There are many threads with a reference to 'laying it down'. The 'it', being your bike. Some descriptions make sense to me, e.g., someone loses their balance in a low-speed or even no-speed situation, and literally 'lays' the bike over, or 'down'...gently, more or less.

But there are other references where the term is used apparently with regard to a maneuver where the rider, running at speed, lays the bike over on its side and slides it...to avoid running headlong into a substantive object in the path of the bike. It doesn't appear it's only a trick practiced by stunt-men and speedway racers either. Some amazingly ordinary guys seem to have done it. Guys who are frankly...well, a lot like me. But speaking for myself, I don't have the first idea of how to go about 'laying it down'.

I take it there's a technique to this maneuver, a guy doesn't just get on the brakes too hard and wash out the front-end so that he's reduced to sliding down the road next to his bike... Right? 'Laying it down' is a conscious maneuver, a last resort decision a rider makes when he's tried everything else, and there's nothing left but to smack headlong into an obstacle...or 'lay it down'.

Those of you who've 'laid it down', how did you prepare for the moment? I can't imagine you practiced it. How did you learn to 'lay it down'?

My girlfriend has an explanation. Her bet is Jesus loves bikers, and if and when that special moment comes when all else has failed and there's nothing left but to smack into something, He endows the afflicted rider with the super-ability to 'lay it down'. It's magic. According to my girlfriend. As soon as the moment passes, the guy's an ordinary rider again. Jesus takes His mojo back. I told my girlfriend this was silly. Jesus wouldn't waste his time on this kind of thing. Besides which, all the devils and skulls and demons and evil-stuff that bikers wear--I can't imagine Jesus is all that partial to us. But my girlfriend became adamant at that point that the way she said is the way things are. I didn't argue with her. I wanted to eat dinner. And sleep in bed. And other stuff, too. You know how women are. My girlfriend's a good person. But her explanation was...well, like a fairy tale.

So what's the real way to 'lay it down', the one you guys who have had to do it, used? Thanks...

 

Never laid it down. Dam thing fell over doing 50 in a corner though. I swear I wanted to keep it up.

 

I laid it down pure reflex..?
Jesus saved me i was doing 60.
Only got a sprained ankle.

 

I guess I've "laid it down" once.

The instant before impact & with nowhere to swerve, I didn't choose to "put it down", but I did try to control the inevitable. "Conscious maneuver" implies thinking the situation in a left brain manner, & that didn't happen. It was instinct, "muscle memory", habits used in my 1st motorcycle road accident that were developed elsewhere.

At the time I was a professional skier with a racing background, & being aware of the ballistics + your body parts during a crash had become habit. The bike went from upright into a slide automatically when I put my leg over the tank to sit sidesaddle. The steel absorbed the initial impact against pavement, & then squirted out from under me like a bar of soap. That took maybe 1.37 seconds. I then rolled like a ball for a long time.

The only road burn was to my hips because that is how I had been trained to go down.

Luck & youth, of course, were the real reasons I survived to replace the motorcycle.

 

Last year I had a kid pull the "LEFT TURN in front of me maneuver, and I went into full panic stop mode. Just when I thought that I was going to make it, I went up and over the high side, and ended up skipping like a pond stone on my crash bars down the street. stopping within a few inches of the now stopped car straddling the two lanes.

The police report said that I had to LAY THE BIKE DOWN TO AVOID A CRASH, which made me feel real good because until I read that I thought that I fell down in a panic stop.

 

If you "lay it down" you are giving up any and all control you may have had over the fate of you and your motorcycle.. You would be better off learning to use your brakes properly.

 

Laying a bike down had better not a 'pre-emptive' manuever ..... Your tires do a much better job of scrubbing off collision speed (which is, of course, the critical factor) than do the shiny parts of your bike. Even if you and the bike 'part ways' as the bike is laid down...you want the whole circus going down the road as slow as possible.

 

Having to "lay it down" sounds way cooler than "I lost control of my bike and crashed."

And it's easy to do, just lock up the rear brake. The bike will do the rest.

 

1) Never "lay it down" on purpose.
2) When you are going crash, try to limit the hurt.

When you have learned that your brakes will require another 20 yards & you have 15 feet before impact & there is no exit, take what control is available.
If braking is your only survival skill, then you will only crash chest first instead of feet first.

 

A lot of bullshit theories out there about "laying it down".By people who have never been down,period. I love the ones about "controlled braking". Try that when a deer comes over a guard rail 20 feet in front of you,and you're doing 65mph. Or a moose, or an elk,or a whole herd of them,jumps into the road,not to mention horses,cattle,dogs,any one of which will kill or maim you if you hit it.2 block bar hoppers miss all that.And the big animals WILL kill your *** dead.I can tell you from hitting a 200 lb mule deer at 65 mph that it's like hitting a wall. "Controlled braking" (ABS) got me a deer draped over my front fender,kicking the **** out of me,flipping under the rear wheel ,and getting body slammed to the pavement.Still in the saddle,hands on the grips,the engine guard kept the scoot off me,and I rode it out for about a hundred feet on it's side.Concussion and a few bruises,riding boots,jacket,gloves,helmet,all scuffed and shredded.I survived two other high speed wrecks with the bike down,on it's side,engine guards taking the brunt,totalling the bikes.Fatalities involved. Still riding because I" laid it down".When your body leaves the bike,it becomes an unguided projectile.That's what happens when you stay upright in the face of an unavoidable collision.And that ain't good.