2 years, 2 bikes, 1 crash.
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Dang, the fairing damage is almost exactly like what I got lowsiding this past winter. My left signal folded up against it, making it crack around/above the mounting point. But the signal itself only got scratched on the underside where it can't be seen. Looks like yours may have made out similarly.
Great you and the bike made it relatively unscathed. Lucky to have the camera just then, thanks for posting all those great pics and sharing your experience. What a valuable lesson for us all.
Great you and the bike made it relatively unscathed. Lucky to have the camera just then, thanks for posting all those great pics and sharing your experience. What a valuable lesson for us all.
You have a good head on your shoulders and I'm amazed at your maturity for 17 short years of existance. Live and learn and never think you know it all. Confidence is an important part of motorcycling but it can also be a bad thing in excess. I bet you won't make that mistake again, ever. The best part is you got off very easy.
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96 Posts
I'm glad you are OK.
If I may be so bold as to offer a couple of suggestions (based on your pictures and what I think happened - I could be wrong):
I am very sure that turn could have been taken at 40MPH. If you did not rub your boot or your footpeg, you didn't try hard enough to make it. Next time, keep leaning the bike over until you rub something or wash out. But you have to try. FZ6 have pretty good lean angles so go for it.
The other option may have been to stand the bike up, load the front end, and then brake hard. Not a good option for right corners; you may wind up hitting oncoming traffic.
I was not there and so take the suggestions with a grain of salt. Maybe you did all you could. But consider what might have happened if you had been turning right (on the way back perhaps) and didn't make it. And I can guarantee that that will not be the last time that you ever hit a corner faster than you'd like. I don't think I've ever gone on a long ride out of the city where I didn't go into corner a little hot at least once. You need to deal with it.
I ride with my dad too (he's 69 with a Ninja 500) and I can imagine that you gave your dad quite a scare.
If I may be so bold as to offer a couple of suggestions (based on your pictures and what I think happened - I could be wrong):
I am very sure that turn could have been taken at 40MPH. If you did not rub your boot or your footpeg, you didn't try hard enough to make it. Next time, keep leaning the bike over until you rub something or wash out. But you have to try. FZ6 have pretty good lean angles so go for it.
The other option may have been to stand the bike up, load the front end, and then brake hard. Not a good option for right corners; you may wind up hitting oncoming traffic.
I was not there and so take the suggestions with a grain of salt. Maybe you did all you could. But consider what might have happened if you had been turning right (on the way back perhaps) and didn't make it. And I can guarantee that that will not be the last time that you ever hit a corner faster than you'd like. I don't think I've ever gone on a long ride out of the city where I didn't go into corner a little hot at least once. You need to deal with it.
I ride with my dad too (he's 69 with a Ninja 500) and I can imagine that you gave your dad quite a scare.
Kneedragger said:
Thanks Kneedragger, he signal was dangling off untill I taped it up, punched a hole right in the fairing above it.
CorvetteBoy ,the turn is much more severe than it looks in the picture, it only shows half of the turn. I'm sure someone with more experience could have made it at that speed. I know that I looked off the road when I should have leaned even more. Thats when my tires slipped out and next thing I knew I was lying there on the ground staring at the sky.
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2,161 Posts
I'm glad you're alright. I experienced a similar situation about a year ago and I learned from it. I wanted to blame the Dunlops, but it was my error. I, too, entered a blind curve in unfamiliar territory too hot and it was very unexpected. I stood her up and hit the brakes but I ended up about 10 ft down an enbankment. The uneven soil and grade made me loose my footing and I had no choice but to let the FZ6 down. Thank God that there was no vehicles coming the other way when I crossed the yellow line.
Now that I have a 'new' bike, I'll have to get a feel for its capabilites with me at the controls.
Learning is a continous process and the countless amount of variables we encounter when we ride requires quick action with little thought. It's a hard lesson learned, but mistakes are good sometimes.
Now that I have a 'new' bike, I'll have to get a feel for its capabilites with me at the controls.
Learning is a continous process and the countless amount of variables we encounter when we ride requires quick action with little thought. It's a hard lesson learned, but mistakes are good sometimes.
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858 Posts
Glad your okay your right about new roads I always try to stay back of someone else is leading so I can see what I have comming up plus the GPS is a great tool to see what turns are coming up too. I am sure you will have the bike fixed up in no time at least it looks like its not to bad.
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145 Posts
Important thing, you're ok. the bike can be repaired/replaced.
You're right, that curve looks pretty severe if it's only 1/2 way in the photo...
Something you've mentioned: You looked away from the curve... look where you want to go. Could it be that you target fixated on the gravel, and the bike followed where you were looking?
Were you looking through the turn? Or at least as far through the turn as you could? That should help for the next time you're riding a road like that...
What was your lane placement? Were you right next to the edge of the asphalt? Closer to the center line? To the right of the grease strip?
You're right, that curve looks pretty severe if it's only 1/2 way in the photo...
Something you've mentioned: You looked away from the curve... look where you want to go. Could it be that you target fixated on the gravel, and the bike followed where you were looking?
Were you looking through the turn? Or at least as far through the turn as you could? That should help for the next time you're riding a road like that...
What was your lane placement? Were you right next to the edge of the asphalt? Closer to the center line? To the right of the grease strip?
I was looking though the turn until I realized that I hit the apex way to early. The turn decreased radius so I needed to lean even more. I looked over at the gravel to see how much room I had and I pretty much knew I was going to crash. I just stayed leaned over because I thought I would have a better chance of not getting hurt lowsiding than highsiding.scorpion12 said:
Breaks my heart to see our bike all smashed up 
... I'm glad you are OK and learned soemthing along the way though. Hope you are back on the streets soon!
I've been practicing 'hanging off' a bit to give the bike more leanover clearance and not have to lean over quite so far to make the same turn. That way if a turn starts going bad I can add extra lean without slipping (in theory.) Could any of you experienced riders provide some insight as to whether this is effective or not?
... I'm glad you are OK and learned soemthing along the way though. Hope you are back on the streets soon!I've been practicing 'hanging off' a bit to give the bike more leanover clearance and not have to lean over quite so far to make the same turn. That way if a turn starts going bad I can add extra lean without slipping (in theory.) Could any of you experienced riders provide some insight as to whether this is effective or not?
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96 Posts
Hanging off the bike will defintely allow greater speed with less lean angle, however there are several considerations for the street.
1. HO requires a high rate of speed to be effective, perhaps double the posted speed. At normal speed limit speeds, it's a waste of energy.
2. Once you hang off, you are committed to your turn and your line. Generally speaking, steering inputs opposite to the side you are hanging off will not be possible in a timely manner. This may not seem important now, but there are definitely situations when you may need to give opposite steering inputs on the street (turning left and a car is crowding the centre line).
3. Done correctly, it is a very tiring way to ride. If you rode that way for an hour on a tight road you would be very fatigued.
Having said all that, do I hang off? Yes, every ride. But not every corner. I do it when I start to hit dangerous speeds (ie; 60 KPH in a 35 KPH corner, 100 KPH in a 60 KPH corner), and I usually don't push the bike away from me like you see in the mags. Remember the street isn't like the track; on the track you can hang off like an ape because you can totally commit to a corner.
Lastly, you should take a track school or at least have a racer check your body positioning to make sure you are not "counter leaning"; a bad habit some people pick up.
Hope this helps.
1. HO requires a high rate of speed to be effective, perhaps double the posted speed. At normal speed limit speeds, it's a waste of energy.
2. Once you hang off, you are committed to your turn and your line. Generally speaking, steering inputs opposite to the side you are hanging off will not be possible in a timely manner. This may not seem important now, but there are definitely situations when you may need to give opposite steering inputs on the street (turning left and a car is crowding the centre line).
3. Done correctly, it is a very tiring way to ride. If you rode that way for an hour on a tight road you would be very fatigued.
Having said all that, do I hang off? Yes, every ride. But not every corner. I do it when I start to hit dangerous speeds (ie; 60 KPH in a 35 KPH corner, 100 KPH in a 60 KPH corner), and I usually don't push the bike away from me like you see in the mags. Remember the street isn't like the track; on the track you can hang off like an ape because you can totally commit to a corner.
Lastly, you should take a track school or at least have a racer check your body positioning to make sure you are not "counter leaning"; a bad habit some people pick up.
Hope this helps.
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5,525 Posts
I try not to ride hot on new/virgin roads that I don't know and same goes for the tracks! Especially on long rides, one may not realize that you've gone way behind the bike's power curve when the brain processing and reflexes tend to slow down. I noticed that I can only ride hot for an hour then my errors start to happen and tend to compensate a lot more.
Glad to hear you're okay, FZSilver! I'd like to ride Skaggs some day when I make it back to CA with my bike.
You can get some of the benefits of hanging off just by moving your upper body to the inside of the turn. "Kiss your mirror" is one way I heard it described. It also has the benefit of looking less agressive to any cops that might be driving by.
Maybe it's just because I'm slow, but I've never had a problem with steering inputs while hanging off the inside of a turn. My arms stay loose enough that I can still move the bars around if I need to. Even if my tankbag gets in the way of my outside arm, the inside arm can still move the bars whichever direction I need to.
You can get some of the benefits of hanging off just by moving your upper body to the inside of the turn. "Kiss your mirror" is one way I heard it described. It also has the benefit of looking less agressive to any cops that might be driving by.
Maybe it's just because I'm slow, but I've never had a problem with steering inputs while hanging off the inside of a turn. My arms stay loose enough that I can still move the bars around if I need to. Even if my tankbag gets in the way of my outside arm, the inside arm can still move the bars whichever direction I need to.
Skaggs is an AMAZING road. I've never been on a road with curves anything like that ever before. Road is smooth as silk and the coners are non stop huge sweepers. Just turn around once you get to the tight part. Funny thing is that I saw tons of bikes on the wide sweeper part but none on the tight part. Everyone just turned around.fraggle1 said:
Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and wishing me well. I'm sure I'll be back out on the road as soon as my shift lever comes in.
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