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Yeah, any slow speed maneuvers or places that are likely to be oily (gas stations, parking lots, rush hour traffic, etc) are rear brake only for me. Too easy to tuck the front at slow speeds if you lose too much momentum or hit a patch of oil or the like.
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Jul 14, 2013 02:47
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Alternatively: Learn to properly modulate the front brake? There's lots of times I want to put my right foot down coming to a stop.
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Jul 14, 2013 03:57
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Well, yeah, that too, once you're stopped though it doesn't really matter what brake you hold. I use my front brake to slow down from any form of decent speed and switch to rear brake to come to a complete stop, it's far smoother/what I was told to do.
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Jul 14, 2013 04:34
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Errant Gin Monks posted:That helmet is done buy a new one there is never a good reason to wear a helmet after its been in a crash that involved your face. That was my initial thought, he didn't go down on his head but I'm sure some of the absorbency of the front padding is gone now since the helmet has been in an impact. Also pictures!  .  .  He removed the rear rack and skid plate the other day for whatever reason, they didn't even get dinged though, like I said remarkably little damage!  Front brake chat; I remember dropping my Honda Magna when backing it out of a parking spot...I grabbed way too much front brake while the bike was ever so slightly leaned to the side as I was swinging out and it was the slowest motion drop I've ever seen, the weight and the position of my right leg made it impossible to recover the momentum after it started falling and it took like three seconds to fully tip over since I fought it the whole way down. No damage though so I guess that sore back paid off.
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Jul 14, 2013 05:03
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Shimrod posted:Maybe you should switch to only using rear brake in parking lots - the only time I use front brake in a parking lot is as I'm hopping on and off the bike. The dumb part is that I've been making a conscious effort to not use my rear brake recently. I've always used mainly my front with some rear but I've been heavy on my rear a few times and didn't like how that was affecting my riding so have been going "front only" to break bad habits. Today I was lackadaisical and paid for it. I was doing a u turn, wasn't going to clear an obstacle and gripped too much front. Down she went.
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Jul 14, 2013 05:20
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Tanz-Kommandant posted:That was my initial thought, he didn't go down on his head but I'm sure some of the absorbency of the front padding is gone now since the helmet has been in an impact. Also pictures! That's a nice bike with some character now! I love dual sports, my DRZ got away from me at a similar speed and you can't even tell.
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Jul 14, 2013 05:25
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Stugazi posted:The dumb part is that I've been making a conscious effort to not use my rear brake recently. That sounds about as dumb as the cruiser guys who believe the front brake will cause you to go flying over the bars. The bike was designed with two brakes. Use them.
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Jul 14, 2013 13:53
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I crashed the other day coming into this corner: http://goo.gl/maps/8dfWW Did everything wrong. Came in too fast ignoring all the warning signs with a bad setup for the turn. I then fixated on the roadside barrier covered in dents and wrapped in caution tape. With the bad condition of the road I didn't feel comfortable trying any harder to make the turn and straightened up and did my best to stop. Dropped off a broken tarmac edge into loose dirt and washed the front out and dropped the bike less than 30cm away from the barrier. None of that is really reflected in the pictures I'm pulling from Google Maps though as they are really out of date. Bike looks like this after the crash so I am amazingly lucky.  All the parts that were damaged were already scratched up from when a girl at work backed into it. So her money has new parts on order already. I actually feel really lucky that I'm able to take lessons from this accident rather than a much bigger one.
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Jul 14, 2013 16:06
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Really? Did I say "hurr420frontbrakee'eryday?" Part of getting better is trying different things and analyzing mistakes. Edit: I am not going to argue with someone on the internet. Fluffydice that right lane looks hilariously small on my phone. Sounds like you got lucky on that one! Stugazi fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Jul 14, 2013 |
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Jul 14, 2013 16:26
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I hadn't actually noticed that until you mentioned it. As I'm riding on the left that would actually make oncoming traffic one hell of a hazard. Definitely something I'll keep in mind.
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Jul 14, 2013 17:15
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FluffyDice posted:Bike looks like this after the crash so I am amazingly lucky. You're absolutely sure you dropped it, right?  Glad you're safe man, that's a poo poo place to have a real doozy of an accident. Covert Ops Wizard posted:That's a nice bike with some character now! I passed that on to him and he said thanks! Also dual sports are pretty cool, my next bike is most likely going to be a KLR650
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Jul 14, 2013 21:19
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Had a really lucky but serious crash yesterday. I was riding through Topanga Canyon and came across a hairpin turn I've made dozens of times, but this time got too aggressive and cornered way faster than I should have. . . I was going uphill on the outside portion of the turn. I entered going about 40 (suggested speed is 20) and accelerated through. I made it through the first half, but as the radius decreased going upward, I had just enough time as I looked through to realize the ground was a lot closer to me than it should have been. My saddle bag touched down right as I ran out of front tire, and the bike and I started sliding. I landed on my hip and leveled myself by putting my hand on the ground and managed to position myself like a really extended, 40-foot baseball slide. I realized about a second or so in that I was headed for a guardrail, so I dug my hand and elbow into the ground hoping it would slow me down enough to not get seriously hurt. I got really lucky and slid to a stop in the dirt run-off just a few feet from the guardrail. Some people were nice enough to stop to make sure I was OK, then helped my get the bike upright. The left handlebar was bent pretty badly, but I was able to grunt it up enough to be able to limp home at about 35. My brake lever is bent slightly, and I'll need to replace a left signal, faring and handlebars, but the forks appear OK and the bike rode home without any additional issue. Physically and mentally, I'm fine. I have a bruise about the size of a grape on my hip where I hit the ground, and a small cut on my right hand, but that's it. I was wearing full gear and definitely benefited from that. I know for a fact I wouldn't have been able to keep myself balanced and slowing down on the pavement if it weren't for good gloves, a jacket and pants. Here's some pictures of the bike and gear.  Poor guy. The hard bag acted like a giant frame slider, at least.  Dainese perforated leather jacket. You can see some rash/scraping from the road. I really dug in on the elbow and there's no significant damage other than some discoloration.  These Joe Rocket Ballistics literally saved my rear end. The outer layer is trashed but the inner liner wasn't scratched at all.  Held gloves. You can see a bit of spurring on the palm but nothing got through. They just look more broken in. All in all, I figure I'm out a few hundred bucks and a couple weeks of shipping time, assuming I don't just yank the farings. What I'm most grateful for is learning the true meaning of traction and tire limits without flying off a cliff or breaking anything. Some surprises and learnings:
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Jul 15, 2013 00:58
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Monkey Wrangler posted:[*]I'm not really that broken up/traumatized. Obviously getting lucky on the injury front helped this, but my takeaways here are that I got a very valuable, very cheap lesson and I'll be more careful in the future. Just because the bike is more nimble than a car doesn't mean every bike is capable of doubling safe speeds around a tight corner. Cars are actually faster through corners, we as motorcyclists can just accelerate out of them easier. Well, with many bikes at least. Glad you found your limit and made it out intact.
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Jul 15, 2013 02:24
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That depends on the car too...but yeah if you're talking like racing terms 4 wheels hold more corner speed. Good accident monkeywrangler, I had the same one but a lot slower a couple years ago.
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Jul 15, 2013 02:28
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:Cars are actually faster through corners, we as motorcyclists can just accelerate out of them easier. Well, with many bikes at least. Glad you found your limit and made it out intact. Just kinda clicked that the extra two wheels would help with traction through turns. The other side of this incident is it's inspired me to get into track days. Fewer guardrails and more training.
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Jul 15, 2013 03:22
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Well, It Happened, I finally dropped the bike at nonzero speed. I pulled off into this lot at the twisties I go on everyday and it immediately became clear why all the riders park their bike in the top left lot and not the bottom right one. It's cause the bottom right one is about two inches of loose dust with gravel on top.  I was probably going like 7 mph and had almost made it out and then one of my wheels found a slightly bigger pile of dust and down I went. I'm a loving idiot and should have stopped and duckwalked the moment I felt it get squirrely.Afterwards:  Once I got home and hosed it down:       Something's up with my clutch level now, my friction zone way different and I have no idea how to fix it. If you use the 1-5 scale where 1 is fully engaged and 5 fully disengaged, the friction zone was from like 3.5-1 before and now it's from like 1.5-1. The clutch plunger thing is fine so I really don't know what the gently caress's up or how to fix it. I thwacked my helmet on the ground so now I probably have to replace it, but my gear held up pretty well. Although I did somehow manage to tear the skin on my palm a little even though my gloves are completely fine.   The worst part is, tomorrow is my birthday and I was going to go on a celebratory awesome ride and now I can't cause the clutch is weird and I don't have a helmet. poo poo, I probably won't even be able to ride again in CA, cause I'm moving in like 11 days and I don't think I can get a helmet that fast. 
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Jul 18, 2013 00:27
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M42 posted:Although I did somehow manage to tear the skin on my palm a little even though my gloves are completely fine.
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Jul 18, 2013 00:47
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M42 posted:Well, It Happened, I finally dropped the bike at nonzero speed. You probably bent the lever and may have ovaled the hole that it pivots on, causing weird clutch feel.
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Jul 18, 2013 00:48
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I actually figured it out, I think I came down with all my weight on a pointy lump of rock that twisted it enough to tear skin but not leather. It's puffing up now something fierce. No more gloves without palm pucks Z3n posted:You probably bent the lever and may have ovaled the hole that it pivots on, causing weird clutch feel. The lever itself is fine, but it was a little bit vertically looser than normal at the pivot hole. Hopefully I can fix it somehow.
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Jul 18, 2013 00:48
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M42 posted:The lever itself is fine, but it was a little bit vertically looser than normal at the pivot hole. Hopefully I can fix it somehow. Yeah that's what happens. The tabs that go around the clutch lever bend and it gets a bit loose. If you ride it over this weekend we can bend them back into some semblence of the right shape. On the helmet front, is there a reason that you can't pick up one at a local motorcycle shop? Depending on your size, I might have something for you to borrow.
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Jul 18, 2013 00:52
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M42 posted:I actually figured it out, I think I came down with all my weight on a pointy lump of rock that twisted it enough to tear skin but not leather. It's puffing up now something fierce. No more gloves without palm pucks Ooch! That sucks! Here's a new clutch lever. $10.47, or $14.47 shipped to your door tomorrow afternoon. http://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-14-0307-Black-Clutch/dp/B00263QMDI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374105197&sr=8-1&keywords=ninja+250+clutch+lever
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Jul 18, 2013 00:54
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Z3n posted:Yeah that's what happens. The tabs that go around the clutch lever bend and it gets a bit loose. If you ride it over this weekend we can bend them back into some semblence of the right shape. On the helmet front, is there a reason that you can't pick up one at a local motorcycle shop? Depending on your size, I might have something for you to borrow. I kinda wanted the same helmet cause I just recently bought a new visor for mine, for like a third of the helmet's value It actually turns out motorcycle superstore has them on closeout, I might just go ahead and get one from them if they can deliver soonish.
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Jul 18, 2013 01:01
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Took a nastier digger than I am used to on the DRZ400 today, I went to bump over a curb and decided to pop a little wheelie before hitting it. When the rear tire hit it endo'd more than I was expecting, throwing me chest first into the handlebars (hooray Stryker vest!) and then tossed me off where I hit the ground on my back, smacking the back of my head on the grass HARD (hooray helmet!) Total damage is I've felt fuzzyheaded since, and the back of my head feels a little sore. I somehow bruised my thumb, and my forks were twisted in the triples. Thankfully now I am an expert at fixing that so it literally took five minutes, counting finding my wrenches. Not stoked about hitting my head, though I've taken harder hits to the dome (a nasty skateboarding incident left me seeing green for five minutes) it's something I could have done without.
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Jul 22, 2013 07:06
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:Took a nastier digger than I am used to on the DRZ400 today, I went to bump over a curb and decided to pop a little wheelie before hitting it. When the rear tire hit it endo'd more than I was expecting, throwing me chest first into the handlebars (hooray Stryker vest!) and then tossed me off where I hit the ground on my back, smacking the back of my head on the grass HARD (hooray helmet!) I can't tell if all supermotos are like a soft crash simulator, or it's just you.
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Jul 22, 2013 07:18
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Alright, this isn't a crash per se, but a follow on from my crash this time last year. So, as I was pretty out of it on opiates when I was last in here, here's a run down on what I broke:
How this has affected me.. massively. Basically, for the first few months, I wanted to kill myself. Between looking like complete poo poo, with a swollen and scar covered face, to barely being able to move or tie my shoe-laces, it was a close call to be honest. I've come pretty far since then, I still have pretty negative spells, but I try to think of the relative positives (yes, I could still be needing a nurse to help me to go the toilet - by being a quadriplegic). I had the accident in the start of July, the 3rd. I was given the all clear to go to the gym, albeit carefully, on Australia Day (26th of January, 2013), and have been working pretty steadily since then. I started with struggling to do 5kg dunbell curls, (pre accident I was doing ~20kg), and now am back up to 17.5s. At the start, running was a strain on my back, I have mild scoliosis in the centre of my back now, but it isn't getting any worse, so that's something I guess. I'm still pretty angry that I can't go to the gym and do whatever I want, as I now have to think about how it'll effect me later on, be that tomorrow or years from now. Both of my shoulders were 'lightly' damaged, so I'm guessing I stuck my arms out when I hit, and probably popped them both in and out, as they enjoy doing this now. This means I have to work on my rotator cuffs to try to hold them both in. The rotator cuffs could also be an effect from the breaks in my neck. Because of the pressure on my spinal cord, parts of the upper portion of the left side of my body were numb for many months after the accident. Even now, I either can't feel my collar bones, or around the numbness, they're ridiculously sensitive. My left arm, while technically nothing was wrong with it, felt worse than my right. If anything is lightly glided along it (just touching the hairs, for example), it physically hurts. They're all peculiar sensations, and I've had to think about how to explain it to people when I grimace when they hug or touch me.. I guess along with the rest of my breaks. Because one of the people I moved in with turned into a massive jerk and left me to pay more than my portion of the rent, I had to go back to work early. Before I was ready, to be honest. This, while in normal circumstances wouldn't be a bad thing if it were a desk job, is for me. I work security, and was reinstated with my old company. Within the first year I've kind of found out how it will be for the rest of my life, which is an incredibly sobering thought. Since they'd changed names for tax purposes, I had to 'apply' to an employment agency, who after conferring with their HR, decided they "couldn't employ someone with your past injuries". This wasn't only because of the industry I work in, this was because it was a back injury, and it was a 'risk' for their insurance. Now, I have absolutely no problem with this, I totally understand it from a financial point of view, but it still kind of scares me that I've run into this road block this early, with another 30+ years of work ahead of me. I'm massively self conscious. I can't tell if I was this much prior to my accident, but I doubt it. There's something about knowing at this very moment, most of the people I'm talking to aren't as.. crippled as I am makes me feel like poo poo. Because of the damage to my jaw (and the surgeons messing up when they put the metal plates in) I have crooked teeth now. Pre-accident I had perfect teeth. Now, I have to wear a plate for my front three teeth, and, as if that weren't bad enough, now braces. I can't wait to be able to smile again, and not have to think about how much I hate even opening my mouth. Hopefully this didn't because too E/N, but I wanted to write this a little while ago, but never got around to it. I literally never heard from the guy that caused it. I'd planned on going and seeing him on the anniversary, but decided against it (people take me as relatively intimidating). Let me know if you've got any questions or anything vis-à-vis recovery or dealing with everything. I still can't wait to get back on a bike.. but I would be lying if I didn't say this had changed it for me. E: haha, just remembered the most E/N part. My girlfriend left the morning of my accident to go back to Canada. The last time I saw her in person was while I was mashed up in the emergency room waiting for surgery.. and I don't even remember it. fingerling fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 09:47
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fingerling posted:Alright, this isn't a crap per se, but a follow on from my crash this time last year. So, as I was pretty out of it on opiates when I was last in here, here's a run down on what I broke: Jesus, this is terrible. How did you crash/who caused it?
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Jul 22, 2013 11:10
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Slavvy posted:Jesus, this is terrible. How did you crash/who caused it? I posted about it in here 2 weeks after it happened . Basically, I'm in Australia. Two lanes going each direction, one car going the same direction as me (a Rav4, mini SUV) wanted to turn right across traffic, and was stopped (not at an major intersection), I was in the left lane, and went past as a car that wasn't visible to me apart from the glow through the Rav4 decided to cut across traffic. So it was basically.. not my fault at all. I'm kind of glad I survived. It was kind of touch and go for the first few days. There was apparently a time in the ICU that they weren't sure if I was going to actually wake up from the induced coma. This is stuff that I've only been told about recently by my family.
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Jul 22, 2013 12:09
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Are you able to sue the offending party for any damages caused past immediate injury? If it's affecting your ability to find work, that goes beyond medical bills, honestly.
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Jul 22, 2013 17:37
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fingerling posted:Alright, this isn't a crash per se, but a follow on from my crash this time last year.. Thanks for sharing. That sounds really rough to go through, especially the mental aspect of rehab. The physical stuff is no cakewalk of course but the mental stuff can really do a number on you. Keep positive man. You're still breathing and still vertical. 
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Jul 23, 2013 03:48
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That's awful Fingerling I'm sorry that happened to you.Slavvy posted:I can't tell if all supermotos are like a soft crash simulator, or it's just you. This is a good question. I feel like for as dumb as I've been on it the consequences have been pretty minimal. I just hope my luck never runs out!
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Jul 23, 2013 05:07
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Well, I had never hoped to actually have to post here. The entire accident was low speed and ridiculous; it was initiated by mechanical error, but was completed because of my surprise and not relying fast enough on muscle memory to remedy the situation. I was riding one of my dad's bikes (2009 Kawasaki Versys) alongside him on his other bike. He wanted me to ride down to the store with him to grab some oil, cotter pins for tightening the chain, and some advice for fixing the clutch which was engaging way too early in the pull on the bike I was on. I came up to a stoplight and stopped next to him. The light turned green, and my dad turned right, but for some reason, the clutch was not engaging on the bike I was on (the opposite of the earlier problem) and I somehow managed to stall it as I slowly let out trying to get it moving. I pulled the clutch lever in, let out on it, pulled it in again, and started the bike. The clutch immediately engaged (despite the lever being pulled in against the handlebars), lurching the bike forward suddenly. I grabbed a fistful of throttle out of surprise trying to hang onto the bike and moved forward quickly. I immediately relied on emergency braking as I shot into the lane of opposing traffic at the right hand turn (thankfully no one was there) while trying to maneuver back into the correct traffic lane. When the bike slowed down too much, it stalled again, and I fell with the bike on my right side. Total damage done; scratched right cowling and radiator cover. Right turn signal has a small chip taken out of it. Some very slight road rash on my left leg, a bruised 1st and 2nd digit of my right foot, a bruise on my right hip, and my pride destroyed at a busy intersection. I was wearing all of my upper gear, but decided to stick with jeans and high-top sneakers. What I should have done instead; ridden my bike instead of the one I knew was having issues, and wearing all of my gear may have helped to avoid some if not all of the mild injuries I endured from the scenario. All in all, the situation could have ended much worse, but it also could have been entirely avoided. I could blame the motorcycle I was riding all day long, but in the end, it was my piss-poor judgement to ride a bike I knew was having issues that is to blame. With the replacement cowling/radiator cover and decals ordered, it was a nice $250 mistake that I will never be making again.
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Jul 24, 2013 20:52
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What about the clutch, though?
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Jul 30, 2013 06:04
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There ended up being a moderate amount of air in the clutch line which may have caused the symptoms. Maintenance was performed which hopefully remedied the issues; I haven't gotten the chance to ride that bike again due to my work schedule, but I'll hop on when I get the replacement parts.
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Jul 30, 2013 14:35
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Well, after putting a month of HARD work into the SV to get her road ready after a year away from home, I lowsided at about 15mph this morning coming into work.. Took a lefter a tad too aggressively way too early in the day.. Bars bent, sliders sheared pretty good, bar end mirror on left side gone, thankfully not hurt as I was geared to the gills. Never been this upset after a down, probably because of all the time spent on the bike the past month. I'm pretty sure this one was due to me being off the bike for a year and the street/tires not being very warm. Pure rider error. I wasn't thinking very hard about that  Parts ordered and hopefully I'll remember to take it easier lobbing it over until it's warmer out.. But most importantly I'm OK!
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Aug 3, 2013 15:37
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The worst part of those types of offs is the mental brow beating you'll give yourself. So, I recommend you keep your sense of humor and just laugh it off. poo poo happens! It's all how we look at it that matters.
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Aug 3, 2013 18:21
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January 2010 ish - Dropped my bike to avoid a collision with a car pulling out of a side street, ended up sliding on my rear end a fair way. Car left without so much as a honk, bike fortunately only had cosmetic damage and a bent footpeg. Sore rear end for days. Could have bumped his passenger door and collected a cheque; didn't, and paid for it. Got a pay rise that same day, so at least the karma balanced out. Maybe a seagull ate his lunch or something.
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Aug 6, 2013 20:22
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I hope you took some motorcycle lessons with that pay raise.
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Aug 7, 2013 23:08
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I spent a good hour riding along some canyon roads near Santa Clarita today on my '01 KLR 650 and had a grand time and took some lovely photographs.  I rolled past a wildlife refuge on Little Tujunga Canyon Road right about when I had decided to turn around. I thought "I'll just turn around at the next pull-out and head home, I'm done for the day and I'm getting hungry." Enter the hairpin: http://goo.gl/maps/il0Fx gently caress this turn so hard. It is marked as "15mph max" and I slowed down from 30 or so to 15-20, started taking the turn. I was NOT feeling confident going into the turn. I was targeting fairly well but managed to miss the spray of dirt and gravel covering my lane about 3/4 of the way into the turn. I hit the gravel, probably did something stupid and reactionary, and high-sided. I managed to twist myself in mid-air and took the landing in a half back roll instead of a face-plant, slid along backwards on my back and managed to avoid serious damage to myself. I have a nice deep bruise in my left calf muscle and some scrapes on my left hip from where the jacket and my pants separated a little bit and left a gap. There is also a gouge in the back of my helmet.  The slide scraped off my left hand/brush guard, knocked mostly loose my right mirror (just needs to be tightened I think), dented my radiator fan housing so it won't spin, scraped up the left radiator guard and broke some of the plastic, and snapped off the tip of my clutch lever. And it scraped up the tape that is holding together my left rear turn signal. It bent my shift lever in under the engine, so I could only shift down and went up to the animal rescue in 1st gear so I could borrow their maintenance crew's tools and bend things back into shape. My handlebars got adjusted by the crash but I had my hex key set on hand so I could fix that no problem. I hosed up, but I'm surprisingly sanguine about it. Minimal damage and mostly to parts that were already broken or slated for replacement soon. I had been meaning to buy a new helmet, so this gives me a perfect excuse to replace my 2 year old CL-16 that has been dropped from chest/waist height a few more times than is healthy My parents are pulling the spare set of hand-guards I have in storage and mailing them down to me from Seattle, and I found a Kawasaki Dealership with KLR control levers in stock about 15 minutes away from where I am in Mission Hills. This is about as good as I could expect from laying down my bike for the first time. Especially a high-side. Minimal damage, bike works just fine, I hopped right up after I determined my leg wasn't broken and could ride the bike away from the scene. I've inadvertently littered with the hand-guard that is somewhere in the brush on that hairpin now, and spilled a little bit of gas while the KLR was on its side.
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Aug 8, 2013 07:33
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Sounds like, all things considered, a good ending. I'm glad you and your bike are OK.
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Aug 9, 2013 01:27
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| # ? May 31, 2024 11:07 |
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A few weeks ago I had my first incident since I started riding seven years ago. Was traveling on a city street at approx 30 mph and a car pulled out in front of me from curb side. I locked up the front wheel and down I went. Stuck out my arms to brace my fall and broke my left thumb and got a minor fracture in my right arm for my troubles. Also had road rash on my left knee since I wasn't wearing riding pants. Bike was a total loss, car driver was not insured - but at least he stopped. The bike was sliding when it struck his vehicle so it would have been very easy for him to just book off. Gear held up flawlessly, but I would hope so at city street speeds. Was wearing Alpinestars SP-2 gloves, a joe rocket convertible mesh jacket, and an HJC helmet. No impact to the helmet but it does have some rashing from my tumble. Not sure if my injuries will heal enough for me to be able to repair the bike before winter, so I clearly need to practice my emergency braking next spring An emergency lane change would have been a way better response than trying to brake as well. Mentally I wasn't fully invested in riding - was just leaving work and had a lot on my mind. Actually thinking that the MSF ARC will be on my agenda for spring... has anyone taken that class? Is it good?
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Aug 11, 2013 00:09
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