Knee down at Paremata Roundabout

[Clivoris]

:banana: Woohoo! Got my knee down at Paremata roundabout today...and my hip, shoulder and elbow.:sick: Dropped my bike in a suprise low-side. Not braking, not accelerating, just picking a nice line round. No aggression, just trying to be smooth.
:2guns: Crappy cold Dunlops :ar15: Damn fool who didn't realise his front tyre was still cold. My big worry is the complete lack of warning and the time it is going to take to get my confidence back. Time on the bike is the go I s'pose.
:doobey: On the upside, the Tuono crashes real well. Crash bung did it's job and the only other real casualties were the r/h mirror and indicator. Other bits of cosmetic damage that I will live with as it probably isn't worth making a claim over. Have to think about this. My safety gear did the biz too. Big ups to Technics and Oxtar. Will have to claim on the Technics cordura gear though, after it wore through in a few places. Got to finish my ride up the Rimutakas before getting home for my wife to ladle on the sympathy. The teasing will start tomorrow no doubt.
Oh well, hopefully I've learnt my lesson. Can't complain really, part of the tapestry of motorcycling innit. :drinknsin

[madmal64]

Hell thats not a good way to start a ride. Not the best round about in Wellington to be low siding either with the traffic that goes through there.
Glad to here you are ok, I have pm'ed you with my contact details if you need a hand.

[Skunk]

Ouch! Yeah, I would be more worried about the cars running me over than any injuries I might have from dropping it.

Couldn't you have dropped a 'cheaper' bike?

[Sniper]

Shit, not good to hear mate. Bet you will be stiff tomorrow

[James Deuce]

Ahh crap. You're not the first person to get into issues there. Wouldn't suprise me if the surface had been pre-lubricated.

Take it easy, and let us know if there's anything we can do.

As for the cosmetic damage, that just gives you more streetfighter cred. :headbang:

[Marknz]

Sorry to read about that, but when you can walk away from it having learnt something then it must be a good thing.

[quickbuck]

Sorry to hear about that man.

I thought I was going to read about a hoon who went around half a dozen times before he got over far enough.

As said, it is likely the roundabout has been freshly lubricated. The fluid from sheep can do it...

[kiwifruit]

Gutted! :(

[ZeroIndex]

damn that sux.. hope you're back on it in no time, and that you always remember to warm your tires first..

[MD]

No good, atleast it didn't damage your sense of humour.
That cordura stuff seems to built as a one application only product. Any slide and it self destructs, but only after it's done its protection job. Pity the labour party isn't made of cordura instead of teflon.

[Clivoris]

Ta for the posts peoples. Yeah I'm pretty stoked not to have been run over, and being able to ride it away. Lots to be thankful for. On my SV I was used to getting a bit of slippage on road lubricant but it would always regain traction. I'm in for some new tyres this week me thinks. Anyone got any tips on how to tell when your tyres are up to temp? I think I know how to tell when they're too cold now. :yes:

[James Deuce]

What model Dunlops are they? If they're 218s then frankly they are shyte. Reknowned for letting go with absolutely no warning. OEM equipment on many Yamahas. Thanks Yamaha.

[Clivoris]

What model Dunlops are they? If they're 218s then frankly they are shyte. Reknowned for letting go with absolutely no warning. OEM equipment on many Yamahas. Thanks Yamaha.

D208f's. I think I will give some Conti Sport Attacks a go. The guy I was riding with today reckoned I need Pirellis cos they speak Italian. :lol: Smartarse, but he might be right.

[Uncle B]

Ouch Dude.
Cold tyres and cold road........it's like riding on grease.

[Crisis management]

I don't have a definitive answer to that, probably when they don't slide as much?
I allways brake very hard a few times in the first Km or so and try to get a feel for the grip and take the first few corners easy, in fact I don't come close to pushing the bike unless I have 10 minutes or so running to get everything warm.... mind you a cold day for me is five degrees so I am no expert on colder weather.
Look carefully at your tyre selection, I expect tyres to slide (front & rear) from time to time and expect that my tyres will give me notice of that rather than just letting go. A good tyre will readily slide and provide sufficient grip for you to recover.
Glad to hear your ok and good luck with better tyres! The Tuono is an awesome bike and will appreciate better rubber.:scooter:

[trumpy]

D208f's. I think I will give some Conti Sport Attacks a go. The guy I was riding with today reckoned I need Pirellis cos they speak Italian. :lol: Smartarse, but he might be right.

Go for Pilot Powers, made a vast improvement on my bike (...although its not quite as solubrious as yours so it probably needed more help!). I tried the Contis and was not hugely impressed, although mine were Road Attacks and the Sports might be a lot better.

[Paul in NZ]

You may find you need to adjust your tyre pressures to get them up to heat onver the cold weather. It's not such a problem on my old bikes with skinny cartwheels but I use the 10% rule. ie, tyre pressure should be around 10% higher HOT than cold... Maybe lower your pressure a little to let em heat up quicker? I'm sure one of the racer types will know the good oil???

[madmal64]

Go for Pilot Powers, made a vast improvement on my bike (...although its not quite as solubrious as yours so it probably needed more help!). I tried the Contis and was not hugely impressed, although mine were Road Attacks and the Sports might be a lot better.
Got Pilot Powers on my Aprilia. Bloody good tyre for stickyness & heat up. Crap for distance.
Im another that will be trying Conti Attacks for the next set. They have been recommended to me by another Aprilia rider.
Be interested to see what ya think of the Clive

[roogazza]

I noticed you were quite restrained coming back over the Kaitokis ! and noticed your mirror missing, but didn't put two and two together. Your mate on the TL wasn't as restrained though, was he ? Explain to him what those solid yellow lines are !!! If its any consolation I don't think any tyres were gripping today or suspension working for that matter ? cheers G.

[sugilite]

How many km's had you completed before your woopsie?
Was the road wet/damp?
When you entered the round about, do you kind of squirt across the 1st part before tipping in?

That roundabout would be one of the slipperiest I know as 3 gas stations are situated around it, so every loser cager that overfills their car, leaves cap off or what ever and a truck or two doing the same makes for a slippery time on that one.

My feeling is another brand type tyre will hardly make a difference to prevent that type of crash, though will be interested to hear the answer to above questions.

[trumpy]

Got Pilot Powers on my Aprilia. Bloody good tyre for stickyness & heat up. Crap for distance.
Im another that will be trying Conti Attacks for the next set. They have been recommended to me by another Aprilia rider.
Be interested to see what ya think of the Clive

Mileage on the Powers seems to be OK but I'm riding a 600 and I wobble about much slower than you guys ride so that probably helps. True enough about the stickyness and quick warmup tho'.

[Shadows]

:banana: Woohoo! Got my knee down at Paremata roundabout today...and my hip, shoulder and elbow.:sick: Dropped my bike in a suprise low-side. Not braking, not accelerating, just picking a nice line round. No aggression, just trying to be smooth.

If it makes you feel any better I did the exact same thing in the exact same place a while ago.
Like "wha...." and before I could say "....t the fuck?" I was sliding down the road behind the bike.
I was wearing jeans at the time, but as luck should have it the road was so perfectly greased I didn't even lose any skin!

[diggydog]

Ahh crap. You're not the first person to get into issues there. Wouldn't suprise me if the surface had been pre-lubricated.

Take it easy, and let us know if there's anything we can do.

As for the cosmetic damage, that just gives you more streetfighter cred. :headbang:


sorry to hear about your bin,this is where i'm very cautious of round abouts as it's area you ca'nt see wheather any diesel or other substance is spilt by then it's probable to late.:yes: :bye:

[Clivoris]

I noticed you were quite restrained coming back over the Kaitokis ! and noticed your mirror missing, but didn't put two and two together. Your mate on the TL wasn't as restrained though, was he ? Explain to him what those solid yellow lines are !!! If its any consolation I don't think any tyres were gripping today or suspension working for that matter ? cheers G.
I had a quiet word with him when we got back. He didn't seem to think there was that much risk involved.:gob:
In response to other posts on here:
My Bike has done around 8,000km and I am guessing that they are the original tyres (Japanese import). O.k. tread but getting low on either side midway between centre and edge of tyre. I've been talking about changing them but didn't get round to it. :nono: Lesson learnt.
Prior to getting a work car I was doing around 25,000 km a year for the last 3 years on an FZR 750 and then SV1000s. Riding all weather and road conditions, but never on tired Dunlops. I'm used to getting a little bit of warning before things let go completely and I don't think I was riding any differently than I normally would today. That means scanning the road surface then looking through to my exit. I don't remember seeing anything on the road surface to be concerned about. I might have missed something. :nono: Lesson learnt.
I rode around 10 km's before the roundabout, a mix of corners, two roundabouts and the usual braking and acceleration. I thought my tyres had a bit of heat in them. :nono: Lesson learnt.
After a couple of bevvies and a quiet think; my best guess is that road surface, tyre condition and type, and the road and tyre temperature probably all played a part. The lesson could have been so much more expensive, so I don't feel too bad about it.
Thanks to you all for your feed-back and support. It's real helpful and keeps me thinking. :yes:

[muzz]

I have Pilot Powers on the duc and they are a good tyre they hold on real well and heat up quickly and have Conti attack on the Trump and find them good also. Looks like the Conti will ware better than the pilots.
And sad to here about the bin.

[Fryin Finn]

I read somewhere that these flash, soft and sticky tyres dont work as good when they're cold as the supposedly harder tourer type tyres due to the narrower operating heat range of the racier tyres.
I reckon these slower roundabouts get slippery due to the high numbers of slow moving traffic on them polishing the road seal rather than leaving a little rubber at higher speeds. I dropped my TRX at the Haywards junction to SH2 - the road was bone dry and I could hardly stand up in the corner it was so slippery.
A high side would have been the safer crashing option as you would have been flipped further onto the side of the road.
Glad you're OK and the bike didn't suffer too much though.

[sAsLEX]

damn that sux.. hope you're back on it in no time, and that you always remember to warm your tires first..

was wondering how hard it would be to impregnate some small very thin heating wires in to a tire and then have a small inductive warming circuit set up so you can "warm" your tires before heading off

[Sparky Bills]

Bugger mate!!
Glad to hear the bike (and you) is reletivley ok.

Take it easy.

[Mooch]

Having seen everything from an old gesser in a Jag xj , to wrx's , courier van and a bus loose it on that round-about over the years I'd say you hit diesel like the rest of them. I really don't think it would of made any difference on any brand. Sorry you ended up dropping it.

I found the 208's 208 gp's fine and if anything like a Diablo or Corsa would have had you dropping it quicker on the roundabout.

[Clivoris]

My mate has a Duke S4r with Pilot Powers and he swears by them. He's been around the traps for a while and knows what works. I had a look at the roundabout this evening after the traffic had slowed down and it is pretty mucky. Cold tyre pressures on the day were 35psi front and 40psi rear. Sorting out my insurance claims today and things are going smoothly so far. It looks like it might be worth claiming after all. Lots of little Italian bits that get real expensive when you add them together. Sawyers are on the job and I've even scored a loaner while they do the assessment. Barry has lent me a VT750 Shadow. My biggest worry is that I'll like it and have to change my lifestyle :shutup: Bastard did it deliberately.

[Ixion]

was wondering how hard it would be to impregnate some small very thin heating wires in to a tire ,,

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "m'tyres are rooted"