Fell off me bike. Yes! I'm an idiot!!

[Billy Balthorpe]

Off to Oulton Park last weekend on me Blade, went 20 yards down the quiet, estate road to a t junction, stopped, looked, clear, pulled out and must have given it a bit too much right hand, wwwwwiiz, next thing i know im on the floor looking at me bike on its side doing its best to keep running, poor thing.
Me mate came out and helped me pick it up, broke all the mounting points off the faring (Speedfight 2) and curled the brake lever, scrape on the clutch cover and thats it.
We got the drill out and fastened the faring back on with cable ties, i'm going to make up some new brackets this weekend to attach it to be able to withstand the pressures i put on it.

The thing is, i'm really pissed off with the bike now, even though i know it was my own fault for not taking stone cold Michelin Pilot Race tyres into account. I've never had tyres like these in all my 32 years riding bikes, except for when a pair of simillar tyres let go in a big highside way at Gerrards at Mallory resulting in me leaving the day early with a broken wrist and pelvis, ouch.

What is worrying me is the fact that tyres, for the most part are all in the head, most of us could go just as fast on a wide range of rubber, but we choose a set of tyres coz we are confident in them. I'm off to spain next week to ride some fantastic roads with me mates. On a set of tyres that have now been fitted to the only 2 "tyre letting go" crashes i've had in the last 20 years.

I suppose i just need to remember to warm the bloody things up properly before sticking any power through them, has anyone else noticed a grip, grip, grip, grip, nothing at all, with the Michelin Pilot Race tyres? Dunlops slide before they let go, give you a bit of warning like. Bridgestones are the same but not as nice to push till they slide.


Well, thank you Doctor, i feel a lot better now, will a cheque do?
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M.O.B. Successfully taking the piss since 2014.

[Paulington]

Glad to see you are alright after the spill. .

I know what you mean with tyres, not the Michelins but I can relate to it with karting tyres, the Vegas we ran in Rotax Max are grip, grip, grip then it GOES, very suddenly. Whereas some Dunlops from KF1 are just grip and grip, they slide predictably aswell before actually letting go.

Now you know next time to warm those bad boys up before you really wrench the throttle! .
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"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[AJ]

bummer mate, I had a high side a few years back on a michelin dont know what the make was but you was lucky I cracked my engine casing and all the oil spilt onto the diesel that made me loose contact in the first place.

These days I got avon st storms on and they grip from cold so know worries there give lots of feedback and apparently they are the tyres recommended for the zx9r. 2002 model.

[Billy Balthorpe]

Yeah, im ok Paulington, when you get to 45 you dont bounce half as well as you did when you were younger. Bit of a sore hip for a couple of days, same with the shoulder and me ribs on the right hand side. All ok after a couple of days and only really hurt if i poked about.

Bloody hell, i'm 46 on Monday!

Then go on holiday with the lads to Spain on the Friday, woohoo!!
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M.O.B. Successfully taking the piss since 2014.