Do you remember your first near miss?

amacca

BrokenArrows wrote: »

I'm surprised at the voting so far. I was expecting the majority to he on someone else's fault.

maybe some of the posters are saying its their fault for not treating motorists like they are out to get them:D........not that they actually done anything particularly wrong or stupid

bogman

Theirs

Long long time ago on a CB125 Honda, coming back after a funeral from Clonakilty with a buddy on the back, frozen cold and tucked in behind an old Volks, didn't see the bad bend until twas too late (black spot)
heading for the ditch, spotted a ramp and went for it, clean over the ditch until a concrete barrier stopped the bike in its tracks, buddy @ myself somersaulted into the field, jaw piece of the helmet took the impact & cracked, buddy continued over me and landed on his arse, we both escaped, farmer arrived to see if he could help, front wheel had a huge dent but was still inflated, the 3 of us managed to "sort of twist the forks around, both forks were well bent, we hopped on the bike and hobbled our way back to Cork meeting the ambulance rushing down to the accident, buddy ended in the Handlebars pub by the train station & got pissed as a coot, repaired the bike, some may remember Mick Barry the famous bowler, he re-spoked a new front wheel rim....
We were damn lucky that night, always tell the tale when passing that bend on the Clonakilty side of Bandon
Happy fook..n days, still biking 35 years down the road
Ride safely folks

positron

Theirs

Paparazzo, Simona1986, davemc180 - thanks for the concern and suggestions. Fazer is restricted. I have been using it daily to commute to work (about 60 miles) during the peak hour so I suppose it's inevitable that I will run into tricky situations. I've already improved a lot with training and practice, and as for cornering, my lack of skills is not just about learning to corner, but unlearning the urge to keep the bike upright at any cost. I used to ride smaller CC bikes and scooters for a decade or so, and mostly on roads with poor surface + sand / gravel on the road. Leaning was big no no there. So when I approach a corner now, I freeze up if I see any colour difference on the surface - too dark? it could be oil/greese = slippery, too light, is that dirt, dust, gravel, muck = slippery. I hope I will do the unlearning and learning slowly overtime, but may be after this winter.

cantdecide

My first btm (brown trouser moment) was when I was a couple of months into my riding carreer. I was rumbling along a quiet, narrow road leading up to a local beauty spot. There is a small pub at the roadside that serves food and it was a sunny Sunday. There is an ad hoc side-by-side car park at the roadside, opposite this pub and it was thronged.

I pootled along and spotted a guy sitting in his white Audi A3 with the phone to his ear. I realised that he may do something incredibly stupid so I slowed up and moved into the middle of the road. With the phone still to his ear, he looked left and right and lunged forward just as I passed. His front bumper was about a foot away from my ankle as he followed me onto the road. I made it clear that I was unhappy with his driving. He probably did the same thing at the next available opportunity anyway :rolleyes:

ifah

positron wrote: »

I just have to teach myself that cars can slow down a lot quicker than bikes.

ok - this is just plain wrong - you should be able to outbrake most cars on the road (especially on a fazer) and given your seating position on a Fazer you should be able to see obstacles a couple of cars ahead to give you more time to react.

If you can't do this then there is a problem with your positioning and observation.

Try to position yourself more defensively -
- fill whatever lane you're in (keep centred)
- use your hazards to warn other drivers to back off, or else pull in and let them pass if you're under pressure
- never, ever, and I mean never overtake on white lines/hatchings etc in the wet - you haven't a chance of braking properly
- work on your engine braking also
- Above all - give yourself room - if you're in busy traffic on the M1 you're going to get there in the same time whether you're 10 inches from car in front or at least 2 seconds back

Alkers

ifah wrote: »

ok - this is just plain wrong - you should be able to outbrake most cars on the road (especially on a fazer)

Are you sure?

positron

Theirs

ifah wrote: »

ok - this is just plain wrong - you should be able to outbrake most cars on the road (especially on a fazer) and given your seating position on a Fazer you should be able to see obstacles a couple of cars ahead to give you more time to react.

Hmm. You are probably right, but I am not sure - Obviously a car probably has 6 or 10 times more forward momentum than the motorcycle, but I suppose a car is more stable during braking - four contact points, more weight aids the friction and braking is more efficient, especially with ABS etc. Too many parameters - one for Mythbusters may be.

However, I know this - if I was in my car (Honda Accord) and if I had to do emergency breaking while moving along at 120 kmph on the M1, I wouldn't worry too much about putting the pedal down - the car has ABS, I don't have to worry about my front wheels slipping, I don't have to worry about going over the steering wheel, seat belt holds me down too, and even if the car behind me runs into the back of my car, I might come out okay - all of which I have to worry about squeezing the brake liver on the Fazer! So I suppose it's about skill, room ahead, and also how early/late the cars ahead brakes, and it's almost always last second braking on M1.

ifah

positron wrote: »

ifah wrote: »

ok - this is just plain wrong - you should be able to outbrake most cars on the road (especially on a fazer) and given your seating position on a Fazer you should be able to see obstacles a couple of cars ahead to give you more time to react.

Hmm. You are probably right, but I am not sure - Obviously a car probably has 6 or 10 times more forward momentum than the motorcycle, but I suppose a car is more stable during braking - four contact points, more weight aids the friction and braking is more efficient, especially with ABS etc. Too many parameters - one for Mythbusters may be.

However, I know this - if I was in my car (Honda Accord) and if I had to do emergency breaking while moving along at 120 kmph on the M1, I wouldn't worry too much about putting the pedal down - the car has ABS, I don't have to worry about my front wheels slipping, I don't have to worry about going over the steering wheel, seat belt holds me down too, and even if the car behind me runs into the back of my car, I might come out okay - all of which I have to worry about squeezing the brake liver on the Fazer! So I suppose it's about skill, room ahead, and also how early/late the cars ahead brakes, and it's almost always last second braking on M1.

Your front wheel won't slip, you won't go over handlebar but you don't just brake with front brake. You should be balancing engine braking with front and back brakes.

But main point of my post is that you should never be in a position where you are braking at last second especially on a motorway. If you are then you're too close to traffic in front and not watching traffic several positions ahead.

Try get your hands on http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorcycle-Roadcraft-Police-Handbook-Motorcycling/dp/011341143X

On another note I had a real brown trouser moment this evening. Coming down northbound slip off m50 onto n2, fork seal on front let go and pissed oil all over front calipers and discs. Not a nice feeling when there was no brakes at all on the front coming into the hard left hand at 100 kph

ifah

Simona1986 wrote: »

ifah wrote: »

ok - this is just plain wrong - you should be able to outbrake most cars on the road (especially on a fazer)

Are you sure?

Twin disc 4 pot calipers - should be able to.

Not 100% but does the fazer not share front brakin system with r1?

positron

Theirs

ifah wrote: »

Twin disc 4 pot calipers - should be able to. Not 100% but does the fazer not share front brakin system with r1?

It does. Especially the old Fazer as it has the same blue dot calipers as the R1 - brilliant breaks.

May be I should change my original comment to this: "I just have to teach myself that cars can slow down a lot quicker than bikes me."