Close call? Another 'OFC'.

[Biff]

Known in some circles as an OFC (Oh Fk Corner!) these are the kinds of corners that you come across, ill prepared, and suddenly find that you’ve totally under-estimated how tight it is, or that it’s a switch back or similar, so basically you suddenly find yourself in a bit of shit.

I had one of these on the weekend. A great ride – about 12 bikes all heading north towards Kaikoura, then cutting inland in order to enjoy some great hills and turns as you head in the general direction of Hamner.

After just over an hour in the saddle since our last stop my mind was wondering to mundane things, like building wardrobes, when I happened across what appeared to be a relatively simple left-hander. I positioned myself appropriately (so I thought), moments later as I hit what I thought would be the apex of the bend the corner tightened – a lot. Needless to say I’d messed up – and suddenly found myself following the guy in front onto the other side of the road around a blind bend, as did the guy behind me, and so on – not good. Thankfully nothing was coming towards us.

At the next pit stop pretty much everybody admitted to fluffing this corner. It makes me wonder how many times we’ve all (and don’t give me some crap that you’re all perfect and have never fluffed a corner in your biking lives) come across an OFC and have managed to get away with it…and of course the times you haven’t.

Incidentally we saw a couple of police cars who appeared to be chasing a bike before we left (wasn’t with us). And get this - I think it was a Harley!!!!

[Beemer]

...don’t give me some crap that you’re all perfect and have never fluffed a corner in your biking lives...
Incidentally we saw a couple of police cars who appeared to be chasing a bike before we left (wasn’t with us). And get this - I think it was a Harley!!!!

Definitely fluffed a few corners in my time, especially when I met my (now) husband. I tried following him and braking for corners when he did... only took me ONE corner to realise he is a MUCH better rider than me and I needed to brake about three seconds earlier than he did!

As for the Harley, they were probably trying to stop him to tell him one of his fringes had come off...

[Flyingpony]

Haven't done that on a bike before. I'm still over estimating corners.

Therefore most of the time I'm the opposite.

Find myself going in too tight too early and have to dodge ball outwards to avoid coming to grief. By the time my new line is stitched up, I'm at snails pace with majority of entry speed and rhythm lost.

[bugjuice]

OFCs are becoming less and less frequent for me, but saying that, I had a big one on yesterday's ride, which ended up me facing a car around 100ks, and for the first time ever since riding, getting ready to bail out. I started a left corner in the middle of the road cos of some crap, knew it'd run wide a little, but no where near crossing the centre line, and prepared to rake it round for the fast exit. But, there was a huge bump in the road, which bounced me to the centre and me off the seat. Getting to grips with it, in the middle of the road was another bump, which I hit while still on the tank/front of the bike. This bounced me across the road further. I reseated myself quicksharp to see a dark red Astra facing me, and the driver not looking best pleased with the situation, neither was I for that matter.. I managed to really pull it round and brake hard, which pulled me in, else I would be typing this now..

Thankfully, that's the worst I've had, and I can't remember the last OFC I had specifically. Trick is - don't give up. pull it hard, do everything you can and keep calm no matter what..

glad you OFC biff, wasn't too tradgic, but hope you learnt from it like I did!

[crshbndct]

i have had a few, but i like to always know the road really well before i try fanging it

[sAsLEX]

OFCs are becoming less and less frequent for me,

yeah once you have mastered 22 a few times normal roads dont phase yah


but yeah there is one OFC corner on 22 that gets a bike or three a month according to the farmer who came to see if the three bikes that came off in one incident where ok the time swanmann broke his r1

[bugjuice]

yeah once you have mastered 22 a few times normal roads dont phase yah


but yeah there is one OFC corner on 22 that gets a bike or three a month according to the farmer who came to see if the three bikes that came off in one incident where ok the time swanmann broke his r1
the 22 is one of those special roads, where you'll have pretty much 95% of corners you'll do in your riding life, is on one road.

The trick with the 22 I'm learning - is learn the bad corners first. If there's any corners you remember, it's the nasties. Then once you know those, work on the easier ones.. The corner Swanman crashed on was one of the first corners I remembered hard. There's a few others with gravel/metal on the outsides of the corners too, so you can't run wide.. I've done the 22 solo at speed a few times. That's an interesting ride..

[Sniper]

I have found myself in an OFC many a time and the best thing to say, is that you can only learn from them

[Smorg]

Yeah i've had 1 or 10 OFC's they mainly came of me riding a bigger bike before i had enough experience and didnt know what my bike or me could do ....but now that we've got to know each other (me and the bike that is) i find im doing just about everything the right way :spudflip:

[enigma51]

There is a corner like that on the way to whangamata. Its says 25 but when you enter it you go what the .. this is more like a 55 corner only to find that the corner goes around a cliff face. Very dangerous corner. Thats why I tend to follow the direction of the bords displayed even though they dont always make sense. And I know some fucking asshole is going to say thats what the boards are for but in my experience those boards dont always reflect the correct speed for the corner.

[Smorg]

There is a corner like that on the way to whangamata. Its says 25 but when you enter it you go what the .. this is more like a 55 corner only to find that the corner goes around a cliff face. Very dangerous corner

I'll be riding that way in a few weeks will keep it in mind........how many 25 corners are there?

[enigma51]

I'll be riding that way in a few weeks will keep it in mind........how many 25 corners are there?

You know where you have to turn off to wangamata or you will go straight to whitianga take every 25 corner easy after that as I can explain exactly where its is. theres not many and the one in question has like a river or something on the right and a cliff face on the left. Oo yes and the corner goes to the left and drops down quickly.

[Blackbird]

We've all had them Rhod, and will continue to have them (only occasionally, we hope). The big differnce is if you learn from them. If you beat up on yourself afterwards like you guys seemed to, there's hope. If you just laugh it off, you're in trouble!

Yesterday, I pulled out and overtook a car and trailer and whilst going by, ran over a big bare slick of tar where the road chips had worn away. I was pulling a fairly big cog too but the rear tyre still spun up and I ended up with the back end stepping out in both directions - scary. I actually spotted the slick before I got to it but "assumed" it would be ok as I was going in a straight line. Lesson learned! :nono:

Geoff

[scumdog]

[QUOTE=Beemer
As for the Harley, they were probably trying to stop him to tell him one of his fringes had come off...[/QUOTE]

WTF??'Fringes'? get your nomenclature right, they're not fringes, they're TASSLES! tassles, alright? Sheesh! :slap:

[DemonWolf]

Yeah I've had a few OFC's... and I've always kicked myself for over estimating... Only time i've had a bin on a corner is when there was some loose gravel on it.. ended up in the ditch with a broken collar.

Though my first experience of a OFC was on Mount Ruapehu, coming down.. locked up the bike.. kept going straight and headed for a cliff with a mighty fine drop.. luckily I hooked my foot on the signage!... which reminds me that I also binned it on that trip down.. looked behind me.. pulled left slightly too much and ended up in some toitoi (sp)... now I'm very much a nana around corners I dont know!

[pritch]

I'm still over estimating corners.


I was doing that a lot (probably still am?). The thought would then occur to me that I coulda gone quicker. So next corner I'd try to be quicker. Not a good idea. Each corner needs to be judged in its own merits.

There is a corner on the road from Kaiawa to Orere Point, in the hills after you leave the sea, just near the tunnel houses, that caught me once. I straightened up and got on the brakes but ended up way over the wrong side of the road. Luckily nothing was coming but it made an impression and on my last trip up there I was watching for the corner some way before I got to it. Probably do the same next time too...

[Beemer]

WTF??'Fringes'? get your nomenclature right, they're not fringes, they're TASSLES! tassles, alright? Sheesh! :slap:

Pardon moi, one can see I have no actual experience of Harleydom. For that, I thank my lucky stars... :woohoo:

[**R1**]

Yeah mint ride yesterday, funny seeing the coppers chase that Hardly(they must have been fashion police) lost you guys at Kiakora so I stopped with Jase and had a munch at the fish and chip shop, and headed home.

Now I don't have a OFC story from yesterday but I do have a OFD story, now im a sports bike rider and aint in2 big long trips(yes 2hrs to Kiakora is long) so after some of the best fish n chips I have ever had, I decided to head home by myself (I normally end up riding by my self coz the rest of Chch riders are slow) anyways I decided to do the trip flat out, so b4 I left I bent my plate out of sight(not that I do this often) and headed on my way

just after I left the coast line I realized I really had to pee, so I cranked it up abit(as ya do) so im humming along quite nicely up around 255k when OFD.....Oh Fuck Dear Fuckn bambi had jumped a gate or snuck through a broken fence or some shit. and was chewing the grass on the side of the road with the rest of its mass ON THE ROAD now for some strange reason me hurtling at it at well over 200kph startled it, so it started leaping around the road, now for something that ends up as tasty meat pies those fuckers can really jump. so I jump on the brakes as hard as I dear(no pun intended) my butt, teeth, fists, eyes, bladder, were all clamped up tight as I must have done a 200m stoppy b4 finally stopping face to face with the stupid animal that just stood there(after thinking about it he may have been in shock) Normally I wouldn't bother with a big speal about something like that as I do have close calls now and again But this time I thought I was DEAD its by far the closest call I have had without actually crashing, and believe me if I had hit it, I (and bambi) would be DEAD or merged in2 some strange man/dear/Yamaha type apocalyptic beast, so no OFC for me yesterday just a fucken big flat spot on a near new front tire.

[Sniper]

Fuck mate. That doesnt sound good. Glad to hear you got home in one peice though

[froggyfrenchman]

i was caught out by a ofc corner, looked like a slight rise, you colud see the raod ahead. at top of rise doin bout 100, realised there was a very tight left than an equally sharp right. just got round the left. But was in wrong place to take the right hander..
Short trip in and ambulance, poke remnants of collar bone back into skin and a new bike before i got back on the road.

[**R1**]

WTF??'Fringes'? get your nomenclature right, they're not fringes, they're TASSLES! tassles, alright? Sheesh! :slap:Tassles?? isnt that what girls have on there cowgirl jackets at a fancy dress party?

[sparrow_34]

Yeah, I got caught out coming back from Paeroa acouple of years ago. There is a shit of a corner coming back between Miranda and Clevedon. Its got a timber yard on it I think. The road is fairly twisty but not too tight, so I am fanging around a left hand bend and going quick enough to start scraping the pegs, thought I was going to be ok but then I see the road go hard left, nothing I could do I was touching down already, so I prayed nothing was coming the other way and stood it up and hit the picks. I manged to get it slowed down and then a little unceremoniously dumped it into the grass. Got away bloody lightly considering, small ding in the tank and some scraped up engine covers. While picking the bike up from this incident an MG convertible comes screaming around hanging it out, and I don't think it was intentional.

[Zed]

i have had a few, but i like to always know the road really well before i try fanging itSame here, and I find that the more I ride a specific road the more confidence & enjoyment I gain by knowing it, SH22 & SH16 being classic examples in my experience.

It's those open roads that don't have the speed signs on the corners that you have to watch out for, and if you've never riden the road before you'd be wise to ride in cruise mode or desperately try and follow behind someone who does know the road! :ride:

[Lou Girardin]

16's only got one of those for me now, the 35 k left hander about half way along. But West Coast Rd through to Warkworth has a few. Luckily they're slow enough for a quick pick up - brake- lean in.

[Motu]

They go back to the dawn of time for me,a constant to base my riding experiance on.Riding a lot of gravel roads I get the oooooh fuck feeling several times a ride.For me,seal and gravel,it's corner entry that I overcook - I don't do the apex thing,I set my corners up early and it's the turn in where it all happens...go in too deep and I'm pushing the front mid corner,so,big breath and pucker the seat cover....

[Damon]

i've had a few OFC's but the only one i really poo'd my self on was one on the napier taupo road, just after the lookout on a down hill lefthander, i was following my father on his VFR750 and i was on the trusty CBR 2fiddy and we both hit the corner to fast and just kept drifting out untill we were on the wrong side, no cars luckily and the rest of the ride was great.

The worse one i know of is on the road from Mangitawhiri (the castle) to Miranda on the way to Thames, just after the Mangitangi firestation and before the school there's a left hander there with no signs and it's sooo much tighter than it looks, i've been caught out a couple of times in the cage and really weary of it now, i know of heaps of people that have f@#ked it up first time through

[Monsterbishi]

Only OFC I've ever had was about 9 maybe 10 years ago now, on my CB250RS, coming back from Picton to Blenheim, absent mindedly going into a 55 bend at 85...

Ended up on the other side of the road, thankfully no cars to be found.

[Oakie]

Yep. Had one of those 20 odd years back an it's still vivid in my memory. I still have the photo of the bike at the end of a long skid mark on the wrong side of the road a couple of metres short of the cliff to prove it too. Otago Peninsula. Hurled over the top of a rise to find a sharp left hander taking the road away from the cliff that took it's place. I was looking at the photo a week or so back. I'll post it sometime when I hook the scanner up.

[Jackrat]

I lived out at Naike on 22 from 82-85 an rode it heaps.
Odd thing is both times I parked in the ditch the corners weren't really hairy ones at all.
Just crap riding huh. :o
Anyway the one KB ride I went on down there I followed two different riders and watching both of them coming up to nasty corners I know well, I backed off a bit to set up for them an watched as the brake lights came on mid corner every time.It wasn't a fun thing to watch but both of them were good enough riders to not really over cook it.
It hasn't happened to me by suprise for a fair while now because I've become more carefull with time but when I do over do it it tends to happen on a corner I know but have just found my limit on.

[SPman]

--- but in my experience those boards dont always reflect the correct speed for the corner.
They do if you're driving an Austin A40!...:rofl:

[eliot-ness]

Used to do a lot of night riding in the UK. Was out one night on a road I knew fairly well. Went into a corner fast, half way round I saw what looked like a couple of thousand cats eyes on the road. A flock of bloody sheep. I ended up scraping along the side of the road between the sheep and a wall with a bastard farmer calling me names I'd never heard before. When I argued he said he always moved his sheep at night. It was, according to him, "the safest time to do it. No traffic". Couldn't argue with that logic. Rode a lot slower for a few weeks though.
On the subject of speed advisory signs. I've found that all signs down to 45kph are bloody pessimistic. 35kph and less usually not. so I go in slower than usual and give myself leeway to pick the best line when it tightens.

[riffer]

There's one right hander corner on the south side of the Rimutakas going up that currently has me beat.

As the road drops away you can't follow the line of the bend to get an idea how its curving.

Not so much an OFC corner for me - more like a YDS (you dumb shit corner) where I find I go in too early and find myself having to straighten up then drop the bike again.

I guess it could become an OFC corner one day if I don't sort the bugger out.

Maybe tomorrow I'll work on it again (are you listening snuffles?)

[Damon]

I go in slower than usual and give myself leeway to pick the best line when it tightens.

I'm the same, i decided it's better to come out of a corner saying i could do that faster next time rather than having to stop and change my undies after craping myself and praying i make it through,

or perhaps i'm just a nana :ride:

[scumdog]

I'm the same, i decided it's better to come out of a corner saying i could do that faster next time rather than having to stop and change my undies after craping myself and praying i make it through,

or perhaps i'm just a nana :ride:

No, your just like me - you have a good life preservation attitude! (A bit rich coming from a motor-bike rider eh?)

I ride like a nana (just ask anyone who's been on a ride with me) BUT every now and then I have a DryMouthGrittedTeetFuckFuckFuck moment when I overcook a corner -I find the West Coast of the South Island good for that, their signs MEAN it, not like most of the others where a 76kph sign means the road is not quite straight. (a gay road?) :wait:

[SARGE]

rarely overcook one.. DID manage a similar wildlife -related butt-pucker on Scenic drive a few months ago..

big corner towards the Swanson end.. know it well.. cutting this SAWEEET line through it.. look up.. dead possom scattered over 3/4 of the road..managed to clutch the front end over the worst of it but the rear hit it and broke loose.

so here i am.. musta ben doing 80 or so.. rear wheel spinning and chucking possom guts everywhere - semi sideways (more of a "power -Yaw") , trying to get control of a 200+kg sport-tourer.
i heard someone say.. "oh fuck.. this is gonna hurt.."

managed to get it stoped about 50m past the goo.. chin spoiler had excavated 300 kg of pine droppings, gravel and assorted compost from the shoulder (never got fully down) and i ended up with the bike at about a 50 degre angle on a pile of green-waste that had accumulated on the side of the road. picked her upright, took my helmet off and had a smoke..

works better than bran