WARNING, BE CAREFULL OUT THERE GUYS!!!!!!

[fshfindr]

"Those of us who are not afraid of the sea will surely be drowned for we will be going out on a day when we should not. Those of us who are afraid of the sea are drowned only now and then."

Unknown author

Keep your head on a swivel and regard all other vehicle operators as wanting to kill you.

Karl

AMEN

[Portland Steve]

Glad to hear that he is ok.  I see a lot of motorbike riders going way too fast in crowded areas.  I am guilty of this as well.
Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute (SIPDE) is still good to remember at all times.
I have crashed a motorcycle as well and it hurts physically, emotionally and monetarily.
Live and learn, hopefully.

[streido]

Its especially important for newer riders to take it easy and not go mental on adrenaline when you 1st get on a bike/scooter, imo. Only started riding at the end of last year myself and I didnt even need to do any test or anything, just bought a 50cc bike and rode it home! Im now beginning to appreciate that it is a good idea to do a basic "get to know your cycle" test of some kind before jumping on the open roads for he 1st time. Even tho I passed my car test in 1991 and did a lot of cycling on my mountain bike, a powered bike is way different. My car driving and cycling gave me road awareness but it takes a while to grow accustomed to how you bike handles in different conditions and situations. Over here all new riders, who passed their car test after 1993, must do a compulsary basic bike test, driving round cones etc, to prove they have some understanding of riding before hitting the streets, thats a good thing in my opinion.

But yeah, good to know he seems to be not very seriously injured. For the life of me I dont know how he got away with it, he was one very lucky guy. I wont forget seeing it happen in a hurry anyway.

[streido]

Man, after all my ranting about riding safely, I came off myself this morning on the way to work. Not badly hurt, sprained wrist and left some knee-skin on the road. Smashed my footplate at the rear footrest, smashed mirror, couple of scratches on it, not as near as bad as I thought it was going to be when I walked over to pick it up. Bummer, just resprayed it a few months ago!

I know I cant take corners in the wet fast so what was I thinking of? Oh well, at least I know my protective gear works.

Time to hit ebay and look for a replacement foot plate and mirror

[sidthesloth]

That sucks, at least you are not hurt, what tyres are you running?

[streido]

Running stock tyres, been going to upgrade them but just havent got round to it yet. Its always been squirmy in the wet on bends, I usually slow way down, but the road was drying off so I thought I was ok. Was not going much faster than i normally go when wet driving tho.

Bloody knee swollen up now, time to visit the company doc at work for an ice pack.

[sidthesloth]

Yeah, gotta be careful in the wet, I don't do too bad, until I get to the painted arrows on the roundabouts in the wet, then they just skate, gets your attention. I am running Michelin Pilot Sport on mine, the best I have had yet.

[streido]

Do your tyres improve wet riding over the stock ones? I think i need to improve my grip now since ive upgraded other parts. It was my front wheel that slid out as I was starting to turn. Luckily it was not busy or I could've been worse. Looks like I got 3 kneecaps now, all swollen and gone numb so at least that kills the pain a bit

I live and learn.

[sidthesloth]

I guess the numbness is a bonus of sorts. I do still get slip, especially on the painted lines, but not nearly as much as I did with the Continental tyre. In the dry I lean this scoot over a lot more than I used to, confidence in the tyres.

[streido]

I was gettng more confident, till today. My tyres are kind of scalloped too, want just normal tyres cos the scallop has caught before when leaning onto bends. Too sore today to look into tyres, need to find a new footplate panel 1st anyway.

Just annoyed because I was almost there with my Agility, now I went backwards and am back to body panel work

Will get there in the end, just need to get home 1st tonite after work, should be fun.

[Syl]

I haven't been riding long enough to feel all the things to be aware of as yet. One thing about my surrounding area, there are many curvy roads and speed limits vary 35, 45, 55. I say this in response to reading and seing on the news about more than anything else bikers having accident with serious injuries and death while failing to negotiate the curve. Those of you that ride much, what is the event happening on these curves? Is there too much speed, failure to correctly lean through it or what? My personal experience on curves as a fairly new rider is at first I would forget to lean and attempted to steer! I know, dumb, I admit that but.....it didn't take me long to keep remembering just how to do the curves and the tilt turns. I had a few crazy experiences with the tilts and leans! No, I am definetly not a speeder. If I go the speed limit or maybe 5 over no more. If the speed limit is high, I will not go over even 2 and a half miles an hour, example 55 zone bouncing between 55 and 60. You experienced 300i riders, is in fact the 300i a great handling unit compared to many others? I personally think it handles well but am interested in some pro experiences. Thanks

[Agent Bob]

Just two weeks ago, a 19 year old rider got killed trying to negotiate a turn a few miles from where I live. He was about to get married and start his young adult life and he's gone. The curve was a downhill one, so that was possibly a factor. I'm sure speed was too with a Ninja in the hands of a 19 year old.

One thing I noticed about speed on a curve is this: You may travel a certain road at the same speed hundreds of times and negotiate it's curves at always the same speed. Then one day you get a bug up your rear, and really crank it up. It is surprising how much more steering effort is required to negotiate that same curve. It surprised the hell out of me. I'm no physicist, but I assume the gyroscopic force of the faster rotating wheels requires more handelbar input from the rider.

[teknik1200]

at first I would forget to lean and attempted to steer! I know, dumb, I admit that but.....it didn't take me long to keep remembering just how to do the curves and the tilt turns. I had a few crazy experiences with the tilts and leans!

do you countersteer?   if you countersteer your weight is pushed outwards and gets you leaning the correct way, then you turn your bike into your turn.

[streido]

Countersteer? Im not actually sure if I do that? Im going to really study how I ride and pay attention to what im doing on the bends, I dont know if I countersteer or not. I think I do kind of, but it wasnt a conscious effort I was more to do with finding my race lines when I would pull out then in to hit the apex.

Im pretty new to motorcycles, tho used to mountain bike to work, so still finding all the tricks out. Been driving cars for years and years and like to push them on the bends but I know from riding now that its totally different lines etc on a bike.

Going to make a bigger effort next week to watch exactly how I ride and then change any bad habits.  Thanks syl, good info to ponder on.

[teknik1200]

Countersteer? Im not actually sure if I do that? Im going to really study how I ride and pay attention to what im doing on the bends, I dont know if I countersteer or not. I think I do kind of, but it wasnt a conscious effort I was more to do with finding my race lines when I would pull out then in to hit the apex.

that's the thing   you are doing it unconsciously no matter what.   it's something that becomes an aid when turning at speed once you become conscious of it.   

the other comment about don't "turn before you lean" got me thinking, you actually do turn before you lean, but you do it in the opposite direction of the turn to initiate the lean.

when you are going slow you don't really notice it because the act of balancing already gives you a small countersteer before you turn.
On a mountain bike it's that feeling of standing up before you go into the corner that does it.  you don't notice it as much on a bike because it's so light in weight.