Went down on the 405 :( v.465532

[00v_Lucky]

First of all, I just want to say that I am fine and only have a minor rash on my left knee. But my baby's face is smashed up and will need extensive surgery, OR I may just go the route of creating a Frankenstein of my baby due to the 1000 deductible from my insurance ( I don't have 1000). Either Street Fighter, Or I was thinking, (due to an even crack of the headlight plastic, and a salvageable side) Creating a 2 face, one side SF, the other a normal ninjette, Thoughts? But getting back to the story.

After over a year of not crashing, I guess I got overly confident, despite all of the things I have learned from this forum. When I first started to ride, I was very cautious and a very defensive rider. A couple of canyon rides later, (Like many other young riders) I began to think I was "invincible" to some extent. My mentality only changed a couple of week ago in becoming overly confident with my riding skills and they finally caught up to me.

I was lane splitting and suddenly traffic came to a halt. Tried to swerve but target fixated on the car in front of me (a toyota sequoia SUV) rear wheel locked up and hit him like a curve ball into a catchers glove. I know that this is my fault and have learned the hard way.

So to the others that have not crashed yet and are feeling confident, DON'T unless you're on the track I guess. Oh and the rear tire, under pressure will lock up fairly easily (even more so on the freeway due to less traction from the rain grooves IMO). Even though from time to time on yellow lights, I practice my panic stop, I guess it wasn't enough preparation.

On the semi-positive side, I made my mark on the world by creating traffic on the 405 freeway! I got at least 100 dirty looks by rubberneckers

Question: When I went down, I spilled some (seemed to be greed radiator fluid) I checked when I got home and the fluid level was fine, but am still dripping a couple of mL on the ground and do not know where it is coming from. I checked all of the hoses, and they seem to be fine. Thoughts?

[OldGuy]

Glad you are OK and no one was injured. Enough said other than way to Man Up for your actions.

[bdavison]

More than likely it will be totaled by the insurance company. Sometimes you can buy it back from the insuance company with a salvage title
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[Betlog]

Sorry to hear but I'm glad you are ok. I say go Street Fighter. Otherwise, look for used fairings.

[jcgirl]

Sorry to hear about your incident... glad your ok. Bikes are always fixable or replacable.

[Ryosen11]

Sorry about the accident Howard, but glad you are OK..."Down on the 405" sound deadly

I have oem windscreen and handlebars. Let me know if you need them to fix your baby.

[JeffM]

Glad you are ok. Wow, your own Sigalert.

Isn't that section of the 405 the busiest section of freeway on the planet?

[Delta107]

Glad your ok!

[Snake]

Sorry to hear about your incident and glad that you made it out ok. I hope other members will learn from your experience. Thanks for sharing and giving us a wake-up call.

[HKr1]

Originally Posted by 00v_Lucky

I was lane splitting and suddenly traffic came to a halt. Tried to swerve but target fixated on the car in front of me (a toyota sequoia SUV) rear wheel locked up and hit him like a curve ball into a catchers glove. I know that this is my fault and have learned the hard way.

Sorry to hear dude!

If your lane slpitting and the traffic stops, your still going between cars..... Somebody turned in front of you?

[Samer]

Originally Posted by HKr1

Sorry to hear dude!

If your lane slpitting and the traffic stops, your still going between cars..... Somebody turned in front of you?

Read the post again. He clearly stated that:

1) The rear tire locked, so he was most likely fishtailing

2) The bike "curved" towards an SUV and he target fixated. Maybe he could have avoided it, maybe not. But losing traction on the rear wheel when you're lane splitting is probably not the best circumstance. I've never done it but I imagine lane splitting doesn't leave much room for error.

I have locked up the rear tire once when I was stopping hard. I kept control of the bike but I was quite nervous. I kept pressure on the rear brake till I stopped like MSF people said. Lesson learned. Need to put a much higher percentage of pressure on the front brake.

[ninja250]

Damn bro! Sorry to hear it! Glad you are OK!
Let us know if you need help with the bike!

I've had several rear wheel lockers on bikes now! Very scary! Once on freeway in traffic on the GSXR (taight me not to tailgate very quick! wooot almost crapped my pants!) and once I accidentally ran a red light on the ninja250. I didn't see the light at all and had to slam on my breaks to avoid t-bone the crap outta somebody!

Very scary to ride bikes! I consider myself very careful and aware and I give everyone lots of space when I'm just normal riding in traffic. It will still sneak out and hit you no matter how careful or confident you are.

The closer to home you are, the more confident you usually are too. 50% of most accident happen within a few miles from home.

This picture is my screen saver right now. I look at it before I go to ride my bike every single time.
That was before my bike had 1000mi on it. Almost happened when I was half mile from home.


BTW, Definitely streetfighter that sucker

[razorback]

Sorry to hear that you went down. I have locked the rear wheel up and it is really scary Just glad that you are OK

[RaceBikeRentals]

The bike can be fixed cheaply. You can't. Glad to hear you're OK.

Why are you people locking up the back brake?

Repeat after me: DO NOT USE THE BACK BRAKE!

These are not dirt bikes.

[ninja250]

The front brake saved my life when I locked my back up. (both times)
I think it's just natural reaction to stomp the controls when you freak out and see an accident about to happen.

[Snake]

Originally Posted by RaceBikeRentals

The bike can be fixed cheaply. You can't. Glad to hear you're OK.

Why are you people locking up the back brake?

Repeat after me: DO NOT USE THE BACK BRAKE!
These are not dirt bikes.

I will not use the back brake. Thanks for the advice.

[KJohnson21]

OUCH!! Sorry to hear about your accident, Howard. You seem to be dealing with it well.

If the coolant is still dripping, take off all of the panels and trace the cooling system.

I've been lane splitting for a long time. It's always better to be cautious with all the cars around you, since they're all being driven by different people with different agendas. Drivers sometimes do weird, desperate things when they're stuck in traffic.

Everyone should practice aggressive braking every now and then to make sure they can do it without lockups or sliding. (The brake pedal isn't useful for stopping like it is in cars. )

[zartan]

wishing your bike and you better times soon glad you are ok. Thanks for the lesson.

[adri99an]

Wow Howard---Glad u r okay.....bikes are expendable not people (Rambo Part I)

Funny thing is I was in the canyon last week and a moron braked---I swerved around him and I had 4 sec before oncoming traffic got me...I too was overconfident!!!

Post some pics of your mangled baby.....

[Jester]

Yea the back is ridiculously easy to lock up and I don't think that has anything to do with the treads, it really just feels like a bike design feature, but I'm no professional. Anyhow, you already know the good news, that you're fine and the bad news, that most of the pain is psychological.

But man oh man, the 405 is like the phuckin' Bermuda Triangle and No Man's Land for riders. Half the time I hear of accidents, they belong to that highway. You have lot's of different style driving assholes commuting to and from different areas... and the terrible road conditions don't help.. Funny tho, I think the 101 S and 5 South are worse condition roads but the driving isn't as frenzied as the 405 is... must be the airport?

Get well, heal up and take your time getting back up to speed.

[laraider]

Originally Posted by RaceBikeRentals

The bike can be fixed cheaply. You can't. Glad to hear you're OK.

Why are you people locking up the back brake?

Repeat after me: DO NOT USE THE BACK BRAKE!

These are not dirt bikes.

confused here...the msf course said ALWAYS apply both breaks at the SAME TIME....new rider here...need advise...

[Zombiphone]

Ouch, when I read the title of the thread it made me pretty nervous. I've seen some pretty gnarly crashes stopping traffic on that freeway, so at least yours was at a low speed with no one moving enough to run you over. Not a lot of people can say they survived a motorcycle accident on the 405, so now you've got a story to tell. Really glad your okay.

But, on a positive note, I'll bet that this will be the last time target fixation ever gets the better of you. If nothing else, the hard way tends to be the most effective way of teaching any lesson, even if it doubles as the least fun lesson plan. When I first started riding on streets, I target fixated on a curb after dodging a pedestrian mid left turn. I ended up highsiding into a very fortunately placed patch of grass. Not exactly my proudest moment, but having the experience and knowing that feeling has helped me keep a level head and make it through some close calls when I might have otherwise been panicking. Even if you feel a bit shaken for a little bit, you'll be all the better for it once you're back up and rolling.

On that note, streetfighters are outlandishly sexy

[ScraitT]

Originally Posted by laraider

confused here...the msf course said ALWAYS apply both breaks at the SAME TIME....new rider here...need advise...

It's more or less old information from an older generation of bikes, but still applies to cruisers and such since they still have a lot of weight in the rear.

Modern sport bikes place something like 90-95% of braking pressure on the front wheel under hard breaking, so the rear wheel is barely in contact with the ground, and in some cases, completely comes off the ground. In an ideal braking situation, using both brakes will always benefit, but in reality, it only takes a minute amount of pressure to lock the rear wheel up. Locking the rear wheel up is bad and dangerous, especially in heavy braking.

You get such little braking force form the rear that it's better to just not touch it because locking it up is far more dangerous. It just allows you to focus more on how much you can squeeze down on the fronts.


Glad to hear your OK. Scary incident, but if you walked away, it's still a good day. Best of luck getting the bike back in shape.

[RaceBikeRentals]

Tyler is 100% correct. Get in the habit of not using your rear brake. The only time you need it are when you go off-road and need to get the bike slowed down, if you have a front tire blowout, if you need to slow down on a slick road, etc. Just those times when common sense tells you that you're going to need it.

[Talonne]

I'm really glad you're ok. That's scary sh*t.

Originally Posted by laraider

confused here...the msf course said ALWAYS apply both breaks at the SAME TIME....new rider here...need advise...

Worse yet, my course basically FOCUSED on using the rear brake all the time, aside from during panic stops (in which you would use both). I learned bad habits right off the bat and ended up locking my rear and going into a wobble when a random cruiser lowsided in front of me on a highway. Luckily I managed to keep it upright somehow!

This season, I'm going to have to completely change how I use the brakes.

[tiburonsita]

Glad to hear you are ok. That must have been scary.

Could it be just residual that is dripping from it being on it's side? My bike dripped for about a week after the accident and eventually stopped. I did get it checked to make sure there were no actual leaks.

[laraider]

omg...this really turned my knowledge upside down...so now i should use ONLY the front brake? can more people confirm this?

[Snake]

Originally Posted by laraider

omg...this really turned my knowledge upside down...so now i should use ONLY the front brake? can more people confirm this?

This thread may help you out.

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...4&postcount=21

[JeffM]

I use my rear brake in conjunction with my front brake all the time. However, it takes practice like smoothly downshifting etc. Using both brakes will slow you down a bit quicker and helps the chassis settle but on the 250 it requires a light touch on the pedal.

Using the rear brake, even slightly, will help to lower the center of gravity, adding stability to the situation and letting you brake harder in a panic stop. If the situation allows, touching the rear brake a half-second before the front will settle things more. From: http://www.sportrider.com/riding_tip...ake/index.html

I try to practice quick stops (notice I did not use the work panic stops) monthly. What you practice is what you use when a situation comes up. If you use your rear brake only when you normally stop at say a red light, you will grab that from your bag of tricks when you have to stop in an emergency.

Now, if you are incomfortable using the rear brake, by all means, learn to use the front and practice.

Jeff

[pedaltothemetal]

Howard glad you are OK! I always use the rear brake as well and good to know how effective it is but so far have never locked it up yet and do stop sometimes pretty hard at intersections on group rides!
Too late for me to learn not to use the rear brake unless you cut the lever off like a scooter. Learn from old school cause my first bikes all had front drum brakes!

[00v_Lucky]

Wow, thank you everyone for the support! I will try and get some pictures up soon. Before and After pictures at the same time . Right now, I merely zip-tied everything. I will be looking for some digital gauges and such to make it a temporary street fighter and begin to plastic weld the front end.

[DarkNinja52]

Nice to hear youre okay, locked up the brakes once in a wet parking lot and went down.. stay safe and be careful with that lane splitting

[komohana]

bummerz howard...but glad YOU're ok

[BlueTyke]

Glad you are alright!

[ninjabrewer]

Ok, 2 comments here.

First - Howard, glad to hear that you are OK, and that you were able to come away from the experience with some new knowledge. I have rode the 405 many times and it is not the most enjoyable ride by a long shot.

Second - the braking comments. There is a few threads on here about that issue. This is my experience. From the MSF course, I use both. I have braked using just the back, just the front and both. In my limited experience riding, I have found that I can stop quicker and in more control when I use both. If I remember the msf course correctly, if the rear locks and you let off before you stop, you will high side. (if I am incorrect, some one correct me please) The best way to learn this, and has been mentioned before, is to get into a empty parking lot and practice practice practice, till it becomes second nature to slow down and stop your bike.

Just my

nb

[ScraitT]

Originally Posted by ninjabrewer

If I remember the msf course correctly, if the rear locks and you let off before you stop, you will high side.

It could cause a highside, but thats really only if your rear starts to slide out to the side and you let off the brake allowing the tire to regain traction.

The rear brake will always help you stop faster theoretically...but in a panic situation, when you hit the brakes and lock the rear, you mind goes to focusing on the rear when you could usually be squeezing the front more.
IF you can keep focusing on maximum pressure on the front while gettin a little in the rear, it will of course help, but if locking it up breaks your concentration...thats a problem, which is why it's better to just use the front a lot of times.
I've ridden dirt my whole life, so I'm used to the back sliding around, and I lock my rear up all the time...it's a habit I'm trying to break!

[Flow]

Glad to hear you made it out alright.

Originally Posted by adri99an

Post some pics of your mangled baby.....

Only on Ninjette is that sentence acceptable.

[Nickds7]

Glad your ok, most of have been there, or will be there. Glad your ok though!

[sharky nrk]

you can absolutely stop quicker using both brakes, however to put it in other terms - Properly using the rear brake in aggressive riding and panic situations cost too much of your $10 of attention. In many cases its a better allocation to only use the front brake during these situations. A normal hard stop with just the front brake may only cost you $1. Weight transfer from compression of the front forks makes the rear tire light making it easy to lock up. Locking up the rear or dancing on the edge of locking up the rear may cost you $8-$9 of your attention. This leaves you little else to spend it on. The rear brake has a very useful place, most of us however lack the skill and practice time to effectively use it.

[Kurosaki]

Originally Posted by RaceBikeRentals

The bike can be fixed cheaply. You can't. Glad to hear you're OK.

Why are you people locking up the back brake?

Repeat after me: DO NOT USE THE BACK BRAKE!

These are not dirt bikes.

+1!!