Total Motorcycle Community Forums

wow... so thats what 'going down' means to some people.

Sevulturus wrote:Depends where you are in relation to the bike. If the bike is in front of you (ie accelerating away) and you're following it, which is typical of a lowside, then try to slow down as much as possible. Get your back or chest into contact with the ground as this provides the most surface braking area. You are wearing your leathers RIGHT?

If the bike is chasing you, typical of a highside, then you want to go faster then it. Try to get up on your helmet, boots, hands or shoulders. You should still be wearing full leathers. This will minimize your contact and hopefully keep you ahead of that 400lbs of steel that's chasing your "O Ring" down.

If you aren't wearing full gear... don't crash!

You're making this sound like body surfing or something. If I can, I'm just putting my arms across my chest and squeezing my knees together until the noise stops.

well first and foremost just before an accident i think ill soil myself. after that i can only pray my instincts worked out best for me.

nyrblue35 wrote:well first and foremost just before an accident i think ill soil myself. after that i can only pray my instincts worked out best for me.

That's my thoughts too. Wrecks on the street generally happen so fast you will just do what's instinctive...guess it depends on how long you've been riding and how many times you've been down.

HITAMUDHOLE wrote:

nyrblue35 wrote:well first and foremost just before an accident i think ill soil myself. after that i can only pray my instincts worked out best for me.

That's my thoughts too. Wrecks on the street generally happen so fast you will just do what's instinctive...guess it depends on how long you've been riding and how many times you've been down.

This is the correct answer. The best you can do is have the experiance under your belt.

Practice lots and lots in the parking areas stopping fast and controled (empty parking areas). Learn how to swerve quickly so you can avoid things in the road or get around a car. Instictive control and action.

But in the end no matter how much you practice some disasters will happen so fast you will either go from before the crash to after the crash in your view, or before the crash to a hospital ceiling.

I believe that if you actively choose to lay the bike down, you've made the wrong choice. Of course there are freak accident exceptions, but control the bike, stop as quickly as possible, swerve, whatever - it's a better option than laying down (for me anyway).

That said, if there were no way I was getting out of a situation with the rubber side down, I would just get myself away from the bike and on the ground as gently as possible, then wait for the pain.

lowlux wrote: what do you do then?? do you sild on your back? roll? what?

what is the best way to jump off? fall back off the bike or jump to the side?

Every situation is slightly different, but there's only one real trick to 'going down' properly - RELAX. As long as you relax your body (and you're wearing the proper gear), you should be fine. Your body's like a wet noodle when relaxed, and a dry noodle when tensed and ridgid - that's when you snap.

If you relax, and don't fight the momentum, you'll usually end up rolling, which is the safest in most situations. Don't fight it, and don't try to stand up at any point, until you're totally sure that all momentum has stopped. (Sound advice, even coming from a guy who's rolled down the highway for about a mile, bike sliding ahead, and landed on squarely on his feet - it was a natural landing though, much like a cat does). Out on the open highways crashes are very predictable and usually controllable, with the chances of serious injury being low unless you fall off or run into a cliff, or anything like that. In the city, it's another story...

Jeez my second post here and both are how-to-crash posts.

Here's what Ive learned about crashing.

The first and hardest thing to learn is to not panic, vapor lock, choke or seize up. This alone will prevent most single vehicle crashes. But even if you are definitely going to crash you still have some control of the outcome if you dont panic.

The next thing to learn is that laying a bike down on smooth pavement at speed isnt as bad as all that. You slide a ways and stop in a fairly short distance. It will seem like it took an eternity of time but a guy sliding down the road stops in a surprisingly short distance. With any luck you"ll walk away with some abrasions and bruising and a demolished bike. This is important to understand because if the choice is crashing the bike while still on the road or riding into a canyon wall or some sleepy drivers SUV or rolling off a cliff you'll want to make the right choice.

Get the heck away from the bike! If you highside it will happen so quickly youll probably have no choice. If you lowside let go of the bike and get out from under it before it's side hits. Let that miserable bike have its own crash. It probably caused the crash anyway The bike will then slide away and ahead you and go much farther than you will. Its nothing good if it snags you and drags you, especially if you are beneath it.

Slide on the pavement like sliding into second base. Do not roll or tumble. That is how you break bones and dislocate things. As you are sliding along you may well abrade throgh clothing and gloves. You will have noproblems noticing this and unweighting that bit of yourself. No onbe really knows why but as you are sliding to a peaceful stop you will almost certainly want to attempt to stand up before your ride has come to a complete and total stop. Fight this urge. If you do try standing up while you are still moving and you are lucky you will suddenly be taking giant 25 foot long running steps at about 25 miles per hour before you fall down.
If you are unlucky you will start tumbling and break bones and dislocate joints. Try to remember DON"T STAND UP UNTIL YOU CAN COUNT THE ROCKS IN THE PAVEMENT. Youll be better off.

Many years ago, I had read all the mag articles about what to do. I have to tell you that when that accident happened to me, I didn't have time to remember anything I had read. It just happened too fast. One second I was riding along, seeing that I had a green light at the intersection and the next second I was waking up on the pavement. To this day I couldn't tell you how I layed the bike down and what happened as I slid into the curb. Its good to know how to lay the bike down, but you won't have time to remember it.

If you aren't wearing full gear... don't crash![/quote]

Makes more sense "if you aren't wearing full gear...don't RIDE!!!!"
But, hehehe...who am I?