Calm riding...

[JonB]

Right then, last night I was coming home from my girlfriends and was just turning into another road when I must of hit either ice/diesel spill or a greasy patch and my back end came out, however I just managed to control it, but I came to this conclusion, I very nearly stacked it but I thought that had I panicked I would of completely lost control of the bike, like I nearly did in my first few weeks of riding, but because I stayed relatively calm I took it in my stride.

So, is a calm, relatively laid back, but alert style of riding a good way of ensuring you deal with situations like that well? Because from my point of view panicking will make things much worse.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[G]

As Keith Code tells us, 'survival reactions' are our enemy; they reduce your speed, safety margins and often lead to us doing the opposite of what we are trying to avoid.

An obvious one is that if you are looking to low side when the rear starts to slide, you can often make the bike high side by shutting off the throttle as instinct would suggest, while keeping the power on will often lead to you saving it. (Not so relevant for a 50cc scooter I suspect ).

[JonB]

Well like you said, I don't reduce the throttle as I go in thinking well if I am going to come off there is no point changing what I was originally doing, so I tend to just keep the throttle on and hope for the best.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[tatters]

Ever since my cbt were l lost control of the back end of the bike on the runway and nowadays losing the back end of the ZZR600 on diesel l naturally full throttle it and gain control l don’t ever think of using the brakes.
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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

[Dan 4RR]

If i end up skidding i usually just keep the throttle going and hope that I can keep up right.
Sometimes when there is a corner approaching I know is quite tight , then I sometimes let the bike roll up to it , then at the right angle put full throttle and I normally mange to do a skid , wheelsping kind of thing round the corner and I just straighten myself up.
Quite fun really if you know when/where and how to pull the manoeuver off correctly.

[shellshock]

Listen to you guys, you make it sound sooooo easy

I approach a corner, my left hand goes numb and I start blubbing, oh dear god please, please, please, please ........ and then scream and give it some

[Wave2k]

when i hit an ice patch i was all over the place, i kept on the throttle which made it worse and i did a 180 and dropped it
the ice patch was about 25 meters long
i rekon if i would of come off the throttle i may have not dropped it
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Ducati 1299 Panigale
2009 Corvette C6 z51
RS125->CBR400->RXS100->GSXR750K2->Ducati749S->CBR600RR5->TL1000R->DRz400->RSVR1000->Honda VTR SP1->CBR400->GSXR1000K6->Honda H100->CBR600RR3->Ducati1299

[mr.z]

When you loose traction any sudden movements will make it allot worse, keep eveything smooth and steady, dont soil yourself and give it a handfull of anchors or throttle, neither will help..

If you ever get your wheel locking after slaming the brakes on, you just let go, anti lock brakes work by just letting off the throttle when the wheel locks up, you dont need abs to do it, caidence (sp?) brakeing its called...

Being relaxed helps allot, cant be smooth and in controll with a kungfu death grip on the bars and a vice like buttock grip on the seat!

It can be quite fun to go onto really really bad roads, nearly green lanes, i'd love to have an off road only bike, the back squirming and the front wheel wanting to go here there and everywhere, looseing grip, wobbleing, sounds horrifying but its great fun when your used to it, of course this is upright road bikes, commuters and that sort of thing, nothing fared (your asking for it then)*
Just the occasional play on these roads means that when i go over a cats eye in the wet while rounding a corner, the first reaction is not "f**k! brakes! slam them on!" dosent seem like anything to worry about (your passenger will quite likely dissagree)

*I wont except ay responsibility for you picking a badun and hurting your bike or yourself! if you dont have crash bars minimum then probably not a good idea! ; )
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[Steve H]

My first dice with a high side was coming off a tight roundabout that leads onto a local dual carriage way which I am very familiar with.

The road was deserted and there is a clear view on approach which enables good visibility from the other approaching roads. I can recall approaching the roundabout with a Biaggiasque mindset blipping the throttle down through the gears 'til I got into 2nd, setting the bike up to take the racing line (that's just poetic licence, I actually maintained good lane discipline!). My arse was dancing over the saddle as I positioned the weight around the bike circumnavigating the roundabout. I felt so good during these few seconds I allowed myself an arrogant and pretentious grin (I'm sure I might have yelled 'Yeah' through my helmet too ).

As I majestically arc'd the bike to the left to exit I twisted the throttle and felt the rear jump up a bit, I immediately thought 'Bloody potholes'. Unfortunately in the corner of my eye I then saw what looked suspiciously like my rear off side indicator coming into view attempting to pass me with the rear end of the bike attatched to it! Suddenly Max's biking brain deserted me and I was left with the state of mind of a biking Chimp, legs clamped around the tank so tightly that at that point it would've taken a can opener and a 30 minutes with an ox-acetylene torch to remove them, the whiteness of my knuckles clearly visible through leather gloves and thermals, teeth and arse clenched so tightly I thought I might implode. I was off the gas quicker than you could say 'showboating twat' the rear end bouncing about like a National Lottery Bonus Ball.

Somehow I saved it and I trundled into the nearest lay-by peeling myself off the tank cursing my stupidity telling myself I should've known better. I didn't learn, I went back the next day and tried it again
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Mellow Yellow
The BCF Top TEN - 2010, 2009, 2008, The Original.

[Bendy]

[JonB]

That is especially important when you are on an unknown road and the corner and you fail to see the magical opening of the apex of the corner and it just tightens. The first time this happened I slammed on the brakes and the bike straightened right up, thankfully no cars were on the other side of the road so I just pottered on round, but now, I IMO I have much better corner discipline.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.