Scared sh**tless

[Rajol]

Hi

I've driven 7000km on my bike from the day I bought it,

I don't know how or why the hell I'm alive today, (especially after driving over NZ in the bloody rain from Auckland to welly and Picton to Dunedin in 1 day trips ALSO IN THE FREEZING RAIN, WITHOUT COMING OFF, GOING AT 100+km/hr)

But I came off my bike for the first time in Dunedin a couple weeks ago, I was at the top of a place called Pine hill at a mates for dinner, and it was raining, ~ 10pm at night

On the way back home, i was going about 40 right, and was going around a 20 degree curve in the road.

I remember braking A LITTLE

and JESUS christ

I remember it swiveling around the back and stuff, I must've reacted wrong or something but hell
came off it, grinded along the right side of the ground, snapped the right foot pedal which took most the impact thank god.

bike is still in the shop, was oil in the air filter or something and got the headlight / foot pedal fixed.


PROBLEM IS IM SCARED SH*TLESS to ever ride that thing in the rain again...

EVEN IN my GOD DAMN CAR
I'm pulling up to an intersection with a little voice in my head going, OH HELL YOU'RE GONNA FALL THE FU&K OFF
in a bloody car, going downhill in the rain.

Anyway lost all confidence in the rain for some reason

during dry conditions I'm fine/lunatic
but in rain i'm super cautious.

don't know if it's a good thing or not.

Seriously don't know how I survived riding from Christchurch to Dunedin, leaving at 9pm in the pouring rain without any weather protecting gear on, not the least dying from the crazy wind, rain and possible hypothermia going at 100km/hr+ trying to get back to Dunedin.
especially when I came off at ~ 40km/hr going around a small bloody curve in Dunedin.

gives me shivers thinking about it.

[Spazman727]

Just ride. Get back on the horse that threw you off type thing. It's probably good to be reasonably cautious in the wet, but don't go too far. Obviously you're experienced riding in the rain, so just remember how you used to handle it.

[Rajol]

Just ride. Get back on the horse that threw you off type thing. It's probably good to be reasonably cautious in the wet, but don't go too far. Obviously you're experienced riding in the rain, so just remember how you used to handle it.

I think it was because I was riding straight from picton to dunedin, without having to stop.

braking/accelerating is what causes you to wobble and tip,

come to think of it, I've ridden in the rain A LOT around town.


Will think of getting insurance and will get back on once it's fixed

[Gremlin]

Go for some rider training with a good provider and while I thought it was obvious... wear good gear that protects you, ie, waterproof and armoured.

It will keep your body in better condition, making you much safer, better concentration etc.

[quallman1234]

Still on the standard tyres? Thats probabaly half your problem. Esp being not so common brand they probabaly have pieces of shit standard.
I've ridden tyres which just don't work in the wet and a semi mild speed.

Investigate.

[YellowDog]

Before you can get your confidence back, you first need to get your head around what actually happened to you, so that you can look out for the same and reduce the chance of the same happening to you again.

In my case, my inexplicable fall was down to my tyres being cold due to the heavy traffic on the 400 metre steatch of road that usually warms my tyres.

Was it a patch of diesel, a stupidly placed metal services hole cover, road surface damage masked by the rain, loose stones etc. etc.....

Or maybe it was just pilot error ?

If you can get your head around what happened to you, then you will start to feel a lot safer and eventually your confidence will return :yes:

Good luck.

[SMOKEU]

The key to riding safely is to try and make all your movements as smooth as possible. See if you can get some decent tyres like Sport Demons for your bike.

[oneofsix]

do some rider training and apart from anything else it is likely to clue you into what went wrong. At a guess I would say when you braked at low speed, on a corner, in the wet you used the front brake, possibly front only, this caused your front wheel to slide out from under you. The rear brake is there for a reason and one of the ACC type training courses, as opposed to a track day which I haven't done, will show you why. Also track riders don't seem to have much use for a back brake :laugh:.

[Headbanger]

Can I add my uninformed opinion?

Chill the fuck out, Get back on the bike when (if) you feel like it and consider yourself ready to do so.

If thats never, then so be it, In some cases not doing shit is the better option.



Not that I know shit, I'm that dumb I tend to ride away from any crash no matter how bad it was or what medical treatment I should be seeking.

[MD]

Forget about the falling off. BUY WET WEATHER GEAR!
Why would you even contemplate such trips without any rain protective clothing? Once you get wet, you get cold and then it is a miserable downward spiral.

[unstuck]

Sounds like you need a whole lot more common sense to me, attempting these long trips, unprepared for the weather and all that stuff. Stay away from the bike until you get a few clues.:weird:

[rossirep]

less bitching more riding.. and wear the right gear for fuck sake.. oh yeah and less bitching..!!!

[iYRe]

To be honest.. there is nothing wrong with a bit of wet weather paranoia..

I've been really cautious lately.., and STILL had the back slide out and stuff.. (and when I say cautious, I mean holding up the traffic kinda cautious).

At this time of year the roads seem to get particularly slippery, I think its something to do with a particular combination of heating, cooling, humidity and rain.

But what most of these other guys say is true too.. get wet weather gear.. or at least proper riding gear that's waterproof (www.1tonne.co.nz or CNELL on trademe will get you some cheap, reliable, warm and waterproof gear - less than 300 for a pair of pants and a jacket).

I find, in my old age, that if something happens I do lose a bit of confidence, and I just have to concentrate a bit more, suss out what happened, and remember to ride within your ability to deal with crap that happens. I mean, you can get undone by fairly random stuff.. I was riding with a mate and he was in front, I saw his bike twitch a bit on a corner, and I thought, hell I didnt think his bike was that grunty.. so I angled my line through the corner so I was able to remain a bit more "upright", and I got a bit of a tank slapper going.. but it was controllable. If I hadnt changed my line, I would have been off in the ditch. There was a patch of oil on the road that we couldnt see because of the (pissing down) rain at the time. Another time I was going through a roundabout, accelerated a little bit too hard in a low gear, when the car in front of me jammed on the brakes. Now.. in the dry I would have been ok, but I made the mistake of jamming the throttle off, and the engine braking just locked up the back wheel - it was freshly raining for the first time in ages. Fortunately I was still going slow, and straightish and had room to manoever..

Each time I was a bit paranoid for awhile, but I reflected on it (and in the case of the tank slapper my mate and I went back and had a look). But once I figured out my errors, or that it wasnt my fault and I had done a reasonable job of anticipating and mitigating, confidence came back and I ride better for it.

[oldrider]

Empty all that negative shit out of your head and make wet roads your friend ffs you were beaten before you got onto the bike! :facepalm:

[sinfull]

Welcome to the real world !

Where diesel/oil exists on roads and highsides/lowsides happen !

Some ppl revel in going sideways at 40 kph, but they usually have MX experience lol

The comment you made about being up on pine hill, sort of hints to the fact it could be steep and trucks might use the road to..... mabey truck pine out ?

Most trucks (the older they are the more they do) throw a little oil out with every downshift, some even splash diesel out the tank cap going around corners, or they leak fuel etc etc !

Someone mentioned your tyres may still be standard ? Not sure what they run, but investigate the compound your tyres are made of, they may be a perfectly good summer tyre but shit in winter and never really warm up, though it sounds like you were only a short way from yr mates anyway !

Shit happens Dude, give yaself time, if ya get back on ya horse all good, if ya dont c'est la vie !

Call it a learning experience, awwww and yeah ya car can slide on spills too if they were to cover the road ! Learn to spot them in ya headlights and know you could be in the shit !

[skippa1]

What sort of tyres have you got? They are most likely not suited to wet conditions. You need a well known brand that have a high Silica content. you need to ride smoothly and not grab at either the throttle or brake. If it has been raining for a few days (oil etc is washed off the road) and you have good warm tyres, you can ride pretty hard in the wet but beware that you stay off road markings, manhole covers and cow shit etc.......either that or sell the bike, buy a pipe and some slippers.....

[CHOPPA]

Do what any other self respecting motocycle rider would do.....

Find something to blame it on!

This gives you your confidence back....

Blame it on oil and you will be back to riding great in the wet!

In the wet you have to be very smooth. Dont do anything aggressively and put thought into your every action.

Apply the brakes gently and progressively same as the throttle. Turn the bike smoothly and concentrate you will be fine

[Jantar]

......
But I came off my bike for the first time in Dunedin a couple weeks ago, I was at the top of a place called Pine hill at a mates for dinner, and it was raining, ~ 10pm at night......


......At a guess I would say when you braked at low speed, on a corner, in the wet you used the front brake, possibly front only, this caused your front wheel to slide out from under you. ....

I know Pine Hill, and it is steep. It is also used by trucks and busses and has a lot of white painted lines that are slippery. Going down there in the wet I NEVER use my back brake other than for balance. It is only the front brake that will have any effect. The steepness of the hill increases the weight transfer to the front wheel, and makes the rear wheel very prone to losing grip.

The lighting on that pice of road is too bright and hides the white lines so making them harder to avoid.

With only 7000 km riding experience, there are still many situations you have yet to experience. When you have an off like this one, think very carefully about what you doing, what the road surface was like etc and learn from it. Don't be put off.

Oh, and get some decent tyres.

[steve_t]

Pine Hill is crazy. I know about half a dozen people who have had accidents up there... mostly trying to drive in the snow/ice :facepalm: Between ice and road grit, it's a slippery surface especially for bikes.

To get your confidence back, find a few routes close to home and keep riding them. Don't venture outside of your comfort zone until you are well comfortable with riding around this route. It shouldn't take too long.

And yeah, get some gear and good tyres :msn-wink:

[Jantar]

.......
Will think of getting insurance and will get back on once it's fixed
Now that is scary. You aren't insured and its quite possible that you could slide into me. :facepalm:

Get some insurance, even if it's only 3rd party.

[GrayWolf]

Hi

I've driven 7000km on my bike from the day I bought it,

after 7000k, your experience level is very low, so dont beat yourself up, you are learning. If you think back to learning to drive your car, even if you 'master' the idea of brake, throttle, steer etc, it takes a long time for them to become second nature to a point you are not thinking about the 'act' of driving. it has been researched so many times in 'safety critical' jobs like pilots, train drivers etc that the focus on the mechanics of controlling the 'vehicle' can be so high it 'blots out' other inputs and needs during training and early on in the 'let loose' stage.
So on that score, relax, let yourself off the hook, and rebuild your confidence again slowly if that is what you need to do. Some times you can just get back on and 'ride' it's personality dependent

I don't know how or why the hell I'm alive today, (especially after driving over NZ in the bloody rain from Auckland to welly and Picton to Dunedin in 1 day trips ALSO IN THE FREEZING RAIN, WITHOUT COMING OFF, GOING AT 100+km/hr)

Your alive because you completed those trips without incident. Maybe you were 'lucky' as you say you go 'lunatic in the dry'? So you recognise a 'fault' change it. Freezing conditions and/or rain bring about many factors,
Comfort--
if you are soaking it is uncomfortable = distraction from driving. If you cant get dry or warmer then alter your riding; more braking distance, slow down 10-15 kph that kind of thing. if you are shivering or near shivering, you NEED to find somewhere to warm up, dry out. Stopping overnight is not failure, it's SAFETY if you are nearing that condition, Your concentration, thinking processes and awareness are COMPROMISED when you reach that state.
Many riders seem satisfied with 'cheap gear' put bluntly, you can buy an 'all weather 'cordura'? bike jacket new for below $200, OR, buy one for $500+, think why the expensive jacket IS that price. My own 'touring jacket' was way more than $500 and worth every cent for warmth, protection and keeping me dry for a good period of time. There is no such thing as a 'waterproof' biker.. given enough time (hours of travel) water WILL find a way in somewhere, usually at the gloves, ankles, neck and/or crotch. if you are going to travel distances... need I say more!!!

Rain,,
what my partner a 25+ yrs car driver had 'difficulty' adapting to was looking at the road surface and location at a far 'deeper' level and adjusting for it. That rainbow looking little patch you drive over, will 'off' a rider. Seeing that effect on a road surface just prior to a roundabout, or near an industrial area? Expect the road to be slippery and adjust riding accordingly. White paint is NOT your friend in the wet, don't brake hard, if you have to brake; on the big white arrows etc. Avoid wet drain lids, manhole covers, they are the equivalent of ICE.

Speed .....
nothing wrong with 100kph or a little more, but don't develop the habit of not adjusting and regulating your speed for the road conditions, your off on Pine hill I think is a classic example of speed Vs location Vs road surface conditions (see the quote below this quote, from a dunedin local) :)


But I came off my bike for the first time in Dunedin a couple weeks ago, I was at the top of a place called Pine hill at a mates for dinner, and it was raining, ~ 10pm at night On the way back home, i was going about 40 right, and was going around a 20 degree curve in the road. I remember braking A LITTLE and JESUS christ I remember it swiveling around the back and stuff, I must've reacted wrong or something but hell came off it, grinded along the right side of the ground, snapped the right foot pedal which took most the impact thank god.

Read the above and then read the Dunedin local quote below, the re read what you wrote about your 'off'... I think you will see how it all came/comes together. it's inexperience, strange location, weather, lighting etc etc... Hell I could just as easily have done exactly the same as you, except my bike weighs almost 3 times your one, so likely could have gone down 'harder'.


PROBLEM IS IM SCARED SH*TLESS to ever ride that thing in the rain again..
^^^^^ Just take your time, read all the help that can be given by experience and from published riding technique manuals/books... then if you need to baby steps to regain confidence? Then that is the correct way for you to go. Believe me, I have come off in the past and will wholeheartedly admit I could have avoided it.... inexperience, not reading road and conditions correctly, simply going outside my own ability and/or expecting too much of the bike.... Pick yaself up, cry over the damage to the bike, call your self a wanker etc etc,,, get back on it.
LEARN from the accident, and apply the knowledge, next time you are on a 'pine road' type scene you have knowledge of what could possibly happen, and will modify your actions... I can honestly say as a learner I slid off doing stupid shit that I had no right to be doing, or reasonably expect the poor lil 2fiddy to cope with. I learnt with time and bruises and a thinner wallet :Police:

THIS quote below, is the most information giving post for your specific 'OFF' in this thread... read it and think on all the information that people give you here.. I think you will see how the 'off' ocoured and hopefully not feel so scared shitless to ride in the rain.

I know Pine Hill, and it is steep. It is also used by trucks and busses and has a lot of white painted lines that are slippery. Going down there in the wet I NEVER use my back brake other than for balance. It is only the front brake that will have any effect. The steepness of the hill increases the weight transfer to the front wheel, and makes the rear wheel very prone to losing grip.

The lighting on that pice of road is too bright and hides the white lines so making them harder to avoid.

[GSF]

My first and only bin so far (knock on wood) was a loss of traction followed by a lowside on a wet road at about 40-50kph and for a few weeks afterwards I was spooked of riding in the rain or on wet road. In my mind (I'd only been riding for 6 months) I was scared because the lowside just "came out of nowhere". A guy pulled out in front of me, I laid on the anchors, locked the rear and fishtailed for a second until the front washed out and I went down.

I had a chat to an older, much more experienced rider about the bin and he laid out exactly why it happened and how to avoid it in future - my tyres were cold (left home 5 minutes beforehand) and they were ancient Shinkos that were good in the dry but hopeless in the wet. I was travelling much too fast for peak hour morning traffic on a damp road, I was doing at least 50 when the guy pulled out on me. I chopped the throttle and hammered both brakes without thinking, blind panic reaction. The front locked up and washed out because I braked too hard for my shitty worn tyres and I didn't give the front a chance to load and get more stick on the tarmac. The whole episode was due to a lack of foresight and awareness, made worse by stupid panic-reaction moves that led to stacking it. Baby's first bin.

After I understood what had gone wrong, the irrational fear of wet roads disappeared. I've had similar experiences in the last two years and an understanding of the first fuck-up means I've been able to smoothly recover from a potential accident. As SMOKEU said, being smooth and consistent is key. Unthinking blind reaction-type inputs will result in trouble.

[Gone Burger]

mate... I had a Keeway supershadow that I too took allround New Zealand. Had it 6 months from my learner licence and clocked up 16,000ks on it. Simply loved the bike, but the tyres couldnt be any shittier! Get some new tyres on it, as the ones they comes with (and the chain) have stuff all grip, especially in the wind and rain.

It will shake your confidence, for now. But you'll get back on a little shakey, and after a few rides you will wonder what you were worried about. I binned my bike last year, wrote it off. The first ride back on it was terrifying and I was a nervous reck. After a day on it I felt fine again. Did get a bit of a block each time I faced my issue of how I came off, but that hardly happens now. She'll be right mate... just do it.

Slow and steady - nothing wrong with that.

Just dont let yourself be too shaken with your nerves as you continue to ride... work through them and get ride of them. As lacking in confidence like that can be your worst enemy in furture situations.

[GingerMidget]

What Katie said.

Don't go running straight back in to it, just start out slowly. Even if its just taking it around the block in the rain. I stacked when I was learning, and it took me a good couple of months to get back on a bike at all. Once I got over what happened, I was happier.

I stacked on gravel because I grabbed a handful of the front brake, and when confronted with riding on grvael in a big group recently, I knew what to do this time, and having someone I knew could help me really helped the confidence.

Please get some insurance, and look in to some advanced rider training. Its simply not worth not having insurance, and the training may save your life one day.

[haydes55]

"fair weather rider" instead of "scooter boy" I think :violin:

[short-circuit]

Go get some training wheels

[AD345]

Have some bacon


EVERYTHING'S better with bacon

[Latte]

Have some bacon


EVERYTHING'S better with bacon



Best advice ever.

[GingerMidget]

Have some bacon


EVERYTHING'S better with bacon

What he said

[haydes55]

Have some bacon


EVERYTHING'S better with bacon

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3274/2979536628_1dece7d843.jpg

Nuff said

[Berries]

Mates in Pine Hill.

There's your problem.

:doobey::doobey::doobey::doobey: