"I had to lay it down". Fact or saving face

[twowheeladdict]

In the UK the police refer to collisions, not accidents. The two second rule should provide sufficient time to stop behind a vehicle that crashes, as this method automatically increases the following distance as speed rises. In bad weather two seconds is doubled.

The 2 second rule takes into consideration that the following vehicle can stop in the same distance as the leading vehicle,  and that the following driver is paying attention and has a less than 2 second reaction time. 

This is seldom the case.

[Speciality]

Yes, but no rider or driver can be expected to be responsible for the actions of others, only his or her own. When I ride or drive I pay attention to the distance I
maintain from the vehicle in front using the two second rule as a basic guide. It’s about maintaining my own safety bubble. I accept that in an emergency situation, while I would hope that by leaving a decent gap I would avoid running into the vehicle in front, it doesn’t preclude someone behind me crashing into me. Tailgating is one of the biggest causes of accidents in the UK. Advanced training advises the rider to allow the tailgater to pass and thereby maintain one’s safety bubble.

[Moparnut72]

One of my after retirement jobs insisted that we maintain 3 seconds. They also required that we drive no faster than the speed limit which they monitored via GPS. Since no one adheres to the speed limit so between the two we always had a pretty good safety bubble. Our vehicles were also plastered with reflective safety tape.
kk

[Socalrob]

I was on a freeway transition road with a nice sweeper, and on the outside of the curve was a low barrier wall and about a 40 ft drop to a parking lot.  Kind of certain death if you high sided over that wall.  Mid curve a valve stem on the rear wheel failed at about 85mph.  Bike got pretty squirrelly for a moment, and I was very ready to push it down to low side instead of high side.  Bike stabilized and I came to an uneventful stop.

Figured my choices were ride it out, low side and live, high side and die. 

Since then I only run metal valve stems.

[John A]

Last time I laid one down I didn’t do it on purpose. I had most of the speed scrubbed off by the time I lightly hit the rear of a car that had the car in front of him do a ‘brake check’ . I had lost traction because I dynamited the linked brakes and didn’t realize the freeway was so oily . Anti skid would have helped.

[MMRanch]

Wow !  85mph speed limit ?       

We all do it sometime or another ! 

Shame on all of us ...       Well most of us anyway ???

[twowheeladdict]

I was on a freeway transition road with a nice sweeper, and on the outside of the curve was a low barrier wall and about a 40 ft drop to a parking lot.  Kind of certain death if you high sided over that wall.  Mid curve a valve stem on the rear wheel failed at about 85mph.  Bike got pretty squirrelly for a moment, and I was very ready to push it down to low side instead of high side.  Bike stabilized and I came to an uneventful stop.

Figured my choices were ride it out, low side and live, high side and die. 

Since then I only run metal valve stems.

So, you've practiced low siding before?  Did you go to stunt rider school?  I don't think I could purposely low side a bike.  I guess the best way to do it on an ABS bike would be to sharpen the turn until hard parts hit and separate from the bike which would also be hard to do on purpose.

[Moparnut72]

I did a lowside once. It was early in my riding days, I had an 80cc Yamaha Trail master. I was coming around an exit ramp that was concrete and churt polished smooth through many years of traffic. As I was coming around the turn the rear wheel also started coming around. I was just about full lock when the bike and I gracefully slid out and landed on our sides. Fortunately we both came to a stop before we hit the curbing. Unfortunately the Yamaha's throttle grip was on the pavement locked full on with the motor screaming for help. I tried jumping to my feet to rescue her. The roadway was covered in oil, transfluid or ? I fell, hit my elbow on the pavement which hurt for a few weeks. The get-off was uneventful but the fall off my feet wasn't. Go figure.
The first thing I did next was get those damn trials type tires exchanged for street tires, probably wouldn't have helped on that slick pavement though. Fifty six years later I am still leary about leaning a bike way over. I had one other event on that bike prior, wet road same tires and another slide on a 250 Yamaha a couple of years later on another slick road. Saved that one though. Be careful out there.
kk

[moto-uno]

  Stay away from Yamaha's  . Peter

[inditx]

I did a lowside once. It was early in my riding days, I had an 80cc Yamaha Trail master. I was coming around an exit ramp that was concrete and churt polished smooth through many years of traffic. As I was coming around the turn the rear wheel also started coming around. I was just about full lock when the bike and I gracefully slid out and landed on our sides. Fortunately we both came to a stop before we hit the curbing. Unfortunately the Yamaha's throttle grip was on the pavement locked full on with the motor screaming for help. I tried jumping to my feet to rescue her. The roadway was covered in oil, transfluid or ? I fell, hit my elbow on the pavement which hurt for a few weeks. The get-off was uneventful but the fall off my feet wasn't. Go figure.
The first thing I did next was get those damn trials type tires exchanged for street tires, probably wouldn't have helped on that slick pavement though. Fifty six years later I am still leary about leaning a bike way over. I had one other event on that bike prior, wet road same tires and another slide on a 250 Yamaha a couple of years later on another slick road. Saved that one though. Be careful out there.
kk

My first bike was an 80 Trailmaster, good times!
inditx

[Moparnut72]

I put an actual 17,000 miles on mine. It was a good bike, at least at the time. I rebuilt a 125 a couple of years ago. What a POS.
kk

[Socalrob]

Wow !  85mph speed limit ?       

We all do it sometime or another ! 

Shame on all of us ...       Well most of us anyway ???

Kind of the average speed of freeway traffic here if it’s not jammed.

Cops generally don’t get excited until you hit at least 86.

[Socalrob]

So, you've practiced low siding before?  Did you go to stunt rider school?  I don't think I could purposely low side a bike.  I guess the best way to do it on an ABS bike would be to sharpen the turn until hard parts hit and separate from the bike which would also be hard to do on purpose.

I’m on that transition road 4 or 5 times a week normally, so pretty used to it.  In the couple of seconds it took, I was determined not to high side.  Pretty sure I could low side at will by pushing the bike down.  Watching MotoGP, a low side looks better than a high side.

Years before that, I had a new tire put on by a BMW dealer who failed to torque the wheel lugs.  I got about 2 miles from the dealer before the rear wheel got wobbly as 3 of the 4 lugs fell off, one kind of cross threaded itself and stayed on, and the rear brake caliper kind of helped the wheel stay on.  So I had a previous experience of a wobbly rear.  Never did go back to that dealer, even though they offered me a discount on the next tire service as compensation. 

Always thought that BMW added the 5th lug to their wheels on the 1200 series bikes so the torque values were less critical.  Somebody said having your rear wheel fall off was as bad as it gets.  I said no, having your front wheel fall off is worse.

[Moparnut72]

I once had the front wheel come off on my bicycle after hitting a bump at speed. Some idiot didn't tighten the axle nuts, me. It was horrible, I was skinned up pretty badly. My hands took the brunt of it.
kk

[egschade]

I laid my dirt bike down on purpose once. Came around a bend to see a tree sideways across the trail about 4 ft off the ground. Slammed the rear brake and pushed down hard. Was fortunate to get low enough not to hit the tree.

About the only street scenario I could imagine trying to do that would be an 18 wheeler blocking the road and trying to slide under the trailer. With ABS it's probably near impossible. Otherwise keep the rubber on the road to brake and maneuver as best you can.

[MadMike]

"I had to lay 'er down cause the last thing I wanted to do was grab a fistful of front brake and fly over the handlebars" I've heard this explanation several times in my motorcycle travels.

[Air-Cooled]

What would you say is the intelligence someone who exhibits a superiority complex?   

I wouldn't know what to say unless they took an IQ test. Just as I wouldn't know what to say if someone exhibited an inferiority or insecurity complex. On the other hand, someone who is unable to use proper grammar is flat out uneducated.