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Wiped Out on 1

kongjie said:
All good advice and useful advice. But as a fellow new rider I have also learned that sometimes you need to keep it simple. If it was a road unfamiliar to you, on a machine you have just started riding, and the sign said 15 mph, 25 mph is too fast.:)

I too have learned a similar lesson. On my commute home I make a righthand 90 degree turn onto a local street from a road where I'm going 40–45 mph. I was getting a little frustrated as it seemed as though I was always in danger of swinging too wide. Then on the weekend I took the same turn in my car and realized that I slowed to around 15mph. It dawned on me that I was trying to take the turn much faster on the bike. :facepalm
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YESSSSS. this was basically what the same realization I came to when I rode that same road back home, except going home it was a right turn instead of a left. Thanks for the advice :thumbup
 
We're you leading or following?
 
terdog55 said:
Its a common mistake. Glad that your OK.

Remember, they can always turn more than you think, cause the limits are in your head.
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True story! I once took a turn some where in San Jose hills thinking it would be smooth but suddenly turned hard. In my case I was lucky to have been taking it easy and had been able to adjust without too much trouble. But the moral is you need to be ready for whats coming around that corner!
 
Jbox88 said:
True story! I once took a turn some where in San Jose hills thinking it would be smooth but suddenly turned hard. In my case I was lucky to have been taking it easy and had been able to adjust without too much trouble. But the moral is you need to be ready for whats coming around that corner!
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Yeah it's called "vanishing point" riding and not out-riding your sight lines. You hold onto the outside of the corner until you can see the exit of the corner and then you choose your apex point based on what you can see.
 
aram said:
Yeah it's called "vanishing point" riding and not out-riding your sight lines. You hold onto the outside of the corner until you can see the exit of the corner and then you choose your apex point based on what you can see.
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This was another issue, I didn't start the curve on the outside. I realized this almost immediately after going into it.
 
lilmzsunshiiine said:
This was another issue, I didn't start the curve on the outside. I realized this almost immediately after going into it.
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Buy that book I linked. It really details how to ride like that to maximize fun while riding safely. I like that book because it doesn't get into a lot of advanced riding techniques that I don't think are necessary for a beginning rider on the street. Just really simple instructions on how to ride well.

I ride that "technique" whenever I go out and it is really helpful for limiting the "scary" moments.
 
aram said:
Buy that book I linked. It really details how to ride like that to maximize fun while riding safely. I like that book because it doesn't get into a lot of advanced riding techniques that I don't think are necessary for a beginning rider on the street. Just really simple instructions on how to ride well.

I ride that "technique" whenever I go out and it is really helpful for limiting the "scary" moments.
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Already did:thumbup
 
I'm sure your Pop loves you but he also suckered you in. Be careful of the slinky effect. As the follower if you're too close or too worried about keeping up you end up going faster on the straights to catch up, which means braking harder, losing speed in the corner, going faster to catch up, braking harder...and then over cooking your entry.
 
CaptCrash said:
I'm sure your Pop loves you but he also suckered you in. Be careful of the slinky effect. As the follower if you're too close or too worried about keeping up you end up going faster on the straights to catch up, which means braking harder, losing speed in the corner, going faster to catch up, braking harder...and then over cooking your entry.
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I make sure to 'ride my own ride'
When I went down I wasn't following closely, he took the curve far sooner than I and I did not see his entry point, it was a very twisty road. Lol. (When we ride together we have a system of sorts so we aren't out of sight for too long:thumbup)
 
One last thing. If you guys have the funds, investing in a pair of Senas or other bluetooth device can be a huge help in learning to ride. Me and my buddy got a pair of Sena SMH10s ($284 for a two pack) and on my first day of riding I followed him up 92 to Skyline with him verbally guiding me with what gear to be in, how much to slow down for a turn, etc. If your dad is a good teacher, being able to hear his advice while riding might be a huge help. It was for me, and now it's just great to have a nice chat while riding.
 
danate said:
One last thing. If you guys have the funds, investing in a pair of Senas or other bluetooth device can be a huge help in learning to ride. Me and my buddy got a pair of Sena SMH10s ($284 for a two pack) and on my first day of riding I followed him up 92 to Skyline with him verbally guiding me with what gear to be in, how much to slow down for a turn, etc. If your dad is a good teacher, being able to hear his advice while riding might be a huge help. It was for me, and now it's just great to have a nice chat while riding.
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This is a great idea! Thanks:)
 
Didn't see this explicitly stated yet: You can usually take a 15 mph turn at 25 mph without crashing. However you've gotta lean the sucker over harder, look through the turn, head and eyes up, trust your tires and don't panic.

This is mostly about practice - gaining experience and confidence. But there's also the part of being aware of what you're doing and knowing why it works. Understanding countersteering for example is very important.
 
terdog55 said:
Its a common mistake. Glad that your OK.

Remember, they can always turn more than you think, cause the limits are in your head.
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:thumbup So true. Of course, I don't know the specific turn where you crashed, but it's safe to say, generally speaking, that advisory signs are usually very conservative and that you can generally get through them easily at nearly double the advisory speed.

As a new rider, one of the most important things you can learn is just how much you can lean and therefore how tightly you can turn. This takes practice (like in a parking lot) and often a good training school can help. Remember, this skill is not just so you can get from point A to point B, but it's also so you can execute emergency or last second maneuvers and keep on riding.

Which brings up another point. On another thread, you were soliciting advice on lowering your bike. Doing so reduces how much you can lean the bike and therefore, how tightly you can turn. (Of course that's not the only downside to lowering the bike by mucking with the suspension.) So, once you become more proficient at handling and turning a bike and begin to explore just how far you can lean, you'll then see how detrimental lowering the bike is because you give up that extra margin of performance and safety that just might get you out of a sticky situation some day.

This is only a "what if", but suppose you were more experienced on your recent ride and didn't have a problem tightening up a turn at higher speeds and leaning further. You enter the turn faster than normal and noting this, you push harder on the inside bar and lean the bike further to make it through the turn at the higher speed you're going. Everything goes well until some part of your bike touches the pavement and presto, you've lost traction and down you go. Not because you couldn't execute that turn at that speed, but because your bike was compromised by lowering it. Food for thought.
 
lilmzsunshiiine said:
I did take it, they called it Tunnel Vision, not Target Fixation.
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They're different concepts.

Tunnel vision is not being aware of your surroundings.

Target fixation comes during moments of duress and panic, where eyes lock onto the object of panic and the body (and steering) follows suit.
 
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