to get hit from the back. The speed limit was 45 and I was doing 30 in traffic.

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No, as soon as the lady's brake lights came on, you should have been on the brakes ready to stop behind her in the middle of the street. If you had to lay your bike down to stop before slamming into anything in front of you, your spacing interval was completely inadequate. You also crashed because you assumed somebody was going to do something, again, not good critical thinking on your part.

Better I tell you how stupid you are here, it does you no good in your epitaph.
 
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Henning said:
You should not have been that close, I don't care how dense traffic is, you were going too fast to stop before the obstacle in front of you, you counted on the obstacle to move, that is STUPID. You didn't need to do anything but slow down a bit and open the gap to prevent this accident. You may be on a sport bike, but you are not on a race track, no need to draft. There is no excuse or justification for you having this accident, there is nobody else to blame, this is on you and you alone. Look in the mirror and say "I f-ed up" and change your riding habits rather than make excuses.
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Either you read his description of the situation wrong, or are just being a tool.
 
Henning said:
No, as soon as the lady's brake lights came on, you should have been on the brakes ready to stop behind her in the middle of the street. If you had to lay your bike down to stop before slamming into anything in front of you, your spacing interval was completely inadequate. You also crashed because you assumed somebody was going to do something, again, not good critical thinking on your part.

Better I tell you how stupid you are here, it does you no good in your epitaph.
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I read it as she wasn't even in his lane. Do you always stop for traffic that's not in your lane?
 
Another option could have been to take her lane, hell I have had to do that in a car.
 
DavidWhite said:
Fair point.
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What you did is the most common cause of low side accidents on the street. Now, you've had your lesson from your high speed low side crash, even though your speed was low, the reason for the crash was the high speed reason, not enough interval and too much speed for the conditions.. You still have a low speed low side that you'll do maneuvering around a tight parking lot, that will be a minor that the lesson is that the throttle will pick the bike up from some really interesting predicaments. The next one you have come is a high side accident, and those hurt because they are typically high speed, high G accidents. Question is, do you understand what causes a bike to high side? Either way, when the bars and bike start oscillating, be ready to tuck and roll because you are about to get thrown of the bike like being bucked off a horse. Don't try to stay with the bike, if you don't let go, it's gonna land on top of you after flipping upside down in the air rather violently. As soon as it starts to throw you, push off as hard as you can, make your hand into fists and curl up as tight as you can trying to land on your side, best way to avoid injury.

As for the MSA class, that's great for the basics, but if you really want to learn to ride and be safe, go to a good racing school and get on the track.
 
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gismo said:
According to some you are at least partially at fault just for being there. This is one of the things I like about flying, virtually all the mistakes that cause me serious grief will be mine.
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Same here. I still ride, but I prefer knowing if I die in a plane crash, it'll likely be my fault.

DavidWhite said:
At any rate, my luck this last week has been pretty ****ty when it comes to vehicles.
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Perspective. You have had minor inconveniences.

These people had a ****ty day with vehicles:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232
 
Henning said:
high side accident, As soon as it starts to throw you, push off as hard as you can, make your hand into fists and curl up as tight as you can trying to land on your side, best way to avoid injury.
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A high side is a big ouchie, you basically just get ejected. I've never had to leap off of a bike to avoid being hit by it, generally been thrown well clear haha.

Typically a high side will come from giving it too much throttle in a corner, the back wheel breaks loose, the rider reacts by snapping the throttle shut. Tire grabs suddenly again and since you are lacking any of the stability provided by being on the throttle, the bike swaps back and forth once or twice before tossing you
 
Call me happy to have never high sided a bike, and make an effort to never join that club.
 
dell30rb said:
A high side is a big ouchie, i'm not really sure where the G's come from. You basically just get ejected. I've never had to leap off of a bike to avoid being hit by it, generally you are thrown well clear haha.

Typically a high side will come from giving it too much throttle in a corner, the back wheel breaks loose, the rider reacts by snapping the throttle shut. Tire grabs suddenly again and since you are lacking any of the stability provided by being on the throttle, the bike swaps back and forth once or twice before tossing you
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The force comes from the gyroscopic energy stored in the wheels. When those energies get out of alignment while upset during a transition, the gyroscopic forces can compete with each other, that's why the bars go one way while the seat goes the other. Once the the sideways force on the back tire exceeds the tractive force, the wheel will go out to the side and as it does so, the gyroscopic forces will typically realign. At that point, your inertial energy is traveling at an angle to your gyroscopic alignment and the inertia trips over the stabilizer and that is why it's such a violent event. You have two sources of energy that combine into a big wave.
 
Henning said:
the wheel will go out to the side and as it does so, the gyroscopic forces will typically realign.
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I haven't put too much thought into the science behind it, but yes the bike becomes unstable if that rear tire suddenly catches traction and the rider is off the throttle.

I see what you are saying with regards to the gyroscopic forces of the wheels wanting to realign. Those can be un-aligned (?) and brought back together skillfully where the rider manages things properly. If it happens too suddenly it produces an osciallation that will throw you
 
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I lost track but I do believe we may have witnesses all five of the hazardous attitudes in this thread.
 
ClimbnSink said:
I call those the Fun Five. Never leave the house without them.
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There's a deeper point to be found there. If everyone exhibits some signs of the Five behaviors, doesn't that mean they're part of being human and the risks can never fully be removed, ever?

Especially if our brains are hard-wired to consider the risky behaviors "fun"?

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey for your Friday night entertainment...
 
denverpilot said:
There's a deeper point to be found there. If everyone exhibits some signs of the Five behaviors, doesn't that mean they're part of being human and the risks can never fully be removed, ever?

Especially if our brains are hard-wired to consider the risky behaviors "fun"?

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey for your Friday night entertainment...
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Exactly! You can never get rid of them, you have to recognize when they are in effect and use disciple to temper them.
 
It's kind of funny how very few things in life scare me anymore -- except motorcycles.

I have flown contraptions that would have done Rube Goldberg proud. I have boarded sinking ships to fight fires when even the rats were smart enough to be taking their chances jumping overboard. I have jumped into freezing waters to rescue people at sea. I have mentored ex-convicts three times my size. I have climbed mountains and explored caves. I hang out a lot on railroad tracks and bridges to photograph them. Long story short, there is little in life that scares me.

Except motorcycles. They terrify me.

I once went as far as to get a learner's permit and take a few lessons, but I couldn't get over the fear. I took it as a sign, and abandoned the idea.

I really don't know why that is. I never had a bad experience on a motorcycle. I did respond to some gruesome motorcycle accidents as an EMT / Paramedic, but I also responded to car and railroad accidents, and neither of them fill me with fear the way motorcycles do.

-Rich
 
I've ridden those motor-sickles before too

DSC_0142-2.JPG


...and yes, I agree, dangerous things. In a way, like general aviation, if I may; when things are going well, life is great. When things don't go well, they can go very "not well" in a hurry.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Same here. I still ride, but I prefer knowing if I die in a plane crash, it'll likely be my fault.



Perspective. You have had minor inconveniences.

These people had a ****ty day with vehicles:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232
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This captures my thoughts very well. I make a 45 minute drive on I75 twice a day five days a week. I know that lots loose their lives on that road and many times it is not their fault. Although I know that my flying can turn hazardous and even deadly, I feel like I have a lot more control over the situation. As Ted said it will likely be my fault.
 
When this happens to me, call of duty proves to be theraputic. :)

I'm 3 street bikes in and no problems yet. Now where's some wood to knock on?
 
ProspectingCFI said:
When this happens to me, call of duty proves to be theraputic. :)

I'm 3 street bikes in and no problems yet. Now where's some wood to knock on?
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Call of Duty gets me pretty worked up sometimes but I do enjoy it. Do you play it on Xbox? My name is MooneyDave (I know, I know)


I ordered the parts to make my bike pre-accident. $451 - the expensive thing was the fairing which I want to replace although I don't NEED to. The clutch lever and mirror should be here next week to get it back on the road. All in all, not too turrible, and my leg is getting better (although it still looks gnarly)
 
Replacing the fairing? Don't put it on until you're ready to sell it or after you crash good enough to toast it.
 
It's got a big crack in it, along with some pretty good gashes.
 
I'm pretty sure Henning is just trolling you David - as a fellow rider (though its been a few years), I think he makes an excellent point in guiding someone new to riding, but ultimately what he's saying is 90% bull**** (sorry Henning, but its true).

Do whatever you can to avoid the cager, but at the end of the day, its unrealistic to put yourself in a situation where no one else can hit you.

I had a close call one night where I was riding home from work and a driver ran through a green light, turing left, directly across from me. I braked as hard as I could and almost laid it down trying to maneuver around t-boning the car. We missed each other by probably a foot. According to Henning's advice above, I should have stopped at the green light and waved them across, just in case they decided to pull that kind of stunt, thereby putting myself in danger of getting hit from behind (maybe its safer to stop on the sidewalk or median or something?)

Bikes aren't 100% safe. Stupid drivers make them even more dangerous. Just be careful man. I refused to wear gear for a good reason (I almost died once on the highway wearing gear in an incident that would have been completely avoided had I been gear free), but on a sports bike, make sure you gear up all the time. People tend to be dumber around them then cruisers, I assume because they can hear the cruiser better.
 
DavidWhite said:
Call of Duty gets me pretty worked up sometimes but I do enjoy it. Do you play it on Xbox? My name is MooneyDave (I know, I know)


I ordered the parts to make my bike pre-accident. $451 - the expensive thing was the fairing which I want to replace although I don't NEED to. The clutch lever and mirror should be here next week to get it back on the road. All in all, not too turrible, and my leg is getting better (although it still looks gnarly)
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Well, glad to hear you weren't hurt too bad. Could've been worse. I've done very very stupid things on 2 wheels. And 1 wheel I suppose... And smart enough now to never do it again

Anyhow, yeah I'm on the Microsoft and not the Sony. Ray Finkle 209 is my
Username.
 
Pull the lower fairings, add frame sliders. Chicks can't tell the difference.
 
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