Almost binned it today... twice...

[ZeroIndex]

Well, got a call from Road&Sport this morning to say my oxford visor tint insert had arrived, unfortunately it was pissing down with rain... Anyway, I waited for the rain to slow down a bit. And then off I went (first time in rain, well, at least heavily wet roads). Everything went fine till I got to the last roundabout, where I was about 10 metres from the roundabout and this hoon comes flying up from the right going around the round about. Anyway, I get a tad bit of a fright, and lock up the back wheel, and it comes out 30 to 35 degrees, anyway, I managed to get it back in and made it to Road&Sport without to much shaking...

Picked up my visor tint, and back on my bike, except decided to go home Avalon Drive (80km/h) way, since there's only one turn to get to my road that way. Get all the way down just before Grandview Rd indicate, pull into the turning lane, start braking, suddenly the rear locks up again, and slides out about 20 degrees. Quickly chucked in the clutch, and came to a stop, and suddenly realised... "That's where the main tank ends and then you have to switch it to reserve". So i quickly wheel the bike out of the way, even though there wasn't any turning traffic, switch it to reserve, and after a few tries, get the bike started again (damn annoying). Anyway, got home without anymore 'eventful' things happening...

See the pic which was the reason for the trip:
It's a Gold Oxford Ultra Vision tint insert. Pretty impressed so far, considering you just flip up your visor align it to your visor, and close the visor (so no need to carry around two visors) They come in Black, Mirror, Gold, Blue, Red, Green or Purple for just $17, so I think they're pretty decent.

[emaN]

yep...i use inserts too...just recently started wondering if they should be UV resistant tho'...

don't like the thought of my big wide open pupils taking in all that nastiness.

oh, welcome to wet-weather riding! as you're figuring out, be smooooooth!

[skelstar]

Whoa...too many mirrors.
That a Gibson Les Paul on the wall?

[Ixion]

Rear wheel lockup is more frightening than dangerous. I'd guess you were well short of binning. But, try practicing some hard braking on wet roads to get the feel of it.

usually you will notice (once used to the bike) some tell tale signs that it is about to run out, and can switch on the move. But using teh trip odometer helps too.

I always approach roundabouts very slowly, people do the strangest things on them - and it is technically a give way

[ZeroIndex]

Rear wheel lockup is more frightening than dangerous. I'd guess you were well short of binning. But, try practicing some hard braking on wet roads to get the feel of it.

usually you will notice (once used to the bike) some tell tale signs that it is about to run out, and can switch on the move. But using teh trip odometer helps too.

I always approach roundabouts very slowly, people do the strangest things on them - and it is technically a give way

I originally had some practice on a farm bike on gravel, so I think the thing that scared me is that I wasn't expecting my bike to slide out "that" easily... and even though I had plenty of space to slow down in, I guess I just panicked (the 2nd time would of been because the engine decided to stop running due to lack of gas....)

[Karma]

How long you had the bike? enough time to wear the tyres in properly?

[Sniper]

Rear wheel lock ups are fun, you will get them on the bigger bikes too. They are your friend, don't worry. Nice insert too

[ZeroIndex]

Whoa...too many mirrors.
That a Gibson Les Paul on the wall?
The red one is a Ibanez Artcore (based on the Gibson bigbodies). I saw Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins playing one when they were in South Africa, and I fell in love with that design... although, now being on a bike, it's difficult to move guitar equipment about...

[ZeroIndex]

How long you had the bike? enough time to wear the tyres in properly?

It's not brand new (It does have tread on it)... fetched it on Saturday...

[skelstar]

I bet. Yeah I wasnt very sure about the make..

[ZeroIndex]

Rear wheel lock ups are fun, you will get them on the bigger bikes too. They are your friend, don't worry. Nice insert too
Yeah, I remember doing rear wheel lock ups on many a bicycle... worst case happened on a friend's mountain bike, was doing lock-ups on the grass (along the Waikato river walkway) and I completely screwed the back wheel... it was so bent that it was touching both sides of the rear forks... had to walk it back with the back in the air... felt gutted.

[sAsLEX]

wouldnt know as dont use the rear brakes for braking, only sitting at lights

[MisterD]

... it was so bent that it was touching both sides of the rear forks... had to walk it back with the back in the air... felt gutted.

Take it out, whack it on the ground to roughly straighten, leave rear brake disconnected and ride it home....works for even the most drop-off taco'd MTB wheels.

[oldrider]

I had a look at your profile pic and your bike. I think you should find some quiet gravel roads or paddocks with wet grass and ride your bike on them as often as you can.
While you are doing it concentrate on the dynamics of your bike and change your thinking about how to make it stop more effectively without loss of traction.
The back brake shouldn't be your first port of call in "most" cases.:no:
The more you practise the less you will get into the situations you describe above.
Hope you don't mind me saying this to you.
Best way to stay alive is read the play well ahead of the action and be ready for "anything". :ride: Cheers John.

[ZeroIndex]

I had a look at your profile pic and your bike. I think you should find some quiet gravel roads or paddocks with wet grass and ride your bike on them as often as you can.
While you are doing it concentrate on the dynamics of your bike and change your thinking about how to make it stop more effectively without loss of traction.
The back brake shouldn't be your first port of call in "most" cases.:no:
The more you practise the less you will get into the situations you describe above.
Hope you don't mind me saying this to you.
Best way to stay alive is read the play well ahead of the action and be ready for "anything". :ride: Cheers John.
nah, thanks, i appreciate any help/advice that gets given to me.

[TerminalAddict]

how much did you pay for the insert BTW ???
Might have to pay a visit to R&S myself

[ZeroIndex]

how much did you pay for the insert BTW ???
Might have to pay a visit to R&S myself
$16.95... they don't keep them in stock, but will order them when someone wants one, so it might pay to ring them up and ask them to get one in for you...
These are the colors (off the www.oxprod.com webby)

[Jamezo]

wouldnt know as dont use the rear brakes for braking, only sitting at lights

me too, I think that's something I could stand to improve. only time I touch the rear is when I'm stopped on an incline or want to get it out intentionally.

how important is it in sports riding, would it noticeably increase my braking ability?

[ZeroIndex]

me too, I think that's something I could stand to improve. only time I touch the rear is when I'm stopped on an incline or want to get it out intentionally.

how important is it in sports riding, would it noticeably increase my braking ability?
Well, according to instruction that I got "somewhere?" A commuter (or upright position) bike you use 70/30 front and back, but on sport bikes (over the tank), it changes to 80/20 front and back... I obviously just have a heavy foot from driving stupid cages for too long...

[TerminalAddict]

wear jandals?

p/t

[ZeroIndex]

well... i'm off to this caltex building... where you get to cyphon as much petrol as you want, all you have to do is tip the attendant p/t hehehe

triple reason for ride: get more gas and see how my visor tint works at night... not quite dark enough but it'll do...
and the third: I LOVE RIDING!!!

[loosebruce]

Only almost crashed twice, sounds like a sedate commute to work, i may have a few issues though, which is prolly why it's best i take the car to work most days.

Inserts look pretty trcik, and for $17 odd bucks, can't go wrong. Nice

[ZeroIndex]

Well, I got back from my ride, very happy :D my visor tint is awesome, and since it's gold, i can still see through it pretty well (or maybe its just owning a heavily tinted car for quite a while that I'm used to it). Learning to use my front brake a lot more, and worked out that I was hardly touching it before (was probably using a 20/80 front/rear brake setup before my two incidents today). Tinted visors ROCK, being able to stare at people, and you get a few 'wow' type looks...

[Blairos]

nah, thanks, i appreciate any help/advice that gets given to me.

So do I, this site is great for the advice factor - As a relative newbie, I have recieved some tips around Engine Braking/Front Brake/Back Brake usage - simply, the last bit of advice given to me was to use the front brake more, as against relying on the engine braking as the main form of slowing down.

Any more tips/comments on this would always be appreciated

[riffer]

Whoa...too many mirrors.
That a Gibson Les Paul on the wall?

More likely an Epiphone ES335.

The Les Paul's were a solid body with a cutaway only on the lower top bout (with the exception of the 1958 Les Paul Junior).

Here's my one (its a 1998 year 1957 model white-bodied fretless wonder with the fat neck):

http://www.gibsoncustom.com/flash/products/lespauls/573pu/1957Custom3PU.html

[Blairos]

So do I, this site is great for the advice factor - As a relative newbie, I have recieved some tips around Engine Braking/Front Brake/Back Brake usage - simply, the last bit of advice given to me was to use the front brake more, as against relying on the engine braking as the main form of slowing down.

Any more tips/comments on this would always be appreciated

Just found another thread that is dealing with this question :done:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=25527

[ZeroIndex]

More likely an Epiphone ES335.

The Les Paul's were a solid body with a cutaway only on the lower top bout (with the exception of the 1958 Les Paul Junior).

Here's my one (its a 1998 year 1957 model white-bodied fretless wonder with the fat neck):

http://www.gibsoncustom.com/flash/products/lespauls/573pu/1957Custom3PU.html
Ibanez Artcore, based on the big-body Gibson's from back in the day... very nice mellow sound quality out of it...

PS. Nice Axe

[ZeroIndex]

Had a great ride around today :D getting a lot more confident on my bike, and my needed braking distance is getting shorter. Getting good at using the front brake (finally), and the tinted insert works wonders in the sun

[sAsLEX]

how important is it in sports riding, would it noticeably increase my braking ability?

Not sure which racer said it but one of the top GP WSB riders from a while back never used the rear(anyone remember who that was??), I only use the front as under hard braking the rear is nearly off the ground anyways and easy to lock