LOL, Good morning Paniolo! My 75 T150 shifts on the right, and the '76 T160 shifts on the left. I have to always remember which one I'm on !

I once came home from a stressful weekend of being the "demo" instructor at a MSF course, and rolled my T150 out of the garage onto my sloping drivewayto go for a relaxingride. Blipping the throttle to keep the cold engine running, I lifted my right foot to step on the "brake" and instead crunched it into gear, and wheelied right back into the garage!

You should talk tothe motormanabout being a site sponsor--we sure do enough advertising for him!

Edit: Huronbob, I just saw your post. My sympathies for your loss.

 

- am sorry for your loss.

.

 

Some great info here! I try practicing my combo braking on a regular diet. enough practice and your instincts should take over in a situation If you have to think about it it's too late already! jmo

 

Not sure what the stats are but most mc accidents occur because a cage fails to see them. While all the defensive techniques discussed are extremely helpfull,I think avoiding the situation is the best route. That's why I got a headlight modulator. I can't tell you how many times I've seen cages creep out and then suddenly stop. It modulates the high beam and I'm told it is extemely attention getting. If I'm ridding mid pack in a group I have to turn it off because it is so annoing to the people in front of me. Unfortunately if goes against being cool and that's why a lot of us don't use one. Me...I don't see it and don't give a ****.

 

HuronBob, so sorry about your son.

I just wanted to say that I think the practice practice practice thing is such a great help. Especially as we "mature"!, and our reaction times need just a little more help!!

My father was a motorhead with 4 daughters and 1 son. He took us all out and made us practice in the dune buggy and a dirt bike how to control situations.

This came in handy just a couple of months ago when I was in the middle of a pack. We were turning left and I was not going to make it and there was gravel where I could make it and I didn't want to go through that gravel at this speed, so I choose to go off the road. Went around the stop sign into the dirt. Now my delima was get the hell off the bike and roll, or ride it out. I scanned the ground in front of me and even though it had rained the day before and there were pock holes, I knew I could ride it out. So I never hit my brakes, let the bike slow a little, then gassed her to get over some nasty bumps. I never looked down, only to where I wanted to come back onto the pavement and held on tight and straight!

Got back into line in the pack and when we stopped I just acted all cool and said "Just demonstrating how to handle that situation"!!!

And if someone could PLEASE tell my DH to STOP following vehicles so close. He ALWAYS does that and it drives me nuts...one of these days, he's going to have to use the brakes very hard.

Lots of interesting good info...My HOG Chapter will be practicing the emergency stop in January. We do one "safety practice" a month, to keep everyone practicing.

 

Nobody has mentioned how much tire pressure effects the tires locking-up. I think the front will lock up when the tire is low and the back will lock up when the tire is high. When going back and forth between two up and solo you need to be aware of your tire pressure requirements and how it effects your bike handling.

And remember as we enter the winter seson tire pressure just seems to always be low on these cool days.

 

Front lock up when tire is *low*?? Hmmm...not so sure about that, at least, not unless the tire is nearly flat. All things being equal, a few pounds under the recommended setting would provide better grip than a few pounds over.

 

all the more reason to buy ABS...save all this chit chat.

 

Thanks for your post. For a complete rookie like me it's important to know, at least theoretically, how to behave in such an unfortunate occurrence.
I've driven cars of various style and horse power for over 18 years, both on street and on track, and have always taken great interest in safe driving, the dynamic of the vehicle and the DOs and DON'Ts when in an emergency. Likewise I find it extremely important to learn the same about my bike. I'm still learning and have still to get my driving licence, after which I'll schedule a safe riding course as soon as I can get the money to pay for it (here in Italy things are different: you are usually supposed to have a driving licence to attend such training).
Meanwhile, having experienced people like you share their experience is priceless.
Thanks again.

 

You can re-apply the rear brake if your bike is going straight. If you are in a turn, then keep the brake locked up to avoid a high-side. I don't think there's much chance of a high-side when the bike is headed straight ahead.

The forces generated are really quite high. I had the perfect example to show one of my MSF classes, when we were doing the excerside for controlling rear wheel skids. A student came into the braking chute at about the max 20 mph, and locked up the rear brake as instructed, and the rear end "wagged" to the rightabout six inches, even though he had kept the front wheel straight and did everything else correct. He reacted to the skid, however, and released the brake, and the rear end literally jumped sideways as the forces tried to pull the tires back into alignment. He was able to kind of skip along to a stop without tipping over, but the bike was no longer vertical. Keep in mind this was on only lightweight 125 cc bike.

As he was the first student, the only skid mark we had on the pavement was his, and I was able to show the class the results of his releasing the brake. Visualize about 10 feet of a nearly straight skid mark, andat the end of it a near right angle skid markto the left. That was the mark the rear tire made as the back end violently went to the left to try and realign with the front tire.

A skid at highway speed, or even street speed, would have much more force.

One of the things I liked to show my classes, was to skid and maintain it, but at about half way to a stop, turn my head one way or the other. The rear of the bike would immediately go the other direction into a slide. Keeping your eyes forward and level with the horizon maintains inner ear balance, which controls your whole body's balance. You can do the same excercise on a bicycle like we used to do as kids....ride to beat hell and hit the rear coaster brake on gravel.