Anatomy of the accident....

[Steptoe]

Inexperienced rider...I don't care if has 15 years behind him....

Agreed.

He may well have 15 years behind him, all summer sunday afternoons riding to the nearest burger van to join other like minded riders to tell tales of "derring do" then riding back home..

 

[Tractors are go]

I may be incorrect here but the lean angle as he approach the corner may have caused either the foot peg or boot to collide with the tarmac too as at 01:30 it can clearly be seen to kick out which he pushes back against into the corner.

He's in 5th gear at what speed ? Personally I'd have been lower.

Hitting with a boot or peg, doesn't in my experience cause a tankslapper like that.

It is human nature to seek the why ?

Each time he will look at this and try to rationalise what happens next. Hard as it will be, time to move on.



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[Warlord]

Agreed.

He may well have 15 years behind him, all summer sunday afternoons riding to the nearest burger van to join other like minded riders to tell tales of "derring do" then riding back home..

The tell-tale sign was his mates fucking off into the distance and not stopping until they go to the hotel.

Most likely used to him being miles behind on trips so they didn't think twice about leaving him behind again to catch up.

I tend to check my mirrors once out of a tight corner and make sure guy behind made it through ok, but that corner was an easy one?

 

[boatman]

Looks to me ,,that he simply broke the contact patch grip by turning in on chunky tyres . Instead of keeping the bars broadly where they are meant to be he has kept them turning right in . I recon inexperienced rider ,, I had this same thing happen unexpectedly on a bone dry road near crater lake USA,really nice day , quite low speed,, tipped it in gently and the front washed out a bit , ( heidenau K60 ) caught it quickly though , I took away ( rightly or wrongly) that the patch is smaller, harder compound, and while it's fine if you are smooth , you just cannot take liberties pulling at the bars like one can on road rubber .

 

[Tractors are go]

To be fair, we have the benefit of that video so it's not just a case of "idiot must have lost it on a corner". It's pretty clear why he came off, just not apparently how it was triggered. Whatever the cause, his line in was a massive contributing factor as was gear choice, lean angle, loss of braking and control. 9 times out of 10 he might have got away with it, this time he didn't. I'm sure we've all cocked up in the past and thought ourselves lucky to have got away with it too, and videos like this just reaffirm the importance of defensive riding (even for faster riders), choosing the right lines, appropriate speeds and trying not to put yourself in a position where risk of accident and injury is increased.

Agreed, those injuries were surprisingly severe given the relatively low "off" speed but anyone flung into the air landing on rocks is going to hurt themselves badly. I did much the same on a MTB in Spain 10 years ago, breaking ribs and other bits of myself. Hope the guy makes a full recovery including his mental scars healing.

Most of us do not have the "luxury" of reliving our mistakes in glorious Technicolor.

Rider error more than likely, with a combination of lots of little things adding up.

If, he wants to progress on in life, two things.

1) He'll need something like cbt to help him overcome the psychological issues he has.

2) He needs some training to help him become a safer rider.

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[JohnnyBoxer]

Inexperienced rider...I don't care if has 15 years behind him...his line into the corner was awful, gear selection poor (55mph in 5th when possibly 4th would have given better drive out of the corner with a slower approach speed in), he was tensed up and as soon as that tank slapper started he was fixed on the point he eventually crashed. Panicked, hit the brakes to find nothing there and then chose his line to crash into. I'd like to say that wouldn't have happened to an experienced rider and for the most part, it wouldn't, but these things sometimes happen when we least expect it purely because we're not switched on enough at the time and he clearly wasn't.

Those tyres are more off road tyres...if he spent more than 20% of his time off road, fine but I'd put money on him having most trips on tarmac. Use road tyres would be my preference (or at least adventure tyres which are more road biased). Point nr 2, anticipate the corner and choose the correct line and gear well before the corner and not have to correct mid corner. His line of entry ought to have been out towards the central line not tucked into the left where any increase in speed would have pushed him wide anyway into that long bend and not given any chance to correct had he needed to (as he found out). He couldn't lose any more speed partly as he had no engine braking = too high a gear.

Last point is don't panic. He did.

I also think he's over analysed the whole thing massively, possibly due to the severity of his injuries and he discounted the one thing from early on which I think is his main mistake. He discounted rider error. A combination of being on the edge of chunky off road tyres at high lean angle and possibly hitting a bad patch in the road or grounding something massively contributed to that accident imho but the main problem was his own riding. Until he can see that, he's never going to regain his confidence and the chances of him having another accident are higher than if he learnt from it, improved his riding and moved on.

It's hard not to panic in that situation, especially when it's unexpected as it happened in the video

I doubt many would have saved that either

I have only had one tankslapper (on a wet road in the Mosel) and it was proper scary, back wheel broke away whilst accelerating uphill and threw me out of the seat - it nearly had me off but I couldn't tell you exactly what I did to save it

Maybe I rolled off the throttle and then threw myself over the front wheel as I came out of the seat

Never analysed it - just carried on riding the bike to the next coffee stop

Don't want another

 

[Tractors are go]

It's hard not to panic in that situation, especially when it's unexpected as it happened in the video
I doubt many would have saved that either
I have only had one tankslapper (on a wet road in the Mosel) and it was proper scary, back wheel broke away whilst accelerating uphill and threw me out of the seat - it nearly had me off but I couldn't tell you exactly what I did to save it
Maybe I rolled off the throttle and then threw myself over the front wheel as I came out of the seat
Never analysed it - just carried on
Don't want another

Which is why, some bike groups provide training, how to emergency brake going around a corner.

Using your brakes for real, rear/front/both and appreciate the difference.
What happens when the abs cuts in, what about switching it off ?

Using it on a track, how far you can actually lean before anything decks. Assessing the difference between using a different gear for the corner, and which you prefer.

It is the practising that makes it easier to cope with the unexpected occurrence.

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[Steptoe]

Did anyone notice if his top box stayed in place. Be a shame if it came off after all the diligent checking at the petrol station.

 

[Tractors are go]

Did anyone notice if his top box stayed in place. Be a shame if it came off after all the diligent checking at the petrol station.

Only you would spot such a small but important detail like that.

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[PH1969]

Out of interest what year was his bike?

 

[Tractors are go]

If someone mentions second-hand underwear I'm off.

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[Greg Masters]

Those tyres are more off road tyres...if he spent more than 20% of his time off road, fine but I'd put money on him having most trips on tarmac. Use road tyres would be my preference (or at least adventure tyres which are more road biased).

The front appears to be a Michelin Sirac - "Truly versatile tyres suited to roads and trails..."

His line of entry ought to have been out towards the central line not tucked into the left

Did you watch the video?

 

[Bubb]

He was out near(ish) the centre line, but could have been further out as the road was clear, and visibility good..... and tipped in too early...common mistake for inexperienced riders.

He could have saved that if he had looked for the apex of the bend once the tank slapped stopped. Target fixation and lack of training caused the crash, even tho’ they didn’t cause the slapper....IMHO

 

[Nutty]

It’s unfortunate that his injuries were so bad, in what looked to be quite a recoverable tank slapper.

I’ve had two tankslappers. The first on my Triumph Street Triple R, riding like a cock on an uneven road, I managed to get away with it, but it scared the shit out of me. The second was last winter on my 1290, when I hit a patch of diesel exiting a roundabout. By the time I smelt the diesel it was too late, and I probably wasn’t concentrating as much as I should have been. Luckily, I reacted quickly, and the cornering ABS was also a massive help, but if there was a car coming the other way, it would have been a different story.

 

[Steptoe]

Many years ago I had an absolutely humungus tank slapper while riding an R100RS. No bends, smooth roads, all tickety boo.
Steering went from lock to lock, I could barely move my thumbs for days afterwards.
Happened at about 25mph and it stopped as quick as it started.
Just as well as i was in the badlands of Fulham at the time, by the old gasworks where no one dared venture, and with no BMW SOS and pre-mobile.

I didn't ponder, dwell or analyse the why's and wherefores. I've never had one since so saved myself a lot of introspective navel gazing, oh, and £330 on the BMW Sos..

 

[Morety]

The front appears to be a Michelin Sirac - "Truly versatile tyres suited to roads and trails..."




Did you watch the video?

So give us your little gems of wisdom then instead of pedantry.

He may have started off in the centre as he came off the straight but he turned in too soon and committed to taking the turn from the inside of the corner, having to over correct as you can clearly see from the way he turns the bars in, which was quickly followed by the tank slapper. As JB says, it's hard to quickly react and get out of one of those but as others and I have observed, this guy is not or appears not to be that experienced. Rooky mistakes like this can lead to lead increased risk of accidents as most experienced riders already know.

 

[Morety]

Many years ago I had an absolutely humungus tank slapper while riding an R100RS. No bends, smooth roads, all tickety boo.
Steering went from lock to lock, I could barely move my thumbs for days afterwards.
Happened at about 25mph and it stopped as quick as it started.
Just as well as i was in the badlands of Fulham at the time, by the old gasworks where no one dared venture, and with no BMW SOS and pre-mobile.

I didn't ponder, dwell or analyse the why's and wherefores. I've never had one since so saved myself a lot of introspective navel gazing, oh, and £330 on the BMW Sos..

Had exactly the same when riding in a straight line on my 1980's R100RT. It would tank slap for a past-time in straight lines and need little encouragement! A little windy? Tank slapper. Too enthusiastic on the gas? Tankslapper. Front dial widget thingy screwed out too far (friction steering damper)? Tank slapper. Suspension settings wrong? Tankslapper! It was really a lethal handling bike with an elastic pair of badly behaved forks by modern standards, yet I covered many thousands of miles on that bike and try as hard is it did to spit me off at times, never fell off the thing. It taught me a fair amount though about correctly setting up rear suspension for that bike, where the damper should be left (at all times!) and to reduce speed at the merest hint it was starting to shake its head. A gentle dab on the rear brake usually altered suspension loading and slow me down enough to sort things out. I sometimes wondered whether the awful front phazer tyres I had fitted originally were part of the issue...horrid things in the wet they were...and in the dry come to think about it!

 

[Giles]

Many years ago I had an absolutely humungus tank slapper while riding ....

I had one on a pan 1300 at about 130mph


I remember thinking 'Ahhhh ...... so thats what they're talking about ...... '

 

[crumbles]

At 1.16ish,
He pulls over and onto the hard shoulder over the road side line,
to let his mates pass..
Rides along it and just pops out as it ends,,,
Picks up a load of shite on his tyres from the roadside crap..
Crap on tyres still on next corner =loss of traction.

F1,drivers never go off the racing line,look at the shite they pick up after the race to get the weight on...

 

[Greg Masters]

So give us your little gems of wisdom then instead of pedantry.

He may have started off in the centre as he came off the straight but he turned in too soon and committed to taking the turn from the inside of the corner, having to over correct as you can clearly see from the way he turns the bars in, which was quickly followed by the tank slapper. As JB says, it's hard to quickly react and get out of one of those but as others and I have observed, this guy is not or appears not to be that experienced. Rooky mistakes like this can lead to lead increased risk of accidents as most experienced riders already know.

The guy is a biker; a member of our 'family'. He has an accident and gets badly injured.

On the back of this, we're all suddenly Riding Gods, quick to point out all his rookie errors and kick him when he's down.