Immanent Impact - Practice?

[steveindenmark]

It is great to have all these ideas of what you would do but I promise you that all this is over and done with within the blink of an eye.

I was doing 30mph and I do not even think I had time to touch the brakes. I am not an advanced rider but i am a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists so i know how to read the road and traffic.

Unless you get into this situation you have no idea how little time you have.

Stand and clap your hands once....there its over....you are either alive or dead...that is how quick it can be.

Steve

 

[Fred]

Here is a very likely scenario, you're cruising 50 mph and a semi truck pulling a 53ft trailer pulls out in front of you. Even with emergency braking, you know you won't be able to stop in time. What do you do?

I know what I'm going to do, I'll most likely lay the bike down and take my chances of getting run over rather than hitting the side of the trailor which would probably decapitate you if you're upright.

I don't agree with your choice of risks. I also don't think that you'll have time to make any decision in the situation you described. The FZ6 can come to a stop from 50mph in an impressively short amount of time. If you're so close that you cannot stop, I doubt you will have time to decide to 'lay it down' and then act on that decision.

The question I asked previously still hasn't been answered. How do you lay a bike down? You said that it was an advanced technique. Can you go into details on how you lay a bike down? IMWTK

Fred

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I don't agree with your choice of risks. I also don't think that you'll have time to make any decision in the situation you described. The FZ6 can come to a stop from 50mph in an impressively short amount of time. If you're so close that you cannot stop, I doubt you will have time to decide to 'lay it down' and then act on that decision.

The question I asked previously still hasn't been answered. How do you lay a bike down? You said that it was an advanced technique. Can you go into details on how you lay a bike down? IMWTK

Fred

Regardless how well the bike can stop, there will be situations where braking will not be enough and impact will most likely occur. Other wise, there would be no accidents. There are number of accidents where accident investigators will use skid marks, so braking before impact is common which everyone will agree. If you are going 40-50 mph or even faster and you have to apply your brakes, most likely the time it will take for point of impact increases. This is different than not having the time to apply your brakes where the object just appears and smack. This saying, knowing that if you know that you're not going to stop in time, seing that trailor, you lay the bike down.

Laying the bike down.....apply the rear brakes to the point that it's skidding, turn the handlebars in the direction you want to lay down, this will swing the rear of the bike around and lean down. A form of lowsiding the bike.

I've come from dirt, so I've been down a number of times. If you have a mountain bike, go on a grass field that has just been watered down, and try this technique yourself.

Or go watch old episodes of Chip's and you can watch Officer Poncharello "lay it down."