Never Cross that Line.

[SaltLick]

One of the scariest sights i saw was turning a corner and seeing a smoking bike on its side, with a pair of sneakers a few feet away in the middle of the road and no person in sight.  This guy had hit the curb so hard it flipped him out of his shoes and threw him into the forest that was quite a ways away from his bike. You could trace out where he had flown through the trees because the tops were broken off all in a row. But yeah, just seeing those white tennis shoes sitting there next to that smoking bike with no one around was really wierd. I dont know why the shoes fly off.

[Holden]

Man, that wasn't close to the apex even if it were one big lane. Plus that doesn't look like a blind corner, so he should have had plenty of time to see the car. What was he doing way out there?

No apparent reaction from the car driver in those photos, either. Not even trying to give him more room (not that one should expect this).

[Popeye the Sailor]

Man, that wasn't close to the apex even if it were one big lane. Plus that doesn't look like a blind corner, so he should have had plenty of time to see the car. What was he doing way out there?

No apparent reaction from the car driver in those photos, either. Not even trying to give him more room (not that one should expect this).

I'm guessing they were both going fairly quickly. I figure on a road that twisty, by the time you've seen the other guy it's probably too late to do anything.

[jakem696]

That's really sucks.   How many times have I seen tennis shoes flying off at the first impact? I can't believe people rides with them on.

[SaltLick]

looks like he took the corner too fast (for his skill level).   I dont know what the deal was,  maybe before this shot he swerved to miss a deer or oil spot so it put him over the line.   i use to have problems with getting close to the line like that and sometimes going over before i picked up a book on cornering and learned about how to take a corner (apex methods). Youd be amazed at how many riders dont understand the cornering methods, and that there is a way to take corners. As they get faster and faster they dont understand why its putting them over the line when they go through the turns. But like i said i dont know what his situation was.

[silvy1200]

wow, just saw the pic 

i picked up a book on cornering and learned about how to take a corner (apex methods).

what book?

[Spidey]

Man, that wasn't close to the apex even if it were one big lane. Plus that doesn't look like a blind corner, so he should have had plenty of time to see the car. What was he doing way out there?

Hard to say, particularly without knowing what came before that corner.  If it's the last turn in a series of five, remember that errors are cumulative.  If you blow the first turn a bit, by the time you get to the fifth turn, you can be hangin' out in the middle of nowhere like that dude.  If that turn is at the end of a straigh, it's a different story. 

[Spidey]

what book?

I dunno what Saltlick read, but either Lee Parks's Total Control or Hough's Proficient Motorcycling has a really good discusion about different lines, turn-in points and apexes.  I don't remember which (it may be Total Control).  The diagrams are really helpful.  Both are worth reading, particularly for street riding.  Twist of the Wrist also has incredibly valuable discussions about cornering and apexes, but the writing style is hard to read (in fact, it makes me wanna kick puppies into traffic) and it's more geared toward track riding. 

[Spidey]

This thread is a good reminder of the Survival Rule:  Rights v. Lefts

[silvy1200]

either Lee Parks's Total Control or Hough's Proficient Motorcycling, Twist of the Wrist

i'll be looking into these  thanks!

[YellowDuck]

Lean,,,,,,,Lean more! Our tires are better than us!

[needtorque]

Man that is scary looking.  I was watching the animated pic trying to see if I saw any limbs flopping in ways they should not. I could not tell but he had to be hurting.

[Slide Panda]

Man, that wasn't close to the apex even if it were one big lane. Plus that doesn't look like a blind corner, so he should have had plenty of time to see the car. What was he doing way out there?

No apparent reaction from the car driver in those photos, either. Not even trying to give him more room (not that one should expect this).

Not close to the apex.. true.

But, might not look blind from that angle, but I've ridden that road and it's quite possible the turn that the bike is coming form is blind.. there's lots of tight turns with high embankments to block your views.  So it's possible he didn't see the car until too late...

But, he shouldn't have been there in the 1st place.  What he was doing, was making a mistake.  What that mistake was... who knows.  Inexperience, over confidence, lack of focus... could be any of 100 things or any combination.

The car doesn't have much room to go... so even if they had time to react there's basically no where to react to.  Save for pull off areas, going off pavement at the gap is a bad plan. 

If you want to see some of the gap, Jbubble has some clips from when me and xler8r went down the Gap
http://www.youtube.com/user/jdubbs32584
Bubs is leading, I'm 2nd, xler8er is 3rd w/ the cam

And, I high quality cam can shoot a lot of frames a second, so the real events probably happened even faster than that animation

no matter what... sucks to see that.  Hope he heals, and learns

[Buckethead]

no matter what... sucks to see that.  Hope he heals, and learns

...and tells people.

[River]

I dunno what Saltlick read, but either Lee Parks's Total Control or Hough's Proficient Motorcycling has a really good discusion about different lines, turn-in points and apexes.   

I've read both a Twist of the Wrist and Total Control (and met both authors).  I agree: Total Control is a great book.  A Twist of the Wrist has valuable info but is difficult to get through.  Lee Parks' book is a great read and highly instructional.  I'm hoping to take his course this summer.

And for the record, the MSF course is not enough.  I'm appauled at how many motorcyclists don't have a clue about riding and don't seem to care enough to get one.

(steps off soap box)