ashwinprakas

The main reason for slipping while cornering is due to loss of speed, it can either be brought about by dropping the throttle or by braking.

And no matter which wheel skids the outcome is the same the bike will momentarily loose traction, but what you do next determines how things will end up, normally when people skid, 2 survival instincts act at the same time i.e un-necessarily braking and gripping the handle too tight.

A bike is designed to correct itself no matter what happen's, people normally think its the duty of the rider to do the same but its not. And for that to happen you should NEVER while riding a bike, grip the handle too tight, the handles are NOT made to hold onto the bike, they are just made for maneuvering the bike, the real methode to hold on to a bike is by using you'r knees. Now the un-necessary braking part, once the skid is initiated the bike need's a chance to correct itself if you keep the brakes jammed then there's no way the bike will be able to do it, so the millisecond you feel the bike's lost traction let go of the brakes and only the brakes, NOT the throttle.

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abhiwar

hey guys am a regular reader of this thread and i generally prefer to read few points of this thread before i start my long rides. This incident happen while i was coming home from my 1st solo long distance Ride to Mt.Abu .

The drama happend on NH8 somewhere between Varodra and Surat . Here is what happend to me and how i managed to escape.

I was doing good speed (120-125) on my C250R as the road was almost empty and smooth and dead straight . i have made a habit of checking mirrors after every 7-9secs and when i did that i found a VW Vento was closing in very fast so i gave indicator and changed lane . The vento just zipped passed me and i too decided to take a full advantage of him and started to follow him while keeping gap of 4-5 trucks(am not good with maths sorry ) between me and him and i too started doing 130+ constantly.

Soon after following his path for almost 10-20kms i saw 3-4 truck Driving in middle lane ( we were on right lane) the Vento driver didnt slow down and he just overtook them with same speed and i too thought that i can do the same but my other mind (or my instinct) was telling me to slow down so i droped my speed to 115-120kmph .

While i was about to overtake the 4th truck the 3rd Trucker jumped into my lane without any Indicator or even checking his mirrors i was still doing close to 120 and now i had only a distance of few meters ( or a length of a Truck) to slow down . I squeezed the front break lever as hard as i could do .....also at the same time managing the rear break . I was almost at the bumper of the truck who was in my lane and when barely 1 or 2 feet before the impact i managed to control my bike and when i looked @ speedo it was showing 35kmph @ 2nd gear ...

phhewwww ! was alive and the best part was that i was not panicked or surprised ....everything happened as if i was trained to do such stuff. I moved on to that truck driver had a FRIENDLY chat with him and moved on. After this i never crossed the mark of 90kmph on last 400kms.

A Big Thumps Up..! to all the masters and experts here who gave their valuable time to write these articles and educate novice biker like me . Than you all ...aagar aap ne ye sab nahi likha hota toh shayad aaj mai Hospital mai hota..:P and yeah sorry for my poor English writing skills

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Its not enough to know how to twist the throttle; you must have judgement to know when and where to do it.

ashwinprakas

Thank god for yourself being safe, and keep in mind the bigger the bike the better the brake's. If I were in your position with my ZMA, I would surely be with god right now.

But the important thing here is that you've learnt your lesson. Having been a adrenalin junkie myself, I've topped out my ride till the point of engine stalling and that too on traffic filled roads. But now I rarely take my bike beyond 3kRPM(50Kmph). Cause ultimately remember, its the capability of the rider that matters, not the bike.

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abhiwar

Thnk you ashwin . I might be going little Off topic but i don't agree with you for "Bigger the bike....Brake's" i think an R15 or RTR will handle such situation more effectively than Cbr its just my personal observation .

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Its not enough to know how to twist the throttle; you must have judgement to know when and where to do it.

ashwinprakas

By big, I wasnt actually referring to the size of the bike, I said so with the cost factor in mind.

My 90K ZMA Brakes like CRAP.

My Friends 1.10L R15 Brakes like Especially since we normally underestimate it.

My Friends 1.5L CBR Brakes even better than the R15 and surprisingly doesnt slip not even abit, guess the tyres are responsible for this.

My Friends Mechanic's 3.10L N250R, The bike brakes like nothing I've ever seen before, and best of all you'll have to keep an eye on the speedo to know how good the brakes are, cause the feelings somehow neutral, we wont get that forward thrust like we get while braking in the R15/CBR250R.

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