New Biker - Close Call
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:10 pm
Hey all, finally jumped through all the hoops to get myself licensed and on a motorcycle!
I'm a total novice, with 7 hours of personal training and a few hours of street riding, I'm very new to the experience.
I'm handling it well so far, taking it very slow and being very cautious and punctual about my shifting, turning, etc.
I did encounter a strange and somewhat frightful situation 2 days back as I was crossing the Williamsburg bridge (NYC)
I finally got the guts to cross the bridge that day. It was light traffic, and it was my first time going into 6th gear basically.
As I shifted from 5 to 6, the bike behaved very strangely. I'm not sure if maybe I didn't pull in the clutch all the way or what, but
the throttle had way too much play in it, to the point where it would only accelerate as I pulled it almost all the way back.
I figured maybe I was stuck between gears or something, so I pulled in the clutch and kicked down once,
which lead to the back wheel locking up and me fish-tailing
on a road with no shoulder at all. I managed to shift my weight forward and gain control, shifting it down to first and then starting again. The scariest part about this is that I don't know exactly what happened, or what I can do (or not do) to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I understand that shifting down when you're at high speeds will lock up the back wheel, but the whole play in the throttle thing really threw me off. Any advice on what to do when this happens, (or what noob mistake I made in the process that the vets are chuckling at while they read this)?
'07 Ninja 250 w/300mi on it.
I'm a total novice, with 7 hours of personal training and a few hours of street riding, I'm very new to the experience.
I'm handling it well so far, taking it very slow and being very cautious and punctual about my shifting, turning, etc.
I did encounter a strange and somewhat frightful situation 2 days back as I was crossing the Williamsburg bridge (NYC)
I finally got the guts to cross the bridge that day. It was light traffic, and it was my first time going into 6th gear basically.
As I shifted from 5 to 6, the bike behaved very strangely. I'm not sure if maybe I didn't pull in the clutch all the way or what, but
the throttle had way too much play in it, to the point where it would only accelerate as I pulled it almost all the way back.
I figured maybe I was stuck between gears or something, so I pulled in the clutch and kicked down once,
which lead to the back wheel locking up and me fish-tailing
on a road with no shoulder at all. I managed to shift my weight forward and gain control, shifting it down to first and then starting again. The scariest part about this is that I don't know exactly what happened, or what I can do (or not do) to make sure it doesn't happen again.
I understand that shifting down when you're at high speeds will lock up the back wheel, but the whole play in the throttle thing really threw me off. Any advice on what to do when this happens, (or what noob mistake I made in the process that the vets are chuckling at while they read this)?
'07 Ninja 250 w/300mi on it.