Slow speed u-turn wreck ;(

[mrpetebojangles]

This morning I was leaving my gf's house with her, to follow her car to a breakfast place. Was doing a slow speed u-turn and I'm not so sure exactly what happened, but I think I slipped the clutch too far, as the bike was chugging in 1st gear, I'm not sure exactly but the bike lost power and fell over on top of me to the left. Was in extreme pain and I discovered at the ER that I have multiple spiral fractures in my left tibia. The bike is fine and you can't even tell it was dropped as all of the weight seemed to land on my leg. I've practiced these slow speed turns before and have done the same sorta turn at this same spot. I looked through the turn etc. I'm assuming I simply didn't give enough speed. Leg hurts like hell but I'll be alright. Just a couple months of crutches it seems like and the doctor thinks it will heal alright. Not discouraged at all. But I think I'm a little paranoid now of slow speed u turns and it will be difficult for me to practice that after I heal. I wasnt showboating or anything else. Just made a critical error. :/ sucks

[BoDiddley]

This morning I was leaving my gf's house with her, to follow her car to a breakfast place. Was doing a slow speed u-turn

I have done close to the same thing a couple times without the pain.  The pain is bad enough but glad to hear your bike is OK, my clutch is a hairy monster so I have to keep on the ball at all times.  Just when you are cruzin along fine in normal mode that "is" when the pregnant dogareno bites you.............

[Curmudgeon]

Sorry to be reading this. Hope you are feeling peachy soon!

Possibly you have not developed smooth coordination between your clutch and your throttle yet. You may also be trying to ride the bike like a mountain bike. Not good. You can't lean a motorcycle at very slow speed to turn. You will lose. Keep it absolutely upright. If you can't make the turn, abort, grab the clutch and stop the bike and put your foot down.

Is this what happened with your last incident?

Feel better soon!

[mrpetebojangles]

I think you might be right cur. I distinctly remember leaning it and looking down the street, I just didn't have speed to stay up right. I've done this same sorta turn so many times, it frustrates me that this happened and the injury obtained from a minor accident. All the bikes weight just down.. Ouch. In one if my other posts I asked if it'd be alright to ride the bike a bit over 600 miles until my service appointment next week. Don't think that'll be a problem now haha.  if anything it's a great learning experience and I'm happy that I've gotten that first big wreck/injury outa the way. The bike felt so sluggish this morning and after it fell pretty hard on my leg it stalled without me hitting the kill switch. I wonder if I had my planned 14t that I'm getting this maybe wouldnt of happened. I let the bike warm up for about 5 minutes this morning, but it really seems to want a few minutes of RIDING until it really wakes up.

[Curmudgeon]

True, the 14T will help, (but not "fix" this), and yes, a cold engine isn't happy yet. Three bars minimum on the gauge I should think, and definitely riding a few minutes, yes.

A hard lesson indeed. A 400# bike wins every time! Work on the hand coordination and stay bolt upright in slow maneuvers whatever you do.

I imagine at 6' 7" you may have a harder than average time getting your foot off the peg as well, so work on keeping that foot at the ready too.

I've done something similar. We all have. Maybe consider that taller Sargent seat for better seat-to-peg distance rather than slip-ons. Ask for Troy and tell him I sent you. Possibly he can add an extra 1/2+" at minimal cost since they tend to build stock 696/796/1100 evo seats to order rather than keep the them on the shelf.

Heal fast!

[thought]

dont forget to look where you're going, weight the outside peg, and dragging the rear brake helps too.

hope everything turns out well and get better soon.

[$Lindz$]

I hate slow speed turns. They always look goofy unless you're blasting around on a supermoto or something. Riding a bike (at any speed) is all about confidence. And on that note... I am confident enough where I don't give a f-ck, I make 3 point turns all over the place if I need to. U turns are a pregnant dog with clip-ons and the decreased turning radius. One of the minor drawbacks to go-fast (or go-fun) motorbikes...

[Twizted]

dont forget to look where you're going, weight the outside peg, and dragging the rear brake helps too.

+1 I find dragging the rear brake on slow U turns works a charm.

[zooom]

look into taking Total Control or the MSF Advanced Rider class, as both of those classes, you use your own bike and work on a lot of low speed & and high manueverability drills...you'll learn your bike is capable of a lot more that you think, IF you use the bike correctly.

[webspoke]

14t will help for sure, On thing I noticed when I had my hyper was the shorter gearing from the factory (15/41 instead of 15-38/39)  which was almost like having a 14t.  That bike was so much easier to handle at low speeds than my previous S2R.  I have a 14t on my 848  now, and it has really helped. 

[Slide Panda]

but I think I slipped the clutch too far, as the bike was chugging in 1st gear, I'm not sure exactly but the bike lost power and fell over on top of me to the left. Was in extreme pain and I discovered at the ER that I have multiple spiral fractures in my left tibia. The bike is fine and you can't even tell it was dropped as all of the weight seemed to land on my leg. I've practiced these slow speed turns before and have done the same sorta turn at this same spot. I looked through the turn etc. I'm assuming I simply didn't give enough speed. Leg hurts like hell but I'll be alright. Just a couple months of crutches it seems like and the doctor thinks it will heal alright. Not discouraged at all. But I think I'm a little paranoid now of slow speed u turns and it will be difficult for me to practice that after I heal. I wasnt showboating or anything else. Just made a critical error. :/ sucks

Slipping the clutch means to partially disengage it, passing less power to the wheel. I think you're using it backwards. Lot of folks flop engage and disengage when it comes to a clutch.

Sounds like you didn't keep enough RMPs to the engine combined with a bit to much engagement on the clutch. Bikes are happier with you've got some revs on the engine and some more clutch slipping. As Thought noted, a little bit of drag on the rear brake helps too.

Tight, slow speed maneuvers are a lot harder than folks think, as you've learned the hard way. It's counter-intuitive to keep the rpms up when you're trying to go slow.

Also doesn't help that you're probably using 4 different control inputs, throttle, clutch, rear brake and steering all at the same time and adjusting each constantly.

Tough brake man. I hope you heal quickly.

[thought]

also, take a look at the video in this thread:

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=51486.0

watch the head of the officer and you'll see the importance of looking where you want to go in low speed maneuvers.

and like sd said, keep in mind that the clutch is a analog device, not a digital one.  it's not 100% on and then 100% off... learning to modulate the clutch/throttle helps a lot at low speeds, esp with the monster since it's pretty rough at low rpm's

[Kev M]

dont forget to look where you're going, weight the outside peg, and dragging the rear brake helps too.

This post FTW!

You can and should still lean the bike in a low speed manuever but as Thought touches upon there's a technique to it.

Weight on the outside peg, and possibly shifting your actual body position up and to the outside of the lean. What this does is counterbalance the bike so that it doesn't fall over.

It's exactly opposite of what you usually do in a turn, because in a turn at speed the force of the turn itself is trying to slam the bike over to the opposite side of the turn, so you lean IN to counterbalance.

But on a slow turn the speed of the turn isn't enough to overcome gravity's attempt to pull the bike down so you lean the opposite way to balance it.


Dragging the rear brake at the same time allows you to apply more engine power and slip the clutch a little less. This just helps to add a bit of stability to the chassis and ease how fine a touch you might otherwise need to have.


Not to mention this is one of those rare instances where the front brake could be a liability because it would be easier to lock it when the forks are turned and you're going so slow - so by dragging the rear brake you can avoid all that, while also controling your speed.

[mrpetebojangles]

I feel like I was using the mentioned techniques but I think leaned it too far, the engine was still warming up and on the verge of during so I increased the throttle while slipping the clutch more but not completely and before I knew it I was on the ground an in excruciating pain, and sadly still am :/ I think pulled the clutch in too far while in the lean I was and that's what doomed me. I did this same turn multiple times before but never directly after starting the engine. When I do get back on the bike I'm certainly gonna be a little scared and I definitely do not want a repeat. I plan on taking the advanced riders course in the spring.

[Slide Panda]

Well, you're still a very new rider, and fine slow moves are a finesse skill set. You'll get there, but baby steps.

I hope you heal up quickly.