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High Side / Low Side

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:41 am
by macca
Can anyone explain the difference between these two types of crashes?

Cheers!

:)

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:59 am
by d2mini
High Side is when you get thrown from the bike, like over the handle bars for instance.
Low Side is when you go down with the bike on top of you and/or into a slide.

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 2:20 pm
by bikeguy joe
Highsides (a lowside gone terribly wrong, usually when you suddenly re-gain traction) hurt a lot more than lowsides.

Highsides hurl you through the air, lowsides usually just drop you and slide you along if you don't hit anything solid. (dress appropriately)

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:56 pm
by Sev
Ummm

Low Side - the bike tips over, usually during a turn as a result of loss of traction. Basically it's like watching a bike fall over at a standstill, but you're going faster.

High Hide - The back wheel tragically catches up with the front wheel, and things just get worse from there. You're typically catapulted into god only knows what...

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2005 3:43 am
by madmax
High side & low side = 2 places you never wanna go.

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 3:46 am
by d2mini
Ok, here are the defintions right out of my MSF workbook...

LOW-SIDE CRASH
crash in which the rider contacts the ground behind the sliding motorcycle, usually as a result of front tire skid

HIGH-SIDE CRASH
crash in which the rider loses control and is THROWN to the ground in front of the motorcycle's path. This type of crash is likely to result in serious injury to the rider and is often the result of releasing the rear brake when a skidding rear tire is not aligned with the front.

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:53 am
by JustJames
madmax wrote:High side & low side = 2 places you never wanna go.
Can't agree more. :D