Gone fish tailing!

**Chrislost** · 7th June 2008, 19:15

Originally Posted by EJKDDORAI

So, rear skidding (locked rear etc) is possibly saveable right? But is there a possible way to save a locked front wheel?

only up to the point where you lie down and smile for the camera

**HungusMaximist** · 7th June 2008, 19:42

Originally Posted by Chrislost

[COLOR="Yellow"]

Were you trying to highside yourself???? at least the back wasnt too far gone and you didnt bail big time!

Huh? you know this puts weight on the front wheel etc etc etc sliiiide bouf?

Congratulations on staying on though, It is a little exiting when fun stuff like this happens to you unexpectedly!

Thanks for the pointers but I don't really get ya when you mentioned highsiding?

I hardly touched the front brakes but I did rememeber apply a bit of brakes as it was the natural instinctive thing to do.

But yep, I hardly did anything apart from holding on to the bike for dear life and bit of front brakes, and everything sorted itself out.

I was kinda glad I didn't panic but 'oh shit wtf is going on' went through my head. At first I thought this is some what like a tank slapper feels like.

**Chrislost** · 7th June 2008, 20:07

ahhah, highside...

hmmmmm
pictures
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eResxp7jALs

or for a video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bhykTfysKas&watch_response

**CB ARGH** · 7th June 2008, 20:31

God roundabouts must suck in the wet weather, especially after it hasn't rained for a few weeks... yowch.

**Squiggles** · 7th June 2008, 22:43

The highside bit goes something like this... (bah my explanation sucked)

better explanation here: http://www.msgroup.org/tip.aspx?num=001

ouchies vid:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry56aD3gmHw&feature=related[/youtube]

**motorbyclist** · 8th June 2008, 02:59

Originally Posted by jrandom

I'd love to hear from someone who's ridden out a diesel encounter after actually noticing the shit on the road before they hit it.

if anyone's hit the universal drive/don buck rd/swanson rd intersection then they know what i mean by a "blind" roundabout thanks to the trees etc put in the middle.

half way around one morning doing my best rossi impression (fucked if a car pulls out cause there's no way i'm stopping, i'd just have to keep turning) i see a nice rainbow nicely fucking up my line - get the bike upright and kinda point it at an exit, ease of the gas to a neutral speed, don't dare touch the brake and cruise across/along it without incident, and nicely avoided a curb by about 3mm

old man had a similar incident - found a wet patch on an otherwise dry road... rear tyre going squiggly soon indicated that it was diesel

my dirt riding experiences with ridiculously muddy races/rides are pretty much the same... even had one sad race where i ended up, after several 180's and a few 360's trying to make a hill start after coming off a downhill off camber turn at the end of a straight, made of cross-rutted clay with a slimy coating ontop, simply walking up the hill to the finish line with my bike in 2nd gear next to me throwing mud everywhere... decided it was time to get some new knobblies after that; the "rounded bumps and right hand rear knobs missing entirely" approach to traction just wasn't cutting it anymore

moral of the story: MOAR POWER doesn't help when you've lost traction, and nor does the brake. keep forces on your tyres to a minimum and you'll be sweet - no braking, no cornering, no gas.

**motorbyclist** · 8th June 2008, 03:04

Originally Posted by Squiggles

The highside bit goes something like this... (bah my explanation sucked)

yeah and that other one was too wordy

bike gets sideways, tyre is skidding

skidding tyre has less traction than rolling tyre

hit brake (or cut gas) to gain traction means tyre stops skidding

so now tyre has sudden traction in direction of movement, which just so happens to be sideways relative to the bike.

what happens when you push a bike sideways? falls over

so when it regains traction the bike flips over, catapults you off, and then either lands on you or follows you down the road to later squish you

so don't touch! accelerate makes the wheel go more sideways, brakes are effectively kicking your bike over.

**Nagash** · 8th June 2008, 08:30

I had one incident where I rode through diesel and only noticed I had when i was over it, took it easy, went round a couple of corners and no problems, and then I was at my destination! Pleased as hell I applied the brakes in normal fashion to discover that I was on the ground...

I've got really used to the rear sliding out now, even so much as to recover a cruiser fish tailing to the right at 90 degrees of it's original position. That was shit scary, but I felt bloody invincible after wards. And then rpoceeded to slow down..

**Macstar** · 8th June 2008, 08:57

Buy a motard and get used to the rear squigglying all over the place - then when you're on your heavy sports bike hopefully if you get a bit of sideways action you won't do something silly like cut the throttle.

I've powered my way through a few potential high sides (and stuffed one up) but its bloody hard to keep the throttle on when you feel it go. Dunno about diesel on a bike. It was great for car tyres and burnouts!!

**HungusMaximist** · 8th June 2008, 10:51

Originally Posted by Squiggles

The highside bit goes something like this... (bah my explanation sucked)

Thanks I know what a highside is but what I didn't get was Chris's explaination in relation to my experience yesterday. Should I or shouldn't I used the front brakes?

Originally Posted by motorbyclist

moral of the story: MOAR POWER doesn't help when you've lost traction, and nor does the brake. keep forces on your tyres to a minimum and you'll be sweet - no braking, no cornering, no gas.

OK is that the thing to do?

Originally Posted by Macstar

Buy a motard and get used to the rear squigglying all over the place - then when you're on your heavy sports bike hopefully if you get a bit of sideways action you won't do something silly like cut the throttle.

So you're saying no throttle?

So what exactly is the right thing to do?

**motorbyclist** · 8th June 2008, 12:51

the exact thing to do is to not do anything

what i meant was no MORE gas

just keep everything cruising without changing speed, so keep throttle where it is unless there's a good reason not to

front brake is no good - your rear wheels is speeding up and going sideways because ts now tavellng faster than your front - so front brake is only going to make things worse.

also, locking your front doesn't help. on diesel it isn't hard to lock up.

**Ixion** · 8th June 2008, 13:09

I concur. I have long worked (with success , in so far as that is measured by lack of crashes) on the principle that when it turns to shit whatever you try to do will probably make things worse. So best to do as little as possible , keep everything steady -if braking keep braking, if accelerating keep accelerating etc, but everything as gentle as possible. Pray to the Biker Gods and hope that the bike's designers knew their stuff.

Obviously sometimes there are situations where one HAS to do something. It's all down to experience and judgement . And luck. Lots of luck.

**Macstar** · 8th June 2008, 13:45

Originally Posted by HungusMaximist

So what exactly is the right thing to do?

Ask one hundred people, get one hundred answers... I keep the gas on if the rear starts to go on me through a corner, buttoning off could cause it to grip and eject you highside styles.

Mate, reality is, you aint got time to think about this sort of shit - that's when the auto pilot / reflexes kick in and hopefully 2 seconds later when your brain catches up, you go "Whooooo hoooo, hell yeah, I made it!".

But again, a Motard is awesome for pushing the limits and making mistakes on. Drop the bike, pick it up and try again. $10 track day fees at Mt Wellington. I WILL GET ANOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!