yes it appears i was going too fast :spank:, but i have taken that turn that fast numerous times, idk what happened, it's like i zoned out. What do you think by looking at the video? also read the info under the video player on youtube. i'm curious to see what you guys think happened
Sorry to hear of these two crashes you've had, very glad to hear that you seem to have got away unharmed, I'm going to give you some info to try and help you avoid this situation in the future.
Please take this as constructive critisism, as all I and the rest of the forum want is people to ride smart, safe and enjoy riding there FZ's as much as possible :thumbup:
Firstly, what I believe happened in the crash shown in the video;
Rider approached corner at high but below critical speed,
Riders 'lazy' steering input causes unnecessarily wide exit,
Target fixation takes effect with the rider focusing on where they could end up going (woods) as the bike runs wider toward the outer edge of the road,
Survival reaction of braking takes place on turn exit, causing the rear of the bike to slide turning the bike sideways, contacting the post at the side of the road, ejecting the rider from the machine.
There are many techniques to help us during this kind of situation, I'll list a few below;
- Steering Input, obtaining the desired line.
There are two parts to this, firstly;
When approaching a corner at high speed, our brain naturally tends to make us want to turn in early, thinking that the earlier we turn the more likely we are to make the turn, however this actually is more likely to run us wide on the exit of the turn, exactly what our brain was trying to make us avoid in the first place!!!
A later turn in allows us much more room on the exit of the turn, please see the two short video clips below;
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cj2UNpU-B4&list=PL49ED07A6AEF2DD6E&index=22&feature=plpp_video]Superbike School UK: Turning points part 1 - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQo9Yg0hxBk&feature=BFa&list=PL49ED07A6AEF2DD6E]Superbike School UK: Turning points part 2 - YouTube[/ame]
Secondly,
At high speed, rider steering input (countersteering) wants to be done swiftly, this enables the rider to put the machine on the desired line through the bend, commonly known as the 'quick flick' technique tought by the California Superbike School, well worth looking at.
Be warned however that due to the demand placed upon the tyres, this technique should only be done when good road conditions, and adequate tyre temperature are present.
- Target Fixation, the archenemy of the motorcycle rider.
Single track vehicles such as motorcycles tend to travel to where the operator is looking, hence if your looking off the road, that's likely where you'll end up.
To overcome this you need to train yourself to, when you feel that you are running wide in a turn, look at where you want to go rather than where you feel you might go.
If the situation is looking really bad, you can actually look beyond where you want to go, towards the inside of the turn itself, giving you even more chance of the bike going where you want it to go.
- Correcting Mistakes.
When running wide in a turn, our brain again tends to make us want to brake, hoping that this will tighten the radius of the turn, however the opposite is actually true, with the bike running wider or sliding, as you experienced in this case.
In this situation through stopping throttle roll on (not closing the throttle), and looking where you wanted to go, I believe the turn could have been negotiated with a very wide, but manageable exit.
I would strongly suggest either watching the Twist of the Wrist 2 film, or reading the book, some excellent techniques that allow us to ride in a more controlled and safer manner.
Yamahaboyz
