AJsarge
Junior Member
First ding? Setting the bike down, going to tight, too slow, in a parking lot at 0.2 mph.
Second?
Back in August of 2010, I took the MSF street-bike course. Lots of fun, with the class full of already experienced riders (with the exception of one newbie rider with but dealer-to-home experience). I learned a lot from that class.
Come the day after, I decide to have a bit of fun by myself in the same parking lot. We'd done the same maneuvers the day before, and I just wanted to try it faster, and harder (STS). It was going good, until I tried to take a 180 at around 25-35mph.
See result. If you can tell, the skid marks show where I was riding from. Thankfully, I didn't high-side the bike, and it only spun 180 once on the ground.
I was lucky. I came out of it with but a hole in my jeans, and frame sliders that needed to be replaced (apparently, everyone noticed when I got back to the dorms...and kept asking what happened). Thankfully, it was my dad that didn't even recommend buying them but went and bought them, mounted them, and -then- told me he did so. It took me a month to replace them, but I didn't touch any corners until then.
Factors in crash: Bad parking lot - The whole thing was a low wave for drainage, resulting in ridges within the painted turns. Too much speed - and its cause, confidence. Too tight a turn. Tires - Stock? New? Cold?
I think I was going a little too fast, too tight, when I crossed a valley on the pavement. The back wheel lost traction, I felt it going, and bailed feet-first on my front side. It took me a second to do a self-check, and step two was the kill switch on the bike. Resulting scratches were my right-side frame sliders (ground down to the bolt), foot peg, handle bars, passenger handles, and the mirror. Again, everybody noticed, and I had to keep telling them I was alright.
As of that, I've been part of the later 1/2 of riders, and a little more cautious with what I do. It's about time I looked into taking the Experienced rider's course from the MSF, since it's been over a year from the 2010 class. It'd be a good refresher, and I'm sure I'd learn a few new things.
Second?
Back in August of 2010, I took the MSF street-bike course. Lots of fun, with the class full of already experienced riders (with the exception of one newbie rider with but dealer-to-home experience). I learned a lot from that class.
Come the day after, I decide to have a bit of fun by myself in the same parking lot. We'd done the same maneuvers the day before, and I just wanted to try it faster, and harder (STS). It was going good, until I tried to take a 180 at around 25-35mph.
See result. If you can tell, the skid marks show where I was riding from. Thankfully, I didn't high-side the bike, and it only spun 180 once on the ground.
I was lucky. I came out of it with but a hole in my jeans, and frame sliders that needed to be replaced (apparently, everyone noticed when I got back to the dorms...and kept asking what happened). Thankfully, it was my dad that didn't even recommend buying them but went and bought them, mounted them, and -then- told me he did so. It took me a month to replace them, but I didn't touch any corners until then.
Factors in crash: Bad parking lot - The whole thing was a low wave for drainage, resulting in ridges within the painted turns. Too much speed - and its cause, confidence. Too tight a turn. Tires - Stock? New? Cold?
I think I was going a little too fast, too tight, when I crossed a valley on the pavement. The back wheel lost traction, I felt it going, and bailed feet-first on my front side. It took me a second to do a self-check, and step two was the kill switch on the bike. Resulting scratches were my right-side frame sliders (ground down to the bolt), foot peg, handle bars, passenger handles, and the mirror. Again, everybody noticed, and I had to keep telling them I was alright.
As of that, I've been part of the later 1/2 of riders, and a little more cautious with what I do. It's about time I looked into taking the Experienced rider's course from the MSF, since it's been over a year from the 2010 class. It'd be a good refresher, and I'm sure I'd learn a few new things.
Like lunchboxer said, it happens to everyone at some point. Just learn from your mistakes and keep on riding :thumbup:
