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I lowsided at the advanced ride day at AHG on the weekend, while we were lapping on the track between exercises. Bike is mainly cosmetic and back on the road, and I'm fine. I'd been happy with how I was going up till then, spending a couple of laps getting used to the track, and slowly picking up speed and lean. And then I'm leaning into a corner... and all of a sudden the bike was gone. I didn't register any feeling that anything was different before it went. Just one second banked over and twisting the throttle around the corner, and the next sliding behind my bike and wondering WTF just happened.
This is the main thing that troubles me. It's definitely affected my confidence, as without some reference point, I'm going to be paranoid for a little while every time I'm leaning the bike left. I'm hoping that perhaps you more experienced guys can shed some light on
a) what I was doing wrong - I have some leads here already
b)how to try and avoid this in the future
I realise it's pretty hard to troubleshoot without having been there or seen what happened. But any advice is appreciated.
I was on the CBR250, Bridgestone BT45 on the rear, Michelin Pilot Power on the front. Both tyres close to new, and the bike pretty much stock. Suspension was recently redone, but still a little soft.
It was on what I'll call turn 4 on the short track, if the big South->North straight is the reference, into a sweeping left, hairpin left, long sweeping right, and then my hairpin left.
I'd been lapping nicely, starting to work the bike a little harder. I was getting my body off the bike a little more effectively, easily on the sweepers, but still not enough on the hairpins, as I was generally hitting the pegs. I'd finally managed to put my knee down on the first hairpin (turn 2), but still hit the pegs as well. Turn 4 was still pegs only.
The last time I hit it, I had the bike right over. I was still trying to put my body down, but I hit the pegs first. Basically, I felt the pegs hit, I was still turning, and then I was sliding behind the bike.
My first thought was that perhaps the peg had bitten the road, and unsettled the bike enough to drop it. In all other ways, it'd felt like every other time I'd taken the corner, perhaps with a tiny bit more lean.
When we got the bike off the road and patched it up (stole a pillion footpeg off a mate to replace my left hander that had broken), I had a bit more of a look over the bike and noticed that the rear tyre was worn all the way to the edge on the left, and the edge looked a little scuffed. So now I'm thinking that perhaps I just ran out of tyre, and when there was nothing left, it let go.
When I got back out there, I did a few more laps of the track. The two things I noticed were
1) I had tried to take the corner sharper than I needed to. I was pulling it tight all the way, trying to exit on the inside, where I should have cut outside so I could set up for the next left hander.
2) The corner has a slight positive camber. I now think that this might have contributed, as it allows me to lean the bike over even further, which may have been my undoing.
Anything that stands out immediately? I realise I should have my knees down instead of the pegs, but they're pretty low on the CBR and hit early. It's something I was still working on and was getting better at.
The pegs generally hit a fair way before the tyres run out (still had decent strips on the road when the pegs were hitting). But is that the only indication I'll get that the bike's over too far? I felt like there was absolutely 0 feedback between a little scrape and totally letting go.
The crash has of course done nothing to dissuade me, and after having been on the track for the first time, I absolutely cannot wait for my first Trackdayz next month. I just hope I can figure things out a little and get a little confidence back, and know how to read the limits a bit better, for next time.
This is the main thing that troubles me. It's definitely affected my confidence, as without some reference point, I'm going to be paranoid for a little while every time I'm leaning the bike left. I'm hoping that perhaps you more experienced guys can shed some light on
a) what I was doing wrong - I have some leads here already
b)how to try and avoid this in the future
I realise it's pretty hard to troubleshoot without having been there or seen what happened. But any advice is appreciated.
I was on the CBR250, Bridgestone BT45 on the rear, Michelin Pilot Power on the front. Both tyres close to new, and the bike pretty much stock. Suspension was recently redone, but still a little soft.
It was on what I'll call turn 4 on the short track, if the big South->North straight is the reference, into a sweeping left, hairpin left, long sweeping right, and then my hairpin left.
I'd been lapping nicely, starting to work the bike a little harder. I was getting my body off the bike a little more effectively, easily on the sweepers, but still not enough on the hairpins, as I was generally hitting the pegs. I'd finally managed to put my knee down on the first hairpin (turn 2), but still hit the pegs as well. Turn 4 was still pegs only.
The last time I hit it, I had the bike right over. I was still trying to put my body down, but I hit the pegs first. Basically, I felt the pegs hit, I was still turning, and then I was sliding behind the bike.
My first thought was that perhaps the peg had bitten the road, and unsettled the bike enough to drop it. In all other ways, it'd felt like every other time I'd taken the corner, perhaps with a tiny bit more lean.
When we got the bike off the road and patched it up (stole a pillion footpeg off a mate to replace my left hander that had broken), I had a bit more of a look over the bike and noticed that the rear tyre was worn all the way to the edge on the left, and the edge looked a little scuffed. So now I'm thinking that perhaps I just ran out of tyre, and when there was nothing left, it let go.
When I got back out there, I did a few more laps of the track. The two things I noticed were
1) I had tried to take the corner sharper than I needed to. I was pulling it tight all the way, trying to exit on the inside, where I should have cut outside so I could set up for the next left hander.
2) The corner has a slight positive camber. I now think that this might have contributed, as it allows me to lean the bike over even further, which may have been my undoing.
Anything that stands out immediately? I realise I should have my knees down instead of the pegs, but they're pretty low on the CBR and hit early. It's something I was still working on and was getting better at.
The pegs generally hit a fair way before the tyres run out (still had decent strips on the road when the pegs were hitting). But is that the only indication I'll get that the bike's over too far? I felt like there was absolutely 0 feedback between a little scrape and totally letting go.
The crash has of course done nothing to dissuade me, and after having been on the track for the first time, I absolutely cannot wait for my first Trackdayz next month. I just hope I can figure things out a little and get a little confidence back, and know how to read the limits a bit better, for next time.
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