What happened? Crash..

[Slide Panda]

"Cold tyres", crap, unless it was minus 20 deg. 

I'll beg to differ. I can feel a difference once temps are consistently below 45 F. But we digress

[brimo]

I don't think it's a digression, true enough on dry twisties going hard, you'll get better grip with warm tyres , but in this situation, 60k (35mph) and a wet road?

[FrankenDuc]

Glad you made it through OK!

to me it looks like you were steering into the turn instead of counter steering.

Hard to say, but my experience, when the front washes it has a tendency to turn in.  
I generally find when this happens "standing the bike up" a little takes care of it, push the outside grip to reduce bike lean angle and hang off the bike a bit more to keep the turn rate.

I see a lot on this thread about cold tires and avoiding gunk in the road, riding in the car tire tracks.  Attention to these aspects is important, but let's face it, wet roads are just unpredictable.  Even riding in the car tracks is no guarantee, good traction in one spot, covered with oil from an earlier accident at the next.

It doesn't look to me like the lean angle is too aggressive, or going all that fast.  It does look to me like the rider turns in and gets right on the throttle - good form in good traction. In wet road riding, though, I tend to handle the bike much more gingerly, slow and lazy to turn in while coasting, neutral throttle just maintaining to the apex, and then smooth acceleration as I'm actually picking the bike up coming out of the turn.  Maybe not the fastest way around, but where I can't predict the traction I like to keep a bit of margin.

 

[Pedro-bot]

I don't think it's a digression, true enough on dry twisties going hard, you'll get better grip with warm tyres , but in this situation, 60k (35mph) and a wet road?

Ok then.

Wet road + _______ = no bueno.

X + y = no bueno

Agree or disagree with the variables its the same result bub. He asked for conjecture, the man got it.

BTW, OP, do you always ride with a camera recording? I mean, you were riding to work. I don't know if you're commute is an exciting one. But I'm guessing you video record as an insurance safety net. True?

[TealCandy]

Ok then.

Wet road + _______ = no bueno.

X + y = no bueno

Agree or disagree with the variables its the same result bub. He asked for conjecture, the man got it.

BTW, OP, do you always ride with a camera recording? I mean, you were riding to work. I don't know if you're commute is an exciting one. But I'm guessing you video record as an insurance safety net. True?

I do most of the time, unless I'm in a hurry and forget.. I stated that I had the footage when dealing with the insurance company but they didn't ask for it, I use mine for all purposes.

[pitbull]

You explained it much better than I did, but this is what I believe I see as well, based on the video.

But again, it's really hard to tell for sure simply based on the video.

Glad you made it through OK!
Hard to say, but my experience, when the front washes it has a tendency to turn in.  
I generally find when this happens "standing the bike up" a little takes care of it, push the outside grip to reduce bike lean angle and hang off the bike a bit more to keep the turn rate.

I see a lot on this thread about cold tires and avoiding gunk in the road, riding in the car tire tracks.  Attention to these aspects is important, but let's face it, wet roads are just unpredictable.  Even riding in the car tracks is no guarantee, good traction in one spot, covered with oil from an earlier accident at the next.

It doesn't look to me like the lean angle is too aggressive, or going all that fast.  It does look to me like the rider turns in and gets right on the throttle - good form in good traction. In wet road riding, though, I tend to handle the bike much more gingerly, slow and lazy to turn in while coasting, neutral throttle just maintaining to the apex, and then smooth acceleration as I'm actually picking the bike up coming out of the turn.  Maybe not the fastest way around, but where I can't predict the traction I like to keep a bit of margin.

 

[Johnny OrganDonor]

Glad you're OK.  Thanks for posting the vid.  Aside from the fact that you were riding on the wrong side of the road , were you trying to brush off some power going into a slick curve?  Looks like you squeezed the clutch a bit just before you lost it.  Might you have tapped the rear brake as well?   

[Johnny OrganDonor]

I liked your video so much that I looked at it again on my office computer instead of my cell phone.  Sure looks and sounds like you broke rear traction after you applied the clutch as you leaned into the curve.  That could put you down pretty quick on a slick road.

[TealCandy]

Glad you're OK.  Thanks for posting the vid.  Aside from the fact that you were riding on the wrong side of the road , were you trying to brush off some power going into a slick curve?  Looks like you squeezed the clutch a bit just before you lost it.  Might you have tapped the rear brake as well?   

Thanks mate, when I touched the clutch I just downshifted with a little blip. I didn't tap the rear brake at all as I ride with the my heels resting on the pillion extender part of the rearset with my toes on the peg, I hate the duckfeet look lol. Though as FrankenDuc stated, wet roads are just unpredictable. Whatever the cause may be it will definitely make me think twice when riding on slick roads.

[Johnny OrganDonor]

What I like about your video is that you can see some crtical inputs fairly clearly.  Wish I had video like this of my wrecks.  I wasn't very clear in my earlier post, the clutch move that I noticed was a second after the downshift blip you mentioned - all seems well at that point before you begin the curve.  

What I'm talking about happens right at 0:02.  You might have to replay those few seconds several times over (that is if you can stand watching your bike go down over and over  ) but if you watch the fingers on your left hand, you'll see a slow but firm squeeze on the clutch lever.  Looks like it goes past the lever free-play and is well into the range to disengage the clutch just nanoseconds before you go down.  Again, the critical moment is when you're in the curve between 0:02 and 0:03 - begin curve, squeeze clutch lever, lose traction, engine revs up a bit, clunk, and you're sliding.  Slick conditions and it all happens in an instant.  

Again, I wish I could replay my wrecks this way.  I hate mysteries especially when they put me in the hospital.  I might be wrong but I still wanted to bring your attention to what I'm seeing there.  I've been riding pretty hard over 30 years and still fight the almost instinctive reaction to grab the clutch when things get a bit sketchy.  Thanks again for posting the video.


Added:  Crap, I don't know now.  Looks like you might have let go of the clutch lever altogether after you downshifted.

[TealCandy]

What I like about your video is that you can see some crtical inputs fairly clearly.  Wish I had video like this of my wrecks.  I wasn't very clear in my earlier post, the clutch move that I noticed was a second after the downshift blip you mentioned - all seems well at that point before you begin the curve.  

What I'm talking about happens right at 0:02.  You might have to replay those few seconds several times over (that is if you can stand watching your bike go down over and over  ) but if you watch the fingers on your left hand, you'll see a slow but firm squeeze on the clutch lever.  Looks like it goes past the lever free-play and is well into the range to disengage the clutch just nanoseconds before you go down.  Again, the critical moment is when you're in the curve between 0:02 and 0:03 - begin curve, squeeze clutch lever, lose traction, engine revs up a bit, clunk, and you're sliding.  Slick conditions and it all happens in an instant.  

Again, I wish I could replay my wrecks this way.  I hate mysteries especially when they put me in the hospital.  I might be wrong but I still wanted to bring your attention to what I'm seeing there.  I've been riding pretty hard over 30 years and still fight the almost instinctive reaction to grab the clutch when things get a bit sketchy.  Thanks again for posting the video.


Added:  Crap, I don't know now.  Looks like you might have let go of the clutch lever altogether after you downshifted.

I apologize for the extremely late reply, I must have missed it somehow. I've studied the footage many times and noticed my fingers tighten up after you stating this, I remembered reading something about a survival reflex (In a great book on riding by keith code) and can now associate this instance with one. I do remember the bike feeling as if it where on ice for the fraction of a second before I went down, I felt this and my grip tightened up automatically, Its something they teach you in superbike school to "overcome" in a sense. As other instances of the survival reflex are not so harmless, e.g. the "When in doubt, GAS IT!" phrase used to combat a potential highside. I think the main thing I did wrong was not adapt to the conditions, the corner may have had trucks sitting in traffic dropping all kinds of crap for all I know, one thing I am happy about is it didn't discourage me from riding in the wet, when the bike was being repaired I had anxiety about it, funnily enough I picked it up in pouring down rain and within 1 hour I was back to normal. Cheers

[mszilves]

Glad you're ok.

Agree with Johnny, looks like you pulled in the clutch mid-corner, while on the throttle, which caused the rear wheel to spin in the wet conditions with reduced grip, causing the low side.

Good point about what they teach at CSS, and Keith Code's book. You should should try and get all your shifting done before corner entry, which it looks like you did, but then you kept covering the clutch. You should not cover the clutch mid-corner to avoid this type of  error.

Like others have said, it's great that you got it on camera, and that you can figure out what happened. Everyone crashes, learning from them is key, as it will make you a better rider. Nothing worse than crashing and not knowing why.

Glad you're back on the horse.