The First time is always the scariest!

[bvogel7475]

I pulled up to a stoplight this morning and didn't realize that my tires were sitting on the lane line. The road surface and the paint is probably about 1 year old and a lot of trucks roll over this line and drop dust and dirt due to an enormous amount of construction in this area. I bolted off the line and was turning left as well when the back tire let go and started spinning. You don't have much time to think in this situation and that's where instincts kick in. I subconciously eased off the throttle and turned the front wheel towards the direction that the back end was sliding and recovered it. As I was sitting at my desk a few moments ago I was thinking how a beginner rider might just grab the brakes in this situation. That would have been a crash for sure because your momentum would be halted before you could pull out of the slide. It was a little hairy and I definitely learned a lesson. The scary part is that I have been riding for over 20 years and that has never happened to me before. My tire tread is fine and the spinout was partially due to hard acceleration but was mostly due to the fairly fresh and dusty paint on the road. I know that the dirt riders out there just laugh about this kind of stuff because this is how you ride all of the time in the dirt. I have no dirt experience. Just curious if any other pavement riders have experienced this before and how did it turn out.

 

[ST13Fred]

Intersections are notoriously slimy because of the amount of time traffic sits there w/o moving; more fluid leakage. Adding the additional painted surfaces at intersections equals a recipe for disaster.
My cardinal rule is never touch painted surfaces and certainly not in a lean position. Glad you were able to keep the shiny side up. My key word in over 50 years of riding is keep things smoooth. Nothing abrupt.

 

[frozenpoet]

I had something similar happen a couple of months ago. Hit some wet road with my tkc80's. I had been playing in the dirt the day before so it didn't even really phase me, although I'm sure the lady in the car behind me was having a wtf moment.

 

[bamamate]

Had something similar happen back when I was first street riding in the early 80s. Hit an oil spot in a left turn. Rear went out, left foot went out, and kind of flat tracked it through the turn. Had a sore left leg for a few days after that. On the NC on the tail of the Dragon in the rain cut a right hander too close and went on the wet white line. Felt like the whole bike slid at once but she immediately caught when the tires hit pavement again. All I had time to do was start to stand her back up.

 

[peergum]

I had a few (slightly) scary moments in these last 5 months since I've started riding, never for doing it wrong but more by getting surprised by a quick loss of grip on the road. Despite having quite little experience in riding, I never crashed and always "let the bike get stable alone". May sound crazy and I'm pretty sure this won't work with most bike, but the NC('s ghost) seems to act by itself. Some say it's a perfectly balanced bike - I can believe that.

 

[Short Time]

I've learned over the years to avoid painted lines, sewer lids, tar strips, and the middle track of the lanes as much as I possibly can and especially when I'm forced to turn across them. I had that fear burned into my memory from a low speed low side as I turned through an intersection somewhere in about year 2 of riding. Thankfully I've not had a repeat during 50 plus years of riding and I'm probably overly cautious. Hard to warn newer riders of these hazards. Experience (the bad kind) seems to have a lasting effect.

 

[potter0o]

I hit some gravel turning onto my street this summer. A bit of a puckering moment. Similar to Banamate my foot came out. Happy ending with no harm but sure would like to be more comfortable with it. I try to go through corners a little less spirited. Have this on my wishlist:

American Supercamp Riding School

 

[DCTFAN]

I had a few (slightly) scary moments in these last 5 months since I've started riding, never for doing it wrong but more by getting surprised by a quick loss of grip on the road. Despite having quite little experience in riding, I never crashed and always "let the bike get stable alone". May sound crazy and I'm pretty sure this won't work with most bike, but the NC('s ghost) seems to act by itself. Some say it's a perfectly balanced bike - I can believe that.

I think you nailed it, but IMO, it works with most bikes.
Unless you are skidding over a fairly large patch, once the
tires (front or rear) regain grip the bike will sort everything out.
The worst thing you can do is to react and put the bike into more unstable
balance and prevent its recovery.

This kind of skid happened to me in the front while making a spirited
left turn and before I could say "sh*t" the bike gained traction and I rode on.
The CTX700 front tire felt like it skid off track about 4 inches. In retrospect,
my throttle opening may have saved it.

don't remember whether I had my whitey tidies or not, did not check.

 

[bamamate]

I totally agree. The bike will fix itself in a lot of situations as long as you don't do something sudden. I've had many a time off-road where I've hit an unexpected rough patch and I've just hung on and let the bike figure its way through.

 

[Hank]

I pulled up to a stop sign a day or two ago, put my foot down and managed to find a tiny patch of gravel. The bike started down but fortunately my foot slid onto solid ground and I held it up. If the bike had weighed a few more pounds it would have been on the ground.

I have not dropped the nc700 but I guess I have to add "yet."

I have dropped my drz400 super moto twice, once while practicing braking and once while making a U turn on a sloped gravel road (bad idea.)

 

[Akar.Zaephyr]

Yup, happened to me as well on a cold spring day when I just couldn't wait to get back on a bike.
Just like you, I've noticed the rear tire slipping and before I even understood what happened, instincts kicked in and I closed the throttle a little to regain traction. All this happened in a straight line, I wasn't early-cornering, luckily. Just too cold for full grip.
Considering I'm riding for just a bit over a year now (50cc moped experience not included), I was quite happy to find out I didn't mess it up by breaking, and that my instincts are good. Just hope not to have them tested again

I guess the fact NC has such a good torque at low revs somewhat contributes to the whole issue - on a sport bike, before you actually get any good torque, you're already moving fast enough for this not to be an issue.
Be wary out there, guys and gals, this bike may not have an awful lot of horepowers , but the low-rev torque can surprise sometimes.
And of course, repeating after my riding instructor, try to avoid starting from anything painted on the road

 

[dduelin]

I think you did very good not to chop the throttle which is a natural reaction to a skid. You eased off the gas and let the spinning back tire hook up again gradually.

There isn't a whole lot I remember from Kieth Code's book Twist of the Wrist #2 but I do remember Survival Reaction #1. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever chop the throttle shut. Nothing good ever comes from it. Smooth control inputs allow the bike to do what it does best and bring natural corrective forces from tires and frame geometry into play.

Though it is metal and plastic parts void of soul, the machine does not want to go down and given it's head it works with us to gather it up when things go south. Riders ride and sometimes crash bikes but sometimes a bike saves the rider. If you like reading books on riding motorcycles that aren't how to ride books give Spiegel's The Upper Half Of The Motorcycle: Unity of Rider and Machine a try.

 

[Akar.Zaephyr]

dduelin - well put, couldn't have said better myself. Thank you for the wisdom, riding a bike means you never stop learning.

 

[bvogel7475]

Thanks for all of the great replies. I will check out that book. I have never read a book about riding, only motorcycle adventures. I really liked Neil Peart's book "Ghost Rider". It's very intense. He rode something like 25,000 miles in a very short period of time getting over the sudden death of his 18 year daughter and the subsequent death of his wife due to cancer. I think I would hop on a bike just like he did if I had to go through that kind of tragedy.

 

[mreric]

for the same reason i still wish all motorcycle came with traction and skid control

 

[Hank]

The two Proficient Motorcycling books by David Hough are the best books I know of on street riding.

 

[MichaelJohn]

for the same reason i still wish all motorcycle came with traction and skid control

I agree. In fact, I'm going to try to use the safety angle on my wife in order to justify buying a BMW S1000 XR which has all the electronic nannies like traction control, wheelie control, lean sensitive ABS…and 160 hp! I don't think she'll buy it.

I echo what many above have said about not doing anything too drastic when the bike steps out. A couple of years ago when I first got my Zero the first time I rode it in wet weather I wasn't used to all the instant torque and it went into a nasty fishtail coming off a greenlight in a straight line. I just eased off and, thank goodness, the bike straightened out - sometimes less is more. I really thought I was going down on that one. It must have looked pretty wild to the car behind me.