Puckered Sphincter - for real

[BikerGeek99]

Shake it off, dude. I know the feeling.

Our route home on Monday used rt. 60 towards Charleston. We were humming along, having fun. Went into a corner and I saw gravel in the road. What'd I do? Fixated on it, grabbed the brakes and, like a complete and total dumbass, rode right through it.

Got lucky.

Front and rear brakes locked up briefly as we went though it. I can still feel the bike (2-up and fully loaded with our crap) doing it's little wiggle. As this was happening I looked ahead to make sure there was no traffic coming 'cause I knew we were going into the other lane and was planning an escape route, if necessary. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic. Made it through the gravel and finished the turn without any more incident, back in the proper lane.

As we hit the gravel, I said, "Son of a bitch..." Susie heard me and I'm pretty sure she was ready to jump.

After we made it through, she said, "Wow. That was scary." My response - "And it was my own damn fault for fixating on the fargin' gravel rather than just driving through the damn corner."

Lesson learned. I hope. Coulda been bad in many ways.

BTW - we were at Freedom on Friday as well. New rear Roadsmart, front and rear brakes, in and out in less than 45 minutes for under $200. Those guys rock!

 

[ALFJR]

I had new Dunlop Roadsmarts installed on Friday by Freedom in Princeton (great deal!), but its a dual compound tire, with a much harder center patch. I firmly believe that the Azaro's I was running would NOT have locked up like this. But thats neither here or nor there. Ultimately, as the rider, were all responsible for our actions.

You might be on to something here... I was running Roadsmarts also, And the rear locks EASY now.

+1 To Roadsmarts causing my rear ABS to kick in sooner than the Bridgestones and Avons I have run in the past. Heads up to those with Roadsmarts!

 

[Brody]

Steve,

I agree with JWilly's comments about being in a lower gear.

I watched and re-watched your video and still can't be sure but it seems to me that, just before the 1st skid,

you were in the process of down-shifting.

Thus, when you hit the brake, you were free-wheeling, with the clutch in and had no engine braking going on at that instant.

That made it more likely to skid.

In order to be smooth and have more control on those roads you want the rpms to be in the high range.

That way most of the deceleration and accerleration, that must be in tune with your sight distance, is handled

by slight adjustments of the throttle.

Braking, then becomes only an auxillary imput, not the primary slowing imput.

Too much shifting going on for your own good.

 

[smokeFJR06]

Interesting to see the replay on that one Steve. We weren't really riding that portion very hard but that turn snuck up on both of us. The one thing I didn't like about that road was that it was not marked at all to warn you as to what was coming up. I found myself looking down at the GPS screen too often on this road.

Notice after your great save, I gave you a thumbs up sign. We backed it down even more after that.

U DA MAN!!!

Smoke

PS. Glad you didn't mention to the group how lost we were! :blink:

 

[Go Far]

Thanks for sharing!

Was your camera mounted on your helmet?

I see a couple of things.

That blind rise before the turn in didn't help the situation.

Is that road in an area that is popular with campers dragging trailers? Around here in Utah, ALL the tight rights have gravel from the trailers hitting the inside shoulder and spitting gravel onto the asphalt. Then, the other cars arrange the gravel in the center of the lane- and that was your line. Do you keep the balls of your feet on the pegs? That, and resting fingers on the front brake make it harder to punch the rear brake. And use the clues of the rider in front (without fixing on them). It looked like his brake light was on at the point that you schphinchted! Take those clues and use them.

 

[FJR1300Mark]

I too have been rethinking many of the roads curves of EOM. WV was amazingly good for me. I was learning more with each day. Nothing that really scared me, but a few things happened a little faster than I was ready for.

I"ve reread one book and order Reg Pridemores book just today. I"m waiting on the weather to find what little curves we have here.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and video.

 

[SPORT]

Watching the video I first thought...fatigue.

My reasonning; the line is erratic, although I could'nt see when you were 'looking' through the turn, but I'd say the Slow, Look, Press, and Roll was not as sharp as could be. For example, several turns I noticed the bike was not on the inside of the apex..this would explain why the truck was too close to you. Something else I did notice is that there was a downshift around the beginning of a turn. Although my PC gave me a choppy video, I would guess that's what gave the rear tire lock. Fatigue also led to delayed slowing in that I noticed deceleration through most of each turn.

I completely relate to those times! I've had a number of 'close calls' where fatigue was the culprit.

Thanks for sharing as it's always better to learn from others' mistakes than have to make them ourselves.

Glad you rode it out!

Sport

PS. Hope this doesn't come accross harshly or condescending as that is not my intention. Only wanted to point out what I saw.

 

[RickyRey]

Okay, some of the guys here have seen this on my video recording unit at the Inn, nevertheless, I'm going to offer it up here in the hopes that others won't do what I did. My pride is wounded over posting this, but if it saves somebody else some grief, than swallowing my pride is worth it.

Before clicking the link, the story.

Fred (SmokeFJR) are on EOM Route 1 coming down the backside of Potts Mountain in Virginia. Its a stunning ride, I was really enjoying the scenery, the road, the company, it was perfect. Just prior to this particular switchback we had come through a series of 3 or 4 of them. Frankly, I just completely zoned out for a split second, my mind was far away.

I entered the switch back slightly hot for my skill level, when I came to my senses I realized this, I applied some trailing rear brake to scrub off a bit of speed. Then I saw the gravel. The first slide is my sphincter saying OH SHIT! I locked the back wheel. The second and third slides are gravel. This could have been a pretty nasty low side, or, worse, a high side.

I had new Dunlop Roadsmarts installed on Friday by Freedom in Princeton (great deal!), but its a dual compound tire, with a much harder center patch. I firmly believe that the Azaro's I was running would NOT have locked up like this. But thats neither here or nor there. Ultimately, as the rider, were all responsible for our actions.

Please learn from my graphic mistake.

Puckered Sphincter

[Thanks for the info. Myself and two other guys are going to be riding this route next week. At what point do we slam on the footer? I need to relay this to my companions who will be riding a HD UG and a Venture. Ill tell them that this is an FJR cornering technique that their rides aren't quite up to .

Just kidding...I did the same thing a yearsback and dropped the whole mess when I could have (in hindsight) adjusted as you did and kept on... Good job stayin cool.

RR

/quote]

 

[luvtoride]

I"m waiting on the weather to find what little curves we have here.

Good luck Mark

We've got on and offramps... not much else around here.

You might try way down off of Ballahack road & that area. There are a few curves down there.

 

[LDRydr]

Nice recovery!

Remember, AVOID THE MIDDLE. It's worth noting that at :54 to :55 in the video you can clearly see the oncoming pickup with one of his tires running right down the middle of the double-yellow line. Be glad you weren't trying to share the same space.

 

[Fred W]

I had new Dunlop Roadsmarts installed on Friday by Freedom in Princeton (great deal!), but its a dual compound tire, with a much harder center patch. I firmly believe that the Azaro's I was running would NOT have locked up like this. But thats neither here or nor there. Ultimately, as the rider, were all responsible for our actions.

You might be on to something here... I was running Roadsmarts also, And the rear locks EASY now.

+1 To Roadsmarts causing my rear ABS to kick in sooner than the Bridgestones and Avons I have run in the past. Heads up to those with Roadsmarts!

That's very likely to be true when the bike is vertical and you are running on the harder compound stripe of the tire. Why would you expect it to be anything else? I bet the ABS activates really easily on Metzler ME880 too. I don't know having never tried one. That is the price that one pays for longevity.

But the big difference with the Roadsmart is that the compound on the sides of the tire are quite sticky, at least mine seem to be. So I would not expect the tire to break loose any sooner than any other sport touring type tires under trail braking or acceleration out of corners (ie with the bike in a leaned attitude).

Straight up braking is more effective when applied primarily on the front wheel, anyway...

 

[Groo]

Looked like you might have unloaded the suspension when you crested the rise right before/in the corner... which severely alters the bikes handling... I hate it when that happens.

 

[Draggon Rider]

Okay, some of the guys here have seen this on my video recording unit at the Inn, nevertheless, I'm going to offer it up here in the hopes that others won't do what I did. My pride is wounded over posting this, but if it saves somebody else some grief, than swallowing my pride is worth it.
Before clicking the link, the story.

Fred (SmokeFJR) are on EOM Route 1 coming down the backside of Potts Mountain in Virginia. Its a stunning ride, I was really enjoying the scenery, the road, the company, it was perfect. Just prior to this particular switchback we had come through a series of 3 or 4 of them. Frankly, I just completely zoned out for a split second, my mind was far away.

I entered the switch back slightly hot for my skill level, when I came to my senses I realized this, I applied some trailing rear brake to scrub off a bit of speed. Then I saw the gravel. The first slide is my sphincter saying OH SHIT! I locked the back wheel. The second and third slides are gravel. This could have been a pretty nasty low side, or, worse, a high side.

I had new Dunlop Roadsmarts installed on Friday by Freedom in Princeton (great deal!), but its a dual compound tire, with a much harder center patch. I firmly believe that the Azaro's I was running would NOT have locked up like this. But thats neither here or nor there. Ultimately, as the rider, were all responsible for our actions.

Please learn from my graphic mistake.

Puckered Sphincter

What's a Sphincter? :blink:

Dude, You rode away from it, You're not whinning about your bike being wrecked, and we aren't sending you get well cards.

It's a learning experience. You want you ego bashed try laying your bike down in front of 50 bikers.

I'm just glad I've got ABS, the cruiser didn't and I had a few Puckered Sphincter moments with loose dirt on the ashault, I still haven't figured out how I pulled out of that one, but I made it.

When I took the Motorcycle Safety Class I had a German lady as the instructor, when I locked up the rear wheel for the first time, in my head I heard her voice say "Fin you Luck up the Rear feel, keep it lucked un til you cum to a cumplet stup". :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[f1fan]

"Fin you Luck up the Rear feel, keep it lucked un til you cum to a cumplet stup". :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ha, that's a good impression mate. But, I'd like to hear you talk in German.

 

[rocknfjr]

I'am glad to see you rode it out with out getting hurt. We rode across potts mt. when we left Lewisburg on 9/18

there were several turns with gravel and loose dirt. I met a loging truck still throwing loose dirt from his tires where he had just

pulled onto the road

Have fun ride safe!

 

[JerseyEd]

Last year I had just put on a new set of contis before the trip and I hit every pile not patch of gravel. The tire gripped as fast as they slipped. It scared the shit out of me but after a while I would not even tighten up knowing the tires would track straight. I had new roadsmarts but didn't get a chance to mount them, or test them, so I can not compare. Being lost all the time I had to ride as fast as the people in front me, and I think they might have traveled over the speed limit. The faster the speed the faster the recovery time. If I have to replace tires when I come down next year I would put Conti tires on for that trip. The tip someone posted ealier about watching the contour of the road ahead of you on your GPS is a good one.