Bike hits truck head on

Yes .... You want to be able to drive through the corner, the last thing you want is to be stuck off the gas mid bend, (in too quick and unable to get on the power), so by judging your acceleration sense on the approach (and often, that means off the gas and floating towards the corner loosing a bit of speed) it then gives you the right speed to pick the drive up on the gas as you tip it in and drive through the bend.

Well that wasn't nice to watch, the guy has made so many mistakes, trying to keep up with his mate being one of them. I think Giles has called it spot on ! can't blame the road surface because his riding should have been adjusted to suit.

ButtonMoon said:

Well that wasn't nice to watch, the guy has made so many mistakes, trying to keep up with his mate being one of them. I think Giles has called it spot on ! can't blame the road surface because his riding should have been adjusted to suit.

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He could have been getting away with that kind of shit for years, and just thinking it was skill instead of luck. He's lucky he did'nt end up as a bonnet mascot. Appexing too early is never a good idea .

Absolutely shocking. No excuses at all- what a lovely road though. A few short hours with an advanced coach would have saved all that upset.

Think thats an MT07- or 09. Bit of a starter bike to give us all a clue to how long he`d been riding on the road. This is one NOT to show the Mrs.....

Giles said:

Yes .... You want to be able to drive through the corner, the last thing you want is to be stuck off the gas mid bend, (in too quick and unable to get on the power), so by judging your acceleration sense on the approach (and often, that means off the gas and floating towards the corner loosing a bit of speed) it then gives you the right speed to pick the drive up on the gas as you tip it in and drive through the bend.

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That's where the skill is ....knowing when to close the throttle to float up to the tip in point ....takes a lot of practice and knowing your bike well

Interesting one... sobering!

It looks like some sort of closed mountain road - there is a barrier early on and they ride it as if they *expect* no traffic, the fire truck is obviously some sort of service vehicle.. hence when he saw it - it was panic mode!

I looked at the timings and it really brings it home... to agree with what has been discussed before, by the time he sees the truck at 2:41 - he's already in trouble. I noticed that he hit peak speed around 55mph at 2:38 but was braking into the corner - shaved off around 12mph in 2 seconds on entry - the bike looks like it stood up and started to arc outwards... the really crazy bit for me is that the truck becomes visible at 2:41 - the bike actually accelerates and then impacts at 2:42... less than 1 second!

For me this is about situational awareness - whether its a firetruck/rock fall or a deer running across the road - positioning on the corner - entering the corner at the appropriate speed, once clear - smooth throttle on!

Either way - 10mins for a heli to turn up seems pretty rapid to me... and its a good job American trucks are made of plastic! Hope the fella is well and gets back on the bike!

Saw a shed load of quality riding like that in the Vosges, last year.

And, no doubt will see more this year, on the Helmsley TT and the A171 Scarborough to Whitby stretch, once the summer-bunch tax up their bikes for the season.

I've not ridden that road but the next one up is called the Angels Crest and is a magnificent road and is full of lovely curves for around 50 miles. The LAPD bikes use it for training and just clearing the cobwebs!!

Having said that, it's just north of Los Angeles and all the sports bike riders head up there for a weekend blast and it's chaos. LA is all straight roads and they don't ride roads like that often so are pretty inexperienced.

He's one lucky guy that's for sure!

Happened so fast he probably didn't have time to shit himself

krytengs said:

That's where the skill is ....knowing when to close the throttle to float up to the tip in point ....takes a lot of practice and knowing your bike well

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Very good point, "knowing your bike". After many years of riding big twins I'm now on a big triple, and still getting caught out on occasions as the 'big triple' does not engine brake as much as a 'big twin'. It gives you the feeling, on the triple, that you're shutting off far to early but the bike just steams on, where as on a big twin there is a distinct level of deceleration when you shut the throttle.
I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that we should respect any bike that is unfamiliar to us. I'm sure many of us can ride a bike, and many can ride it well, but it takes a bit of re-learning to ride an unfamiliar bike well.

wrinkleyowlie said:

Very good point, "knowing your bike". After many years of riding big twins I'm now on a big triple, and still getting caught out on occasions as the 'big triple' does not engine brake as much as a 'big twin'. It gives you the feeling, on the triple, that you're shutting off far to early but the bike just steams on, where as on a big twin there is a distinct level of deceleration when you shut the throttle.
I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that we should respect any bike that is unfamiliar to us. I'm sure many of us can ride a bike, and many can ride it well, but it takes a bit of re-learning to ride an unfamiliar bike well.

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When I swapped from the GS to the 1190, I was getting caught out for the first few weeks or so on my 'know your bike .. float into the corner just perfectly ..' because the engine braking was completely different. The 1190 doesn't seem to have quite the engine braking that the GS does, shut the gas and it runs on a tad more than the GS would.
It was no big deal, but on a few occasions I'd shut off ..... and then have to have a little dab 'cos I'd just not quite timed it right .....