So much lean angle, so little traction

[ZXenigma]

Or another title might be.... "A rude lesson on trail braking."

While many of you were already home safe and sound after a hard day of puck scraping fun at Alsea, Ellie and I headed out for a relaxing stroll on the bikes around 4pm. We did hwy 36 to Triangle lake, and then on to Mapleton and back 126 (I hate that f-ing road). On our excursion we saw a couple other dudes on sport bikes, and on the last leg home at the junction of Spencer Creek and old Lorane we saw a guy on what looked to be a CBR 1000, silver, and silver full riding suit. He ripped a wheelie there and seemed to ride it part way through the corner. So dangerous! Translation, "Im just bitter, my wheelie skills are weak." I tried to catch him, but he had about 1/4 mile on me. Translation: "He was fast as heL L and I'm only as fast as childrens tylenol!"
Anyway, I got a couple of good corners in on 36, but in doing so I had a little pants crapping incident. I was picking up the pace on the twisty's after the lake and I came upon a right handed 25 mph curve. The sun was lighting up its entry and beckoning me to become one with it in a most spiritual way. I realized that it was a blind corner going around an outcropping but I was feeling fine. Trasnlation: "Feeling stupid" As I was down selecting and getting hard on the binders I gently drifted wide to get a better view. My God Jim, this was no human 25! It might have LOOKED like a 25 to the corner engineer who was smoking pcp laced meth in his Acura NSX as he went around the OUTSIDE of the corner but anyway... Translation "I was just given 'er hell that I could not afford to pay" So I grabbed another half inch of brake lever but was still not slowing down fast enough. Still not too worried though I am somewhat comfortable with trail braking so I was like, well whatever, I'll just start to ease it over and get off the brakes before the apex. doo doo doo la de dah....and just as I was about to let off the brakes a half cord of firewood revealed itself to me right at my apex, right on my line. I was ready to do some splittin alright! Okay, so in reality, it was just one piece of firewood, but the point is. I was already into the corner for 100%. I left no room for a mistake, yet there it was, a problem. Easy solution right? Just get off the brakes on the throttle run wide of the obstacle and then lean it back over right? Well that would have required another 5% of conscious thought that I didnt have available, I was in for 100% already remember? So all I had left was instinct. WEEEEE MORE BRAKES! WEEEEEEEEEEE NO MORE traction! The front started to tuck, and somehow I had the sense to let off the brake just in time. The bike did its little dance, hooked back up and I was through it and still in my lane. One pant load richer of course. This was the second time this week that I've slid the front. First time was on some tree branches.
It seems like just when I get lulled into trusting the road, it lets me know its still alive and changing. Anyway, here's some articles on trail braking and street riding.

http://www.sportrider.com/ride/RSS/146_0306_motorcycle_trail_braking/index.html

http://www.sportrider.com/ride/146_9306_motorcycle_pacing/

http://motorcyclebloggers.com/tech-talk-articles/brakes-101/trail-braking/



The moral of the story is, save something for an emergency. Keep 20% in your back pocket just in case. Save a couple degrees lean angle for a rainy day. All comments and criticisms encouraged. -V

[WindBurnt]

Or another title might be.... "A rude lesson on trail braking."

While many of you were already home safe and sound after a hard day of puck scraping fun at Alsea, Ellie and I headed out for a relaxing stroll on the bikes around 4pm. We did hwy 36 to Triangle lake, and then on to Mapleton and back 126 (I hate that f-ing road). On our excursion we saw a couple other dudes on sport bikes, and on the last leg home at the junction of Spencer Creek and old Lorane we saw a guy on what looked to be a CBR 1000, silver, and silver full riding suit. He ripped a wheelie there and seemed to ride it part way through the corner. So dangerous! Translation, "Im just bitter, my wheelie skills are weak." I tried to catch him, but he had about 1/4 mile on me. Translation: "He was fast as heL L and I'm only as fast as childrens tylenol!"
Anyway, I got a couple of good corners in on 36, but in doing so I had a little pants crapping incident. I was picking up the pace on the twisty's after the lake and I came upon a right handed 25 mph curve. The sun was lighting up its entry and beckoning me to become one with it in a most spiritual way. I realized that it was a blind corner going around an outcropping but I was feeling fine. Trasnlation: "Feeling stupid" As I was down selecting and getting hard on the binders I gently drifted wide to get a better view. My God Jim, this was no human 25! It might have LOOKED like a 25 to the corner engineer who was smoking pcp laced meth in his Acura NSX as he went around the OUTSIDE of the corner but anyway... Translation "I was just given 'er hell that I could not afford to pay" So I grabbed another half inch of brake lever but was still not slowing down fast enough. Still not too worried though I am somewhat comfortable with trail braking so I was like, well whatever, I'll just start to ease it over and get off the brakes before the apex. doo doo doo la de dah....and just as I was about to let off the brakes a half cord of firewood revealed itself to me right at my apex, right on my line. I was ready to do some splittin alright! Okay, so in reality, it was just one piece of firewood, but the point is. I was already into the corner for 100%. I left no room for a mistake, yet there it was, a problem. Easy solution right? Just get off the brakes on the throttle run wide of the obstacle and then lean it back over right? Well that would have required another 5% of conscious thought that I didnt have available, I was in for 100% already remember? So all I had left was instinct. WEEEEE MORE BRAKES! WEEEEEEEEEEE NO MORE traction! The front started to tuck, and somehow I had the sense to let off the brake just in time. The bike did its little dance, hooked back up and I was through it and still in my lane. One pant load richer of course. This was the second time this week that I've slid the front. First time was on some tree branches.
It seems like just when I get lulled into trusting the road, it lets me know its still alive and changing. Anyway, here's some articles on trail braking and street riding.

http://www.sportrider.com/ride/RSS/146_0306_motorcycle_trail_braking/index.html

http://www.sportrider.com/ride/146_9306_motorcycle_pacing/

http://motorcyclebloggers.com/tech-talk-articles/brakes-101/trail-braking/



The moral of the story is, save something for an emergency. Keep 20% in your back pocket just in case. Save a couple degrees lean angle for a rainy day. All comments and criticisms encouraged. -V


ummm, this is one reason why we hit the same corner for practice so u know what your bike and the driver can handle. And u know nothing is going to be around that corner. But hey, that could happen just cruisin to. Trust me i know from experience. Sounds to me like u just made it threw even though u still had other lane for room. eheheh. glad u made it threw. better then a post saying u got a log in the azzz.

[WindBurnt]

was also gonna say. Nobody should ride more then 75% of fast as hell on the streets. Only time someone should pucker up the bung hole is when u shart. lmao. just crackin jokes, no critisim intented.:thumbup:

[Jane Honda]

This is a good thread!:laughing:

[Xusia]

Vinnie & Andy, I couldn't agree more. In fact the MSF classes preach the very idea of keeping some traction in reserve for emergencies. It's important to remember this is based on bike & rider ability, not outright speed. Some riders will have more reserve at a higher speed than another rider at a slower speed. True to Andy's word, that is what practice is for: To better understand the limits of your bike and ability.

[YOMAMAR6]

its ok vin i think we all slipped a little poooooooo

[lotsamtbottls]

ive had a couple really bad pucker moments too... triplespeed (daniel) witnessed the worst close-call i ever had, actually. too much speed into a corner, went onto the outside shoulder (oncoming lane, great), hit the gravel still laid over... tucked the front end... then magically recovered! still dont know how i didnt lose it, but i'm thankful every time i think about it.

glad you were able to save it too.. also a very good thread to post. i do see a lot of people that dont keep anything in reserve "just in case" they need it. you never know whats around that corner!

[TigerRider]

I'll make my obligatory Cranky Old Man comment:

:wife:wife:wife

STFD!

If you're riding at 100% on the street - you, in my vociferous opinion, are a fargin' idiot.

Period. Exclamation point. And a couple more :wife:wife

The street is no place for squidly behavior. There's no room for error, no margin of safety and there's nobody there to scrape up the icky bits for a long darn time. It's bad enough dodging moronic cage drivers, logging trucks that take 90% of both lanes and bambies that want to ruin your day.

Read 'The Pace' and you'll learn what being a real motorcyclist is all about.

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/flashback/122_0911_the_pace_nick_ienatsch/

Ride "The Pace" as a matter of daily practice, and you will have fewer pucker moments but best of all - you'll make the squids look bad.

How do you think us old codgers get down the road so well? Crafty and skillful riding is how. Not by wailing around with our hair on fire.

If you want to ride fast - take it to the track.

Some perspective: one track day is about 10% of the cost of an evening spent in the ER. Or roughly 1% of an overnight stay in hospital. A week in ICU will cost you more than the typical Eugene house. I don't know about you, but I don't have a spare $250,000 layin' around gathering dust.

Go ride, ride well, ride like a real motorcyclist.

<end curmudgeon lecture>

[ZRX_PAUL]

Maybe someone should invent a remote control so everyone else but the actual rider of any given motorcycle can control acceleration, lane position, corner speed and braking for us. Might take the fun out of it for me.;)

[tlrmike99]

Well, glad your ok, always ride at 75-80% on the street, and if you want to get more zoom in your 80%..... TRACK DAYS!!!!! Again, best money you can spend on your bike is 1) Leathers 2) Track time!!!

But, since you not crashed.... you felt alive as hell when it was over didn't ya????? You know you did..... But at least at the track when you do things like that, the ambulance is right there!!!

[rickster]

Vin, glad to hear you survived what could have been a bad scene! I was out 36 that afternoon myself but didn't encounter any wood, etc. I know the turn you're talking about. What time were you two out there? We might have almost run into each other, metaphorically speaking.

[ZXenigma]

Thanks. You guys are awesome. Seriously, how much would it cost to pave up a track, assuming you already own the land? Let's say it was a smaller track with very few straightaways. PIR is a city park right? Maybe we could petition the City. They must've spent several mil on those skate parks right? Maybe a track with a stunting area. God that would be dope. Yep 'bout ready to put the bikes in the storage unit. Probably by halloween at the latest. Schools back in session, so time to get serious again. It was one heck of an awesome summer though. I will ride in the cold, but not the wet! Vin :)

[ayub1911]

amen wit dose bambies.... ive had a couple of way scary run ins wit dem creatures.

[lil' mikey]

Thanks. You guys are awesome. Seriously, how much would it cost to pave up a track, assuming you already own the land? Let's say it was a smaller track with very few straightaways. PIR is a city park right? Maybe we could petition the City. They must've spent several mil on those skate parks right? Maybe a track with a stunting area. God that would be dope. Yep 'bout ready to put the bikes in the storage unit. Probably by halloween at the latest. Schools back in session, so time to get serious again. It was one heck of an awesome summer though. I will ride in the cold, but not the wet! Vin :)

I think the going rate is around $500,000 a mile.....:ride: