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| *Vultures Knob>>>Road Bike |
Has anyone dumped your street bike when hitting some gravel or sand when going around a tight corner? |
I did on Friday, and I strained my ankle, I'm a new street rider, and wondering what should a person should do when you see gravel and sand on the road when rounding a corner other than slow way down? always expect the unexpected. expect corners to contain sand/gravel on the street. u aint on the track where the strip is 100% clear. ur pushing ur luck blasting into corners without even doing any recon on the road first. u need to check for sand, gravel, oil, tar snakes, even glass. some curves might be tighter than they appear, and some might not even be marked when they should be...i ran into just such a road on a ride yesterday. bottom line is this: dont treat the street like a race track. if u dump it on the track, help is quick in coming. if u dump it on the street on a strech of twisties that has very little traffic, u could be laying there for quite some time....that is, if they even see u or the bike. sounds like the bike just gave u a wake up call. i highly suggest u take the hint before u wind u gettin hurt even worse. as u found out, gravel is extremely hazardous. and another thing.......if u stare at a patch of gravel, u will surely run into it. dont look at the gravel, look to where u want the bike to be at. I had my first (And hopefully last!) accident when I hit a patch of sand in a turn on my old Yammie. The *** end just went to the side, and down I went. Now I always look. You can't do other than be alert when it comes to that stuff. You got your head screwed on right though. Slow down and get the bike straight up and down. Chances are it won't fall on you. I ride in the rain like that, and the people behind me be damned if they don't like me taking my turn slow enough to stay straight up. That's why you have a middle finger. Just remember if you get into some trouble like that again, don't under or overcontrol, don't stab the brake, and don't let up on the wick too quick. It's better to ride it out if you can. But get straight up and down as quick as you can. Not enough info, drop me line, I'm in the book. Ride safe, ciao. P.S. vf29, the "Sandman" is dead on the money! I tried to give him a thumb, but it won't take. He knows his stuff also. Hope you get enough info from both answers to make yourself drop-proof. Hasta. Broke my leg in that one. A wake up call if I ever got one! generally there is not that much that one can actually do if our rounding a corner fast and you see a patch of something up ahead in your line. no offence meant here, but its asking for it to round a corner without visibillity, especially on a street bike with slick or semi slick road going tires. there are no grooves for the sand to move into so that the outer surface contacts the road and grips. a slick or semi slick will just slide around on the sand, gravel or leaves(during autumn mostly). you can only straiten the bike up so there is no lateral (sideways) force on the wheels, slow down, dont look at it!!!!! same with all driving... if you stare strait at a pothole, its very very hard not to end up in it.. look at it once, size it up, decide what your going to do, and then stop looking at it!!!!!!!!!!! the only other thing i can tell you is to possibly shift your weight off the seat and onto the footpegs to let the bike move or slide around a bit underneath you without pulling your weight with it so that you can control it better.. and hold the handlebars really hard, use your upper body strength to keep the front wheel from turning side to side, this will help keep it from washing out under you.... what else can i say, be careful and stay sharp when cornering.. it is always a risk when you corner blindly, but sometimes the risk is fun.. now you have a small taste of possible concequences.,. the choice is yours, fast or slow. im a mechanical engineer, i ride street and dirt Take an advanced MSF course, and they will cover it. Get a dirt bike and get the feel of your rear end sliding out from under you, and how to recover. Little J covered that pretty well. You also need to practice your cornering technique. In blind turns, run wide going in (whilst staying in your lane, of course!). This allows you to see as far ahead through the turn as possible, thus potentially avoiding hazards ahead of you. Since you cannot run every road before hand, this is the best way to avoid an unforseen obstacle. Keep your pace down to a manageable level on new roads - if you are braking hard going into turns, you are going too fast on a new road. If you see gravel too late to avoid it, and you are in an extreme lean, the best thing you can do is to cut the throttle, straighten the bike up as much as you can, and then power on through. Once you have passed through it, countersteer like an SOB to get your line back on course. Braking is not a good idea, Too much front brake applied in this situation will cause you to low side, too much rear brake might cause you to high side. Done a little club racing, dumped a few bikes.... |
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