My First Real Scare !

cozmoss11 · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 17 Aug 2011 Karma :

The day was dry, a little sunny and a little windy "enough of the weather" I was on my way home. On a three lane main road, In the first lane doing 40+; I felt comfortable and confident. A bus was about 25-30 feet behind me and other vehicles to my right. The road was clear ahead of me "absolutely no sighn of any dangour" Suddenly at 40+ MPH I felt the rear wheel "kind of bounce " for that split second , I thought "I am dead"

It scared me to the point to putting the scooter back into my garage and taking to my car. I drove along the same patch of road and only noticed a series of bumps In the road surface. was I going to fast at 40+ ? Is the bike unstable ? I really want to remain a fair weather rider "I love it" but this really did scare me.

Any advice would be gratefully accepted.

Codemonkey · Crazy Courier Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Karma :

Just watch out for bumps in the road. On my commute there is a section of 40mph dual carriageway with some bumps in the middle of the road (subsidence or something), and in the car its no problem since they are in the middle of each lane and the car just straddles them.

On the bike however, if you're not expecting them and hit them at 40, its enough to throw you a few inches off your seat. Now I just swerve around them if its safe, otherwise I just put more weight on the footpegs and relax my arms a bit more and that way the shock is absorbed in my knees rather than my spine!

You just have to be a bit more aware of the road surface than when in a car.
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Test Passed 10/05/2011 Current bike: XJ6-N

cozmoss11 · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 17 Aug 2011 Karma :

Cheers, will do

Rogerborg · nimbA Joined: 26 Oct 2010 Karma :

Andy_Pagin · World Chat Champion Joined: 08 Nov 2010 Karma :

I've had this happen many times, It's vital to watch the tarmac and spot bumps early enough to avoid them, after a while It's second nature.
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They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

andy_uk · World Chat Champion Joined: 13 Aug 2011 Karma :

Aye, it's all too common unfortunately. The councils/highways dept are too busy spending cash on pointless things instead of sorting our roads out...
My daily commute has a nice mixture of potholes, subsidence, poor filling of pipe channels and lumps.
I started naming them... names like : oh shit, you bastard, ooops, weeee! and ouch! my bollocks. Then I started running out of names Wink

Try not to let it phase you. Once you know the road and it's 'quirks' you'll know how to avoid the bumps etc.

edited for punctuation Wink

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Aprilia Classic 125, GS500E, ER5-A1, ER5-C4, ER6 & an XJ6 project frame...

Berserkz0r · Derestricted Danger Joined: 23 Aug 2011 Karma :

Nothing's gonna happen if you hit a bump/pothole at 40 with your bike upright. Remember, bikes/scooters want to stay upright at speed. Even at just 40, there's enough gyroscopic force being generated by your wheels that even losing grip for a moment isn't really going to be a problem if you're calm in how you respond to it. I'm a new rider myself sort of, and I've had my ZZR600 about 2 months now, but because of what I learned riding little dirt/rat bikes around with my friend as a kid, I understand much better just how far I can push the bike. I would definitely recommend you have a go on a 125cc 2t dirt bike if at all possible. Learning to scramble around with the rear wheel sliding all over the place is most beneficial. Very Happy