Ducati Monster Forum

I came pretty close to joining some of the members who have had an accident in the past month.  Just thought I would share what happened so you can learn from it.

I was commuting to work on my bike on the exact same route as usual.  The route requires me to travel north on HWY 167 and exit near Renton, WA, so I can get on north bound I-405, enroute to Bellevue.  Just like any other morning, I got on the off ramp, leaned to the right for a couple sweeping right turns, before merging with heavy i-405 traffic.  What's different this morning is that, in the middle of the 2nd sweeping right turn, there was a oil spill, about 1 foot wide and 10 feet long.  By the time I recongized it, I was already on top of it, leaning to the right, going about 45 mph.

I am sure you all know what happened next.  My front wheel was non-responsive, like I was snow tubing down a hill; the rear wheel was sliding out.  It all happened to fast that I didn't even have time to say "oh s***".

What I did (or what I did right):

1.    I didn’t panic - Or should I say I didn’t have time to panic?  My first reaction was to straighten the bike out, from leaning.  Just used the bike’s momentum to carry me thru the oil spill
2.   I didn’t over-react – I didn’t try to do a sudden move right before entering the oil spill.  Any shift in weight would have caused something bigger.  I just straightened out the bike, clutch in and off the throttle. Tried to go straight thru the spill.
3.   Maintain composure – the rear tire slid out of the spill, caught the dry pavement and bounced back into the spill again.  It was squirmy for a little bit more after that.  I just held on for these little wiggles.  Once out of the spill, the bike was heading to the outside shoulder with gravel.  Did my best to smoothly turn back into the lane. 

It was an incident that could have easily turned into something devastating for me.  I am glad that my instinct and initial reactions got me thru this unharmed.  I don’t know if I did all the right things but I think I did enough things right.  What are your thoughts? 

Stay safe out there people!

Post that over here as well.

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=100.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=100.0)

Good call.  I didn't notice this thread.  [thumbsup]

The toughest thing to do is not panic. For us mortals, it may seem impossible. Glad it didnt go south.  :o

The other important thing you did right was you were going a sensible speed in the first place.

At 65 mph, I think the experience could have been a whole lot worse.

Sweeping curves can be oh-so-tempting... but, seriously, it just isnt worth it. Rider nearly died here recently under almost exactly the same circumstances.... but his speed didn't allow him time to straighten the bike.

Well done.  [beer]

Nice save.
Had a similar experience but substitute brand new tar snakes (weren't there the day before!) for oil and 70 for 45 ;)
Sphincter clincher for sure!

Totally agree.  If I was going faster, it wouldn't be nearly as managable...  I do have my lucky star to thank for this one. 

wow, scary ride i'm sure. did you pull over after or just ride to work on the adrenaline rush?
good save.

Glad you didn't do a Super Man  or lay it down.

The other day I was deep in the hills running a particular tight section of valley road.

So far no problem with the corners but all of a sudden I came around a corner and my bike hit a patch of gravel about 6 " wide and 12 ' long .

I was going about 45 mph in tight almost U corner and my front end tries to pull my Shoulders out of their sockets .

I thought for sure I was going down but kept the gas on and the bike righted itself and on I went with very sore Shoulders for the next 10 minutes.

It had rained pretty hard the night before so I'm sure the gravel washed down off the hillside and the Lumber Trucks that run through there shaped it into that patch.

Good thing I have a Damper on the front to help stabilize things.

Dolph     :)

It's good to hear that many of us have had close calls and escaped unharmed.  But it does make me rethink all the "calculated risk" things I've taken on the bike.  I am not saying that I race around and do crazy stunts.  But I enjoy a little spirited riding every now and then.  So I am asking myself if these calculated risk are really worth the risk?  Or am I just under-estimating the risk of riding? 

i was thinking about the same thing. went riding with a friend one time... he has a VFR800... it was a very casual ride compared to when i ride alone. not slow, just not as deep into the braking zone, less leaning, no knees out, etc.
i live not far from Hockingheimring... maybe i need to think track bike...

that's the part of riding i could never pull off without specific training; totally goes against every instinctual reaction. nice job  [moto]

Well, maybe you guys can clarify something for me then.  On the old bike, 01' M750 no damper, I was riding a bit too "spirited" through a long sweeping corner and hit a very large dip which sent the front end into tank slap mode.  I tried to stay down in the corner but the more I would push the harder the bars would wiggle.  So I stopped pushing (never let off the gas) and just hoped to ride it out.  However, I was drifting so far high in the corner that by the time the bike righted itself I was in the opposite lane about 5" from the white line.  It did right itself at this point but the only reason I was not hamburger that day was that there were no oncoming vehicles for those few seconds.  How would I more properly handle that situation (slowing down is not an acceptable answer to telling me how to handle the actual driving aspect I already know I was going too fast for the unexpected dip)

That is probably the biggest thing that saved you from going down...and it's also just about impossible to teach someone.  This is probably one of the biggest things you could get out of a track day or five. 
I've never had a bike on the track, but when I raced stock cars on ovals, I learned real quick that things just happen to you or in front of you and you need to find a way through.  I feel my bit of racing experience has made me a much better driver (in my cage) because I rarely ever panic.

i've hi-sided from a severe tank slapper. you really really lucked out.

Riding hard is fun, but as several of us have recently learned, it will eventually bite you.  I have been missing my bike so much (its only been six days and I still have a limp) that I went test riding today.  Raux, I agree with you, I think I might be due for a little track time to get it all out of my system.