Almost highsiding a r6 (clip)

[hybridxx]

this guy almost highsides..then at the end of video says that in order to not highside u stay on the throttle. thoughts and comments please.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Nickds7]

Well you certainly wouldn't want to brake

[ninja250]

lol I've come so close to doing that 10 times already. You can feel it happen way before it does. I don't know how they ride on the edge so close like that on the open road..

[ninja250]

BTW,
They're crazy. Don't stay on the throttle. He totally let off the throttle and got lucky as hell he didn't end up in the trees.

[Alex]

Well, there's the textbook, and then there's the real world.

textbook: When the rear end lets go like that under power, the action that will cause a highside is if the rear wheel suddenly regains traction on the road, and violently flips the bike, and the rider. Since it lost traction while it was spinning, keeping it spinning at roughly the same rate gives the rider a chance to try and apply some type of inputs (steering, body weight, whatever), to aim the bike closer to straight before the rear wheel regains that traction. So the worst thing you could do would be to stomp on the rear brake, and the second worst thing you can do would be do immediately shut the throttle off. Both of those actions could cause the rear wheel speed to come down, and potentially allow it to regain that traction to cause the highside.

real world: It happens so damn fast that it's unlikely any normal rider (read: not making their living racing motorcycles) does anything soon enough to make a difference once this happens, and it's sheer blind luck whether one is able to recover it once it steps out that far, like this video dude was able to show.

[kevlarorc]

Yea I like how the video says the trick is to stay on the throttle yet in the slow motion clip it's obvious that as soon as he felt himself sliding out he let right off the throttle.

[tapdiggy]

Learn to do a "tuck-and-roll" maneuver in midair. If you do it right, you'll end up on your knees with just some scratches (ask me how I know)

[hybridxx]

thanks for the comments..
now i dont own a motorcycle, but its videos like these that make me somewhat scared lol.
one mistake like that, and if ur not super lucky like this guy, ur gonna go straight into a tree =/.
how easy is it for the rear wheel to lose traction like that?

[Angel-be-Good]

Originally Posted by hybridxx

thanks for the comments..
now i dont own a motorcycle, but its videos like these that make me somewhat scared lol.
one mistake like that, and if ur not super lucky like this guy, ur gonna go straight into a tree =/.
how easy is it for the rear wheel to lose traction like that?

Those guys were playing with fire with that riding style on the streets. There are multiple levels of riding safer than this--if you're not being reckless, you don't have to worry about high-siding a Ninja 250.

[ninja250]

how easy is it for the rear wheel to lose traction like that?

If you were riding like that guy was, very easy.

If you ride with common sense, you will notice your back wheel starting to drift a tiny bit well before you high side. This will tell your adrenaline to check you and let off the gas some. I can't help but to think that guy must have had a few close calls similar to that earlier in the day as well that you don't see.

It's a matter of traction, inertia and lean angle. (of course if your line is off you can't obtain any of those)

It usually happens to me when I'm trying extra hard to get it low or scrape a peg on my stock tires. It was the same way on all my bikes.. I could get them to drift in a corner if I wanted to but it was scary and you risk highside. That's why I say you can see this coming before it does. That guy was pushing it hard.

If that turn was any more of an angle than 90* (like say a 180* or something) he would have been in the trees.

[rockNroll]

Originally Posted by hybridxx

how easy is it for the rear wheel to lose traction like that?

With the 250 Ninja it's not something to really worry about.. anyone loosing rear traction on these things is doing something way wrong and/or runs some real bad tires.

The beginning of the vid says race take offs.. we don't get to see em but that, combined with terrible lines and running too high revs before the turn prolly all contributed to the slide. He was lucky, I don't think there was anything he did to save himself... just God.

[bob706]

That is one lucky mofo.

[CC Cowboy]

Looked like fun to me.

I feel there is room for suspensions adjustments with that bumpy road.

[Cedilla]

Originally Posted by hybridxx

thanks for the comments..
now i dont own a motorcycle, but its videos like these that make me somewhat scared lol.
one mistake like that, and if ur not super lucky like this guy, ur gonna go straight into a tree =/.
how easy is it for the rear wheel to lose traction like that?

I thought the same thing before I got my bike. I watched way too many squid videos the night before I picked my bike up at the dealer, and I was almost a little scared to ride it. lol As soon as I started riding it though all those fears melted away. A little bit of common sense goes a long way on a motorcycle.

[silver_bullet]

Not really a worry on the 250 unless it's raining, you hit dirt/oil/object or your tires really suck. We arn't putting out enough power to really spin like that unless you're absolutely trying. At that point you should be on a track anyway or you'll be what the hospital calls an organ donor.

A 600 such as his, mistakes are easier to achieve and consequences are far greater as the power increases.

[JeffM]

To me it looked like the bike was getting ahead of him, as evidenced by some sloppy lines. On the turn he lost it in, it seemed he had a very late apex though it is hard to tell. For sure letting off the gas at that moment would contribute to a high side.

You can break the rear wheel loose (at the time, dunrocks that were on there last legs) on a 250 if you push it and crack the throttle open too quickly (don't ask me how I know) Staying on the gas can keep the chassis settled. Your mileage may vary.

Jeff

[Viper-Byte]

I usually ride to expect things like sliding etc, and in this video, I hit an oil slick in the rain while I had momentarily lost concentration and I jumped off the throttle, I know and knew before it happened to ease off, but that is not the instinct reaction of most people.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Betlog]

Originally Posted by rockNroll

With the 250 Ninja it's not something to really worry about.. anyone loosing rear traction on these things is doing something way wrong and/or runs some real bad tires.

The beginning of the vid says race take offs.. we don't get to see em but that, combined with terrible lines and running too high revs before the turn prolly all contributed to the slide. He was lucky, I don't think there was anything he did to save himself... just God.

Can downshifting during a turn lead to loss of traction?

[Viper-Byte]

Originally Posted by n00br1d3r

Can downshifting during a turn lead to loss of traction?

It all depends on how you downshift, if you blip the throttle and rev match, no. But if you downshift and dump the clutch, it will break traction, but I am not sure if this will cause a highside, or lowside situation.

Either way shifting during a turn is not the best thing to do.

[ninja250]

You have to be extremely smooth about shifting in turns.

If you reach out with your foot and stomp the shifter down without clutching first on accident you can get all wiggly in a corner

Same with braking. Have to be very smooth about it.

[tapdiggy]

Originally Posted by n00br1d3r

Can downshifting during a turn lead to loss of traction?

If you are taking a corner at speed and disengage the clutch, you risk just falling over into a lowside.

[akima]

Originally Posted by Viper-Byte

I usually ride to expect things like sliding etc, and in this video, I hit an oil slick in the rain while I had momentarily lost concentration and I jumped off the throttle, I know and knew before it happened to ease off, but that is not the instinct reaction of most people.

Link to original page on YouTube.

That was intense just watching.

You survived the slide so you obviously your actions weren't terrible... but... everything I've read tells me that you shouldn't jump off the throttle. Infact, rule-of-thumb: doing anything "suddenly" on a bike is pretty bad.

My understanding is that you should remain relaxed on the bars (so the bike can move as it needs to) and you smoothly stop your roll-on, aiming to keep the revs steady as you stand the bike up, coming out of the turn.

Chopping the throttle suddenly transfers the weight forward, allowing the rear wheel to suddenly bite, which, when the rear wheel is stepped out, is a fantastic method to initiate a highside.

Again: you saved it. Congrats! It's just your save conflicts with my understanding.

I'm confuse!

@csmith12 - any comments?

[csmith12]

@akima - The way I read and interpreted Viper-Byte's comment along with the video, is he understands that he shouldn't have chopped the throttle. As you noted in the video, when the rear tire regains traction and the bike corrects itself, the bike jerks pretty good. While rear slides were the rider chops throttle may end spectacularly in a high side, quite often they do not. Many end just as we see in the video, just bucking the rider around a bit in the seat.

Since we seeing less than ideal traction conditions. This is one of the cases where giving the bike more throttle would most likely have just spun out the rear and lowsided the rider. It is also one of those cases where a smooth roll off would aid in regaining traction in a controlled manner. "Smoothly" and "controlled" being the keywords there, as it would lessen the "jerk" force that would fling the rider off the seat when the rear regains traction and the bike wants to stand up. Picking the bike up into the slide also helps tremendously as you also noted.

The video also reveals a possible clue of something in the road ahead, can you find it? Hint: It's an old school street smart skill and also good for drivers in general.

[akima]

Thanks for response.

Originally Posted by csmith12

@akima
The video also reveals a possible clue of something in the road ahead, can you find it? Hint: It's an old school street smart skill and also good for drivers in general.

Watched it a couple more times. Only thing I noticed that tingled my spidey senses was the skid marks on the road: a sign that someone may have been caught out by something unexpected... like stopped traffic... or reduced traction on the road surface.

[csmith12]

The rider is following a car, rewind it a bit before the car and bike enter the turn where the rider slides. Watch the brake lights of the car. They come on to set entry speed and then go out as you might expect. But then suddenly come back on. This alerts me of something ahead. In this case, I think it was just the blind, decreasing radius of the turn, but that alert would have also had me ready for anything else.

Or... I have a bit of OCD when it comes to lights.

So the takeaway here is; if you see unexpected driving behaviour (duh) or unexpected/erratic braking (lights) then be on the lookout for trouble.

[akima]

I see car drivers braking mid turn all the time lol. Maybe the drivers where you live are better than over here, so seeing brake lights is more of an odd occurrence and a sign of potential trouble. Over here it's just a reminder of how absent minded so many people are.

Something I find amusing that happens to me over here on country lanes. A cager in a fast car will overtake me on a clear-straight because I'm holding them up. But then as soon as they take the lead, that confidence quickly goes now that they have to decide on their own what their corner entry speeds should be. They then end up slowing me down.

[subxero]

Originally Posted by csmith12

The rider is following a car, rewind it a bit before the car and bike enter the turn where the rider slides. Watch the brake lights of the car. They come on to set entry speed and then go out as you might expect. But then suddenly come back on. This alerts me of something ahead. In this case, I think it was just the blind, decreasing radius of the turn, but that alert would have also had me ready for anything else.

Or... I have a bit of OCD when it comes to lights.

So the takeaway here is; if you see unexpected driving behaviour (duh) or unexpected/erratic braking (lights) then be on the lookout for trouble.

^ works great for speed traps

[nickjpass]

my pet peeve is when I see peoplenpanic brake in corners. I always feel like they fixating on the guardrail at the side or something else similar. Annoys me because I carry more corner speed than most (in my car).