Panic braking or chain lock up?

**onearmedbandit** · 29th October 2013, 17:22

Take a couple minutes to watch this, especially at the 1:00 mark onwards where it's shown in slo-mo.

Now we'll ignore his riding in general, and how supposedly his bike had duct tape on it (I'm hoping only on the fairings...), ok and the fact his chain is as loose as a $2 whore. What I want to know is what you worldly experienced motorcycle riders here on KB think, was this, as the rider claimed a result of the chain locking the rear wheel, or as I suspect him hitting the rear brake and locking the rear. I don't see the chain go tight at the point of lock-up, and the rear wheel turns again as the bike goes over.

To me it looks clear, but the comments on YT seem to suggest a lot disagree with my opinion. So what's yours? Am I wrong?

**tigertim20** · 29th October 2013, 17:26

looks like brakes to me.

**mossy1200** · 29th October 2013, 17:34

Chain would have needed catch the sprocket to lock it up. He had his hand up because the chain was off but it had travelled forward on the swinger. I think he braked it into a slide.

**R650R** · 29th October 2013, 17:37

Gee I don't know why I wasted five minutes of my life analysing that but...

Observing from the grassy knoll you can see his chain is hanging back and to the left, Back and to the Left... and after the crash it is still in the same position.
Just before he locks it up you see his right foot move down and the brake light come on...
Have watched a heap of this fellas vids before and they are usually all too much brake or early throttle crashes.
Probably claiming it the chain for insurance purposes.

**Rhys** · 29th October 2013, 17:39

If you watch 1.10 - 1.12 you can see the chain come of the rear sprocket

**onearmedbandit** · 29th October 2013, 17:48

Originally Posted by R650R

Gee I don't know why I wasted five minutes of my life analysing that but...

Observing from the grassy knoll you can see his chain is hanging back and to the left, Back and to the Left... and after the crash it is still in the same position.
Just before he locks it up you see his right foot move down and the brake light come on...
Have watched a heap of this fellas vids before and they are usually all too much brake or early throttle crashes.
Probably claiming it the chain for insurance purposes.

Exackerly. I watched this video initially on bikerpunks but went to the YT clip to see if there was more about it there. And there was, riders of '30yrs' riding experience ranting about how it was obviously the chain causing the crash, and how anyone thinking it was the rear brake is slightly slower in the old brain department.

**kiwi cowboy** · 29th October 2013, 17:52

Originally Posted by R650R

Gee I don't know why I wasted five minutes of my life analysing that but...

Observing from the grassy knoll you can see his chain is hanging back and to the left, Back and to the Left... and after the crash it is still in the same position.
Just before he locks it up you see his right foot move down and the brake light come on...
Have watched a heap of this fellas vids before and they are usually all too much brake or early throttle crashes.
Probably claiming it the chain for insurance purposes.

What he said^^^^^

**AllanB** · 29th October 2013, 17:57

Chain clearly comes off then brake light goes on, presuming the clutch is in the chain will not be spinning. It appears to have dropped off cleanly on the outside of the sprocket so is not in a position to foul anything - indeed the bike is progressing well before he brakes.

Reckon he cooked it on the brakes or the result of hard rear braking flicked the chain into a position where it jammed the rear.

**Bikemad** · 29th October 2013, 18:14

watched it a few times........hard to tell..............the brake light ,front brake,comes on before he moves his right foot but he also seems to run over a road marker just before the slide............maybe the bounce made his foot bounce on the rear brake pedal but i doubt the chain had anything to do with it

**Robbo** · 29th October 2013, 18:27

If you look at 0:24 to 0:26 you can see the chain hanging down and then suddenly tighten up. I couldn't see clearly what his right foot was doing but if he had hit the rear brake hard the result would have been the same. I have seen a broken chain cause the rear wheel to lock up and the rider go down so in my opinion it could have been either.

**Berries** · 29th October 2013, 20:55

See, that's what you get for waving.

**Old Steve** · 29th October 2013, 21:09

Originally Posted by Berries

See, that's what you get for waving.

He would've been Ok if he'd known the KB wave!

**Hoon** · 29th October 2013, 21:30

Hmm I don't know. To lock up the rear brake like that in a non-panic situation you'd need to stomp pretty deliberately.
There is also the possibility of the chain locking up by getting tangled up in the sprocket nuts or swing arm and this wouldn't necessarily cause the rest of the loose chain to suddenly tighten up, so a chain lock up sounds entirely plausible to me.