I suck at riding.

Police RTA investigators have told me that in most cases of a single-vehicle m/c accident, where the rider has failed to take a bend, the bike could in fact have made the bend if the rider had reacted by correcting his/her line but they have given up by then.

I've been in trouble where I KNOW I am going down but somehow pulled it out by keeping a steady throttle and committing to the turn. That will wake you up.
 
I've been in trouble where I KNOW I am going down but somehow pulled it out by keeping a steady throttle and committing to the turn. That will wake you up.
Same here.
Bob Hoover was fond of saying "fly the airplane as far into the crash as possible."
Yeah, he's talking airplanes but the same applies. Don't quit ridin' the bike until it's stopped.
More than once I've "saved it" at the last possible second.
 
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:twocents:
What made that mark? Doesn't look like a tire mark.... Is it from your bike? There's also a slight parallel mark see the blue arrows.
That creek? concrete bridge abutment etc. could scare guy into not wanting to make it a bit further round the corner.
A long straight skid mark? Kinda confused.
might not hurt for @G_YamTech_314 to get a REAL good idea of exactly what happened.
Revisit the scene?
 
Thinking out loud here
This bike can have ABS controlling the skid marks

I have gone off myself once that way XS 650 Braked hard straight like that turning at the last moment went off the tarmac ..
There was a foot or so gravel which I stayed on .. Continued a while on the gravel not steering back rolled off stayed upright.
No problems So it is in some cases maybe not a bad idea to brake off the energy as much as possible before running off .

I have a Honda Fireblade with no ABS If i Brake hard when the bike is leaning Trying to use the rear brake the rear end comes sideways . because the front brakes lifts weight off the rear. Some don't use the rear brake .So if high speed into the bend leaning cant use the rear brake without being careful
Pulling hard on the front brakes There is a risk it locks the wheel
Without braking away the energy and the front wheel loses grip -- the Low side And you go off with full energy perhaps leg under the bike.

#### I was in the proper lane doing about 90 by the time I saw the "20mph turn" sign... That's when I realized where I was and that I needed to bleed as much speed as humanly possible ####

Aee hhh the jury is perhaps still out if it was a wrong decision or not 90 is fast.
If the ABS is doing its job the speed could be down so a turn could be made before hitting the Bush Unknown at the begining of the braking

 
Same here.
Bob Hoover was fond of saying "fly the airplane as far into the crash as possible."
Yeah, he's talking airplanes but the same applies. Don't quit ridin' the bike until it's stopped.
More than once I've "saved it" at the last possible second.
Yeah, but Bob Hoover wasn't human.
 
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Donnie Williams is the man!
Donnie is using all the techniques I was taught including:
Four finger clutch control to apply the power through the drive train.
Counter balancing; not leaning into the corner but staying upright, allows better low speed control
(also if the bike does go down you stay on top not underneath!).
Etc etc etc....
 
'Dat you, Marty?
Yes, I'm hiding in front of my daughter. I was running legal speed or close to it on a fast sweeper that I could see my way through. My cousin was following on his GoldWing operating the camera with his left hand and driving with his right. That's one of those curves that puts a big grin on my face. The XS1100 Special has Race-Tech Gold Valve Emulators and custom wound springs from Traxxion Dynamics. Progressive Suspension on the rear with laden sag set for two-up. Any better would require replacing the bike, IMHO.
 
Bikes and modernish tire have incredible capability. My only scary times have been when I was unable to keep my focus on where I wanted to go and instead focus on oncoming traffic or scenery on the otherside of the road. ADHD needs to be kept in check while riding. :)
 
Bikes and modernish tire have incredible capability. My only scary times have been when I was unable to keep my focus on where I wanted to go and instead focus on oncoming traffic or scenery on the otherside of the road. ADHD needs to be kept in check while riding. :)
I have a more specific version of ADHD, it's called ADOSD..Attention Deficit......Oooooooh Shiny, Disorder.
 
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You were either traveling WAY TOO FAST for a public highway, OR more likely, you should have made it through that turn.

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I was hauling ass. Realized I wasn't making the turn at probably 100mph. My friend was well over 100 when he passed me.




I went back to revisit and that's where the photos of the skid mark came from. Like I said, I knew what I did was purely idiotic and I got carried away. I don't wanna ride like that anymore... In fact, I'm scared to kinda... I've had to ride other bikes since then and I haven't regained full comfort yet. I've been slowing down very early and prepping for turns cautiously.

There was no way I was making the turn. I started slowing down a few hundred feet before the sharp turn started but I was well into the easy turn before I stood it up and started slowing...
 
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:twocents:
What made that mark? Doesn't look like a tire mark.... Is it from your bike? There's also a slight parallel mark see the blue arrows.
That creek? concrete bridge abutment etc. could scare guy into not wanting to make it a bit further round the corner.
A long straight skid mark? Kinda confused.
might not hurt for @G_YamTech_314 to get a REAL good idea of exactly what happened.
Revisit the scene?
If you look close you might see where the weeds are also flattened. There's a gnarly flat spot on my rear tire. It is most definitely my skid mark making that. Perhaps I put a foot down and that's the other mark you see? Not quite sure to be honest but I never had a moment of clarity so to speak because there wasn't ever a shock factor. I never had anything to snap out of... I walked out of the woods and just kinda took it all in like it was a normal experience. No shakes. No fear. Just pain from the scrapes the twigs and thorns gave me. The cause of my crash was irresponsibility, and immaturity. I was risking others lives as well as my own but I didn't see it that way at the time. The older I get the wiser I get. The wiser I get, the more I realize how I wanna live long enough to get old (I think?)

I feel like a slapped ass for riding the way I was. But that's the reason the ninja isn't fixed yet. I'm not ready for it obviously.
 
I'm not shaming or pointing fingers.

Unless you're an expert there's not much place for rear brake use on a sport bike trying to lose a lot of speed in a straight line. Cough, advanced rider course. Get some confidence back pick up some skills.
I try to do several hard braking sequences on all the bikes I ride on a fairly regular basis, which reminds me, I'm due on a couple bikes, did the beemer this week.
 
I'm not shaming or pointing fingers.

Unless you're an expert there's not much place for rear brake use on a sport bike trying to lose a lot of speed in a straight line. Cough, advanced rider course. Get some confidence back pick up some skills.
I try to do several hard braking sequences on all the bikes I ride on a fairly regular basis, which reminds me, I'm due on a couple bikes, did the beemer this week.
The funny thing is that when I'm alone I hard brake with the front really well, and quite often... I practice gradual increase of the brakes to see how fast I can stop. I can do it fast enough to get a rush of blood to the head so I know I'm braking really hard lol. It was a brief moment of being outside my level of skill that really did it. It all happened so fast, and that practice was replaced with improper reaction. There's such a thing as too fast for a turn to be physically possible based on location in the road, and apparantly I was determined to prove that on this day. I will certainly take a riding course, invest in better protective gear, and increase my level of skill one small step at a time. In a way that's safe and not dangerous to anyone but me... I'm not feeling too bummed about it anymore. I know for a fact everyone goes too fast on a motorcycle from time to time, so there's no sense in feeling shamed beyond shame.

I lived, I learned, and I'll keep on keeping on.
 
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