Had to lay her down....

[Geezer2]

Rode to Lake Chelan on friday to visit my kid. Got 51 mpg on the way up (calculator). Ran 65 to 70 with an occasional pass. Great weekend, however while downtown waiting for a crosswalk to clear, I'm in the intersection, a kid and his girlfiend on a sport bike decide to make a left turn in front of me. Laid it down (gently) to avoid knocking them off their bike. A few scratches to the mirror and left bag. Glad I put those sliders on last week. They took the hit. Got 47.4 mpg on the way home ridin 80 most the way and bucking some serious winds. Damn, I love this bike....scratches and all, still goes like a bat outta hell. Somebody stop me. HeHe

 

[Toecutter]

...a kid and his girlfiend on a sport bike decide to make a left turn in front of me. Laid it down (gently) to avoid knocking them off their bike.

Did they at least stop and see if you were O.K.? Offer to pay?

 

[RonBB]

Sorry about the lay-down. Hope all are OK.

 

[GunMD]

<snip>Laid it down (gently) to avoid knocking them off their bike.

</snip>

Not buying it. It doesn't compute w/ me to make a conscience decision to lay a bike down. I call B.S. A poorly executed evasive maneuver, however, I can see causing the lay-down. But on purpose? That's either B.S. or a case of giving up way too early.

"Ride The Bike"

 

[gasportrider]

<snip>Laid it down (gently) to avoid knocking them off their bike.

</snip>

Not buying it. It doesn't compute w/ me to make a conscience decision to lay a bike down. I call B.S. A poorly executed evasive maneuver, however, I can see causing the lay-down. But on purpose? That's either B.S. or a case of giving up way too early.

"Ride The Bike"

I agree. That kind of comment on this forum would be better received in the HD groups. SIPDE: scan identify, predict, decide, EXECUTE. Swerve then brake or brake then swerve. I think you coulda missed them and saved your bike.

With the ABS system on the FJR, there should be few excuses for running into ANYTHING except for a blind siding deer leaping off a bank. I challenge all riders with modern ABS systems to practice regularly. We have fantastic accident avoidance capabilties if only we'll use it!

 

[RiderCoach Lar]

Not understanding. You were "waiting for a crosswalk to clear". Were you moving? If so, was there was no way to execute a quick stop or a swerve?

Damn glad you're okay Geezer, but I'm with Gunny and sportrider on this: consciously laying a bike down doesn't make any sense at all. It's certainly never going to stop the bike's forward motion quicker than a quick stop.

 

[9MileCatDaddy]

Rode to Lake Chelan on friday to visit my kid. Got 51 mpg on the way up (calculator). Ran 65 to 70 with an occasional pass. Great weekend, however while downtown waiting for a crosswalk to clear, I'm in the intersection, a kid and his girlfiend on a sport bike decide to make a left turn in front of me. Laid it down (gently) to avoid knocking them off their bike. A few scratches to the mirror and left bag. Glad I put those sliders on last week. They took the hit. Got 47.4 mpg on the way home ridin 80 most the way and bucking some serious winds. Damn, I love this bike....scratches and all, still goes like a bat outta hell. Somebody stop me. HeHe

So you are saying that you are not skilled enough to USE YOUR BRAKES adequately.

Sounds like you need alot of braking practice along with some counter steering or swerving practice.

As an MSF Instructor and one who has ridden on the streets daily for 35 years and NEVER LAID it down I cringe when someone proudly exclaims that. ** Trying to avoid and accident by purposely having an accident by "laying it down" is never a correct response as statistics bear out. You have no brakes and NO CONTROL when sliding along on metal and just accomplished what you tried to avoid. **ESPECIALLY when you have an ABS system on your MC..

 

[DE OPPRESSO LIBER]

Glad it ain't friday............

 

[RiderCoach Lar]

Glad it ain't friday............

....it may as well be with a "had to lay'er down" comment floatin' around

 

[ionbeam]

I met a local guy with his new FJR a couple of weeks ago. He loves the bike and looks for reasons to ride. While talking bikes he mentioned that the only thing he really doesn't like about his FJR is that it has ABS. His fear? He may not be able to lay it down if he has to. The only reason he is alive today is because he laid down one of his previous bikes to prevent death

Why did you jump out of the car? To keep from having an accident...

 

[Murph]

I don't think we have enough info or an adequate picture of that moment in time to question Geezer's decision.

To those who are questioning the rider's choice to purposely lay the bike down, are you saying that it's never a choice to lay a bike down? Does this apply to dirt and sand also?

During a trail ride thru Baja I purposely laid a bike down so as to avoid T-boning another rider who unpredictably decided to turn into my path because he saw a different route. I was faced with a split-second decision to take a full-on hit or put the bike down to enhance our chances of not doing too much damage to both bikes (and to lessen the damage to the other guy's person). There was no time to successfullly swerve and I admit that I was travelling too close behind that rider ...but the issue is whether one really ever has a choice to lay down a bike. I know that it's a choice...albeit a last resort.

 

[Braenen]

Lay it down as in a low / zero speed "got it leaning over from the impact and attempt to avoid and cant hold it up because it weighs as much as a compact car so I got out of the way" lay down or a "wow, that guy just cut in front of me while I was doing 90 and I had to put it down to stop" lay down?

To me, it sounds like the former.

 

[GunMD]

I don't think we have enough info or an adequate picture of that moment in time to question Geezer's decision.
To those who are questioning the rider's choice to purposely lay the bike down, are you saying that it's never a choice to lay a bike down? Does this apply to dirt and sand also?

During a ride thru Baja I purposely laid a bike down so as to avoid T-boning another rider who unpredictably decided to turn into my path because he saw a different route. I was faced with a split-second decision to take a full-on hit or put the bike down to enhance our chances of not doing too much damage to both bikes (and to lessen the damage to the other guy's person). There was no time to successfullly swerve and I admit that I was travelling too close behind that rider ...but the issue is whether one really ever has a choice to lay down a bike. I know that it's a choice...albeit a last resort.

My comments are IRT street riding. I don't ride off-road very much and I'm certainly under-qualified to comment on situations like you describe.

Lay it down as in a low / zero speed "got it leaning over from the impact and attempt to avoid and cant hold it up because it weighs as much as a compact car so I got out of the way" lay down or a "wow, that guy just cut in front of me while I was doing 90 and I had to put it down to stop" lay down?

Agreed. There is a huge difference. Dropping vs. crashing.

 

[Murph]

Fortunately, I've only had this experience on dirt and comparing the deep sand I was in to street riding is comparing apples to oranges.

Just to sum up my stance on this ..... depending on speed, traction, placement of bike in relation to other vehicle or obstacle, and rider control, I definitely think laying down a bike is an option of last resort. For that reason, I cannot heckle Geezer2.

 

[Geezer2]

...a kid and his girlfiend on a sport bike decide to make a left turn in front of me. Laid it down (gently) to avoid knocking them off their bike.

Did they at least stop and see if you were O.K.? Offer to pay?

Yeah, they stopped and helped me get the bike up, apologized all over themselves, but no offer to pay. No biggy, **** happens. Just glad it wasn't serious.

 

[Geezer2]

<snip>Laid it down (gently) to avoid knocking them off their bike.

</snip>

Not buying it. It doesn't compute w/ me to make a conscience decision to lay a bike down. I call B.S. A poorly executed evasive maneuver, however, I can see causing the lay-down. But on purpose? That's either B.S. or a case of giving up way too early.

"Ride The Bike"

My front tire was 3 inches from their bike, i'm at a stop, beginning to engage the clutch...guess you're a better rider than I, no where to go....ah yes, that wonderful thing called hindsight. Guess ya had to be there!

 

[Scab]

I'm the last one to throw stones about crashing. :huh:

I'm sorry it went down, but glad it was not worse. As for the punk-*** that caused it: He'll get his. One day, he'll have children. :lol:

 

[Geezer2]

I don't think we have enough info or an adequate picture of that moment in time to question Geezer's decision.
To those who are questioning the rider's choice to purposely lay the bike down, are you saying that it's never a choice to lay a bike down? Does this apply to dirt and sand also?

During a ride thru Baja I purposely laid a bike down so as to avoid T-boning another rider who unpredictably decided to turn into my path because he saw a different route. I was faced with a split-second decision to take a full-on hit or put the bike down to enhance our chances of not doing too much damage to both bikes (and to lessen the damage to the other guy's person). There was no time to successfullly swerve and I admit that I was travelling too close behind that rider ...but the issue is whether one really ever has a choice to lay down a bike. I know that it's a choice...albeit a last resort.

Thanks Murph, There was "no where to go", hit em or lay it down. The bikes worth less to me than injuring someone.

 

[Murph]

My front tire was 3 inches from their bike, i'm at a stop, beginning to engage the clutch...guess you're a better rider than I, no where to go....ah yes, that wonderful thing called hindsight. Guess ya had to be there!

I think we found our point of contention. While technically correct, I wouldn't call that a "lay down" as usually used in motorcycle parlance. I would call your situation a "drop." Regardless, neither are good choices.

Glad to hear everyone turned out okay and, Geezer, you have a great attitude for a guy whose bike incurred some unwarranted scratches!