When skin meets asphalt

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badfish89 · #11 Post by **badfish89** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:56 pm

i know how you feel bro. I had a similar crash but on a better condition'd road that I just took to aggressivly. My Leg still has a huge gash in it where i should have gotten stitches because the skin is healed but it is raised and red. as for my jeans I rolled for prolly 15 ft of gravel ( Iowa Roads have gravel on the shoulder) and my jeans were so badly torn on the knees i couldnt wear them for anything. The bike was pretty much fine, i snapped a turn signal, and the front break lever, but those could both be replaced. The ego is much better too since i went right back to that road and succesfully rode those corners over and over.

I feel for ya bro.

#12 Post by **KarateChick** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:06 pm

Glad you're alright kabob.

Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:23 pm

Oh no...Thank God it wasen't worse...

swatter555 · #14 Post by **swatter555** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:28 pm

Dont beat yourself up over it, that stuff happens. I recently had a low-side also, it can shake you up.

#15 Post by **motogirl** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:49 pm

Hey guys,

Here's a really silly question, but I just don't get it.

If I'm taking a turn too fast, and I realize mid-turn that I'm not going to make it, and I then decide to apply a little brake before leaning hard (too hard, so that I lose traction), don't I then low-side?

I just don't understand the part where it sounds like the decision was made to low side INSTEAD of leaning.

Could someone please clarify? I'm still a relative newb...

Thanks,
Janet

VermilionX · #16 Post by **VermilionX** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:59 pm

motogirl wrote:Hey guys,

Here's a really silly question, but I just don't get it.

If I'm taking a turn too fast, and I realize mid-turn that I'm not going to make it, and I then decide to apply a little brake before leaning hard (too hard, so that I lose traction), don't I then low-side?

I just don't understand the part where it sounds like the decision was made to low side INSTEAD of leaning.

Could someone please clarify? I'm still a relative newb...

Thanks,
Janet

it's all about managing traction points.

the book sport riding techniques explains this very well... the concept is easy to understand but the hard part is the variables involved.

you have 100 pts of traction.

throttle, brakes, and lean angle uses traction.

let's say you're using 75 pts on lean angle, then that still leaves you w/ 25 pts to use on throttle and brakes.

if you exceed 100, it results in a loss of traction... that could result to a minor slide, major slide, lowside, or a high-side.

there are many variables in determining how many pts youre using, and that's the hard part.

PS. im not an expert. im just sharing what i read.

Mintbread · #17 Post by **Mintbread** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:00 pm

If you are mid corner and you realised that you have over cooked it, just stand the bike up and grab a fist-full of brake. If you do it leaned over you are begging to crash.

kabob983 · #18 Post by **kabob983** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:25 pm

Idealy that would have been better, but the road was so durn narrow that standing it straight up and grabbing the break would (probably) have run me straight into said earthen wall. Probably a slightly more...painful maneuver.

The boots worked great Sev. They were pretty much ok, one scuff on the inside of the left boot. I really do love their feeling when on the bike, I'd highly suggest nabbing a pair!

GrandGT · #19 Post by **GrandGT** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:29 am

if you want some real protective gear, give this a try:

kabob983 · #20 Post by **kabob983** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:47 am

GrandGT wrote:if you want some real protective gear, give this a try:

Ooh, squishy! Might impair my vision a lil bit though