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This morning I went out of character and nearly got smacked by a yellow Fiat 500. Lesson learned: don't ride like a dong in downtown rush hour traffic, and always loving check your blind spots when changing lanes.
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Nov 1, 2013 14:34
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| # ? May 16, 2024 02:48 |
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Today I got on the freeway midday for a quick 3 mile jaunt to avoid surface streets and get home sooner. Drove in the far left lane of the 4 lane freeway. When it came time to change lanes, the car in the lane to my left made it difficult by speeding up when I turned on my turn signal, so after trying to go faster than her I slowed down to go behind her because the exit was coming up quickly. I then had to change 2 more lanes to be able to exit pretty quickly, turn signal still on. Underestimated the speed of a white truck who apparently didn't want me to get in front of him. As I changed lanes he actually accelerated (had to be up to 80-85) in the slowest lane. I ended up merging right in front of him while he was still accelerating...if he didn't hit his brakes and turn right he would've rear ended me and I'd either be in the hospital or dead right now. We exchanged angry fist shakes and he continued on the freeway and I exited. Next time I'll just miss my exit. I can't believe how close I came to disaster. I put myself in a horrible position and only avoided massive injury or death because the other guy hit his brakes. Even if he was being a jackass...I have to let jackasses be jackasses on a bike.
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Nov 2, 2013 06:50
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Yep you're right.
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Nov 2, 2013 07:13
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I've found it a lot safer to move over for the exit and junctions as early as possible. It gives a much bigger margin for dealing with dickbags that think the motorway is some kind of loving race.
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Nov 2, 2013 11:35
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Yeah, if I know where I have to turn off on the highways I just get in whatever lane is applicable and cruise along in it a few ks early.
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Nov 2, 2013 12:01
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That's true in a car as well, of course
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Nov 3, 2013 02:12
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Driving an extremely slow car has me in the habit of getting in the lane I'll need to be in far sooner than I need to on the bike. This is ok though. I go from 80+ in lane 4 to 65 or so in the slow lane for the last two miles of my commute as a nice cool down before exiting. It's all very nice. My latest dumb moment came last night. I was hungry for some lovely pizza so tossed my helmet and gloves on and headed to Little Ceasars. It's about 8 blocks away all through somewhat lit surface streets. Definitely walk able but I was being lazy. As I'm riding along I'm thinking "it's really dark tonight". I pass a few people and cars but man they are difficult to see. I get onto the main road right in front of the pizza joint and notice that my headlight isn't reflecting off the back of his truck. Low beam is burned out 
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Nov 3, 2013 16:37
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Bugdrvr posted:
I don't even think that my bike will make it up to 80. Unfortunately, that didn't stop me from having my first (near) accident a few hours ago. Luckily I kept my head and didn't even lay the bike down, but it was still a pretty sharp wake up call. I was going 55 down a rural(ish) road by some housing developments. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was 20 Mph over the speed limit, but the road was straight, long, and mostly empty so I didn't even consider how fast I was going. Up ahead was what looked like a gentle curve, though I couldn't see around it because of a row of pine trees to the right, so I just assumed the curve was mostly straight and didn't slow down. The second I passed the pine trees though, I realized my peril as the road sharply banked right to abruptly end at a stop light. I don't know why I did what I did, but instead of coming to an emergency stop or trying to make the turn and stop at the light, I just went straight. I think I felt like I was going too fast to slow down while turning without dumping the bike, so I just kept it pointed straight and tried to slow down. Before I knew it though I blew through the oncoming traffic lane and off the road, fishtailing in a large gravelly patch, then down into a small ditch and straight up on a landscaped hill. Thankfully that sapped most of my speed fairly quickly and I was able to get both feet down without laying down the bike. Somehow I even had the presence of mind to hit the kill switch. Thankfully the only thing really wounded was my naivete, and a few shrubberies. I wish I had a Go-Pro to watch it over again, but here's an aerial view of the road instead: 
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Nov 3, 2013 23:07
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OSU_Matthew posted:I don't even think that my bike will make it up to 80. Unfortunately, that didn't stop me from having my first (near) accident a few hours ago. Luckily I kept my head and didn't even lay the bike down, but it was still a pretty sharp wake up call. Baby's first Moot. You aren't experienced enough to know the limits of your traction yet or how to control target fixation. Slow down. And when you find yourself in that situation know that the main limitation to being able to make that turn is you. Slow down as much as you can before you hit the turn without destabilizing yourself, look where you want to go and lean with the bike while smoothly staying on the throttle. Look where you want to go the whole time. If you're looking at that SUV you're afraid you're gonna hit you're gonna hit it. That's such a wide turn there's no way you couldn't have made it if you hadn't panicked. If you don't know what target fixation is research that poo poo. You made the most beginner mistake in the book, so educate yourself before you die because you didn't know something very basic.
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Nov 3, 2013 23:24
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:you made the most beginner mistake in the book Maybe not the most basic mistake, but yes, target fixation can be nasty. A novice rider gets in over his/her head and stares at the "bad thing" rather than the "good way around the bad thing", and the bike goes where the rider is looking. It's kind of a mind over matter step you have to take to look where you want to go rather than look at what you want to avoid, but in order to keep riding, you need to master it.
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Nov 4, 2013 00:37
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The Roadcraft rule of "Ride within your sightlines" is always a good one even on familiar roads. If you can't stop in the distance you can see you're going too fast. (On a side-note, I'm sure you've already realised this, but if you could see there was a stoplight at the end of the bend you were already through the bend at that point. As the others have already pointed out, you go where you look. Practice getting your head up and looking where you need to be, not where you think you're going to hit).
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Nov 4, 2013 00:42
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Safety Dance posted:Maybe not the most basic mistake, but yes, target fixation can be nasty. A novice rider gets in over his/her head and stares at the "bad thing" rather than the "good way around the bad thing", and the bike goes where the rider is looking. It's kind of a mind over matter step you have to take to look where you want to go rather than look at what you want to avoid, but in order to keep riding, you need to master it. Yeah, that's exactly what the rider coaches mentioned to me during the MSF, to look through my turns and lock onto where I want to go. I just need to keep making a conscious effort to perpetually remind myself to do so and form good habits. Slowing down is definitely mistake number two. I think I just got really surprised around the turn and fixated on the hill while going way too fast. All in all I'm just grateful I learned some humbling lessons without a trip to the ER.
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Nov 4, 2013 01:00
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Realistically, you may not even have been going way too fast. Too fast for the situation, yes (a stoplight at the end of the turn) but if it were a continuous road that turn seems to be doable at 55mph. You just target fixated on the outside of the curve, as many people have pointed out, and didn't countersteer hard enough to take the turn at that speed. When you're new, what feels like "leaned way over" is probably more like 25-30% of the actual lean angle and lateral traction you have available. This means that you can almost always turn a lot more tightly than you are without losing traction: just look more deeply into the turn and push even harder on the inner bar. Turn speed limits are usually pretty conservative, too. I've taken many "20mph" turns at 35-40 with no ill effects or sliding or squealing and I'm in no way a hardcore racer. Just don't ever take a turn above the marked speed limit unless (a) you can see through the entire thing and read the curvature or (b) you've ridden it before and know what it does. For all the conservative speed limits out there, once in a while the turn is marked bang-on and you really don't want to find that out the hard way. Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Nov 4, 2013 |
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Nov 4, 2013 01:08
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The real danger of riding beyond your skill level is getting scared and tensing uo. Tensing up, especially in the arms and shoulders, makes the bike suddenly very hard to steer. If you're not convinced, you can try it for yourself in familiar surroundings: ride a regular pace and lock up your arms, you'll find the bike tracking like a train. It's a cool lesson in remembering that the bike is much more capable than you are (...most of the time). Looking where you want to go is only half of it. An important half, sure, but never forget to relax those arms!
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Nov 4, 2013 16:14
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Not really a crash, but certainly something stupid of me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeDK6j11Lv4 Forgot to put the kickstand down, thankfully a drz is light enough that I could stop it and lift it back up.
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Nov 5, 2013 14:19
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Sagebrush posted:...(b) you've ridden it before and know what it does. I don't think that's a brilliant piece of advice to give someone, especially a new rider. If you can't see around a corner make sure you can stop in the distance you can see, no matter how many times you've ridden that stretch. You have no idea what's waiting just out of sight until it's far too late to do anything about it.
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Nov 6, 2013 18:18
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ReformedNiceGuy posted:I don't think that's a brilliant piece of advice to give someone, especially a new rider. I like to rough up my fairings a bit with sandpaper so it can get better traction on the roads for when I have to lay'er-down during emergency stops. Each time it happens a little Harley-Davidson flag pops out from a hidden chamber near my exhaust pipe so the surrounding traffic knows what a real motorcycle rider has to risk each time we get on the streets. 
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Nov 7, 2013 12:11
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Drifter posted:I like to rough up my fairings a bit with sandpaper so it can get better traction on the roads for when I have to lay'er-down during emergency stops. Each time it happens a little Harley-Davidson flag pops out from a hidden chamber near my exhaust pipe so the surrounding traffic knows what a real motorcycle rider has to risk each time we get on the streets. Today has been way too long, I can't actually tell if you're taking the piss or agreeing with me. Either way I was just trying to get across that having a larger safety margin to deal with the unexpected poo poo you can't see is - in my opinion - the safer approach when riding on the street. On the other hand I probably ride like a granny compared to most of you guys because I have a wife and two very young children (the youngest has just learnt to say da-da  ) I like to go home to at the end of the day.
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Nov 7, 2013 17:47
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On the sightlines/familar roads thing, on my way to work this morning I was coming up to a roundabout at the top of a ramp. Because I know the roundabout well and I can easily if it's clear or not I normally take it without slowing down - and this morning, for some reason, there was a massive pile of wet leaves slap bang in the middle of the road just at the point I had to turn in, that I couldn't see until I was almost on top of it thanks to the ramp. Not really a nearly-crash because despite my sphincter slamming shut with an audible clang I managed not to tighten up and the bike just slid a bit and then gripped as it hit tarmac again, but a good reminder that you should never take anything for granted.
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Nov 7, 2013 18:03
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ReformedNiceGuy posted:Today has been way too long, I can't actually tell if you're taking the piss or agreeing with me. I was agreeing with you and then pretending to be the guy who ignores your advice but still wouldn't ever see a need to change their riding style. I've seen and spoken to people who've lowsided their bikes and STILL think, in their heart of hearts, that somehow the best way to emergency brake is this akira anime bullshit slide.  They tend to be the same people who refuse to take an MSF course.
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Nov 8, 2013 06:16
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Well it is a good way to stop a skateboard I guess?
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Nov 8, 2013 10:28
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I do stop my bycicle like that, not the motorcycle that would be dumb as gently caress.
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Nov 8, 2013 15:49
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ElMaligno posted:I do stop my bycicle like that, not the motorcycle that would be Supermoto lyfe.
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Nov 8, 2013 22:13
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I had a scare today. The weather's been crappy this weekend, but I was riding today. I was on Lakeshore Drive (a restricted access highway with a speed limit of 45 and an average speed of like 60) heading south in spitting rain. It was windy, probably gusting as high as 30 mph. I caught a bad gust through a turn, and it almost blew me into the next lane, which would have been uncomfortably close to a minivan. Moral of the story, tuck when it's windy and make sure you know where all of the cars around you are. Also, Lakeshore Drive is beautiful and terrifying at the same time, but I knew that already.
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Nov 17, 2013 23:55
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Safety Dance posted:I had a scare today. The weather's been crappy this weekend, but I was riding today. I was on Lakeshore Drive (a restricted access highway with a speed limit of 45 and an average speed of like 60) heading south in spitting rain. It was windy, probably gusting as high as 30 mph. I caught a bad gust through a turn, and it almost blew me into the next lane, which would have been uncomfortably close to a minivan. I remember the very first time I rode my bike in very strong winds. I was riding up through a mountain pass on my way to a weekend track session and I thought I was going to literally die when the wind gusted. The easiest way for me to deal with it was just to lean off the bike like I was hard cornering, it was the only way to stay in a straight line. I was almost dragging a knee for two miles.
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Nov 18, 2013 01:45
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Safety Dance posted:I had a scare today. The weather's been crappy this weekend, but I was riding today. I was on Lakeshore Drive (a restricted access highway with a speed limit of 45 and an average speed of like 60) heading south in spitting rain. It was windy, probably gusting as high as 30 mph. I caught a bad gust through a turn, and it almost blew me into the next lane, which would have been uncomfortably close to a minivan. Also relax at all times, especially in the rain. Being relaxed makes surprising gusts of wind pretty much a non-factor.
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Nov 18, 2013 06:38
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Shimrod posted:Also relax at all times, especially in the rain. Being relaxed makes surprising gusts of wind pretty much a non-factor. This advice applies to all driving/riding. Just chill, man 
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Nov 18, 2013 16:44
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Safety Dance posted:I had a scare today. The weather's been crappy this weekend, but I was riding today. I was on Lakeshore Drive (a restricted access highway with a speed limit of 45 and an average speed of like 60) heading south in spitting rain. It was windy, probably gusting as high as 30 mph. I caught a bad gust through a turn, and it almost blew me into the next lane, which would have been uncomfortably close to a minivan. You are a braver man than I. 60 degrees out had me reaching for the rain gear, but those were a bit more than strong winds going on yesterday so I decided to stay in. Drifter posted:I remember the very first time I rode my bike in very strong winds. I was riding up through a mountain pass on my way to a weekend track session and I thought I was going to literally die when the wind gusted. The easiest way for me to deal with it was just to lean off the bike like I was hard cornering, it was the only way to stay in a straight line. I was almost dragging a knee for two miles. One of my favorite memories of riding was on a very windy day. It was me and 2 other bikes on a highway, and we were all leaning way over but staying straight in the lane. Something about it just looked amazing. So long as they're constant and directional it's natural to maintain control. You naturally steer just like you're cornering because the objective is exactly the same. When it's sudden gusts coming from all directions (like it was yesterday) I just stay loose, try to stay center lane, and try to avoid having cars on either side of me in case I can't correct fast enough. Once you get used to it and manage to stay relaxed it's actually a lot of fun. Halo_4am fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Nov 18, 2013 |
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Nov 18, 2013 16:48
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Halo_4am posted:You are a braver man than I. 60 degrees out had me reaching for the rain gear, but those were a bit more than strong winds going on yesterday so I decided to stay in. The tornado was crazy. I went down to the workshop I part-rent down in Pilsen. Got there while it was just cloudy, worked through the rain, and left when it was mostly dry. I didn't find out about the tornados until later that night.
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Nov 19, 2013 02:14
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Haha, this was scary and new. It was raining on the commute home and when I got up to this one terrible-rear end intersection (It's a traffic nightmare and also one of the kinds that goes from yellow to red way too fast, if that makes sense) I decided to just stop instead of chancing it going red with me still in the road. I start the brake just fine but then one of them locked up on me, way earlier that I was used to. I held it steady but then the front wheel slid over the painted white line before the intersection and just bottomed out from under me. I dunno why but my one reaction was to sorta hop forward in the seat and land both feet on the ground, and since my bike is a baby 250 and I was going slow enough, I got lucky and was able to stop it from toppling over. Scared the hell out of me though, since for that one second it felt exactly like the lowside I had. And then two blocks down the road a dude pulled a u-turn against 3 lanes of traffic and decided to stop directly in my way.  (I caught him in my eye early enough to slow down though.)
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Nov 20, 2013 22:04
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It was windy as hell here on the ride home last night but it was awesome riding down the freeway watching lightning flashing and poo poo blowing around. Problems arose while I was about to make the last turn before my house when a huge gently caress off gust of wind tried to make me ride into the curb. I've never had wind do anything to me under 45mph but last night it pushed me over about 3 feet while I was traveling 15mph tops. Luckily I had a good 6 inches before the curb started so I did manage to get home. I think I scared the people standing at the bus stop though. They almost had to share the little shelter thing with me and my bike.
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Nov 23, 2013 18:24
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Went into a blind corner or a nice twisty road near where I live, had a nice clear view all the way up to a corner so I knew I was safe to open up a little. Leaning into the corner.. and there's a land rover parked right in the center of the lane. I was doing 60 or so, so I straightened up, stamped on the back brake and slid in a massive fishtail towards it. Wasn't going to stop in time, so I mounted the muddy slope and stood up on my foot pegs while the bandit thrashed around. Remounted the road when I was past the car and almost came off again as my front tire was slick with mud. Honked a few times. Still feeling pretty shaky with adrenaline as I write this. Certainly shouldn't have hit the corner at that speed, but I'd grown complacent with how clear it had always been. Lucky to be alive, frankly.
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Dec 20, 2013 15:04
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That sounds utterly terrifying! I had one a bit like that earlier in the summer, came round a blind corner to find a white van coming towards me on my side of the road overtaking some cyclists. I ended up threading the needle between the van and cyclists. I came down from the adrenaline hit about late November!
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Dec 20, 2013 18:55
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Shelvocke posted:I was doing 60 or so, so I straightened up, stamped on the back brake and slid in a massive fishtail towards it. I'm confused by this part-- it sounds like you only used the rear brake? Were you already off the pavement, or was this just a split reaction sort of thing?
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Dec 21, 2013 09:24
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MetaJew posted:I'm confused by this part-- it sounds like you only used the rear brake? Were you already off the pavement, or was this just a split reaction sort of thing? The situation wasn't desperate enough for the layerdan lever.
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Dec 21, 2013 16:52
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:The situation wasn't desperate enough for the layerdan lever. The road was pretty wet, England is getting more than the usual amount of rain at the moment, and because I was partly in a lean hitting the front brake would have been suicide. You can correct a fishtail with the back break locked up, but if you lock up the front you're toast.
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Dec 21, 2013 17:17
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You can use the front, you just have to be easy on it at first and smooth with it. Locking it isn't an immediate crash once you're vertical, there's time to let off if you do. Maybe hit up a parking lot sometime and practice a bit with hitting the front from leaned over. There is a limited amount of traction for turning and braking but it doesn't go 100% one way or 100% to the other. You have traction for braking when leaned over, just less. As you get on the brakes the bike will want to straighten up too so you'll get more and more traction for slowing down.
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Dec 21, 2013 17:34
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If your suspension is set right, the bike shouldn't stand up on the brakes at all. Most people unconsciously bring the bike upright as they brake through countersteering. Shelvocke posted:if you lock up the front you're toast. This isn't true at all. A good place to practice is either off road on a dirt bike or during emergency braking practice, but it's definitely possible (and likely if you release immediately) to recover a locked or sliding front wheel.
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Dec 21, 2013 17:44
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Z3n posted:If your suspension is set right, the bike shouldn't stand up on the brakes at all. Most people unconsciously bring the bike upright as they brake through countersteering. Go on.
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Dec 21, 2013 18:08
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| # ? May 16, 2024 02:48 |
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nsaP posted:Go on. Eh, just go out to a giant parking lot or something and try it. Get the bike to maintain a lean angle at around 30-40mph, drag a little brake, and see what happens. Try it while hanging off, while sitting on the bike, while looking through the corner, not looking through the corner, etc. Changes in bike geometry, suspension setup, rake, trail, tire profile and pressure, etc, all have different contributing factors to this, and for me, the goal is always to have a bike that handles very neutrally. There's no substitute for going out there and figuring out how you react on your bike though. Most of the time, I want my bikes, track and street, to be neutral enough to set a given lean angle and hold it naturally. Adding throttle should increase the arc of my turn due to higher speed, and adding brake should decrease it due to scrubbing speed, but I try and get my bikes to the point where each input has no affect on the other inputs I could give, so I can combine inputs like trail braking and adding lean angle, and have a consistent set of results.
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Dec 21, 2013 18:56
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