How to end a bad day? Low-side in the rain.

[Monkeytofu]

So the title pretty much says it all. I was going around a turn, steadily going through it like I had done every other day (rain or shine) when I found my bike just slide away from me.

I was going at about the speed limit but I guess that was too fast on a rainy day like this.

The bike is structurally safe, the frame is fine and the engine and everything else only received cosmetic damage. However, if you've ever seen my bike cosmetic damages are the worst thing that could happen to it

Oh, and my forks are completely bent, so I'll have to replace those as soon as possible so I can get back to riding :/

[csmith12]

And how about you? Is the rider ok?

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by csmith12

And how about you? Is the rider ok?

Ah I totally forgot to put that! Thanks for caring

Yes. I've scuffed my legs a bit, but I didn't hit my head on anything and I slid on the side of my arm and leg to a stop.

I don't think I've damaged my helmet but I'm going to be in the market for a new one just in case.

[Panda]

glad to hear you are okay mate

[Motofool]

Sorry to read this, Noor.

The forks may be just twisted in the tees, which can be easily fixed without replacing forks.

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Sorry to read this, Noor.

The forks may be just twisted in the tees, which can be easily fixed without replacing forks.

Yeah it looks like this may be all that was the problem. I was able to straighten it out quite a bit by holding the tire in between my feet and jerking the handle bars. I'm going to jack it up and loosen the trees like the 250 wiki recommends before I ride it anywhere

[csmith12]

Good to hear , good luck with your repairs. Hope you can shake out your forks.

[Ramen]

Good to hear you're ok. I hydoplaned in a parking lot last week and put some rash on my right fairing with a tiny crack.

Checked my tire psi later on. Terribly low. Lesson re-learned.

[Jono]

Sucks to hear about your crazy paint job getting damaged. At least you are okay for the most part.

[austexjg]

Glad your okay - bikes can always be fixed alot easier than bodies. At least we have all year long to ride here in Central Texas. Did you do the paint on the bike?

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by austexjg

Glad your okay - bikes can always be fixed alot easier than bodies. At least we have all year long to ride here in Central Texas. Did you do the paint on the bike?

No, it was a friend of the previous owner so I have no idea who did it. I do have the signature of the person/ company on it, but I didn't find anything about it online

[psych0hans]

Sorry about the crash... I'm glad it wasn't worse and you're alright. Good luck fixing the bike...

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Miles_Prower]

Originally Posted by Monkeytofu

Yeah it looks like this may be all that was the problem. I was able to straighten it out quite a bit by holding the tire in between my feet and jerking the handle bars. I'm going to jack it up and loosen the trees like the 250 wiki recommends before I ride it anywhere

This is what happened to mine..just loosened (only a little) four nuts, put it against the curb, pushed a little bit, and it straightened out. Then just tighten up, take it for a short test ride somewhere safe (neighborhood) and see if it's going straight when you keep the bar straight, if not, adjust it some more. I didn't even jack mine up.

[alex.s]

so what did you learn about riding in the rain? what causes your front wheel to slide?

[tuan3742]

sorry to hear that. what's your bike look like? i have never seen it

[BlueHairSar]

Glad to hear you're okay! Very sad to hear about your bike-bike, but remember: chicks dig scars.

[akima]

Originally Posted by alex.s

so what did you learn about riding in the rain? what causes your front wheel to slide?

Ooh, oooh! * puts hand up * I know!!

1) putting the front brake on while turning
2) sudden deceleration while turning (transfers weight to the front wheel asking the tyre to grip more than it might be able too)
3) hitting a slippery object like a patch of wet leaves, oil-slick, or a drain cover.
4) too much lean angle (I've been told that it can be worth hanging off the bike a little bit even at low speed, during wet conditions to keep the bike more upright and thus maintain better grip.
5) not much tread left on the tyre... less grip... low slide!

Did I do good? Did I miss anything?

@Monkeytofu: do you think anything of those 5 things apply to you?

[akima]

Missed one...

6) Holding the bars too tightly so the front wheel isn't able to move freely as it wants too around the small imperfections in the road. AKA: Grip of death.

[alex.s]

good answers but lets boil them down a bit.

front brake while turning, sudden weight transfers, going over abnormally slippy patches, too much lean, no grip on the tires... lets say they all fall into the category "too much sideways force for the amount of 'grip' your tires are able to hold"...
what does that mean? too much force for the amount of grip... we've all seen the other threads getting into technical definitions of surface normal pressure and trying to go through the math of it but lets ignore that side... less throttle(or more brake) means more force on the front tire. speeding up means more force on the rear tire and less on the front. both fully over or underloaded front and rear tires will send you sliding away but there are small differences... if your front tire is sliding, what controls do you have on the bike? gas and brake right? moving the bars isn't going to do anything beneficial if the front tire is already sliding. if your rear tire is sliding what controls do you have on the bike? gas, brake, and a little bit of steering... so it makes sense that it might be easier to control the bike while the rear tire is sliding, instead of the front tire right?

so with that in mind, suppose you are going around a corner or whatever and you see you are heading into an area where you will not have enough traction for the speed you are carrying, and can't slow down in time to hit the corner at the speed you feel is safe? you are going to slide... so what do you do?

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by tuan3742

sorry to hear that. what's your bike look like? i have never seen it

It's the pregen that looks like a really good paint shop puked all over it, and then put a nice layer of gloss on It's cool!

[akima]

Originally Posted by alex.s

good answers but lets boil them down a bit.

front brake while turning, sudden weight transfers, going over abnormally slippy patches, too much lean, no grip on the tires... lets say they all fall into the category "too much sideways force for the amount of 'grip' your tires are able to hold"...
what does that mean? too much force for the amount of grip... we've all seen the other threads getting into technical definitions of surface normal pressure and trying to go through the math of it but lets ignore that side... less throttle(or more brake) means more force on the front tire. speeding up means more force on the rear tire and less on the front. both fully over or underloaded front and rear tires will send you sliding away but there are small differences... if your front tire is sliding, what controls do you have on the bike? gas and brake right? moving the bars isn't going to do anything beneficial if the front tire is already sliding. if your rear tire is sliding what controls do you have on the bike? gas, brake, and a little bit of steering... so it makes sense that it might be easier to control the bike while the rear tire is sliding, instead of the front tire right?

so with that in mind, suppose you are going around a corner or whatever and you see you are heading into an area where you will not have enough traction for the speed you are carrying, and can't slow down in time to hit the corner at the speed you feel is safe? you are going to slide... so what do you do?

Awww! This is fun! I'm not 100% sure. I have these options in mind:
1) You could deliberately stand the bike up and try to brake as much as possible either until you come to a complete stop or perhaps just enough that you slow down and then start to turn again on the very outside of the turn. That latter point seems more difficult and the former point feels like most scenarios wont allow for it... because there is probably something hard just off the corner and you wont be able to stop before you arrive at it.
2) You take the corner! Fully commit to it. Put your bum on the side of the seat and keep your posture such that you can keep the bike more upright during the turn and maintain more friction. ALSO.. like you said... accelerate smoothly and progressively faster to load the rear wheel more thus making it more likely the rear wheel will slide and thus giving you more control over any slide that may occur. If the rear wheel slides (like you said), you can then decelerate gently to regain traction and adjust steering to make the bike more upright (and gain traction).

Also -- as I understand it -- you should never aim to load the front and rear wheel 50% each anyway. I understand that on sports bikes (including the ninjette) the rear wheel has more grip.

That's my thoughts.

D- ??

[alex.s]

[Monkeytofu]

Originally Posted by akima

Ooh, oooh! * puts hand up * I know!!

1) putting the front brake on while turning
2) sudden deceleration while turning (transfers weight to the front wheel asking the tyre to grip more than it might be able too)
3) hitting a slippery object like a patch of wet leaves, oil-slick, or a drain cover.
4) too much lean angle (I've been told that it can be worth hanging off the bike a little bit even at low speed, during wet conditions to keep the bike more upright and thus maintain better grip.
5) not much tread left on the tyre... less grip... low slide!

Did I do good? Did I miss anything?

@Monkeytofu: do you think anything of those 5 things apply to you?

I think it was a combination of 3 and 4. My backpack was especially heavy that day, maybe about an extra 10-15 pounds as well and that could have affected me.

@tuan3742



I've been able to clean it up a lot, but I'll be getting touch up paint later this week to try do some light touching up on my own. I have a thread in the pregen section with the majority of the damage in pictures.

[tuan3742]

someone put a lot of love into that design

[choneofakind]

See? Paint-shop-puke! Sorry Tofu. your bike looks sweet! It's just so unique that I have to tease.

[lgk]

i was thinking of ways to repair the art on your fairings...

pretty much the only way is to use a wrap using data from an old image of the bike in good light.

you would still have to repaint the shiny flake portions but all the flat portions can be printed.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by lgk

i was thinking of ways to repair the art on your fairings...

pretty much the only way is to use a wrap using data from an old image of the bike in good light.

you would still have to repaint the shiny flake portions but all the flat portions can be printed.

how to repair:

1) make friends with an artist
2) get artist to paint bike
3) enjoy beer with artist while they paint
4) show off the piece as much as you can

[lgk]

Originally Posted by alex.s

how to repair:

1) make friends with an artist
2) get artist to paint bike
3) enjoy beer with artist while they paint
4) show off the piece as much as you can

was looking at options to repair the original work but it seemed pretty impossible.

i agree that it simpler to have a new artist that specializes in abstract work, to work over clean white fairings.

saw a white bike where an artist drew with sharpies and it looked pretty cool.

[choneofakind]

Sharpie paint jobs rock!