Nearly avoided a crash

[Nick2]

About 2 weeks ago I was travelling over a high pass in the swiss alps. There were lots of motorcycles around that day, even a group in front of me. I drove about 100 yards behind them downhill through a right bend on a road not larger than 20 feet. I saw the last in the row braking so I slowed down too. To my surprise the bend turned sharper and sharper and I was too fast for it. Mind you, by fast I mean maybe 40-50 mph when 30 should have done it. Just when I hit the brakes harder a car came up, half on my side of the road.I immediately knew I wasn't going do make it so I braked as hard as I could and at the same time tried to wrestle the bike into a sharper right. Then a strong wobble came up, so strong I almost got trown off. I couldn't just get the bike further to the right and prepared for a hit when this ******* decided in the last second to pull over on his side and I somehow missed his front. However I hit him with the left hard bag, the FJR slid widely to the right and started to shake even harder. I let the brakes go for a second and the bike stabilized and I was able to stop. Luckily only the cover broke, the car missed my left leg by not more than 2 inches.

What puzzles me is this strong wobble. Where did it come from?

My tires are PR2s, moderately but evenly worn. Pressure was ok at 40PSi. ABS did not kick in AFAIK. Front and rear suspension were moderately hard. The bike was loaded with me (about 170lbs with gear) plus maybe 70 lbs of luggage, evenly distributed in side bags and on rear seat.

So any idea what happened? It's the first (and hopefully the last) time this happened.

Knowing this forum I'm likely to get my *** kicked by some ****** for saying anything, but here goes: I'd bet you already know that hitting the brake and slowing down while in a turn is a recipe for a high-side. The wobble doesn't surprise me given that you were fighting the bike as it was trying to "right itself". The reduction in speed in the curve causes the bike to sit up and you still want to make the turn so you are leaning it over more (counter-steering too) and you have a conflict between physics and desire. Letting the brakes go allowed the speed to return and the lean angle to take effect. OK so I bet I mis-read your post and all this is bull, but so what.

 

[obelix]

Yes, this may be one of the reasons. I don't usually drive on the limit and my driving is more by feeling then by thinking. Must not be that wrong as I do it that way for the last 30 years without any major mishap. I know I DID fight the bike but I wasn't sure it was the reason for this rapid oscilation, frequency was about 1 left/right per second. If you tell me it's normal I will accept this but I thought the FJR was made for FAST driving and this shouldn't happen as the speed was in my eyes far from the limit.

 

[bikesniffer]

You might be right that I was putting too much weight on the bars. I can't remember if I put the weight on the bars or on the pegs as I was a little distracted by the car trying to hit me.Aluminium frames are less stiff than steel frames? Well, then I learned a new thing. I thought it was just the opposite with modern space frames. Oh, I'm not quite ok, I needed new underwear after this. Keep in mind that the drop off on the side was not less than 1000 feet - just one step.

The grip pads are a nice idea. Hmm, maybe Velcro is even better? :lol: :lol:

Just remember to wear pampers next time you come and practice on our Swiss Alpine Passes. It does take a bit of getting used to those extreme switchbacks...and next time gimme a holler so I can join you. I know some pretty darn nice places around here.

Glad you're ok though.

Alfredo