Oiled roads and motorcycles do not go together, or why n00bs should not have a full blown sport bike as a first ride.

[Hayabusa Rider]

I have had some newly licensed or wanting to be newly licensed people ask me why sports bikes are bad for beginners. Here is a practical example for those guys.

On my way to work today, I drove down this road that had been under construction. The work crew has stopped construction for some time it seems, because they oiled the partially torn up road to keep the dust down. No biggie. At the end of this street was a stop sign at a very busy intersection, and you had to make a bit of an "s" curve to cross. I scooted across fairly quickly, and hit a manhole cover. Well, my rear tire did not like that. The wheel broke traction enough so that it started to slide out. Not fun. Now what I did was to grab the clutch so the power to the wheel stopped enough so I got traction back. If I had hit the brake or gas in a panic, I would have gone down. Now what does this have to do with sport bikes? They and larger displacement cruisers have significant torque. A less powerful machine may not have (although it is still possible) lost traction to begin with. Unintentional power induced slides suck. Being on a more appropriate skill level machine just may have saved the n00b from some painful road rash. It takes a while to develop the reflexes to do what is needed. If I had to think about what to do, I would be a banged up guy.

 

[TommyVercetti]

I once saw a guy on a bike plow into the back of car. He was riding in the middle of the lane (where all the oil and stuff is), the light turned red, and he had to make a sudden stop. His back tire locked. Wasn't a pretty scene.

Is you name really Dr. Tits?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: TommyVercetti
I once saw a guy on a bike plow into the back of car. He was riding in the middle of the lane (where all the oil and stuff is), the light turned red, and he had to make a sudden stop. His back tire locked. Wasn't a pretty scene.

Is you name really Dr. Tits?

LOL, no. But I thought a guy with the cojones to keep that name ought to get some free press

 

[cavemanmoron]

sri-bhagavan uvaca
kalo 'smi loka-ksaya-krt pravrddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrttah
rte 'pi tvam na bhavisyanti sarve
ye 'vasthitah pratyanikesu yodhah

Oderint dum metuant

?????????? is that this? {The Blessed Lord said: Time I am, destroyer of the worlds, and I have come to engage all people. With the exception of you [the Pandavas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain. }

I have dropped my bike a few times,the worst one was my own fault.
Once i was stupid,and tried to turn around my bike on wet grass/&mud,
the front brake was dragging,and i knew it was,and had not wanted to buy new calipers,{pricey}
well the front wheel stopped rolling,and lost the gyroscopic effect. ouch..

I also found out the bike was top heavy,and that was not fun.
2 months of no work.

 

[Wallydraigle]

Originally posted by: Hayabusarider

Originally posted by: TommyVercetti
I once saw a guy on a bike plow into the back of car. He was riding in the middle of the lane (where all the oil and stuff is), the light turned red, and he had to make a sudden stop. His back tire locked. Wasn't a pretty scene.

Is you name really Dr. Tits?

LOL, no. But I thought a guy with the cojones to keep that name ought to get some free press

For a while I thought your name really was Dr. Tits, and I thought that was pretty spiffy. I was actually kind of disappointed when I found out it wasn't

 

[boyRacer]

i havent dropped any bike yet... but thats because i ride like a sissy... and i only borrow my friend's bikes. hahaha... but yah i like waking up in the morning too so no gixxer 1000s for me.

i think my worst nightmare on a bike is highsiding... :Q

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: Hayabusarider
I have had some newly licensed or wanting to be newly licensed people ask me why sports bikes are bad for beginners. Here is a practical example for those guys.

On my way to work today, I drove down this road that had been under construction. The work crew has stopped construction for some time it seems, because they oiled the partially torn up road to keep the dust down. No biggie. At the end of this street was a stop sign at a very busy intersection, and you had to make a bit of an "s" curve to cross. I scooted across fairly quickly, and hit a manhole cover. Well, my rear tire did not like that. The wheel broke traction enough so that it started to slide out. Not fun. Now what I did was to grab the clutch so the power to the wheel stopped enough so I got traction back. If I had hit the brake or gas in a panic, I would have gone down. Now what does this have to do with sport bikes? They and larger displacement cruisers have significant torque. A less powerful machine may not have (although it is still possible) lost traction to begin with. Unintentional power induced slides suck. Being on a more appropriate skill level machine just may have saved the n00b from some painful road rash. It takes a while to develop the reflexes to do what is needed. If I had to think about what to do, I would be a banged up guy.

I tried drifting my cousin's scooter (only the rear brake worked at the time--which is why she didn't want me riding it to begin with) on gravel. I ended up with a bruised ankle and hands.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron

sri-bhagavan uvaca
kalo 'smi loka-ksaya-krt pravrddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrttah
rte 'pi tvam na bhavisyanti sarve
ye 'vasthitah pratyanikesu yodhah

Oderint dum metuant

?????????? is that this? {The Blessed Lord said: Time I am, destroyer of the worlds, and I have come to engage all people. With the exception of you [the Pandavas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain. }

I have dropped my bike a few times,the worst one was my own fault.
Once i was stupid,and tried to turn around my bike on wet grass/&mud,
the front brake was dragging,and i knew it was,and had not wanted to buy new calipers,{pricey}
well the front wheel stopped rolling,and lost the gyroscopic effect. ouch..

I also found out the bike was top heavy,and that was not fun.
2 months of no work.

Ahh, about the quote. No doubt you know where it is from, but what does it mean here?

Robert Oppenheimer was in charge of the Manhattan Project. He, as much as anyone was responsible for the atomic bomb. Everyone on the project was so mesmerized by the goal of making the first fission bomb, that they didn't even seriously consider what that meant. Oppy knew this quote, and paraphrased it upon watching the fruits of his labor in it's first test. He said "I have become Death, destroyer of worlds". He had absolved himself of responsibility for the consequences of his efforts, but faced with reality, he knew he could not hide behind science as justification for death beyond comprehension. Ever after, he worked against deployment and proliferation of nuclear weapons, including the development of the H-bomb. Being of a scientific background, I think I understand something of what he felt. A few here have been curious enough to find out about my sig, and learned something to think on.

 

[cavemanmoron]

Originally posted by: Hayabusarider

Originally posted by: cavemanmoron

sri-bhagavan uvaca
kalo 'smi loka-ksaya-krt pravrddho
lokan samahartum iha pravrttah
rte 'pi tvam na bhavisyanti sarve
ye 'vasthitah pratyanikesu yodhah

Oderint dum metuant

?????????? is that this? {The Blessed Lord said: Time I am, destroyer of the worlds, and I have come to engage all people. With the exception of you [the Pandavas], all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain. }

I have dropped my bike a few times,the worst one was my own fault.
Once i was stupid,and tried to turn around my bike on wet grass/&mud,
the front brake was dragging,and i knew it was,and had not wanted to buy new calipers,{pricey}
well the front wheel stopped rolling,and lost the gyroscopic effect. ouch..

I also found out the bike was top heavy,and that was not fun.
2 months of no work.

Ahh, about the quote. No doubt you know where it is from, but what does it mean here?

Robert Oppenheimer was in charge of the Manhattan Project. He, as much as anyone was responsible for the atomic bomb. Everyone on the project was so mesmerized by the goal of making the first fission bomb, that they didn't even seriously consider what that meant. Oppy knew this quote, and paraphrased it upon watching the fruits of his labor in it's first test. He said "I have become Death, destroyer of worlds". He had absolved himself of responsibility for the consequences of his efforts, but faced with reality, he knew he could not hide behind science as justification for death beyond comprehension. Ever after, he worked against deployment and proliferation of nuclear weapons, including the development of the H-bomb. Being of a scientific background, I think I understand something of what he felt. A few here have been curious enough to find out about my sig, and learned something to think on.

http://www.kilroywashere.org/004-Pages/Trinity/Trinity.html

Thanks for the reply,very interesting,i thought that this sounded a little familiar.Its been a long time since high school,we covered this in Earth Science once,{as a sidebar} the teacher had been in WW 2.

 

[Pliablemoose]

One of the cooler things about how bikes are designed is that when you get tense, the tendancy is to clench your hands, if you train yourself not to clench the front brake, it saves a lot of problems.

God I want another bike, just a small one, maybe a dual purpose 350/400cc with modded exhaust stage ii carb kit, street tires, new helmet............(sigh)....

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
One of the cooler things about how bikes are designed is that when you get tense, the tendancy is to clench your hands, if you train yourself not to clench the front brake, it saves a lot of problems.

God I want another bike, just a small one, maybe a dual purpose 350/400cc with modded exhaust stage ii carb kit, street tires, new helmet............(sigh)....

Yeah, but you have to spend your money on rocks instead

 

[SilverThief]

I did a fishtail into the back of a taxi cab on my Ninja. Bruised myself up pretty good, put a couple of scratches on the bike.....scared the living sh|t out of the couple in the back of the cab!
Funny thing is, that bike was stolen from me, at my apartment complex the very next day.

That was 12 years ago.

 

[Grouchyoldguy]

We waited until the blast had passed, walked out of the shelter and then it was
extremely solemn. We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed,
a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the
Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that
he should do his duty and to impress him he takes on his multiarmed form and
says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I supose we all thought
that, one way or another. - J. Robert Oppenheimer

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man
stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs
to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and
sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and
again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself
in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
know neither victory or defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

my worst fear on a bike isn't highsiding or lowsiding, it's having some ass run a red and t-bone me.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
my worst fear on a bike isn't highsiding or lowsiding, it's having some ass run a red and t-bone me.

:Q... yah or the classic left turn right in front of you...

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: SilverThief
I did a fishtail into the back of a taxi cab on my Ninja. Bruised myself up pretty good, put a couple of scratches on the bike.....scared the living sh|t out of the couple in the back of the cab!
Funny thing is, that bike was stolen from me, at my apartment complex the very next day.

That was 12 years ago.

Dam man

Ironic that your name is SilverThief........

 

[The Stigenator]

I have locked the rear several times on panic stops. It scares people... only once I had to really do something to counteract the panic stop. However most times I am in good control. The first time I really did a 60 - 0 panic stop was when i was coming around a bend on topanga cyn (hwy 27 in CA) and it was near the old topanga cyn rd junction. The car wants to take left and does a sudden stop (and the truck behind him comes to a stop some how. However I am coming fast around teh bend and I was already in teh corner. I had to straighten and hit teh rear brake .. god I stopped a few inches from teh truck's bumper. I mean I really put a panic stop. The guys behind me were wondering how the heck I stopped so fscking fast.

I have experience (limited but enough to say I do) in panic rear brake stops. That wasnt the first time though.. but that was teh scariest of the lot. The next time was when I was in an emergency stop on a road when a stupid SUV driver went across the road knowing well I was coming (I have a car on my right). I had to hit the brake hard. The laiy driving decides that she made a mistake and basically stops in my lane. I had to brake hard on the rear, when it started to slide take it off and then hit both front and rear. But when I hit front and rear my engine shut itself off meaning I had absolutely no power to do anything. When I came to a stop I had to restart the engine and continue.

I dont knwo why my engine shuts off on panic stops. I once had to do a panic stop with vanessa out back, this time however I managed to restart the engine mid way so I could power out of the situation.