So I laid it down.....

[sickpup]

Right this isn't aimed at anyone in particular but I've noticed this is becoming more and more common on this forum...

Why do so many crashers claim they make a decision to lay the bike down?

Let me explain. If you have the time to make the decision to lay the bike down why don't you have the time to use the brakes and stop? and if you have the time to make a decision to lay the bike down why in the name of all that is holy would you lay it down by locking the front brake?

I look forward to the answer on this one.

[robbieguy2003]

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Current Bikes: Honda CBR 600RR - '07, Suzuki GSX1250 FA ST '11
Old Bikes: Suzuki Intruder 125 LC - '2001, Honda CBR 600F - '92, Honda CBR 600RR - '03

[D O G]

Because it sounds waaaaaaay cooler than 'I fucked up and crashed'.

/thread.

[MaybeGuy]

It's a keyword heard by idiots, told by bigger elitist idiots who can't fault their ability, that doesn't really make any sense in the real world.
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[EazyDuz]

I think what most people mean is they did brake, but too much and lost control and laid the bike down.
I dont how many people could actually choose to drop their bike in a crash. Seems kind of like trying not to breathe.
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To shreds you say? Tss tss tss

[tatters]

Bunch of cowards theses days laying there bikes down or jumping off, l perfer to head into the Car/lamp post/Wall/Ditch etc with futile hope that l can save the bike at the last second.....

If your going to crash you might as well make a proper job of it
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650,KZ750 Present:G650XC,C12,CRF450X,1190ADV

[MinhDinh]

Well my bike is my ship!

https://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/387496_10150449034109419_615694418_8467112_1386171502_n.jpg

https://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/387393_10150449034624419_615694418_8467114_1898354156_n.jpg

I didn't let it go, but I had no time to as well.
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Hit the G spot.

[.....]

[Hetzer]

I can say, with absolute honesty, that I have deliberately 'laid my bike down' to avoid what would otherwise have been a horrendous impact. I'm not claiming it has ever been a clear and conscious calculated move, it has been an instinct to get onto the ground where I felt I had a better chance of avoiding the impact. Maybe it's as simple as getting off the alien device (the bike) and getting in touch with terra-firma, the natural state to be in when danger threatens.

People have thrown themselves from trains and planes on the ground to avoid impacts, often when it would have been safer to stay in the machine. Go figure. But it does happen.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[tatters]

"A great man should die as a shattered jewel rather than live as an intact tile."
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Past:NRG50,AF1125(x2),NSR125RR,ZZR250,CX500,VFR400,KR1S,ZZR600(x2),CB400N,YZF1000(x2),KH125,Z200,FX400R,CBR954RR(x2)GPZ500S,GT550,VFR750F(x2),RD350N,XR650R,CBR600F,CB250,KDX250,YZF750R,CRM250,400EXC,KLR650,TTR600RE,DR350S,R100GSPD,RGV250,VMAX1200,DL650,KZ750 Present:G650XC,C12,CRF450X,1190ADV

[sickpup]

[salty21]

[Hetzer]

[MarJay]

Obviously I can only speak for myself but...

When I crashed my bike on the 2nd of October this year, I hit a boot in the road. This put my bike into a tankslapper. The tankslapper definitely lasted long enough for me to make a number of clear conscious decisions. How those decisions panned out was a different thing... but nevertheless the thoughts went through my head, and I attempted to act upon them.

The sequence of events went like this:

"Oh Jeez, this isn't right."
"I'm in a tankslapper."
"Maybe if I relax my arms it might recover, but I'm not hopeful."
"Ok I've relaxed as much as I can when this is happening, but its got worse."
"Ok I need to think about what happens when I go down, because if I go to the right I'll be in the path of oncoming traffic..."
*bike goes down*
"Oh shit, I'm nearly in the path of oncoming traffic, I'd better try my very best not to slide that way"
At this point I was digging my elbow into the ground very very hard.
"I'm going to get run over by a Citroen Picasso. Fuck."
"I've stopped!"
I stood.
"I've survived! I'm OK!"

(which wasn't exactly true as I'd broken my foot in three places, and smashed my right radius into little bits, and wore a 5mm deep hole the size of a 10p piece in my right elbow...)
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[colin1]

[cloric_tzr]

the only time i could honestly say i have'layed the bike down'
is on crossers where ive realised im not going to make the corner and locked the back break and slid off as aposed to head first into a tree, and last year pratting around in the snow my fish tailing went out of control so i dropped her rather tha again pounding my face infront of a amused crowded bus stop, to which i got up and held both hands proudly n the air like a tru champion!
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i dumped my girlfriend the other day! she wouldnt act out one of my fantasy's. all i wanted her to do was come home from work, catch me fucking her sister and join in!!! miserable bitch!
My wifes so ugly, the only thing that goes down on her
Is the internet connection.

[The Artist]

When I last came off my bike, I did make a concious decision to move my arm outwards to prevent my shoulder hitting the deck first because last time it hurt a lot and I have been paranoid ever since.

Didn't matter in the end, my bloody knee took the impact.

As for laying the bike down, that was diesel on the road...

[cloric_tzr]

no it was secret squirel
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i dumped my girlfriend the other day! she wouldnt act out one of my fantasy's. all i wanted her to do was come home from work, catch me fucking her sister and join in!!! miserable bitch!
My wifes so ugly, the only thing that goes down on her
Is the internet connection.

[Pie-Roe]

I've never laid it down. I've not been paying attention and grabbed a handful of front a few times though, mostly on shitters where it doesn't matter.
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Previous: GSF600, FZR600 x2, ZXR750, XT600 Tenere, CB125, CZ125, ETZ 250, ER5, CCM R30, DRZ400, RF600x4, RF900x2, GS500, VTR1000F, 640 SMC, CB250 NIGHTHAWK, GT550x3, GPX750 TE610, CB500, X11x2, SV650, ZING 125, TL1000R,CB250 Superdream, CBR1100XX

[stinkwheel]

Because it's true. There are situations where you have lost all control and you know you're definately going to crash, it's just a case of when. Stepping off the left hand side and sitting down rather than waiting for it to fire you off may be the best option. A sliding person deccelerates quicker than a sliding motorcycle (but not quicker than a braking motorcycle).

There was actually a great series of pictures once in MCN of Carl Fogarty cooly swinging his leg over the tank and getting off a tank-slapping ducati at 120mph during a race. If internet image macros were popular then, it would have been a shoe-in for a "Fuck this shit. I'm outta here."

My last off is a case in point. I was always coming off but I did have a reasonable amount of input as to when and in what direction.

Going along a black gritted dual carriageway in dark, sub-zero conditions at 50mph. Went from black to 3" of drifted snow on top of rutted ice where the plough driver had clearly finished his shift.

Bike started to fishtail wildly. I thought "Next time it goes over to the left I'm getting off so I don't land up in the middle of the road in the dark or going over on the highside.". And that's what I did.

Turtns out there was a car behind me too but he didn't even make it as far as I did. He spun and landed up nose-first in a snowdrift on the central barrier.

I have also made a clear and concious decision as to wether I should go into the side or over the top of a car which swung out of a bus lane in front of me. A friend who saw it happen (he was at the bus stop right where the car was parked) also reports that just before the impact, I let go of the handlebars and started walking backwards along the seat on my hands in a highly comical manner. I do not remember doing this.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[D O G]

[Shaft]

OK, I'll bite.

First of all, this is an example of what I take to mean laying down a bike........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXIKqJ-0ss

Note, you don't do it by locking the front, that's just a quick way to a massive face plant.

The idea is, you know you're going to hit, so you have a choice between doing a Superman over the car/wall/fence etc and not knowing what's going to happen next, or putting the mass of the bike between you and whatever the object is, getting low down and knowing you're going to stop, fairly quickly.

As to whether or not the thought goes through your mind, I guess that depends on how you've been taught.

I tend to find that most of my accidents happen in very slow motion (in my head) and I've got plenty of time to think about it.

I was also taught, very early on, that a lay down is a valid option, so I think about it; others might not have been taught that and their instinct is to stay with the bike, either in the belief they can recover, or maybe it's about trying to save your pride and joy.

Whatever, some people think about it and it works for them, others don't reckon it and would never try it.

Doesn't matter, you'll only ever get one chance to make that decision and you'll never really know if it was right or not; the acid test is, if what you do allows you to walk away, or at least survive, it was the best thing you could think of, at that moment.
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[sickpup]

[Ariel Badger]

On track I have known that I have left it too late for a bend and just put her into the floor a few times, it takes some MPH off and makes hitting the straw/tyres just a little safer.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Okeydokey]