That 'Oh no!' moment in a corner

[nikster]

1 - On an ER-6n I ran wide on a right turn, stood the bike up and hit the brakes, trusting the ABS to stop me on a wet road full of wet tree parts and leaves. Bike slowed, slowed, slowed and was totally OK with room to spare. I was really surprised just how much grip I had on that road. I thought I had nothing which is why I did not dare to lean more. One of my riding buddies saw it and judged it "a really close call". Dumb riding!

2 - On a KLX250 I was going way faster than safe through some tight turns. Got carried away with how well that Dual sport with the stock knobbies takes corners! I mean - there's way more in it than you'd think. I never dropped below 80 through some really tight turns. Up to a point, so I misjudged a curve and made the mistake to use the front brake. Ended up a low side at speed, bike and I went across the opposing lane - luckily no traffic - into the greenery. Gear saved me, I had only a bruised wrist. Gear told the story of what would have happened without it: A hole in the elbow, a hole in the knee, a nice long scratch on the front of the helmet, and abrasion on the shoulder. Gotta love gear!

On 2 I am pretty sure a better rider could have recovered; no front brake, more leaning and chances are I'd maybe have ended up in the other lane but still made the turn.

The best thing to do in these situations is to not get in them in the first place, so I recommend a riding course. It will teach you how to look, how to counter-steer, and these two things will allow you to take most corners safely. Also getting carried away is never a good idea

Also only ride as fast as you can see. How "familiar" you are with a road doesn't matter if you can't see.

Edited July 10, 2014 by nikster

[NomadJoe]

^ I remember my EVOC instructor telling us that on wet roads we still have 80% of the traction we have on dry roads. Of course this doesn't apply to Thai roads moistened by light rain after a week or more being dry. The hills of Phuket are impassable under these conditions. Oil, rubber, exhaust all mixed with a bit of water = slicker than snot.

[onlycw]

Am not a good rider - and I've overcooked a few corners in my life. Usually, there will be more issues than just too high speed. It gets tricky when there is gravel or sand in the curve... Am trying several things simultaneously. Light braking, changing direction, ... praying? Not sure. Might be cursing...

Watch out for the surface of the road. Also for the rear wheel upon downshifting on cheap hard tires.

[NomadJoe]

Am not a good rider - and I've overcooked a few corners in my life. Usually, there will be more issues than just too high speed. It gets tricky when there is gravel or sand in the curve... Am trying several things simultaneously. Light braking, changing direction, ... praying? Not sure. Might be cursing...

Watch out for the surface of the road. Also for the rear wheel upon downshifting on cheap hard tires.

That is the right attitude. Overconfidence is a killer.

As for down shifting, it was mentioned earlier, but ideally you should be doing all your shifting and braking before you lean in.

You mentioned tires..best avoid the cheap, hard compounds in Thailand. The Dunlop Roadsmarts are stock on many bikes sold here, and most complain about them. You sacrifice tire longevity, but when dealing with Thai road surfaces and unpredictable driver behavior, you need every advantage you can get. Pony up for some Bridgstone Battlax BT-16's or Pirelli Supercorsa's, consider even the super sticky on road off road Pirelli Scorpion's if you ride the more upright naked CB or Versys or similar. They are perfect on my mates Versys. Just keep it under 240kph. They are only "V" speed rated.

Edited July 12, 2014 by NomadJoe

[bigsteve]

Am not a good rider - and I've overcooked a few corners in my life. Usually, there will be more issues than just too high speed. It gets tricky when there is gravel or sand in the curve... Am trying several things simultaneously. Light braking, changing direction, ... praying? Not sure. Might be cursing...

Watch out for the surface of the road. Also for the rear wheel upon downshifting on cheap hard tires.

That is the right attitude. Overconfidence is a killer.

As for down shifting, it was mentioned earlier, but ideally you should be doing all your shifting and braking before you lean in.

You mentioned tires..best avoid the cheap, hard compounds in Thailand. The Dunlop Roadsmarts are stock on many bikes sold here, and most complain about them. You sacrifice tire longevity, but when dealing with Thai road surfaces and unpredictable driver behavior, you need every advantage you can get. Pony up for some Bridgstone Battlax BT-16's or Pirelli Supercorsa's, consider even the super sticky on road off road Pirelli Scorpion's if you ride the more upright naked CB or Versys or similar. They are perfect on my mates Versys. Just keep it under 240kph. They are only "V" speed rated.

Actually Nomad I have Pirelli Angels on the Versys, but they are as you say perfect for this bike.

[NomadJoe]

Am not a good rider - and I've overcooked a few corners in my life. Usually, there will be more issues than just too high speed. It gets tricky when there is gravel or sand in the curve... Am trying several things simultaneously. Light braking, changing direction, ... praying? Not sure. Might be cursing...

Watch out for the surface of the road. Also for the rear wheel upon downshifting on cheap hard tires.

That is the right attitude. Overconfidence is a killer.

As for down shifting, it was mentioned earlier, but ideally you should be doing all your shifting and braking before you lean in.

You mentioned tires..best avoid the cheap, hard compounds in Thailand. The Dunlop Roadsmarts are stock on many bikes sold here, and most complain about them. You sacrifice tire longevity, but when dealing with Thai road surfaces and unpredictable driver behavior, you need every advantage you can get. Pony up for some Bridgstone Battlax BT-16's or Pirelli Supercorsa's, consider even the super sticky on road off road Pirelli Scorpion's if you ride the more upright naked CB or Versys or similar. They are perfect on my mates Versys. Just keep it under 240kph. They are only "V" speed rated.

Actually Nomad I have Pirelli Angels on the Versys, but they are as you say perfect for this bike.

Maybe I have another mate with a Versys.

[BSJ]

Sometimes you can just get "lucky". (This is anecdotal, but relevant to the topic!)

My first "corner incident" was at night on an unlit road, which I was not familiar with while riding my RXS 100 ) with a very poor headlight.

I only realised that there was a 90º left hand bend coming up when I was already into it, so the looking ahead part was already kind of redundant...

I hit the brakes, the bike stood up and carried on across the road towards the mid point of the outside radius of the curve.

Luckily for me, I had already got the bike turned through about 25 - 30 º and a farmer had thoughtfully put a steel 5 bar gate to one of his fields at 45º, kind of like an armco barrier.

I saw the gate just in timeand removed my hand from the right handlebar as the side of the bike made contact with the gate, the combined angle of the gate and the turn that I had manged to achieve before contact made the impact a glancing blow, at 15 - 20º. The contact with the gate was momentary, the bike came off the gate pointing roughly towards the exit of the corner, so I gather my composure, throttle back on and carried on down the road (almost) as if nothing had happened...

Note to other forum users: Don't rely on bouncing off steel gates to get round corners.

So, it's you we been looking for all this time. My Uncle Frank has a bill for $1537.65 for repairs to the gate. Will you be paying by cheque or Direct Deposit?