Gob smacked

[KATWYN]

was out on a leisurely ride today. what a beaut day, just
cruising along, then another bike was riding behind me- cruising as well-
it passed me (just cruising, cos typical me little ol nana
rider.. mind you I was behind little ol man driver doing about 70kmph
haha)

Then next thing the bike passed that car- sensibly- just cruising it, not doing
anything risky ,dangerous , stupid (he was sensible, cos I was watching)

Then next thing after riding a bit further- up it comes (not done on purpose) !! snaking over the road, car coming the other way. dumps rider off-scary stuff I was thinking "sh*t how DID THAT just happen??" that was bizare

Anyway our fellow rider survived it (thank god), car took the bike out (believe me not a lot left of the bike)

But the really scary thing was what caused this was the throttle getting
jammed open and the rider couldnt close it!! is that every motorcyclists nightmare or what. I learnt something new today about throttles, that is for sure......

[Motu]

So what happened?????....his throttle jammed wide open,the bike did a wheel stand and he lost control? Doing a wheel stand and falling off I can understand,it's natural for me,but getting into the situation in the first place has me a bit puzzled.

Glad you weren't involved,were able to help and that the rider is ok.Having an accident happen in front of you is scary alright,it happened to me recently.

[KATWYN]

So what happened?????....his throttle jammed wide open,the bike did a wheel stand and he lost control? Doing a wheel stand and falling off I can understand,it's natural for me,but getting into the situation in the first place has me a bit puzzled.

Glad you weren't involved,were able to help and that the rider is ok.Having an accident happen in front of you is scary alright,it happened to me recently.

Yea glad, but sad for rider being broken and sore tonight. Yea really weird aye. he definately did not rev it up or do it purposely (I don't know the rider so its not a bias opinion), thats why the whole thing was a shock. He reakoned he gave it a bit of gas to go, then doing that jammed the throttle open, he tried to close it...it didnt work..then by then its out of control. I heard it start reving hard out and the scenario unfolded.

ohhh, what happened recently to you?

[dangerous]

I learnt something new today about throttles, that is for sure......

No you dident you learnt somthing about the Kill switch. Using it may have saved his sore arse.

[Jackrat]

Same thing happened to a guy I know while testing a bike in Hamilton years ago.We asked him why he didn,t just hit the kill switch.
He reckoned he got such a shock he sort of forgot plus he was buzy trying to dodge cars an such.It happened on the main St of Hamilton,He didn't come off
but got one real good fright,in the end killing it with the key.
Anyway,Glad to hear the fell'a you saw it happen to is ok.

[KATWYN]

No you dident you learnt somthing about the Kill switch. Using it may have saved his sore arse.

He reakoned he was about to go for the kill switch... but it was too late

[dangerous]

It should be a automatic instint reaction to hit the kill switch or pull the clutch in if the rear wheel looks up.

I know easy to say when you havent been put in that position. I guess that experiance is what helps, or pratice for eg: the kill switch, use the kill switch to turn off your bike then it might become a reaction should a emergency happen. Just an idea cos the other day while riding my Firestorm a rather bad loud noise sudenly started so I emeaditly hit the kill switch. I think that it was eather a stone cought up in the fan or maybe the shoud got to hot and bent out of shape and hit the fan.

[moko]

I had my throttle jam on my old CB200 years ago.Typical pleasant Brit winter morning,picking my way between the patches of ice.Wasn`t going that fast but when you`re heading towards a roundabout,the road`s treacherous and your throttle jams in one position any speed sure as hell feels quick.Basically it was a panic situation,being older and wiser now I`d have hit the kill switch but back then being a relative newbie I just held on for grim death............and fell off.Got work with a bent bike and my waterproofs ripped to pieces,got a bollocking for being late,I`ve had better days.

[Motu]

Read about my little drama here KATWYN http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=1591

Finding the kill switch can take a bit of time in such a situation,figuring out whats wrong,flicking the throttle to clear it etc consume valuable miliseconds,then coping with an out of control bike.We know what he should of done,but I'll forgive him....like I'd have to wouldn't I to live with myself.

I took the kill switches off my dirt bikes,they just give too much trouble.When the throttle stuck wide open on my TM400 on the dirt track I was kinda missing it a bit at that point,so instinctivly laid the bike down.Too late I remembered I had fitted a decrompression valve a few days before.

[Ogri]

Why didn't he pull the clutch in?

I have a nasty habit (or not) of always covering the clutch (and front brake) with a couple of digits - suppose from the good old days of two strokes

[Kickaha]

Just had this happen on the trailbike yesterday,got the clutch in and it revved its nuts off,hit the kill switch and it didn't bloody work because a wire had come loose,got on both brakes and stalled it lucky I was only in second gear so I wasn't going to quick.

Pulling the clutch in can save you,but it can destroy your motor from over revving if you can't shut it down in a hurry!

[wkid_one]

Had the R1's throttle stick open after I changed the grips on the bike....just pulled the clutch and killed the engine and dealt with the problem on the side of the road.

Sounds like he paniced to me and didn't know what to do

[bluninja]

Just had this happen on the trailbike yesterday,got the clutch in and it revved its nuts off,hit the kill switch and it didn't bloody work because a wire had come loose,got on both brakes and stalled it lucky I was only in second gear so I wasn't going to quick.

Pulling the clutch in can save you,but it can destroy your motor from over revving if you can't shut it down in a hurry!

I thought rev limiters would stop you blowing your engine from over revving (except on hamfisted downchanges). Think I'd rather break an engine than break me. Never had this happen to me on a bike, only in a car, and then I had tons of time to think about what to do.

[merv]

What sort of bike was this guy on? Most bikes these days have the push - pull throttles with twin cables and its rather hard to have a throttle stick like they used to.

I haven't seen it for 30 years but back in the old days when we all had 2 stroke trail bikes I saw a Kawasaki 175 lose the top off its piston because the guy fell off and the thing screamed its head off until it broke as no-one was close enough to it to stop it - only took about 25 seconds to do that and it just went bang. The engines cannot stand the forces involved in free revving like that so modern day rev limiters wouldn't help because the engines are really only made to go that many rpm under load.

[mangell6]

Ah the days of throttles sticking open - Yamaha 400 two stroke single, open road and coming onto a corner, used the clutch and kill switch.
Could still happen nowadays, everything is still cable, one cable breaks and . . . .