Ducati Monster Forum

Hi guys,

Earlier this evening (it's night here now) I had a freak fall.

I was on my way home from the office. I was only about 200 m away from the office building when I had this freak fall.
A car slowed down in front of me, I pulled the front brake, and all of sudden the front tire just loose traction, slipped and down I went.

I wasn't speeding. I was riding slow. It was no more than 30 Kph or 40 Kph. I clearly remember that, cause I remember thinking, and I remember telling myself that the street was relatively empty but I had to be careful with the throttle... don't rev the engine ... the engine is still cold...it's not not warm yet. Easy  on the throttle.

I clearly remember that, cause it was tempting to speed up... because the street was empty ;D

Anyway, I was documenting my ride home with my GoPro and it happened to be recording at that moment.
Here's the video... :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29605491@N07/9688079992/#secreta82a883ba2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29605491@N07/9688079992/#secreta82a883ba2)

What do you think happened there? My guess is cold tire and cold brake, but I don't know...

Nothing like this ever happened to me before. I've been riding for 12 years, and I dropped my bike 3 times, including this one. I know what caused the previous two drops ... but I'm not sure about what's causing this one [bang]

My left foot peg is broken, and my shifter is also broken. It's quite difficult to shift with a broken shifter  ;D.

The fall bruised my left hip and it's pretty sore now. I find this a bit ironic... cause you know that riding pants with hip protector? I always thought that I don't need any hip protector ... well I can't be more wrong than that ... I'm going to buy a riding pants with hip protector tomorrow.

The only think I can think of is maybe ridining in the middle of the lane like that you hit a spot of oil.

I thought the same thing. I was looking for spots on the road but don't see any (not to say there wasn't any there, I just don't see it). Is your front tire in good condition? Very strange. Scary footage, glad you're relatively ok. Thank you very much for posting this.

There's something in the road to the left of your motorcycle, reflectors or something, is there any possibility you crossed over one at the moment you braked?

The middle of the lane is the worst place to be. Not only oil, which is almost universally present, butt a little gas or diesel will make the pavement very slippery. Oil you can usually see, butt not always, gas or diesel will be invisible.

   It appeared as if there was a slight left turn hesitation
just as the front brake was applied thus causing the front
end to slide out. ???

   I've had that happen before...on my dirt bike.

Most likely road debris. It happened to me last year with just a bit of gravel. Lucky you didn't break your wrist (like I did).  [thumbsdown]


(http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq186/calebjm/2012%20Riding/C6659B92-D2D0-4FCF-8214-5655973E93EC-5902-0000075FECED2557.jpg)

I don't mean any offense by this but it just looks to me that you ended up to close to the car in front of you and when the driver hit the brakes if startled you a bit and you grabbed too much front brake causing the front to buckle. It's very common, our first response when startled is to clench our fists.

Have you done any maintenance recently and left anything loose on accident? aka did anything get caught in your front wheel causing it to stop?

Cold tires, cold brake pads (some OEM pads are grabby... dunno about these), and panic-stop forces on the front brake lever.

No offense intended.  I've dropped a bike before in a similar fashion.  Coming up to a light that was hidden behind trees as I came down a hill... didn't see that it was red until the last second.  My front slid, turned ever so slightly at the last second as the bike came to a halt, tucked, and it tipped over.  Had to have been the most gentle lay-down in history... I was holding it off the ground with all my strength, but didn't have enough leverage to actually get it back upright.  Had to gently as possible set it the rest of the way down, then reposition and lift it back up.  There was nothing on the road in my case... just too much force on the front brake lever, and the handlebars didn't stay perfectly straight.

The lesson learned?  Don't ride while tired and hungry (this was late in the day, after work, before dinner, trying to squeeze a ride in), and pay closer attention for hidden stoplights.  In your case, I'd say a combination of following distance and trying to anticipate what the driver or rider ahead of you is going to do.  Be aware, no matter how carefully you ride, there will be some bad situations that are unavoidable.  We can mitigate risks, but can't always eliminate them.  Such is the life of the motorcyclist.

Glad you're okay. [thumbsup]

Ride safe...  [Dolph]

 :o

the road looks a little funky just as your passing the blue cab, maybe you picked up some oil there.

Thank you very much guys.

Oil and debris. That particular street was blocked/closed due to a demonstration and was only open about an hour earlier. So it's possible that there are debris or whatever on the street afterward. And also oil. Do you guys notice the car in front of me spewing some white smoke, before I fell?

It is possible what The Bearded Duc and duc_fan wrote, that I was startled cause the car in front of me brake and I panic. I'd like to think that I am experienced enough to avoid panic braking and braking like that ... but apparently I'm not  ;D

The thing is I brake like that quite often before, cause that is something that often have to be done in the traffic here. A bajaj (tuktuk) suddenly move to the your lane without signal, another bike cut your way... cars are less often to do that ... A pedestrian cross the street without looking. I often face situations where I have to brake hard but maybe the difference is last night it was a panic brake and I grabbed the brake lever too much.

duc-fan wrote:
That's true. Yesterday was my first day in a diet program that I'm going to do. This will be the second time I'm doing it. Great program and worked well. I had to stop doing it due to the fasting month, about two months ago, and I'm restarting it now.

Anyway, I didn't eat any kind of carbohydrate that day, also consumed no sugar and had been drinking black coffee only that day. Yesterday was also my workout day/gym day. I usually workout during lunch hour but yesterday I planned to workout after office hour. After office, I changed my mind cause I felt a bit sluggish, tired, a bit sleepy and a bit light headed. Not a good condition to be riding a motorcycle. Maybe, that's what caused me to panic brake.

Thank you very much for all your comments guys, I learn a lot reading them.

I'm no expert nor do I wish to be, it almost looks like a panic. I see the car in front braking heavy, just as you start to excelerate. That along with possible oily condition.

BTW does your monster have ABS?

Oh, that looked like it painful!!

That (panic brake) is certainly possible and that's what I come to think what had happened and what caused the fall.

Pesto: No. my bike doesn't have ABS.

Blackout: Ouch, that looked really bad. My wrist, both left and right have been injured several times in the past from my sport activity. Looking at your x-ray photo I can feel the pain.

When you get yourself some proper riding pants with hip protection, remove the crappy foam that likely passes for protection
and install something decent (I got some Sas-tech for little $ at Revzilla).
I did the front-tire-washout thingy on my dirt road as I turned onto my drive, not even panic braking (but loaded with groceries).
Yeah you want hip protection.
Keep it upright and straight and easy on the front brake whenever traction is compromised.

I'm going with the oil in the middle of the lane.
this is one of the reasons I use my rear brake too

Glad you're okay. Much damage to the bike?

I too reckon you encountered some oil or such.

I was riding on a tight, twisty road last year, reasonably close behind a car, waiting for an opportunity to pass. The car slowed suddenly, and I grabbed the front brake hard. I was turning slightly right but was still amazed at the brute stopping power which nearly caused the front to slip out from under me.

After owning a VFR800i for many years and always feeling like you never quite had enough brake, these Brembos are incredible, where you have brake to spare with two-finger application. Awesome.

GK

from crashing under these circumstances?

perhaps it might have or not....since the exact "what happened" will never be known, it is hard to speculate as to the best answer for this....there is no "black box" with telemetry data that can help solve the riddle....

From the video it sounds like you you accelerate just before you hit the brake.  Rolling on the throttle will unweight the front end....reducing traction on the front wheel.  Also, with all the weight going rearwards (accelerating) then quickly coming forwards (braking) could overwhelm the available traction.  That's what it looks like to me on initial viewing.

Were you rolling on the gas?  Sounds as if the bike revs up just as you start to pass the bus on the left.  Or am I just hearing things?

GK, not much damage to the bike just a broken foot peg, shifter, and scratched rear turn signals, clutch lever and bent frame slider and small scuff mark on the tank. The insurance will cover it. I have replaced the shifter, that's the first thing I replaced the next morning.

Other parts have not been replaced. Parts like the clutch lever and foot pegs will hav eto be bought myself, cause the dealer doesn't have aftermarket parts in stock. Currently I'm using the stock pegs, glad I didn't throw it away  ;D

mikeb, not sure if I accelerated or not. But I just noticed that there are reflectors  in the middle of the street... in the middle of a lane. Not the whole street, but only on a section about 20 or 30 meters long on that particular spot. I guess they're old reflectors that weren't removed when the street was widened.

Bob

I wonder if ABS would have prevented this?

 With ABS he prolly would of rear ended the car!

Good question and unfortunately we will never know the answer. ABS was one of the main reasons I bought my 2012 M1100evo, as I want every advantage possible on the street.