You might want to watch this, but you've been warned...

ScooterMagoo said:

I am by no means bashing you hard_y_rd, but, that sounds like inexperience talking there. The following response is aimed to everybody. Panic situation or not, counter steering is the ONLY way a bike will steer. It's not a choice, people. You can't turn it on and off. It's physics and it applies ALWAYS, period! Only at, what I will call, parking lot speeds, only a few MPH, will you turn the handlebars conventionally to turn the motorcycle. Again, I state, counter steering is not a choice, it SHOULD be an instinctual behavior and if you, as a rider, can't wrap your head around the handling characteristics of a 2 wheeled vehicle or if you have to think about steering every time you navigate a corner, then you, frankly, are a hazard to yourself and everybody else and do not belong on a motorcycle. I know I sound harsh but I'm just being frank.

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best post in here. If you really have to think about it. You're not ready for the road or need to take the msf course.

Agree, that is disturbing. I sure hope he recovers fully. Hate to see that. I firmly believe if you have to think about what your doing to initiate a turn, practice is needed just riding in a safe setting like a track. It appeared he was going a hair too fast for a road like that as well. For those of us have been around motorcycles a long time these things just second nature. No thought, just do.

MacMcMacmac said:

Maybe it's just me but the first video looks a lot more like the results of a minor tankslapper than improper steering techique.

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I was thinking the same thing. There's so much movement front to back that it looks completely out of control to me. Maybe he initiated that by turning in the wrong direction, chopping the throttle, rear brakes, bad road surface, or a combination of things, but after the first oscillation it looks like he's just trying to hang on. With a better line, leaning off the bike, and smoother inputs he probably wouldn't have hit the truck. Of course if he were going slower...

jetmechmarty said:

Forget the truck. If the rider had countersteered to maintain his lane before the truck came into view, the accident wouldn't have happened. Blowing a turn is blowing a turn. It's obviously worse when you drive head on into a truck.

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Agree about his line sucking. If the truck hadn't been there I think he would have ended up in the wrong lane anyway.

peanut said:

...
He is probably going too fast to attempt a counter-steer manoever with any certainty of it being succesful.
...

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The phrase attempt a counter-steer maneuver sounds a little weird to me. It doesn't have to be some evasive maneuver. It can be slightly correcting your line (mid turn) initiated by a gentle counter steer. Once he saw the rest of the corner (and truck) he should have pushed on the right to lean further right and tighten up the radius of his turn. No doubt if he had the skill he could have tightened up that turn and stayed in his lane. After he upset everything, there was no going back.


When I'm on my FZ1 and pushing corners, I have to constantly keep pressure on the right grip to turn right. If I let up it will straighten out. If I need to readjust my line tighter mid-corner, I have to push more. I've been on other bikes that seem to fall into the corners or remain neutral in the corner. On those bikes it's a much different feeling than riding my FZ1. I don't pay attention to that stuff as much on these old bikes because you don't have that solid feel with the road, especially with sloppy riser bushings and buckhorn bars!

This makes me want to get my bike to a track to more safely see what it can do and learn to ride it better.

Fun read for sure.

Travis said:

This makes me want to get my bike to a track to more safely see what it can do and learn to ride it better.

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Since it's Crapuary for most of us, might spend an hour or two watching this.

That video is very well done, and very instructive. We can all learn a lot from watching it. I enjoyed watching it.

Wow, that is a lot of good info. I hope I can remember just 10% of that. If there is 1 thing I want to try to remember, it's the throttle control.

ouch lesson learned the hard way!

Don't come home pissed and/or just plain forget to unplug the ripcord.........lol.

Seems good..........do you have to buy a new jacket every time???

gggGary said:

I have been picking any "spot" on the road then do an emergency avoidance. It takes some thinking and practice to achieve best results. Keep this skill fresh with regular practice.

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You can demonstrate it with the bike not moving and your feet on the ground -- push on the right, and you will lean to the right and vice versa. But countersteering doesn't take over until a little above walking speed. Practice riding and pushing the bar on the side you want to go to. He did other things wrong. He was outriding his line of sight -- could have been a parked truck around any corner. And if he wasn't familiar with the road there could even have been a doozy of a corner coming up. Second, I guess he thought he was wanting to swerve, but you have the choice of swerving, slowing, or speeding up (least often the right choice), and combinations. He probably had plenty of time slow/stop. But too much speed was dominating the whole thing.

a few months ago tried counter steering deliberetly for the first time (same as everybody most probably been doing it instinctively for yrs) IDIOT DID A SUDDEN STOP IN FRONT OF ME to turn off the rd , ive got twin discs on the xs , slamed on the front brakes and the whole front end started to weave , easied up on f/ brake stoped weaving, hard brake again started to weave again eased off again and got that realizeation I was not going to stop in time , meanwhile the back of the cars getting closer and closer (all slow motion) remembered this post somehow and pushed bars into direction of car , leaned away from the car and just missed its arse end by a .... hair.. brake/ front end problem now fixed... so thanks ,definitely works

650Skull said:

forget to unplug the ripcord

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BAHAHAHA

Another fun watch.

Yeah, it gets crazy in Houston...

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/04...le-save-after-hitting-pothole-at-130-mph.html

The cure for that high speed wobble is to lean forward, but the guy is leaning forward. Looks like the rider is used to, and expecting, this wobble. I just gotta say, MORON, take it to the track.

Scott

push forward on BOTH handlebars.
Learned at speed on an XS1B in Missouri about 1975.
Stopped the wobble initially by speeding up, but when I let off the throttle it was right back.
The good news is that let try a couple things, before I hit on the answer.


i have used this technique quite a few times since. All it takes is a cupped front tire to set up a wobble. Or like last summer in Wyoming a rear slowly going flat on the freeway at 80MPH.
Yes this video makes my skin crawl for reasons not related to the wobble.

I had a tank slapper once on a ducati. It was actually down in El paso, TX. Turning left to get on the highway access road, some idiot went through the U-turns they have down there and pulled out in front of me, Changed my line to miss but that put me over an odd crack in the road and here came the wobble. Luckily I was going about 40 in 2nd, and just snapping the throttle wide brought the front tire up and stopped the wobble. It might have been Keith Code, but I know it was a racer who said "Can't get a wobble if the front wheel is in the air".

I can't say enough about these videos....

I've taken the state motorcycle course twice now (once when I was 15, and just a couple years ago.. Not 15). Always, I know it's an old thread and I didn't get the whole way through all the replies, but... This last time the instructors really hit attempting not to brake while in a turn (for obvious reasons). Rather straighten up and then brake. By the looks of it, perhaps he thought he could brake in time if he straighten up (judging by his momentous grab of the brake) .gggary and a few others are right though, had her countered harder, especially with mild back brake pressure, I believe he could have averted the crash. He was no where near leaning to the bikes capacity. Pegs fold up for a reason and yeah it's scary the first time you catch one (and even scarier if you have crash bars), but the design is there for a reason.

I grew up around motorcycle. When we had one that was just dead or had been wrecked but still "ride-able" we would coast down a grassy Hill onto a flat and practice ditching (it's a lot harder than it looks, lol). We ended up with bruises, but nothing severe and when someone blows a stop sign; it can help. It nearly saved my step-father when someone blew a stop sign into a 4 lane highway, only to stop right infront of his path. He ditched to the right, was able to get clear of the small s-10's body; unfortunately the driver had his tail gate down and he ended up catching the edge of that . His left side was mangled with a multiple left side fractures including 2 compound fractures in his left arm and 2 compound fractures in his left leg, and an few broken ribs (luckily he had just crossed state lines from no helmet to helmet law - ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET).

He was hurt, but knowing how to swerve - lay over saved him from completely t-boning a car (typically fatal at 55+ mph as he was going). While at home in a hospital bed and healing, he passed from a heart attack. His glazed over eyes and face full of coagulating blood is a sight I'll never forget, just like these videos, so horrific in nature yet informative in practice .

I've ridden a bit. Everything from 50cc scooters to 1600 heritage Softail classic. And first thing I do regardless of what I'm riding is take a good amount of time to ride figured 8's in a parking lot, feel the brakes, when it's going to tip, how does the front end handle under load, etc, etc.

I still, will never ride like this. Fast and furiius just gets you hurt or worse. I've lost a dozen and more friends to motorcycle accidents, you spend enough time around them and you will too. Sudden impact and a ruptured hepatic portal internally bleeding to death in about 4 minutes (only takes speeds of about 30 mph), racing around a curve, hitting a ground hog only to be partially decapitated by a tree branch; practicing wheelies in a school parking lot leading to flipping a bike and snapping a neck = quadrapalegia. These are a couple personally witnessed tragic accidents. Be safe. Don't be stupid . Do your best not to be one of the lost.

Stay safe out there.

PureXaos said:

This last time the instructors really hit attempting not to brake while in a turn (for obvious reasons). Rather straighten up and then brake.

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Including low speed with front brake. My instructor hit that will make you fall over in the Walmart parking lot, like the most embarrassing thing possible. BTW, my instructor was one of the cops in the wreck scene in the movie Rain Man. His line is "Get back in your car." LOL

Bump for spring! get out there review counter steering on the bike at the start of your riding season. Do it regular, make it an instinctive reaction. I brush up on counter steering every spring and work it a time or two a month at least during the season. Especially because it's so different than driving a car!
Do some "panic stops" also. I can guess that the number of motorcycle crashes would go way down if most riders knew and practised how fast they CAN stop a motorcycle.

When I knew that I was going to buy a motorcycle I read everything I could about it. I came across Twist of the Wrist 2 and they really pound counter steering into your head. It's helped me more than once get out of sticky situations and all around made me a much better rider. Looking where you want to go and throttle on lightly when in trouble and very close second and thirds.