First close call on the new bike.

[dxh24]

Hey guys, just got back from vacation today so thought i'd pop in... and share :spank:

So today after driving 3 and a half hrs home from the 1000 islands in the cage... i decided to go for a ride on my new purchase went for about a 60 mile drive. got home no prob... Later I decided to go for another ride (about an hour before official sunset). So i went in search of twisties, went down a couple roads i knew had some good bits in them without an huge danger of deer...came to an intersection turned right... was cruising at about 60...looked to the right and thought to myself "hey my friend had his grad party at that house (i'd never been past that spot on this road, but was SURE it was paved :spank...so anyways i look up and way down the road to see what the yellow sign said, but was interrupted when the pavement suddenly ended (i was SURE this road was fully paved...fail...) it quickly turned into a "minimum maintenance road" (gravel and dirt, basically a road for tractors) the front wobbled slightly and i instinctively gave it a wee bit off front brake and quite a bit more back brake (dirt bike instincts)...Luckily didn't go down and luckily i grew up on off roads bikes...

i'm sure if i was less experienced in loose surface i would have grabbed too much front brake, locked up and been looking at my new bike with less than 3500 mi on it with scratches all up and down it...luckily twas not the case.

Anyways here's a fz6-forum top tip:
When exploring back roads for twisties in Western NY where you've never been before... pay your ass attention and slow down til' you know the road!!

I could make claims like "it was twillight and hard to see" and other such excuses but really it was just a careless mistake. Maybe i'll invest in some knobbys and visit that road again someday

After that however i did find some nice twisty bits and was thinking to myself "i need to get a helmet cam so i can post these trips on the forum"

Be safe out there guys!

 

[mxgolf]

Thanks for the reminder! :thumbup: It's that way anywhere! We are the minority and have to keep safety over fun sometimes. THINK and LOOK always while riding!

 

[Ransom]

Very glad you didn't have to scratch up your new baby! I just turn around and go the other way when I see gravel or dirt. I personnally had a close call on a gravel road when I was on a big group ride, about 25 of us. I was towards the back of the group with my buddies cause I was new to the big group riding and I wanted some space from them till I got more comfortable with there riding style, as I didn't know most of them.
Anyhow, we had to turn arround a few times cause the roads in the PA mountains had a lot of dirt and gravel roads. At one point, on a gravel road going maybe 15 mph the group came to a stop but it was at the bottum of a hill with a big crest. The other rides were all stopped and the line went half way up the down slope of the hill. So, as I break the crest of the hill I see all of them stopped and VERY close! Due to my level of experience and the shock I hit the rear brake a little too hard and the back wheel started to slide and I was on the downhill.

I didn't want to be that jerk that caused a domino affect and make everyones bike fall over so I let off the brake and went left and just slowly stop down the hill next to them. (been working more on my braking)
I know it's not an interesting story but was a scary moment for me. Only paved roads for me.

 

[MHS]

Thanks for the tip!

I won't intentionally hit up an unpaved road (the only gravel road I've done is a friend's incredibly long driveway out in the country), but that doesn't mean I won't find myself on a road where the pavement does end...

 

[dxh24]

Very glad you didn't have to scratch up your new baby! I just turn around and go the other way when I see gravel or dirt. I personnally had a close call on a gravel road when I was on a big group ride, about 25 of us. I was towards the back of the group with my buddies cause I was new to the big group riding and I wanted some space from them till I got more comfortable with there riding style, as I didn't know most of them.
Anyhow, we had to turn arround a few times cause the roads in the PA mountains had a lot of dirt and gravel roads. At one point, on a gravel road going maybe 15 mph the group came to a stop but it was at the bottum of a hill with a big crest. The other rides were all stopped and the line went half way up the down slope of the hill. So, as I break the crest of the hill I see all of them stopped and VERY close! Due to my level of experience and the shock I hit the rear brake a little too hard and the back wheel started to slide and I was on the downhill.

I didn't want to be that jerk that caused a domino affect and make everyones bike fall over so I let off the brake and went left and just slowly stop down the hill next to them. (been working more on my braking)
I know it's not an interesting story but was a scary moment for me. Only paved roads for me.

Yeah i usually avoid unpaved roads, roads with a lot of tar strips on them (when i'm searching for twisty roads anyways) and freshly oil/stoned roads.... which is irritating because about 80% of the good back roads around here just got fresh oil and stones... which means you either don't ride on them or go 10mph on them and throw stones into your radiator :spank:

Nice story btw, definitely much better to lock the back than the front... lock the front and you've pretty well sealed your fate... you can control a back brake lock up though... i do it on purpose on my Yama dirtbike so i'm pretty well used to locking the back if necessary... glad you didn't have to lay it down though, would have stunk being in a group of riders you barely/don't know.

 

[DrastiK]

Hey guys, just got back from vacation today so thought i'd pop in... and share :spank:

So today after driving 3 and a half hrs home from the 1000 islands in the cage... i decided to go for a ride on my new purchase went for about a 60 mile drive. got home no prob... Later I decided to go for another ride (about an hour before official sunset). So i went in search of twisties, went down a couple roads i knew had some good bits in them without an huge danger of deer...came to an intersection turned right... was cruising at about 60...looked to the right and thought to myself "hey my friend had his grad party at that house (i'd never been past that spot on this road, but was SURE it was paved :spank...so anyways i look up and way down the road to see what the yellow sign said, but was interrupted when the pavement suddenly ended (i was SURE this road was fully paved...fail...) it quickly turned into a "minimum maintenance road" (gravel and dirt, basically a road for tractors) the front wobbled slightly and i instinctively gave it a wee bit off front brake and quite a bit more back brake (dirt bike instincts)...Luckily didn't go down and luckily i grew up on off roads bikes...

i'm sure if i was less experienced in loose surface i would have grabbed too much front brake, locked up and been looking at my new bike with less than 3500 mi on it with scratches all up and down it...luckily twas not the case.

Anyways here's a fz6-forum top tip:
When exploring back roads for twisties in Western NY where you've never been before... pay your ass attention and slow down til' you know the road!!

585 in? 716 checking in here...I just bought an FZ and will be getting my license tomorrow. I was pretty hesitant in purchasing a bike at this time because of the roads we have to deal with here in Buffalo are horrible. Literally pothole dodging everywhere.

 

[dxh24]

585 in? 716 checking in here...I just bought an FZ and will be getting my license tomorrow. I was pretty hesitant in purchasing a bike at this time because of the roads we have to deal with here in Buffalo are horrible. Literally pothole dodging everywhere.

Yeah i used to make a weekend commute up there to see the GF... wasn't a big fan of your potholes lol...Gratz on the new bike, good to see we have some more western NY'ers on the forum:thumbup:

 

[bryanwny]

There are some pretty crappy roads around this way, that's for sure. I like to just go wandering out in Amish country and have found a number of roads that just turn to dirt/gravel without so much as a sign even. Better be paying attention!

I just took a ride last weekend up to Hamlin Beach, and that Lake Ontario Parkway is HORRENDOUS! I was expecting to see a bunch of cars when merging on, only to find a ghost town, and I had no idea why -- until I rode on that SOB for a few hundred feet lol. There are weeds/grass growing out of the cracks in the middle of the lanes! lol. A relative of mine actually lost his front bumper skin on that road And no, it wasn't a complete NY rust bucket or an older car! That was the roughest 4.5 miles I've ever been on, and I've ridden a few dozen dirt/gravel roads. I only shy away from them if I've just washed the bike.

Congrats on the new ride, DrastiK! I haven't seen too many FZ's around in 716. Not down in the southern tier, anyways.