Low Sided with some 'Help' Today I learned to check your tires before you ride.

Set the scene a bit. Bikes been under a cover for about 3 weeks. I've been under the weather for a while and haven't ridden much, when I have I rode the other bike. Red Bike went down this morning. Little damage, low speed.

Today I feel great and the weather is perfect so I decided it was time to pull the cover off of the bike. Normal morning routine, not hurrying. Left turn out of my driveway, I dip the bike a bit deeper than necessary just to feel her over the side. Ride down the road to a stop sign. Stop, wait for traffic. Right turn, again, I dip her a bit more than necessary. I'm not giving her a lot of throttle, just leaning her in and turning, I get maybe 1/4 into the turn and she just slips out from under me. Slides across my lane and stops before crossing into the oncoming lane. So obviously I wasn't hard into her. Traffic stops, Kind folk get out. I assure them that I'm fine and pick the bike up, roll it to the side of the road. Go back to look for the oil I had to have hit.

Nothing in the road but a few old drip spots that I doubt I hit. Very odd. As I'm looking an officer stops behind my bike. Chat a bit. All is good, nice guy. He drives off and I go back to look at the bike.

[See update below, Does not seem to be oil/sabotage. Leaving original thoughts here]

On the right side, the side that went low on me, there is oil on the edge of the tread extending about an inch up towards the center of the tire. It covers about a foot of the edge of the tire. 'Odd' Thinks I. It is thick enough to rub off on my finger and still feel slick. I have no way to clean it off so I carefully ride her back home and grab the cage to get to work. When I parked the bike, the oily area on the tire is now on the top of the tire. Below it on the rim is a small puddle of oil. I checked the rear break caliper and could not find a leak. no drips on the disk or caliper either. Now I'm thinking someone oiled my tire. Bike has sat for weeks under the cover unmoved. It was clean when it went away, heck I rode it over 100 miles that day I put her away. I had a plate stolen this spring and a snow blower stolen as well. I'm not happy about this.

Damage, for those courious.

T-Rex slider
small skuff on the side pod
scraping on one screw on the clutch cover
rear break bent up a bit.
underside of foot peg scraped up.
Mirror scratched.
Helmet scratched
touch of road rash on wrist (jacket not fastened at wrist, my fault)
touch of road rash on knees, jeans appear undamaged.

Sounds very odd...you really think it could be sabotage?

Glad you're OK. :thumbup: I'd probably consider a new helmet if it's a deep scratch...it might have weakened the shell, and can you trust it.

Damn, I hope you are wrong about the deliberate sabotage.

Glad you are OK.

Glad to hear that you are OK. If you suspect sabotage, I suggest that you call the police and let them know what happened. Maybe they will patrol the area more often?

Glad you're okay!

Thanks for the heads up and reminder. I'm wondering if your tire pressure and temperature had anything to do with it. If I haven't ridden in a few days I always check my tire pressure. If I'm going out to play I always check tire pressure. PIA but it also gives me a better chance of seeing something else that might be amiss.

BryanDH said:

Sounds very odd...you really think it could be sabotage?

Glad you're OK. :thumbup: I'd probably consider a new helmet if it's a deep scratch...it might have weakened the shell, and can you trust it.

Click to expand...

update...

This morning I didn't want to beleive it was sabotage but I couldn't figure any way oil would have got on the tires. Especially how it looked on a quick inspection.

I went home at lunch and the 'oil' was dry and shiny. Also, the puddle was dry as well. Not oil. There is nothing on the breaks so it didn't drip off of the top of the tire and pool below, it would have hit the breaks doing that. Very odd.

I walked the path I took. There is a clear path though the grass I cut through next to the drive way. Nothing obvious in the grass. I looked close, didnt' see anything. I'm confused but no longer think someone is screwing with me. It doesn't make sense like that and it would have had to have been done minutes before I got on the bike.

Pics...







the shiny on the tire is dry to the touch as is the 'pool' in the rim. If I were to hit the shiny patch now it would scrub off with little issue. I'm sure of that.

the puddle and 'shiny' part of the tire was slick to the touch, brown and felt like oil this morning immediately after the crash.

I suspect I must have picked it up in the grass. There is nothing to see in the grass itself now. The road is/was clean.

Dang, good thing you have frame sliders! I think this thread has pushed over the edge into getting a set.

I wonder what the heck you slid on. If you picked it up in the grass, wouldn't you have lost it at the first turn?

That tread looks like a BT-020....Wonder if it was cold?

novaks47 said:

Dang, good thing you have frame sliders! I think this thread has pushed over the edge into getting a set.

I wonder what the heck you slid on. If you picked it up in the grass, wouldn't you have lost it at the first turn?

Click to expand...

It was only on one side of the tire. The other side was clean and dry. I still have no idea what it was but it dried up in @ 3 hours, maybe quicker. It had to have been picked up in the grass because there is no other place it could have come from. Left turn stuck, right turn down.

The tires were 'cold' but not so bad. Probably @ 50*F. I wasn't hard in a turn, just turning into the street. Not even hard on the throttle. The bike only slid @ 3 or 4 feet after it went down. Didn't even make the other lane. What ever was on the tire put me down, not cold tires.

Did it just recently rain? Have you expereienced a long dry spell?

That's how I went for a 20-30 foot slide. It didn't rain enough to wash away all the crap that was brought up to the surface from the light rainfall earlier in the day.

But my bike faired much better, my Uncaged frame sliders took all of the scraping. Just a minor scratch on my lower cowl and that was it. My bike has seen more damage from a simple drop.

Well that just sucks :rant:

Glad you are ok.

Isn't it great being a member of this club?

Tailgate said:

Isn't it great being a member of this club?

Click to expand...

LOL, yepper. This is the same bike that I high sided last year. That was the result of me not being used to the bike, sand on the road and a rear braking technique that was sloppy due to a year on a cruiser. IE, my fault entirely. I'm starting to think I need to sell this one, it is becoming un-lucky..

sxty8goats said:

LOL, yepper. This is the same bike that I high sided last year. That was the result of me not being used to the bike, sand on the road and a rear braking technique that was sloppy due to a year on a cruiser. IE, my fault entirely. I'm starting to think I need to sell this one, it is becoming un-lucky..

Click to expand...

No, don't sell her

Fix her up, tell her you're sorry and that you'll never drop her again

If you sold her, you'd regret it.

Kazza said:

No, don't sell her

Fix her up, tell her you're sorry and that you'll never drop her again

If you sold her, you'd regret it.

Click to expand...

I have another. I think she dumped me this time because she is jealous of the blue one.

sxty8goats said:

It was only on one side of the tire. The other side was clean and dry. I still have no idea what it was but it dried up in @ 3 hours, maybe quicker. It had to have been picked up in the grass because there is no other place it could have come from. Left turn stuck, right turn down.

The tires were 'cold' but not so bad. Probably @ 50*F. I wasn't hard in a turn, just turning into the street. Not even hard on the throttle. The bike only slid @ 3 or 4 feet after it went down. Didn't even make the other lane. What ever was on the tire put me down, not cold tires.

Click to expand...

I had an interesting experience yesterday that might be related. I was on the freeway. It was cloudy (morning marine layer) and a slightly hazy. I noticed a car about ten car lengths ahead and it looked like when a car is in front of you and the tires are flinging a mist of water. It wasn't raining. I knew it wasn't oil or exhaust smoke. I knew it was fluid and immediately changed lanes as I realized it was probably from the cars cooling system. Sure enough by the time the lane change was done there was a fine mist of glycol on my face shield and I could now smell it. Apparently the vehicle was overheating and the driver was probably involved in 95% everything else and 5% driving. It was obvious for 10 minute on the freeway that this person was buying a new motor but didn't know it. In the mean time what ever lane they were in they were laying down a mist of some of the slipperiest stuff you'll hit on a road surface. When you're around traffic you're around this stuff. Intersections are the worst but as you can see we probably don't see a lot of what leaks at any time, anywhere. Could it have been glycol? Glycol is generally mixed with water and when it's in the open air the water content evaporates leaving a film. Not oil.

Motogiro said:

Could it have been glycol? Glycol is generally mixed with water and when it's in the open air the water content evaporates leaving a film. Not oil.

Click to expand...

Nope, streets were dry, bike was covered and no rain for days before. Talking to the guy at the bike shop today. He thinks it could have been a slug / snail that I ran over in the grass. That actually makes the most sense but I don't think it is correct.