Had a fun slide tonight

[ElectricPrunes]

So right when I left the house it started to rain. It hasnt rained in a long time and I'm completely aware that this IS the most dangerous and slipperiest time to be riding. I was up on the Pleasant hill/Walnut creek border making a right over the freeway by best buy. It's wet, it's a turn, and it's at an incline, so i took it easy. I get to the top and all of a sudden I loose control of the bike, i catch it, but my throttle gets pinned and slides the other way.

The bike's fine. It's a naked f4i so it's built for these kinds of mishaps. the frame slider needs to be replaced and there's some scuffs on my clutch lever.

I get back up, confused about what the hell happened. Ok, I either froze up and death gripped on the throttle, which I've never done before when the back starts to slide.... or my trottle cable was pulled too tight, which happens in awkward moments but I'm not so sure it happened here.

So I get home, check over my bike, make sure everything's working as it should, then realized Im a bit more scared of riding in the rain now... so I decide that I'm going to go run drills on that turn again and again until i figure out what happened and how I could've saved it.

At the top of the turn there's ripples in the road big enough to have water pooling between them on a slope. It may just be my suspension, but even at 12-18 mph it's enough to float the front and rear. So now I know what happened.

I hit a bump, the bump jostled my hand holding the throttle enough to accelerate a BIT. Then the bump floats the rear and the two combined with water pooling between the ripples was enough to break the back tire loose. I'm in third gear, btw.

This time i do what i always do when this happens. I closed the throttle and the bike straightened out.

I did the turn a couple more times and the situation repeats itself without much improvement... what should I do? Are my forks too stiff? Should I get a PC to smooth out the fueling? Are my tires too slippery in the rain? Should just keep the bike upright in the rain? Where can I practice controlling the bike when the back's out? I ride year round. I don't want to be afraid of this happening again.

 

[kazoo]

Sorry to hear that this happened, glad you're OK
Your F4i has gotta be as close to bombproof as I've seen

When it first starts raining, you have to be extra careful since oil will pool on the surface of the road. After it's been raining for a while, the road will soak that up and it is no longer a problem. Painted surfaces, asphalt snakes, and manholes still are slick though. Was there any way you could have recognized the road hazard prior to riding through the bumpy section?

Does stability in that turn improve with less speed? Less lean angle?
When it rains, I try to get my body off the bike a lot more to reduce lean angle for the same amount of speed.

What tires are you running? Hows the tread on them?

When your back tire breaks loose, you're not supposed to suddenly close the throttle. That upsets the suspension, and I'm pretty sure it's how you can high side. Most people recommend just to ride through it, and let the bike correct itself.

Double check your suspension settings too just to be sure

Many people will recommend dirt bikes to practice control when the back starts to slip. Not sure how else in a safe way..

 

[Enchanter]

This sure sounds like one of those times where the speed (at the time) was unsafe for the conditions. You listed all of the reasons that the road would provide less traction.

You mention that you were in 3rd gear. How fast were you going? How would you describe your throttle application? Gentle? Smooth? Aggressive?

Double check your suspension settings too just to be sure.

What specifically should he be looking for?

 

[ElectricPrunes]

I was going between 12 and 18 in third as a safety precaution so my roll-on is smoother. I'm pretty smooth with the throttle, but like I said there were ripples in the asphault. Not speed bumps but like small waves that make holding the throttle steady difficult, and bounce the bike so it doesn't take much to break the rear free.

The tires are pilots. Treads good but the tires might be 4 or 5 years old now. No creases or cracking.. They stick well in sunny conditions so they should be okay..

I don't close the throttle but I back it off a bit. This probably would be considered a high side, but it was very slow.

 

[kazoo]

What specifically should he be looking for?

I would recommend checking sag (preload adjustment) first to be sure that is correct. Then check rebound/compression adjustments.

It sounds like the bumps are not being adequately absorbed by the suspension, and that is sending input to the rider's throttle hand. In addition, it can result in loss of traction. I'm guessing that the bumps will cause an issue with throttle application regardless of wet/dry.

Make sure you aren't supporting your body weight with your hands. Try relaxing your throttle hand grip to prevent transferring of bumps into throttle application.
But more importantly make sure your suspension is setup correctly and tire tread/PSI are good.

 

[ElectricPrunes]

My forks need to be rebuilt for sure. Ill be doing that soon and ill be taking a suspension setup class next month.

Yes bumps can jostle the throttle in the wet, but its not a big deal for obvious reasons.

 

[Gary856]

Have you tried loosening your grips, bending the elbows more, and using your arms to absorb and isolate your throttle input from the impact? Also, third gear seems too high at 18 mph - you have less control when you bog the engine like that.

 

[ElectricPrunes]

It's an f4i with stock riser clipons. Apart from no way of really gripping the tank with my knees, my elbows are alway bent quite a lot.. I definitely death gripped at some point of the slide, which is unusual for me, and jammed the throttle, committing myself to crash.

I've got +1/-2 gearing, and no power commander so 1st and 2nd can be jerky at low speeds.