JVRR wrote:Beginners should never be doing anything with rear brake only. It is an easy habit to form, and a bad one. I know from experience. Once you have formed your good habits, then you can/should start messing around with maximizing your performance and skills. But not until then!
My closest call was when I went down outside my house. I did not get hurt, but the bike did. Kind of anti climactic, I slid a good twenty feet or so but other than some ripped up jeans and boots, no damage to myself (sore for a week).
Closest call I guess would be when a deer ran out, and my first instinct was to look for others, which I saw none so I focused on that deer to see what he was going to do. That's when his family decided to run out and I got easily within a foot of hitting one. That was one of two times I realized why, despite being so convenient, I need to stop using the back brake- because it forms a bad habit. Left some good rubber on the road with that one.
How did you go down?
storysunfolding wrote:My closest call happened when a car in the oncoming lane drifted off the road, over corrected and came sliding across the double yellow towards me. Given that the road was hemmed in with guard rails with at most 3 feet of shoulder, my only option was to gun it and beat him past the point of intersection. After calming down it took me a 30 minute detour to find a new pair of pants.
I probably wouldn't have been able to ride for the rest of the day. I am glad your safe. I can't wait to ride some more tonight, hope I don't have any close calls lol.
JVRR wrote:Beginners should never be doing anything with rear brake only. It is an easy habit to form, and a bad one. I know from experience. Once you have formed your good habits, then you can/should start messing around with maximizing your performance and skills. But not until then!
My closest call was when I went down outside my house. I did not get hurt, but the bike did. Kind of anti climactic, I slid a good twenty feet or so but other than some ripped up jeans and boots, no damage to myself (sore for a week).
Closest call I guess would be when a deer ran out, and my first instinct was to look for others, which I saw none so I focused on that deer to see what he was going to do. That's when his family decided to run out and I got easily within a foot of hitting one. That was one of two times I realized why, despite being so convenient, I need to stop using the back brake- because it forms a bad habit. Left some good rubber on the road with that one.
How did you go down?
No idea. Best guess is multiple factors like cold tires, an engine sputter (was not warmed up), and too much lean/not enough speed. That is my honest guess. Some want to do the cliche thing of saying it was too much speed, but I honestly do not think it was that. Without rehashing all the detail again I spun around in such a way that I would have had to give it a ton of gas when going down. I am not the most experienced rider by a long shot, but I have found it pretty intuitive and always trusted my reflexes, I am very confident I would not have given it a ton of gas- unless my problem was not enough gas.
-JV Xbox LIVE!: "Vlad is Rad"
PSN: "Vlad_is_Rad"
SCII: "Volodya" (code: 314)
Yes, rear brake can cause all sorts of havoc when applied incorrectly and locked up. It's also quite easy to lock up a rear tire because when braking hard the weight transfer is to the front of the bike, lightening up the rear end. BTW if you do lock up the rear brake, DO NOT RELEASE it till you are near or at a stop. You can still steer a locked up rear tire bike and guide it to a stop (use the front brakes too if you can). Releasing the rear brake can "high side" a rider.
I have some close calls, most of them are caused by other car drivers not paying attention and either wanting to turn into me or share my lane.
In fact on Sunday a car driver did just that (share my lane), Andrea was riding in the front on her bike, I was behind her and a car decided to share my lane beside me. I didn't see them until their car bumper was right beside me they came up so quick and thus were forcing me off the road... I just accelerated in front of their car and around them but it could have been more serious.
totalmotorcycle wrote:I have some close calls, most of them are caused by other car drivers not paying attention and either wanting to turn into me or share my lane.
In fact on Sunday a car driver did just that (share my lane), Andrea was riding in the front on her bike, I was behind her and a car decided to share my lane beside me. I didn't see them until their car bumper was right beside me they came up so quick and thus were forcing me off the road... I just accelerated in front of their car and around them but it could have been more serious.
Mike
I can't believe how some drivers have no common sense when it comes to sharing the road with motorcycles. Today I kinda had a close call, I was slowing down again before a turn and I hit a pothole which made me slam on the from breaks, glad no one was tailgating me. Anyone else have any interesting close calls?
