The "Snake" in Cali... Interesting.

[frankenfeejeer]

Here is an article I found today on wired.com:

https://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/02/mulholland-the-snake/

 

[Bugnatr]

Just posers, too close to LA.

 

[SoCalFJR1300]

If they learned how to LEAN and USE THE FRONT BRAKE they wouldn't crash........half those guys hardly leaned at all, just locked up the REAR brake.

 

[Fairlaner]

hehe.....what a great road though.....

look forward to ring it again soon, after some fish and chips of course.

R

 

[HotRodZilla]

Lesse...Two cop cars, two rescue trucks, one water truck and one ambulance. Congratulations! That douche bag just cost you $10k because he is too stupid to ride a motorcycle.

Nice road though. We passed Mulholland Drive as we took the PCH towards Malibu last spring. I almost turned down it, but we were in the cage with the kids.

 

[russperry]

I think there are literally 100's of videos of crashes and near misses in that same corner, all of them seem to have dozens of people standing around waiting for an incident - it seems like its a well known spot for putting people either into the guard rail, or into the dirt hill if they make it past the rail.

 

[ULEWZ]

About 20 miles from my house and I avoid the snake like the plague. Too many idiots trying to do something dumb in front of the camera man that is always there on weekends. Idiots are idiots, but my opinion is they would not be as dumb if there was not a camera man. YMMV

 

[frankenfeejeer]

About 20 miles from my house and I avoid the snake like the plague. Too many idiots trying to do something dumb in front of the camera man that is always there on weekends. Idiots are idiots, but my opinion is they would not be as dumb if there was not a camera man. YMMV

The article actually states the same thing. It's not the most difficult corner on the route, but since the cameras are there, people do the stupidest things there.

Pretty embarrassing really.

 

[escapefjrtist]

I think there are literally 100's of videos of crashes and near misses in that same corner, all of them seem to have dozens of people standing around waiting for an incident - it seems like its a well known spot for putting people either into the guard rail, or into the dirt hill if they make it past the rail.

Haven't ridden Mulholland yet, what's so special about the corner that causes all the crashes?

--G

 

[russperry]

I've never ridden there so I don't know - but i remember some comments below one of the YouTube videos that talked about a small dip in the pavement that seems to lead to unsettling the suspension, a late reaction, then a quick slip, hookup, then high side or near high side (seen about 20 of those examples on the Tube). Other reaction is a panic straightening that forces the rider wide into the rail or the hill (not so many of these, but there's one epic one where the dude rides it up the hill about 15' before stalling at a big boulder and having the bike air drop back down to the dirt shoulder).

Big Drop



Huge compilation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9AfibzZtcU

 

[Hudson]

Several challenges with the Snake, which appears deceptively simple.

First, like Russperry says, the pavement undulates a bit. Second, headed uphill, you go through a series of esses and suddenly, you're on the corner. If your line is off, it pushes you outside and the tendency is to grab some brake - wrong approach. If you come up on the corner hot, and to your left you have a ton of spectators with cameras, it's easy to get distracted.

Personally, my two favorite approaches to the Snake are:

1. On a weekday when all the noobs are at work and you can focus on picking your line:

2.In Steve McQueen's 1958 Porsche Speedster, driven by his namesake:

 

[FJRBluesman]

This road always has bone heads on it. It's very heavily traveled by wanna be racers and squids. Also heavily documented in pix and video as you can see on the neenernet.

On the weekends tons-O-CHP too... LEO's for all ya'll others outside Cali.

It is a fun road as R says, and the fish & chips are the bomb!

 

[Fairlaner]

well i am home on the 26th....maybe fish and chips and the snake is in order for the 27th....

R

 

[FJRBluesman]

Always on a week day...

I may have to do this before you return. I have a couple days off but before the 26th.

 

[dj bill]

lots of low sides,bad tires ?,ice covered roads ? ,wtf

 

[HotRodZilla]

A huge majority of those were obviously rider error. A few grabbed too much rear brake. A lot were looking at the hill or the guard rail instead of the road, and one freaked out when his pegs touched, so he stood it up and wrecked. However, there were some that just looked like the front washed out or the rear began to spin. I wonder if a little bit of wind doesn't wash that dust off the hill and there's enough of it on the road to make it slick. That's a ton of wrecks in the same spot.

 

[Hudson]

Zilla, my own experience in those canyons is that a bit of gravel mixed with less-than-smooth roads does play into it. But so much of it is rider error. There isn't a ton of room if you come in too hot, so the best approach is what the Wired writer sez: scrub off early and throttle smoothly through.

I will admit to being a bit intimidated the first few times I did the Snake, due entirely to the YouTube videos.