My crash near Pattaya (CBR250r)

[JohnPark]

Thank you for the positive comments guys, I'm able to seperate the guys who are just being negative for the sake of it from those of you who actually want to help and offer advice.

[ice4351]

How the hell do you video tape your own crash????

[Tywais]

How the hell do you video tape your own crash????

Helmet cam.

[yankee99]

That road is about 5 minutes from my house and 1min 8 seconds by bike (with traffic NOT by speeding),,,,Like another poster suggested read or watch twist of the wrist....This book/video followed imo would have saved you from that mishap and i am a semi authority on mishaps. I actually almost lost it on that road once heading up to bira.....

The thing with twist of the wrist is you can practice these skills on your scooter if you ride one which then will make them second nature...glad you are ok

[lovetotravel]

Here come the army of TV critics. Yawn.

Glad you're OK. You'll learn from your mistakes, don't worry about it.

Stock tires? I loathed the stock tires on the CBR250R, replaced them as quickly as I could.

If he was speeding, it was breaking the law and potentially putting others at risk. Luckily, no others were involved. My friend was hit by a bike going too fast and couldn't negotiate the corner. No excuse for this.

if you are too negative to say sorry for someone first who did an accident and just blame him with 'if's , sure one day a bike will come and hit you from you a.s. bad karma you know!

and karma accepts no excuses too!

100% glad he wasn't hurt. But should I say sorry first to somebody who was speeding in their car and hit a pedestrian? Don't think so. Sure, he was on a relatively traffic free road, but that was just this time. If speeding there, I'm sure speeding happens elsewhere. If going too fast and something comes out of nowhere, you've got not time to react.

[RedQualia]

Not a bad little dump, and a good lesson for both you and perhaps others who view the video. A common enough scenario, and good on you for sharing.

I generally use the front brake almost exclusively. So little stopping power coming from that rear brake. Unless I see sand/rock/spooky crap that I can't avoid going through. Then I slow down and use the rear brake.

Someone else mentioned losing traction from oil in the road. I did that maybe 30 years ago. Mountain road, lots of trees and shadows, and I was taking a 30MPH curve at 30MPH. I simply didn't see that dark spot on the road, and might have gone down even if I had, not thinking about what it might be at the time. In any case, the bike just slid out from under me. An old guy on a BMW stopped and picked me up, dusted me off, and we went over to look at the road there. As we were standing there contemplating things, a kid on a dirt bike came by, just missing the spot. His friend behind him didn't miss it, and same thing happened to him. No real speed involved at all, in any of these cases.

We ended up putting sand on top of the oily spot. People still might hit it and slide, but the sand was much more visible, and so avoidable.

I've been talking about "oil," but more often than not, it was actually gasoline/benzine/petrol/fuel. Fuel caps were rarely attached to the vehicles in the states 30 years ago, and it was easy to drive out from a gas station and forget the cap. The result of this was that those who had just filled up and then had to drive mountain roads would slosh fuel onto the road in many of the curves. Which partially dissolves asphalt and turns it into snot. What does it look like? A dark spot, varying in size.

Fuel, oil... Either way... And it doesn't have to be in the mountains. Highway 121/Canal Road, a bit west of Chiang Mai, can be a fun road. Several curves requiring one to slow down, and it can be quite tempting not to do so on a motorcycle... To take the curves with a little bit of speed, leaning over quite a bit. And I've been known to do that. Still, it's not a track. Everyone and their mother drives that road, and it's easy to see oily lines everywhere if you look for them. Maybe slippery. Maybe not. Your call. But it's the dry season now... Not much rain to wash the roads. So really need to take extra care on curves when it finally does rain after a dry spell.

I'll stop prattling now...

[robblok]

Here come the army of TV critics. Yawn.

Glad you're OK. You'll learn from your mistakes, don't worry about it.

Stock tires? I loathed the stock tires on the CBR250R, replaced them as quickly as I could.

If he was speeding, it was breaking the law and potentially putting others at risk. Luckily, no others were involved. My friend was hit by a bike going too fast and couldn't negotiate the corner. No excuse for this.

if you are too negative to say sorry for someone first who did an accident and just blame him with 'if's , sure one day a bike will come and hit you from you a.s. bad karma you know!

and karma accepts no excuses too!

100% glad he wasn't hurt. But should I say sorry first to somebody who was speeding in their car and hit a pedestrian? Don't think so. Sure, he was on a relatively traffic free road, but that was just this time. If speeding there, I'm sure speeding happens elsewhere. If going too fast and something comes out of nowhere, you've got not time to react.

Stupid remark, speeding on a road that invites speeding and is void of traffic does not mean speeding on other roads. Most people will go faster when the road is clear and no traffic.

[NoshowJones]

I was able to ride home no problem.

Bike was missing the left foot peg and had bent the left handlebar, had to replace all the plastics on the left side.

Total cost 15000 bt but would have been cheaper if I hadn't bought upgraded parts.

The suspension is really bad, think I'm going to buy a new bike when I get back from work next month. Getting quite bored with the 250, not bad for a first bike though (good to learn on)

I know where there's a year old er6n for sale.

Pl me if you're interested.

Glad your ok and ready to upgrade.

Norman

Think I'm going to buy new so that I can pay it up on finance but thank you for letting me know.

If you keep riding as fast as what it looks like on the video, you won't need to bother about keeping up the payments on your new bike. I'm still glad you are OK, as you were not putting anyone elses life in danger, hope you intended to slow down if any other traffic appeared no matter what direction they were traveling.

[Familyonthemove]

Thanks for posting the video ..... and let's all be honest - we've all done something similar in our early days and then what ideally follows is some proper rider training and we start to look further ahead and ride to the road conditions ...... or we don't and we have a proper sky-road-sky-road-sky crash and then we learn the really hard way (that was my approach to rider training).

I think I had three minor spills on my BSA Bantam before I got wise ..... and then had some great training from an ex-police rider and so managed to keep my Norton Commando and then my Triumph RS 955 the right way up for many years of happy riding.

But like all of us who ride in Thailand - I'll probably be dusting myself off at the side of the road any day soon.

But as others have said ..... it's not easy to avoid the front brake and look around the bend at where you want to go when the front end slides. I think we all need at least one good crash to learn that one.

[BirdsandBooze]

We learn from our mistakes. It didn't look like you were a danger to anyone else on that road, so just ignore the negative comments. They usually come from people who buy into the ethos of extreme nanny states.

[ll2]

I was able to ride home no problem.

Bike was missing the left foot peg and had bent the left handlebar, had to replace all the plastics on the left side.

Total cost 15000 bt but would have been cheaper if I hadn't bought upgraded parts.

The suspension is really bad, think I'm going to buy a new bike when I get back from work next month. Getting quite bored with the 250, not bad for a first bike though (good to learn on)

I know where there's a year old er6n for sale.

Pl me if you're interested.

Glad your ok and ready to upgrade.

Norman

Think I'm going to buy new so that I can pay it up on finance but thank you for letting me know.

If you keep riding as fast as what it looks like on the video, you won't need to bother about keeping up the payments on your new bike. I'm still glad you are OK, as you were not putting anyone elses life in danger, hope you intended to slow down if any other traffic appeared no matter what direction they were traveling.

how fast?

how do you know it is too fast? do you have special skills to understand how fast a bike is going on a video?

utter bs!

[RedQualia]

[some text deleted]

if you are too negative to say sorry for someone first who did an accident and just blame him with 'if's , sure one day a bike will come and hit you from you a.s. bad karma you know!

and karma accepts no excuses too!

100% glad he wasn't hurt. But should I say sorry first to somebody who was speeding in their car and hit a pedestrian? Don't think so. Sure, he was on a relatively traffic free road, but that was just this time. If speeding there, I'm sure speeding happens elsewhere. If going too fast and something comes out of nowhere, you've got not time to react.

Stupid remark, speeding on a road that invites speeding and is void of traffic does not mean speeding on other roads. Most people will go faster when the road is clear and no traffic.

And just to be clear, he wasn't really "speeding" speeding. How do I know? Because CBR250s can't go all that fast. Their top speed is around 140KPH, and it takes quite a bit of time to get to that top speed. Much more than he's had in the video. It's possible he could have hit 120KPH in the video, but I doubt it. More likely, 90-100KPH. The speed limit on that road is at least 90KPH (possibly 120?).

The good news is that a CBR250 has at least enough power to keep up with most traffic. And keeping up with traffic is an important part of what I consider to be "defensive driving/riding." There is such a thing as going too slowly. No other traffic in his video, yes. But bad things often happen to people who can't or don't keep up with traffic.

Edited January 9, 2014 by RedQualia

[robblok]

[some text deleted]

if you are too negative to say sorry for someone first who did an accident and just blame him with 'if's , sure one day a bike will come and hit you from you a.s. bad karma you know!

and karma accepts no excuses too!

100% glad he wasn't hurt. But should I say sorry first to somebody who was speeding in their car and hit a pedestrian? Don't think so. Sure, he was on a relatively traffic free road, but that was just this time. If speeding there, I'm sure speeding happens elsewhere. If going too fast and something comes out of nowhere, you've got not time to react.

Stupid remark, speeding on a road that invites speeding and is void of traffic does not mean speeding on other roads. Most people will go faster when the road is clear and no traffic.

And just to be clear, he wasn't really "speeding" speeding. How do I know? Because CBR250s can't go all that fast. Their top speed is around 140KPH, and it takes quite a bit of time to get to that top speed. Much more than he's had in the video. It's possible he could have hit 120KPH in the video, but I doubt it. More likely, 90-100KPH. The speed limit on that road is at least 90KPH (possibly 120?).

The good news is that a CBR250 has at least enough power to keep up with most traffic. And keeping up with traffic is an important part of what I consider to be "defensive driving/riding." There is such a thing as going too slowly. No other traffic in his video, yes. But bad things often happen to people who can't or don't keep up with traffic.

Yes its important to go as fast as other traffic, I also owned a cbr 250r and am making no comments on speed. I have no idea how fast he went or what the speed limits was there ect ect.

[NoshowJones]

In reply to 112, post #71. I did not say anything about riding too fast, I just said it looked that way on the video. An apology for the utter BS remark would be in order I think.

[robblok]

In reply to 112, post #71. I did not say anything about riding too fast, I just said it looked that way on the video. An apology for the utter BS remark would be in order I think.

I have seen a video of my friend on his cbr250r on a road.. i was thinking wow he is going real fast. But i know that road in front of his house its full of speed bumps. It was just impossible to go fast but it looked that way on the video. Video's often misrepresent things.

[NoshowJones]

Here come the army of TV critics. Yawn.

Glad you're OK. You'll learn from your mistakes, don't worry about it.

Stock tires? I loathed the stock tires on the CBR250R, replaced them as quickly as I could.

If he was speeding, it was breaking the law and potentially putting others at risk. Luckily, no others were involved. My friend was hit by a bike going too fast and couldn't negotiate the corner. No excuse for this.

if you are too negative to say sorry for someone first who did an accident and just blame him with 'if's , sure one day a bike will come and hit you from you a.s. bad karma you know!

and karma accepts no excuses too!

You have got to admit Lovetotravel has got a point.

[stupot1952]

just idiot driving fast on roads they don't know.......wonder if they would have posted this if it had been more serious!!

[PhillyBoy]

What??? Why aren't you all jumping on this idiot? YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF!!!!

And thanks for not driving like a madman on the roads I drive on. I would have had bad dreams that I killed somebody....even if he was a lunatic!

Laughing? That's good! Lets get a bigger bike and let me know when you do and let me pay for your life insurance policy if I can be the beneficiary.

Are you kidding me.....

[fabphil]

Luv me honda 125 wave...does the job for me around pattaya and not to distant places..

[RubberSideDown]

I wish some of these 'riding experts' (most of whom I've never seen post in this section before) would lend their knowledge and experience to threads other than those where members are willing to share their mistakes with the group (where they pour out their scorn and derision rather than trying to be actually helpful)- maybe you could share the benefit of your advice before someone goes down, and improve the general skill level around here.

I'm guessing most of you are 'scooter-riding girl scouts', but maybe not- perhaps some of you are actual motorcyclists (though that would probably shine through in your comments, and for the most part it doesn't...)

[Gweiloman]

To the OP, I believe you know which are constructive comments and which are just from embittered old guys with nothing better to do.

There's a lot of good advice being given except for one glaring piece of advice. It's actually in a couple of the posts above but maybe not stated too clearly:

LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO

A couple of posters have mentioned Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist. Assuming that you are a fairly new rider like me, download this immediately (oh, while you are it, buy some boots now, don't wait till you go back to the UK. There are very good boots at good prices in Thailand).

I would also strongly suggest that you go to one of the organised track days (by Honda or Pirelli or many others, assuming once again that you are a newbie like me) to get proper instruction. They cost absolutely next to nothing and could well be a life saver. Alternatively, contact some riding schools or instructors (I can recommend one to you if you like). Once again, this is a fraction of the price of what it will cost you in the UK and you will then enjoy riding with more confidence as well.

[ll2]

I wish some of these 'riding experts' (most of whom I've never seen post in this section before) would lend their knowledge and experience to threads other than those where members are willing to share their mistakes with the group (where they pour out their scorn and derision rather than trying to be actually helpful)- maybe you could share the benefit of your advice before someone goes down, and improve the general skill level around here.

I'm guessing most of you are 'scooter-riding girl scouts', but maybe not- perhaps some of you are actual motorcyclists (though that would probably shine through in your comments, and for the most part it doesn't...)

well said.

Sure some scoot loving girly negative and jealous guys here want us bikers dead!

i am full for bs comments coming from fresh water riders or some drunk drivers.

Op is trying and he has right to do accidents while learning doing this right!

so scoot loving girly guys, just get out and if you do not have balls, just get a ball plantation, it is cheap in Thailand all i know from some scoot loving girly guys or scary and shaky car drivers!

Edited January 9, 2014 by ll2

[thailandbeachisland]

Good that you are safe, but please stop playing like a kids, it's ridiculous to ride a small motorbikes as this one :-)

[JohnPark]

I wish some of these 'riding experts' (most of whom I've never seen post in this section before) would lend their knowledge and experience to threads other than those where members are willing to share their mistakes with the group (where they pour out their scorn and derision rather than trying to be actually helpful)- maybe you could share the benefit of your advice before someone goes down, and improve the general skill level around here.

I'm guessing most of you are 'scooter-riding girl scouts', but maybe not- perhaps some of you are actual motorcyclists (though that would probably shine through in your comments, and for the most part it doesn't...)

well said.

Sure some scoot loving girly negative and jealous guys here want us bikers dead!

i am full for bs comments coming from fresh water riders or some drunk drivers.

Op is trying and he has right to do accidents while learning doing this right!

so scoot loving girly guys, just get out and if you do not have balls, just get a ball plantation, it is cheap in Thailand all i know from some scoot loving girly guys!

I'm going to start riding at trackdays up at Bira when I get back from work February, I believe they hold open days most Mondays.

I would like to take part in the riding schools in the UK but I only spend 2 weeks each year in the UK and it's always to cold in Feb/Mar plus I don't hold a UK license.

People can wish us bikers dead all they want but that really says more about them than it does us.

My new boots are already ordered, just need to take a holiday to Scotland to pick them up.

[ll2]

I wish some of these 'riding experts' (most of whom I've never seen post in this section before) would lend their knowledge and experience to threads other than those where members are willing to share their mistakes with the group (where they pour out their scorn and derision rather than trying to be actually helpful)- maybe you could share the benefit of your advice before someone goes down, and improve the general skill level around here.

I'm guessing most of you are 'scooter-riding girl scouts', but maybe not- perhaps some of you are actual motorcyclists (though that would probably shine through in your comments, and for the most part it doesn't...)

well said.

Sure some scoot loving girly negative and jealous guys here want us bikers dead!

i am full for bs comments coming from fresh water riders or some drunk drivers.

Op is trying and he has right to do accidents while learning doing this right!

so scoot loving girly guys, just get out and if you do not have balls, just get a ball plantation, it is cheap in Thailand all i know from some scoot loving girly guys!

I'm going to start riding at trackdays up at Bira when I get back from work February, I believe they hold open days most Mondays.

I would like to take part in the riding schools in the UK but I only spend 2 weeks each year in the UK and it's always to cold in Feb/Mar plus I don't hold a UK license.

People can wish us bikers dead all they want but that really says more about them than it does us.

My new boots are already ordered, just need to take a holiday to Scotland to pick them up.

great. you are on your way! just dont listen to those bar stool jealous idiots.

BIRA/a track is a good place to master motorcycling.

Also, there are riding school here besides, get bigger bike like cbr500r or ninja 300 at least. They are much more forgiving than cbr250r and they honda has ABS standard.

Edited January 9, 2014 by ll2

[robblok]

I wish some of these 'riding experts' (most of whom I've never seen post in this section before) would lend their knowledge and experience to threads other than those where members are willing to share their mistakes with the group (where they pour out their scorn and derision rather than trying to be actually helpful)- maybe you could share the benefit of your advice before someone goes down, and improve the general skill level around here.

I'm guessing most of you are 'scooter-riding girl scouts', but maybe not- perhaps some of you are actual motorcyclists (though that would probably shine through in your comments, and for the most part it doesn't...)

well said.

Sure some scoot loving girly negative and jealous guys here want us bikers dead!

i am full for bs comments coming from fresh water riders or some drunk drivers.

Op is trying and he has right to do accidents while learning doing this right!

so scoot loving girly guys, just get out and if you do not have balls, just get a ball plantation, it is cheap in Thailand all i know from some scoot loving girly guys!

I'm going to start riding at trackdays up at Bira when I get back from work February, I believe they hold open days most Mondays.

I would like to take part in the riding schools in the UK but I only spend 2 weeks each year in the UK and it's always to cold in Feb/Mar plus I don't hold a UK license.

People can wish us bikers dead all they want but that really says more about them than it does us.

My new boots are already ordered, just need to take a holiday to Scotland to pick them up.

great. you are on your way! just dont listen to those bar stool jealous idiots.

BIRA/a track is a good place to master motorcycling.

Also, there are riding school here besides, get bigger bike like cbr500r or ninja 300 at least. They are much more forgiving than cbr250r and they honda has ABS standard.

Are there real riding-schools here in Thailand ? People who speak good English ? I would love to learn more as its better to learn more and don't fall then to learn after falling.

[ll2]

^

^

I know an English gentleman who is doing private and group courses as well but for track.

But a proper riding school in Thailand? Never heard of it maybe they advertise in Thai though:)

Honda Big wing gives a very elementary training but still good if you inexperienced or sitting on a new bike.

Also Ducati does train as well all i know

[robblok]

^

^

I know an English gentleman who is doing private and group courses as well but for track.

But a proper riding school in Thailand? Never heard of it maybe they advertise in Thai though:)

Honda Big wing gives a very elementary training but still good if you inexperienced or sitting on a new bike.

Also Ducati does train as well all i know

I have done my fair share of km on my bike and am certainly not that inexperienced as i need the most basic of training. I was not really looking for track training but but something to get me better at riding my bike. I am not a fast rider by any means and am ok for what I am doing but extra education on any field is always good.

[lovetotravel]

[some text deleted]

if you are too negative to say sorry for someone first who did an accident and just blame him with 'if's , sure one day a bike will come and hit you from you a.s. bad karma you know!

and karma accepts no excuses too!

100% glad he wasn't hurt. But should I say sorry first to somebody who was speeding in their car and hit a pedestrian? Don't think so. Sure, he was on a relatively traffic free road, but that was just this time. If speeding there, I'm sure speeding happens elsewhere. If going too fast and something comes out of nowhere, you've got not time to react.

Stupid remark, speeding on a road that invites speeding and is void of traffic does not mean speeding on other roads. Most people will go faster when the road is clear and no traffic.

And just to be clear, he wasn't really "speeding" speeding. How do I know? Because CBR250s can't go all that fast. Their top speed is around 140KPH, and it takes quite a bit of time to get to that top speed. Much more than he's had in the video. It's possible he could have hit 120KPH in the video, but I doubt it. More likely, 90-100KPH. The speed limit on that road is at least 90KPH (possibly 120?).

The good news is that a CBR250 has at least enough power to keep up with most traffic. And keeping up with traffic is an important part of what I consider to be "defensive driving/riding." There is such a thing as going too slowly. No other traffic in his video, yes. But bad things often happen to people who can't or don't keep up with traffic.

Open roads have a limit of 90kmph. In towns and villages it's 60kmph. I know this road and it's not a major highway. The speed limit on the open sections of Suk are 90. Can't believe this road has that limit.

From the video, lots of lane changing suggests going too fast for that road. Or a poor driver.

[Gweiloman]

^

^

I know an English gentleman who is doing private and group courses as well but for track.

But a proper riding school in Thailand? Never heard of it maybe they advertise in Thai though:)

Honda Big wing gives a very elementary training but still good if you inexperienced or sitting on a new bike.

Also Ducati does train as well all i know

I have done my fair share of km on my bike and am certainly not that inexperienced as i need the most basic of training. I was not really looking for track training but but something to get me better at riding my bike. I am not a fast rider by any means and am ok for what I am doing but extra education on any field is always good.

This is a rather interesting post. Presumably, in order to progress to track training, one should already have more or less mastered road riding. Simple reason is that track riding is road riding taken to the next level, higher speeds, more lean angles, weight shifts, knee down, light grip, looking further ahead, racing lines etc etc.

However, here in Asia and especially in Thailand, there is no need to have learnt anything about the proper way to do U turns, counter steering, throttle control, hard / emergency braking, hazard identification etc (all necessary in order to be a better and safer rider on the street) before taking a test (and usually passing the practical aspect of it).

Very simply, the majority of Thais either will not see the benefit of it or would not deem it necessary to pay for it or would not be able to afford it. That's why I don't think that any such courses are on offer here in Thailand.

To those responsible and caring riders out there, why not make the effort and organise training classes on a quarterly basis, purely on a voluntary basis? All riders, young and old, new or experienced can turn up, learn new skills or impart skills and advice while at the same time, meeting other riders and having a generally good time?

Of course, not all the advise that one would get at such an event is necessarily good advise. That is why the higher the turnout the better as newbies would get to listen to differing advise and be able to select whichever they feel is best, based on whom is imparting the advise. At any rate, chances are that newbies would go away having learnt something they have not before, which is surely a good thing. I can see that there would be lively debates and ultimately, the right advice would be handed out while blatantly wrong and dangerous advise would be retracted.

All in all, better than nothing as at the moment, there is no way and no where for a newbie to learn other than from the internet.