Went for a slide on the highway

[Vespacruzer]

I was on my way to work this morning and had to perform a hard stop going about 70mph. Hit the back brake to hard, the rear tire locked up and I was sliding sideways maybe 50-60 feet. I came to a stop about 2 feet from the dump truck that was stopped in the left lane of the highway(reason still unknown). Needless to say, I felt pretty lucky. Rode the rest of the way to work before inspecting my tire, and this is what I saw.



The section I locked up on was cement and put those nice grooves in my 2 week old Pilot Power 3. The deepest part is under 1/16th of an inch. Any safety concerns for this tire?

I am cringing thinking about how fast that surface would have shredded my jacket and then skin.

 

[thisisbenji]

Your gear likely would have been fine, I've seen guys go down at 90 mph + and not even damage their gear.

Now, if you hit a solid object, THAT would have sucked.

Judging by the photos, I would probably be more concerned about how that tire is going to ride rather than how safe it might be.

 

[Vespacruzer]

Your gear likely would have been fine, I've seen guys go down at 90 mph + and not even damage their gear.

Now, if you hit a solid object, THAT would have sucked.

Judging by the photos, I would probably be more concerned about how that tire is going to ride rather than how safe it might be.

I would have thought the same thing. I was shocked when I saw it. 20 minutes the rest of the way to work at highway speeds, 50 minutes back at highway speeds and its like it isn't even there. My only concern is for safety and if its still gonna grip the road in a turn.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Well, you have some extra rain grooves...

I'd probably get the balance checked(probably off a hair), but you do (it appears) to have "normal height" inbetween each groove.

I don't think it'd be an issue once the balance is checked/adjusted (for street use)

Question, (Monday morning quarterbacking), did you use your front brake at all?

 

[FinalImpact]

If your into a good corner that absent chunk from the center is of no concern!!! :thumbup: Blah

Adjust your brake lever down and practice your panic stops!
I do so by picking the next occurance or sighting of an object.
Say next pothole, roadkill, mailbox with flag up. Then check mirrors and brake away!

If it happens in a corner, yep I do it. Just make sure you wont be ran over. It is near instinct now and I no longer lock the rear!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

If your into a good corner that absent chunk from the center is of no concern!!! :thumbup: Blah

Adjust your brake lever down and practice your panic stops!
I do so by picking the next occurance or sighting of an object.
Say next pothole, roadkill, mailbox with flag up. Then check mirrors and brake away!

If it happens in a corner, yep I do it. Just make sure you wont be ran over. It is near instinct now and I no longer lock the rear!

That's where I was going..

Out of habit, I have two fingers on both the clutch lever and always the front brake lever ALL the time.
I'm in the habit of using both all the time.

Obviously a sandy corner, 99% rear brake, hard rain, maybe 50% of the front brake..
Practice, practice, practice. Know what your bike is capable of doing...

On a straight, dry highway, emergency situation, keep it straight up and super hard on both brakes, (rear just shy of locking up).
Could very well save your life....

 

[Vespacruzer]

Thanks fellas, still getting use to the new ride. I did a ton of panic brake practice when I switched over from my cruiser and thought I had a pretty good grasp on how this bike liked to be handled, clearly I let a little to much time pass since the last practice session. At the end of the day there is a smile on my face because the bike and I remain unscathed after the learning experience.

 

[Ben sIII]

i've always found that if i am riding solo and go hard on the front brakes that the rear wheel is floating most of the time.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

i've always found that if i am riding solo and go hard on the front brakes that the rear wheel is floating most of the time.

Most of your braking power is in the front brakes. What your feeling is weight transfer.
The key is, for emergency situations, is to brake as hard as you can WITHOUT locking up either tire.

The rear will want to lock up as there's little weight on the tire. The front has most of the weight and stopping power and if kept straight and
upright, will stop you WAYYYY sooner than just the rear...




Long story short, late 1990's, back when I was on a full dress Harley cop bike (before ABS), I was headed into the station trying to beat the afternoon Florida rains.
I was doing at least the speed limit (50MPH) in a turn lane and the road there was wet (we get spots of wet and dry pavement literally in the summer).

There happened to be an 18 wheeler sitting there, waiting to pull out... With the wet roads, I came in a bit hot(really too fast for conditions), pumped the rear brakes fast and quick (locking and un-locking the rear wheel) and rode the fronts as hard as I dared.

I stopped maybe 5' from the driver of the semi, who was just staring at me. I said, "I hate when that happens", turned and took off.

If I had used one brake alone (either), I would have wrecked, guaranteed...

One of the exercises in the advanced Police motorcycle class is braking. We rode back in the boonies, where there was a grass median and NO curbs.

What we had to do was ride about 45-50 MPH, ride into the grass and LOCK UP THE REAR WHEEL FULLY (no front brakes). You basically steered the bike with body language. It is easy to do once you do it a couple of times.

Great to know if your in the rain, or sand in the roadway.. You know you can ride it out without dropping it..

Just some pointers to survive on the road...

 

[Monica A]

Well, you have some extra rain grooves...

I'd probably get the balance checked(probably off a hair), but you do (it appears) to have "normal height" inbetween each groove.

I don't think it'd be an issue once the balance is checked/adjusted (for street use)

Question, (Monday morning quarterbacking), did you use your front brake at all?

I had the same question? Did you use your front brake at all? I find that most cruiser riders think they need to stay away from the front brake. A biker lady forum I'm on on facebook is mostly H-D riders and they are always saying to only use rear brakes. Is that something that is necessary for cruisers because of weight or front brake performance or ??? I always use just front brake unless it's a panic stop and I need more braking power. I've never locked up my rear brakes but both my bikes have ABS.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I can't think of any bike that you should not use all your brakes properly (pretty much posted above).

Only using one brake regularly gets you into a bad habit and will likely catch up with you over time..

For say the newer FJR's. They have ABS and linked brakes.. The fronts are the same as our S2's, 4
piston pots. However, being linked, they only have two pistons working on the front when you ONLY
activate the rear. Yes, its better than nothing but still not the same as the operator leaning on the ft brake lever..

 

[Motogiro]

Great that you were able to get to a safe stop! :rockon:
A panic stop can catch any of us off guard. Once you lock that rear you've lost gyroscope from that wheel and the chassis becomes less stable and control is degraded.

 

[Vespacruzer]

I had the same question? Did you use your front brake at all? I find that most cruiser riders think they need to stay away from the front brake. A biker lady forum I'm on on facebook is mostly H-D riders and they are always saying to only use rear brakes. Is that something that is necessary for cruisers because of weight or front brake performance or ??? I always use just front brake unless it's a panic stop and I need more braking power. I've never locked up my rear brakes but both my bikes have ABS.

I was on the front brake hard, increasing pressure until I thought the back was going to come up.

I cant say I have ever heard of cruiser riders not wanting to used the front brake.

 

[thisisbenji]

Using both brakes really kind of depends on the conditions with our bikes. Under perfect conditions, my bike will lock and skip the rear wheel from just front brake, therefor I can't use any extra rear brake over what I get from the motor. However, in the rain I'll use a bit of rear. On other bikes it could be different, for instance, on my Grom, even in the pouring rain the front has enough power to flip the bike over. So for emergency stops on the bike it's basically all front brake, but the front brake does require a fair amount of effort so I like to use both brakes under normal circumstances.

 

[broody]

Rear is mostly to come to a stop smoothly

 

[VEGASRIDER]

As everyone has mentioned, proper braking technique is critical, it may save your life. But besides knowing how to properly apply the brakes to it's full potential, try avoiding getting into these situations. Make sure you are looking well ahead of you, we call it the 12 second rule. Yes, knowing what is immediately in front of you is important, but when you start travelling at highway speeds, you need to start looking much farther ahead. Don't rely or wait for the vehicle in front of you to react, you need to be prepared much sooner than that so that you can focus on the people behind you as well since they can hurt you just as much from behind.

Just last week, we had a rider die on the freeway from this exact scenario. A truck had lost part of it's load, the vehicles started slowing down and a motorcyclist wasn't paying attention and rear ended a vehicle that had slow down for the debris. This rider was not looking far enough ahead.

 

[zixaq]

Riders who start out on cruisers often favor the back brake too much. Cruiser weight distribution is shifted further back, they usually run tires that are less sticky, and the aggressive rake on the front usually means that the front wheel will slide long before the rear wheel comes up. On the FZ6, 90% of your stopping power is front brake, and on clean, dry pavement, you'll stoppie long before the front slides.

OP probably could have stopped quicker with less rear brake (or even none!). Any sliding tire is less effective at slowing down than a sticking tire.

What OP did really well is staying on the rear brake once it let go. Letting off the rear brake once that back tire has stepped out to the side is how you high-side.

My guess is that tire will probably be fine, but $150 also doesn't seem like much for peace of mind.

 

[Paulie Myrus]

I was on my way to work this morning and had to perform a hard stop going about 70mph. Hit the back brake to hard, the rear tire locked up and I was sliding sideways maybe 50-60 feet. I came to a stop about 2 feet from the dump truck that was stopped in the left lane of the highway(reason still unknown). Needless to say, I felt pretty lucky. Rode the rest of the way to work before inspecting my tire, and this is what I saw.

View attachment 67067

The section I locked up on was cement and put those nice grooves in my 2 week old Pilot Power 3. The deepest part is under 1/16th of an inch. Any safety concerns for this tire?

I am cringing thinking about how fast that surface would have shredded my jacket and then skin.

Oooh very lucky there man, I've slid sideways on bikes before, praying in those split seconds she doesnt go down, and i'll be honest, it would be more concern of the state of my bike after I hit the ground rather than myself (I wear full gear and have come off at track days when I was younger) sliding all the way..
I bet it was pretty cool to look at from other drivers point of view, well done keeping it off the tarmac!! bet ya pooped yourself , just a little : P