Good job on the recovery Dave!

The more I ride the more I find that is you against the world.

A long time ago my dad told me to ride like everyone is out to kill you..that advice has saved my ass a few times.

Scott

 

A long time ago my dad told me to ride like everyone is out to kill you..that advice has saved my ass a few times.

Scott

Yep, that's the mind set I take as well. Mostly because it's true.

 

Great save! Sounds like a seriously high "pucker factor" moment.

 

ABS brakes on a bike would be a bad idea. If the rear wheel locks up, you are actually not supposed to release the brake, it will fishtail, but you have a much higher chance of wrecking if you let off of the brake, That back wheel will try and catch up to the front wheel when you do that.

 

It all happened inside a second or so, but my first instinct was that swerving was out of the question so I braked. But with the wet pavement the rear wheel locked and fishtailed to the right. Laying off the brakes, the bike regained traction but I was thinking I would have to lay it down and hit him.

You were very lucky... this is the "high side" crash. You lock the rear brake... she fishtails... you let off the brake... it catches and all of a sudden you go over the high side of the bike.

The rule is ride out the locked rear brake. Don't release it. OTOH you need to release the front wheel if you lock it. Slowly if you can... pump em if necessary... but release gives better odds of staying up than holding the front locked.

The trick is to not lock either wheel in the first place. That requires a very high degree of control in a panic stop situation. You have to always remember that 70% of your braking power comes from the front. Hammering the rear brake produces less than hoped for braking effect and the real risk of going down high side.

Tom Boismier published some great braking links a little while back. A search of his posts may be helpful for anyone looking to avoid going down in the same situation.

 

Breeliz- Just completed the MSF course, and your information on the high side crash is just about verbatim what the book says. The problem is that most bikers don't practice panic stops. They aren't exactly FUN to do, but they CAN save yer neck. A great way to practice is in an empty parking lot, have a person standing on the lot somewhere, in front of you, raise both hands at random intervals, while you are riding at 15-25 mph. If you don't know when the signal is coming, its harder to make the quick stop, like real life situations.

What I learned (additionally) about the front brake:

squeeze squeeze squeeze that front lever, counting 1-2-3 to pull it all the way in for maximum braking. If you jerk it closed, lock up.

The more weight on the front brake, the more it can handle, just not all at once.

 

ABS brakes on a bike would be a bad idea. If the rear wheel locks up, you are actually not supposed to release the brake, it will fishtail, but you have a much higher chance of wrecking if you let off of the brake, That back wheel will try and catch up to the front wheel when you do that.

So, if locking brakes is a bad idea, why would ABS brakes be a bad idea? ABS brakes on bikes would be (ARE) a good thing. They are even more revolutionary than going from drum to disc brakes.

BMW uses them, HD riders don't demand them. Just because they aren't offered on HD doesn't mean they aren't a good idea. But you ARE correct on the proper response to a rear-wheel lock up, ride it out locked.

 

The high side crash is so easy to do it isn't even funny. You don't have to lock the rear brakes to high side. I almost got killed on a high side crash a week and a half ago at Tomahawk. Here's what happened.

I was looking for the Speedway. I passed it and turned into a driveway to a business just down the road. It is a 45 MPH asphalt paved highway with fresh asphalt. I turned around and was going to make a right turn from the driveway and go a half block back top the speedway entrance.

The driveway was gravel and there was a gravel shoulder. i always drive slowly on gravel so I don't drop the bike. I decided to go 90 degrees to the highway until I was on pavement and then execute my turn after I cleared the gravel. Good plan... bad execution.

I started out and I got on the highway and started to turn and roll on power. The rear wheel was still in the shoulder and the shoulder was not like the driveway. The driveway was hard packed gravel. The shoulder was loose gravel... very loose... the kind you sink down a couple of inches in.

The rear wheel spun and when it hit the asphalt it caught and I was immediately high siding over toward the oncoming traffic... a truck coming at me at 45 MPH. I caught the bike and prevented it from going over and said "SHEEIT! We almost got killed here!"

It happened in the blink of an eye. The loose gravel was the culprit. The principle is the same... rear tire moving at a rate of speed different than the bike catches traction when the bike is out of straight ahead alignment and zoom... over the high side you go... sometimes like a slingshot.

The moral is understand the physics of what is happening and be prepared anytime the three basic components can come together... bike not in straight ahead alignment, tire moving at a speed different than the bike, and tire not being in full traction contact with the pavement.

Think of going over a bump where the wheel leaves the ground... if you hit the throttle at that moment and somehow got turned sideways a bit... you might high side as soon as you hit ground again. It is easy to do and deadly. So be careful always.

 

this post reminded me of something that happened about 3 years ago.

approaching a stop light in NYC there was a NYC bus stopped, and as I begin to apply the rear brakes, I must've hit an oil patch and the bike slammed into a fish tail (I always apply rears first in case of a situation like this), and as I saw thousands of damage to the bike and to ME slamming into the stopped bus, I somehow was able to regain control of the bike, with a little bit of throttle/weight/brake control and straighten the bike back out.

I was nervous to hop back on for a while, but getting back on and riding is the 1st thing to becoming comfortable again.

 

I haven't tried the style of ABS that BMW uses, but I have seen tests on them in the psts by Honda and Suzuki. The ABS system used in cars often creates a condition where the rate of the back wheel changes too much. Whereas pumping the brake is okay, the extremely rapid firing of the ABS system created just as many problems as locking them up. I haven't seen the system BMW uses as I haven't worked in the aut safety industry for few years.

 

These stories scare me. Last week, I guess I could have had a high side crash. Going to work at 0545, a truck pulled into my line to traffic from the left. I was in the far right lane and doing over 60. I said to myself, "I know this bastage isn't pulling out in front of me". At that very moment, I saw the reflection of the black trailer(containing lawn equipment) flash from the gas station he just pulled out of. Well, I freaked and jammed on the rear brakes. Couldn't honestly tell you how much front brake I pulled. All I knew my rear- end fishtailed and I let off of the rear brake. He was actually swinging the trailer and truck to the right lane.(Either that or he saw me coming) Anyway, had he not pulled into the right lane, I probably wouldn't be here to tell the story. Adrenaline pumped, temper raged, he got the horn and the finger. Probably didn't see that too. Tried to slow down so he would pull up next to me, but he pull off onto a side road by the time I slowed down. Once I got to work, I realized that I need to do some parking lot practice and not let off the rear brake if it locks up again. God was on my side and I acknowledge it! J.T.

 

I nowadays have to think to use my rear brakes. I hit the front as a matter of instinct these days. I consciously have to say use the rear for balanced braking and to not wear out the front pads so quickly!