Cagers; they're not all bad

[Full Bananas]

Anyone else bored with winter riding? I hate the fact that you can never lean the bike hard over and you always have to be extra cautious with the throttle (especially with the mind blowing power of a GPZ500 ). Anyway, I got up early this morning and noticed that it was mild and there was no sign of any ice anywhere. The roads were quiet so I figured I could perhaps ride a little harder than I have been in recent weeks.
I was going really well, did about ten miles and it was just like summer (cold and grey - a typical British summer ). I accelerated away from lights quickly, I was overtaking cars left right and centre, and I was taking some fast bends out in the country. And then I got to a roundabout. Now I know this roundabout well, its recently been resurfaced so it's smooth as a baby's behind and in summer it's a KD opportunity, no question. Anyway, I figured my tyres would be fairly warm at this point, and whilst there was no question of KD, I did take it pretty quick with a good angle of lean. Too much lean as it turns out, because the result was a lowside.
So there I am, lying in the middle of a roundabout with my leg trapped under my bike, with cars navigating their way round me. Just as I finally freed myself a chap stopped his car, got out and gave me a hand picking the bike up, for which I was very grateful. He asked me if I was ok, to which I replied that I was fine and that it was totally my own fault. I thanked him and he drove off. I suspect that without his help I'd probably still be trying to pick my bike up (I hurt my back in an incident with a waterfall a few weeks ago and heavy lifting is very painful).
Damage to the bike is pretty minimal. Right side exhaust has a few scrapes, but it was already slightly damaged by a previous owner so no great loss there. Handlebar end and front brake lever are obviously trashed but the plastics have got away very lightly indeed. I think my arm took a lot of the impact, as I can already feel it starting to tighten up.
Anyway, I got into work to learn that my boss saw a lorry dumping a load of diesel on that very roundabout last night! I was surprised at this, because I didn't see or smell any diesel whilst I was surfing the tarmac, but thinking back on it, the bike did go down very suddenly. Regardless, lesson learned. Whether it was diesel or just my own fault for being a bit too optimistic, I'll be riding like a granny for the rest of the winter.
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"Work is the curse of the drinking class."

[askew]

Oh my goodness, that sounds like a nasty spill. At this time of year, I bet it was a little bastard getting beaten up by tarmac in the cold. You said that there were cars going round you ! That must have been quite an experience. I wouldn't have been suprised if no one had stopped though, especially on the way to work. I should imagine that quite a few people swore at you for making them a little bit more late to work hehe .

How's your arm looking now anyway? What speed were you going at when the bike slipped out?

I've had exactly the same thing happen to me this time last year. I'd been riding for about 2 months tops and for some reason I plucked up enough courage to try and lean as much as possible around a very quiet round-a-bout. BAD IDEA! I low-sided, but fortunatly, my bike is more than light enough to pick up and wheel into the centre of the round-a-bout. Thinking about, I also got a dodge arm after this one, and seem to remember my right knee hurting for some time.

It's all good though - all in the name of that motrobike buzz hehe .
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What's ya name? What av' ya taken? Chase the lasers, safe as f*ck!

[Full Bananas]

[Demonic69]

[Rob W]

When I came off my TS years ago I sat in the middle of the road with the bike stuck on top of me for a good 2-3 minutes while literally about 50 cars drove past taking a look while I was just sat there in agony shouting for help. The only person who stopped was a cyclist who helped me up and pushed my bike off the road for me.

[synaptyx]

Not nice mate. I've just been up the road to do some computery stuff for work, went round a roundabout I know is heavily used by trucks and the back wheel went out again. I've been riding cautiously since the last time and again I managed to keep it upright, but it's a horrible, horrible feeling.

[Full Bananas]

[Ninja]

sounds like a bit of both

my 2p - there's couple of places on my daily ride to work where I can safely squirt past a car or two if there's nothing actually coming the other way - in the last two days I've almost binned it once on each one - as I've wound it on to nip past, the back wheel's spun up and slewed sideways by a foot or two as I've gone past the cars...

R E S P E C T due, at all times...it's only getting worse....
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James
4 wheels transport the Body ... 2 wheels transport the SOUL

[stryker]

Maybe were being cheap and buying crappy tyres?

I was lucky on my first ever rear slide, it was on a quiet road with speed humps, happened as I was breaking so I was going straight.

I've got batlax 150s.
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Now what?

[Full Bananas]

Bridgestone BT45s. Ok, they're not super sticky sports tyres but they're not crap.

Oh and I've got plenty of tread left too, thanks.

C'est la vie.
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"Work is the curse of the drinking class."

[Ninja]

BT45's here too - I rate them - I reckon my steepping out was due to the fact that Farmer Giles had left parts of his field on the road again. S'abit difficult to try and account for when it's only on the one side and this side's actually clear!
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James
4 wheels transport the Body ... 2 wheels transport the SOUL