Riding a motorcycle during an earthquake???

[The Dude]

So I was out for a ride today, enjoying the mild weather, when all of a sudden it hit me. I wonder how bad it would be to have an earthquake occur while riding? When I got home, I tried to look online. Surely somebody has to have recorded such an event... but to my surprise, nothing good on YouTube. With Japan being such a high-tech society, I expect we might get some good Tokyo traffic cam footage once they get through the immediate aftermath. The quake happened around 1500 local time, so I'm sure somebody was out on a scooter or motorcycle.

So, what would happen? Would you go down, or would it be possible to maintain your balance? At first, I thought any lateral movement from the quake would take a bike down quick. The more I thought about it though, the more possible it seemed. Your rear wheel spinning should help to keep you upright, and forward movement would minimize the lateral forces, right? I'm thinking the wheels might keep rolling as the ground moved side-to-side. What do you think? Anybody ever been through a big one on a bike?

 

[netbug]

Would not this depends on the magnitude and the direction of the earth movement? If the ground is moving from side to side I would say it will difficult to stay upright. If it is moving up/down then maybe it will be ok?

I have experienced a few earthquake when I was very young. The only memory left from those times are being very scared during the earthquake.

 

[The Dude]

Still no video that I can find. From what written material I can find on the web, it seems to be feasible to ride it out as long as the roadway doesn't break apart and become completely un-ridable. I hope I never have to find out.

Would you fall off a motorcycle during an earthquake? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers
Riding during an earthquake - Pashnit Motorcycle Forum

 

[alfagama]

There is a video recorred during Japan's recent quake showing two scooters facing each other going really low speed, one of them, seems to be a lady, went down right away with the shake while the other was able to stop standing. So yes, odds are that you will be going down with a quake having lateral movement.

Our quake here in Chile last year hit us at 3:34 AM, that was 8.8 and while I was holding my younger daughter in my arms, I wasn't able to stay upright so I had to seat on the grass of my front yard (fast reaction getting out of home while the quake was just starting).

 

[killernoodle]

The gyroscopic forces of the wheels would try to keep the bike upright as usual. The bike probably wouldn't lean side to side too much, it would most likely just try to throw you off the seat, but you would probably be fine as long as you weren't mid corner or mid brake.

 

[Wh0M3]

I have been in a couple of small earth quakes. The first I didn't even know happened till after the fact. I was driving in my car and didn't feel a thing. I'm guessing the suspension kept me from noticing anything. I think it was only a 3.

The second one was around a 7 at the origin and for some reason I think it was only a 5 where I was. I was standing outside watching a car bounce around beside me looking like it was going down a bumpy trail or something like that. I'm sure that one would have been felt on any ride. The one I felt was more up and down than side to side, like I was going down a hill snowboarding in after dark where you can't really see the small bumps as you run over them.

So I guess the smaller ones wouldn't even be noticed but the bigger ones would be like riding off road with out knowing where the bumps were.

 

[rjo3491]

My wife told me that she heard that at the fault line, the earth moved 60' vertically in Japan (what caused the tsunami). Wouldn't be too much fun on a bike.

 

[Botch]

I've driven thru a fairly large earthquake in my car, and like WHoM3 I didn't even feel it.
I'm thinking the faster you are travelling, the less effect the quake would have (unless the Interstate splits... ). Just like the thread a couple days ago about driving in a crosswind, the faster you go the less effect it has.