I'm still rocked!
Everyone was just to close together. It happens all the time. You get the train moving then it spreads out. That won't happen again.

I need to practice hard stops without locking the rear.

I'm still confused about the hard wobble. Has anyone had this happen? Do any of the advanced rider courses discuss this and what to do about it?

 

Traffic sucks! Glad your OK! Have to give yourself room and its not easy when everyone else takes up what little space you do leave for yourself!

 

You know...the boneheads don't realize that they'd still get to their destinations (a few minutes later) if they slowed down some, and enjoy the ride. Just leave a bit earlier. Heck, I catch up to them at the stoplights anyway. But, it's the dumbing down of America. It's like a virus....

 

I think we all get wake up calls once in a while.

 

I'm glad you're okay. I'm on my second HD with ABS, and I promise you this wouldn't have happened with ABS. Honestly, I don't think I will every be able to brake correctly if I switched back, because I'm already in the habit of just mashing the breaks in an emergency. I had to give a demo to my budy on loose sand behind our office. I got up to about 15 and just squeezed both brakes hard...they stopped me fast without locking.

 

not real sure, but it sounds like the wobble thing would be because of the locked rear brake. and just maybe you were correcting something and overcorrected and made the situation worse.

definitely practicing fast and hard stops. try to learn when the rear will lock up. learn to use the front more in those situations.

and the day to day ride and a certain amount of complacency. driving tight makes driving way ahead a must. look way past the cars in front of you. whats that rule about not driving faster than what you can see in the next 5 seconds. coming over a hill might mean slowing up just a bit to check it out.

but things will happen regardless.

glad it turned out okay for you. much better to learn something from someone who didn't crash.

so me too. need to practice those panic stops. and maybe throw a swerve and stop in there. and look farther ahead. and don't get complacent.

 

The wobble, more than likely, was due to the pavement texture. Maybe it had rain grooves? That would account for it.

As for dealing with this in the future ... and it is in all of our futures, try going to a clean, dry parking lot and practicing max braking. Practice so that you get a feel for how much braking force you can apply WITHOUT locking your wheels. Someone else talked about weight shift and that's important. The more front brake you engage, (and you want a good amount of front brake) the more weight will shift forward and lighten the rear wheel, making it more susceptible to lock up. You have to use less rear brake to maintain control. A thought I keep in my mind is using just enough rear brake to "light the brake light" until my speed bleeds enough to put more weight on the rear wheel.

Another thought ... as long as the rear tire is reasonably straight, you have the option of releasing and reapplying. 70-75% of your stopping power comes from the front brake, but you have to (instantly) judge the possibility of a high side upset. Again, the word here is practice.

 

If your wheels aren't turning you have no control. It takes a lot of practice and discipline but never keep them locked up, there's nothing good that can happen.

This is a case where ABS can save your ***.

Take some time and practice panic stops, it'll give you the confidence you need when it happens for real.

Glad you're OK.

 

Boneheads hell I call them ******** there everywhere. They think they got to be ahead of you. They think they so damn important they can't spare 3-4 minutes. I **** em off all the sometime when they try to get around me and squeeze in between cars. If I was a cop I would be in a record book for the most tickets wrote. Get in the right lane and let the stupid dyunctional ******* sob fly by you. You will pull of side of them at a light. Glad your ok but sounds like you were following to close.

 

I had this same exact thing happen to me the other day, the wobble you described is more than likely caused by the back end trying to come around due to the locked rear wheel, once that rear tire started to regain traction it was thrown back in line with the bikes direction causing the wobble. It has been said in this thread that maybe you should have stayed on that rear brake until the bike came to a stop,....maybe, if the bike comes around far enough and that rear tire regains traction it can throw you into a high side....bad deal, but comming to a complete stop in the fast lane of the interstate could be worse, you kept it up, and your still hear to talk about it so you did ok. JMHO