Crashed the GS500F this morning...

Pop quiz: You're riding along at 50 mph on a downhill grade, and less than 100 feet ahead of you, some zombie in a Grand Cherokee decides he'll scurry across a cross street up ahead of you. What's the correct thing to do?

Well, I got the wrong answer to that one on the way to work this morning. I tried to make a panic stop, locked the front wheel, and dropped the bike before reaching the intersection. I don't remember seeing where the Jeep disappeared to but I do remember seeing the bike slide on ahead of me, trailing sparks underneath it.

A clerk and an old biker guy at a gas station at the intersection ran out to check if I was all right. I found the good news was nothing on me was broken; my injuries were limited to a scrape on one elbow (the mesh on my jacket was torn just above the elbow pad) and some bruised fingers. My jacket and Cortech Mod jeans were shredded, but it turns out the flimsy looking jeans held up better than I thought they might in a crash. The jeans have perforated leather under the knees and seat, and the fabric over one knee pad was almost gone but the leather was intact. The bike was rashed up but rideable, too. A lady at the scene of the accident who lived nearby offered to drive me home, and I took her up on the offer. The Jeep guy just disappeared, either having failed to notice a bike slide by right behind him or deciding he didn't want the cops looking into whether he had any right to be driving.

I decided I'd take my car in to work today, and stopped by the scene of the accident. There was a skid mark that started about 60 feet from the intersection. It looks like I'd been asking the brakes to do the impossible.

I'm still wondering what the correct answer was to that pop quiz.

Glad to hear you're OK!!!

Don't for get the back brake as well. It will help.

remember ATGATT. and buy a new helmet.

Oh...and given the choice? low slide the bike (you did) vs High side. flying is only fun if you're expecting it.

In a panic situation, sounds like you made the right choice. Don't forget, rolling is an option. Glad to hear you're OK.

Grtechguy wrote: Glad to hear you're OK!!! Don't for get the back brake as well. It will help. remember ATGATT. and buy a new helmet. Oh...and given the choice? low slide the bike (you did) vs High side. flying is only fun if you're expecting it.

Every situation is different, but generally I prefer flying when dealing with cars. I saw a story on a guy that low sided and slid under a truck, then ended up under the front tire with the truck stopped and resting on him. After all his ribs broke he almost died....lucky guy to live through it.

I hit a Ford Taurus at around 40-50mph riding a dual sport, flew over the car and hit pavement. Somehow my pinkie finger was almost severed, but otherwise I wise fine except for some bumps and bruises. Like a said every situation is different though, but I'd much rather end up over a car than under it.

Oh and to the OP....glad you made it out okay!

Just trying a different answer to the question...

What would have happened if you tried to drive behind the Cherokee as he went by instead of locking the brakes?

On a bike or a in race car I always try to stay ahead of myself and visualize my escape routes - letting my eyes pull me there rather than looking at the problem area. It is possible that there was no escape route and you used the only option at your disposal but... maybe you were caught off guard, stared at the truck and reacted by trying to shrink the distance to impact instead of looking for the escape.

Tough call to make from here but I am glad you are OK and get to analyze the situation today.

+1 on escape routes - sometimes there just aren't any. Highsides have more injuries than lowsides, but everything is better than the hard stop. Glad you're ok.

Another thought, at least with my baby ninja, it takes it an extra instant or so for the weight transfer - the front locks up fairly easily in a panic, but a progressive squeeze gives that extra instant for the weight to load up on the front tire - and yeah I learned that the hard way.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I don't think I'll be able to forget ATTGAT after seeing how much damage there was to my pants and jacket, compared to how little there was to my skin. About the only gear that looks like it's savable is my boots - my helmet's got some rash on it, gloves, pants, and jacket are pretty torn up.

As I evidently did end up going behind the Cherokee instead of hitting it, it seems like I probably could have gone behind it and kept the bike upright if I hadn't grabbed quite so much brake. On the other hand, if the Cherokee driver had stopped when he saw me coming... This is a pretty tough one to second guess, but it does seem like "behind the Jeep" would have been the right answer. Unfortunately, it's kind of like one of those unintentional games where you step one way to go around someone, they step the same way, then you both step the other way... only played at a much higher terminal velocity.

Escape routes are the key, you did the next best thing you could.

A trick I got taught by an old timer at the motorcycle shop I worked at is look at the drivers eyes of the other vehicle. You can tell if they see you or are looking around you. I also focus on wheel direction and front bumper. Tells you alot.

Glad you are ok and your ride is ride able. Welcome to motorcycling.

I have never been in an accident. That doesn't mean anything other than I am a lucky SOB. I'm glad you are intact!

That said, ever since I got on two wheels, whenever someone is considering turning onto my street, I always give myself escape routes. I have used them several times. I almost never rely on my brakes to get me out of bad situations.

It's hard to say what I would have done in that situation. I have found something really bizarre. If I attempt to make eye contact (even with the back of their head) most of the time they make eye contact. It's something I will never understand but it always seems to make me known. I don't know why, but if it works it works.

Glad you're OK!

Think others have covered all my other thoughts. Very glad you're around to ponder what happened and how to handle these things.

Glad you didn't get hurt badly MSM. The last time that happened to me was on a Yamaha 360 Dual Sport. I hate to admit it but I was seeing what top end was on a highway near my home with almost no access roads. Hot rodders commonly used that stretch for top end runs. Note, I said almost no access. At over 80 a Honda Accord pulled up to a crossroad stop sign, slowed, and pulled out in front of me. It was loaded with young men and the guy in the LR window seat was looking right @ me screaming to the driver to get on it. When I bought the bike I did several panic stops and practiced high speed pavement cornering to look for the limits. I think that saved my life that day. I immediately braked hard with both brakes which all but bottomed the long travel front forks and was preparing to jump over the car right before impact. At the last possible second I came off the brakes and did a hard R-L maneuver and made it back onto the pavement before running into a deep ditch on the rt. side of the road. I thought about running them down but was so glad to have not been hurt, I just pulled off to the side of the road to let my heart rate and adrenaline normalize and then rode to a favorite meditation spot to give thanks. I went back later to revisit the scene and saw where my rear tire made intermittent skid marks as it lifted off and back on to the pavement.

I believe you did the right thing. I have high sided and I have rolled. I don't recommend either.

The only place I really enjoy road riding is rural roads. I mean RURAL. I can never relax when on city streets or highways. Almost everyone who does a lot of that can tell hair raising survival stories. Motorcycle lanes are warranted in the world we live in but I know it'll not happen in my lifetime.

Glad you survived. Sucks that the bike and gear didn't fare so well.

Graefin10 wrote: The only place I really enjoy road riding is rural roads. I mean RURAL. I can never relax when on city streets or highways.

I almost hit a deer relaxing out in the mountains. I can never relax.

Glad you're OK. A friend of mine blew both brakes at >140MPH on a top fuel drag bike at a "short" track. Maybe >170 MPH, I forget now. Anyway, there was a net at the end of the sand trap and he figgered if he hit the net he was dead. He laid the bike over, rode it down and kinda stepped off of it. At those speeds. He broke his ankle (sorry, don't know which bone.) He rebuilt the bike and rode it again, just to say he did and not let the bike scare him off.

Oh, and Graefin10, on the RURAL roads, the deer will kill you. Or the redneck on your side of the road.

Glad you're ok!

OK, no one is saying it, and that's a shame.

Locking a front wheel does happen. Finding yourself unable to unlock that wheel and dumping the bike as a result, that's a rider problem.

You need some practice at some hard riding skills for street survival. You should be able to balance that bike right on the edge of traction. You should be able to be thinking and acting in a situation like this. You should have been on the brakes, hard, before the jeep ever moved, for you should have read the situation right to begin with. You should have scrubbed off enough speed to manuever around him in whatever way was best once you got close.

I'm not trying to take pot-shots at you, I'm speaking as a guy who has spent decades on the streets on various bikes, and is still alive.

So go practice hard braking with that bike, until you can dance it there all day long, at any time, under any condition. And keep thinking. Always think and watch when you ride.

I always say crashing is easy, picking it up and putting it back together is the hard part.

I've had to slow down quickly a few times and you can't grab the brake, you have to be controlled and progressive in your braking even if you really need to stop quickly. Another thing to remember is to get around and away from the source of danger, pass the guy on the left, right, center. Before you even see the car move give him a few headlight flashes and maybe the toot of a horn to make sure you are seen.

Sucks to hear but you got lucky because motorcycles and clothes are more easily repaired than skin and bone. Get it back together and back on the road!

Most important part is that you're still in one piece, walked away from it and that the gear took the brunt of the damage. I probably would have thrown the bike down the road as well, especially because I find threshold braking on a bike much harder than in a car, plus the consequences tend to be a little more horizontal when you get it wrong.

foxtrapper wrote: OK, no one is saying it, and that's a shame. Locking a front wheel does happen. Finding yourself unable to unlock that wheel and dumping the bike as a result, that's a rider problem. You need some practice at some hard riding skills for street survival. You should be able to balance that bike right on the edge of traction. You should be able to be thinking and acting in a situation like this. You should have been on the brakes, hard, before the jeep ever moved, for you should have read the situation right to begin with. You should have scrubbed off enough speed to manuever around him in whatever way was best once you got close.

and take the Advanced Rider Course with the MSF program.

Grtechguy wrote: remember ATGATT.

+10 on that.

It's been over 100 here in Dallas and people look at me strangely when I ride with a mesh jacket and boots, even on the Ruckus. I see too many people here riding in shorts, flip flops and no helmet.

No offense taken, Foxtrapper. I'm well aware that I took evasive action too late and botched it. It's not a "I had to lay 'er down" situation; I can tell that a better response would have been possible where I neither hit the Jeep nor dropped the bike.

I also think that, in retrospect, it was a bad idea to be riding before daylight on a night where a cranky baby had cost me half my night's sleep.

The idea of actually practicing recovering from a locked front wheel hadn't occurred to me. I have managed to bring the bike to a controlled stop after locking the rear wheel, but this was the first time I've ever locked the front wheel on a bike - didn't even do that in the MSF class. Any tips on safely practicing that? I wonder if there are any "street survival" sort of motorcycle events in my neck of the woods.

MadScientistMatt wrote: Pop quiz: You're riding along at 50 mph on a downhill grade, and less than 100 feet ahead of you, some zombie in a Grand Cherokee decides he'll scurry across a cross street up ahead of you. What's the correct thing to do?

Shoot the hostage!!

In reply to MadScientistMatt:

The advanced MSF course (which I took last year, and am probably going to retake next year) does probably come close. They teach a lot of bike control, but I don't think they do the specific 'lock your front wheel, then unlock again'. IIRC they do have a couple of exercises for hard braking.

MSF advanced gives you a person there watching you and critiquing you. That's wonderfull.

You can do the same with another friend in the parking lot or on the street say in front of your house.

You can just plain practice yourself.

If you're willing to do a little damage, take the mirrors and signals off, then go in the back yard and slide in the grass. You're going to go down, but you start to get an interesting feel with your bike.

Take a bike race school. The limits of most bikes are way higher than anyone should be willing to experience on public roads, but sometimes the ability to drag a knee instead of giving up and eating the grille out of a Freightliner is an important skill.