Brown trouser moment!

[Peter Henry]

Heading my way up to meet a couple of fellow Ducati riders at the Taverna on the Ronda Road and had a bit of shock. I was travelling along smoothly,not too quick but certainly not at walking pace either. Lined her up for a left hander that goes slightly uphill in plenty of time.Breaking and gear changes well sorted,drop her in and the back end let go! It was too quick for me to do anything about and fortunately it gripped again.
It could have been down to me being spooked but I swear the back end had a very slippery kind of feel to it for the next 4 or 5 left handers also.I almost stopped to check if I had a puncture.
It really spoilt the rest of the ride as I was then a bit nervous about it. After a coffee and vitamin stick we headed off further and we were fine on the faster sweepers but I still could not get it together on the slower left handers!

I have been trying to analyse it since getting back and am just wondering if my arms were not quite as relaxed as they should be and so the counter steering affect on the bike was not as it should have been? Cant think of anything else? Got to go hit the road again tomorrow to shake it out of my system.

What are your thoughts? :? 8)

[rictus01]

Don't know for sure, but I'd be inclined to check tyre pressure and after the slide whether the rear axel is aligned properly.

was the surface consistant ? did you hit a patch of anything ?

Cheers Mark.

[Peter Henry]

Rictus, the points you mention are worth checking and I will do this. I have to say though that unfortunately there was a definite and noticeable trail of something all the way up this particular road today. I had previously discarded this due to me thinking the heat would make any diesel residue in to vapour and so only leaving a stain as to where it was? Of course I could be very wrong,does dry diesel leave the surface with less adhesion? I have never even thought about that before? BTW I am riding on Michelin Sports at the moment with lots of tread left and apart from this incident they have been very good. :? 8)

[rictus01]

does dry diesel leave the surface with less adhesion? :? 8)

Yes it does :!: although not nearly as bad, cranked over it takes very little to break addition.

I only suggest checking the rear axe as you may have "tweaked" it in the slide and it only takes a very small amount of movement to make the bike "feel" a bit off.

I've got one of thoughs laser level things (for DIY), which is great, just line it up alone each side of the rear tyre and measure the distance the front tyre is from it on each side.

of course this type of thing tends to put you off a little in the short term, and as you say it could be that, be never hurts to check.

Cheers Mark.

[hall13uk]

well i can't help
just make sure stay safe & keep that rubber on the road

[Shooter]

Are you sure it was not an engine braking effect while on the lean due to a crappy down change ?

Does your bike have a slipper clutch ?

[Warren]

on my first iam ride i took a left hander in the wet,

my rear tyre slipped on some tarbanding, felt like it moved about a foot before i gripped again.

during the debrief, he told me it barely moved a few mm's

(that browned out my trousers)

[Peter Henry]

Shooter,

I would be the first to hold my hand up if I had rushed a down charge and caused the rear wheel to lock up.However as mentioned my braking and down changes were all completed in good time and it was just a matter of turn in and ease on the gas. :? 8)

[Peter Henry]

I have carried out the checks kindly suggested but found nothing untoward. I got myself back in the saddle and did half of the usual run late this afternoon. I actually focussed on leaning forward a little more with the upper body in order to put more weight over front end and to ensure arms remained comfortably flexed. No misbehaviour today and overall felt a lot smoother.

The thing that p*sses me off about this route, (which is 49km in total) is that there are whole sections that I know off by heart but others I get a blank on.This can often see me cursing beneath my helmet due to scrubbing off far more speed than was necessary on several ocasions. I really want to be able to go out on that road and do it text book,one day!
How those guys commit the Isle of Man circuit to memory astounds me! :wink: 8)

[RandyO]

you don't by chance have a scottoiler fitted

[Peter Henry]

Randy,No I dont use a Scotoiler.But the chain was cleaned and resprayed with Motul Racing chain lube the night before.I tend to be quite carefull where I spray this though and I dont think what you are alluding to was the problem.Thx for giving it some thought though! :wink: 8)

[Stig]

The thing that p*sses me off about this route, (which is 49km in total) is that there are whole sections that I know off by heart but others I get a blank on.This can often see me cursing beneath my helmet due to scrubbing off far more speed than was necessary on several ocasions. I really want to be able to go out on that road and do it text book,one day!
How those guys commit the Isle of Man circuit to memory astounds me! :wink: 8)

I would much rather be scrubbing off too much speed than not enough. :wink:

[Shooter]

Maybe you ran over a few pebbles...that can do it.

PETER WROTE: The thing that p*sses me off about this route, (which is 49km in total) is that there are whole sections that I know off by heart but others I get a blank on.This can often see me cursing beneath my helmet due to scrubbing off far more speed than was necessary on several ocasions. I really want to be able to go out on that road and do it text book,one day!
How those guys commit the Isle of Man circuit to memory astounds me!

New debate and thread possibility arises ?

Setting a whole lot of corners and twisties into RAM may not always be a good practice (IMHO). Maybe it was a 80mph corner as you remembered it last time but the kid on a bike / cow / petrol tanker on its roof ...just round that corner may not be exactly what your RAM is expecting and your parallel processing unit may overload....

Race Track - a different story.

[Quiff Wichard]

pete me old mate

GET A DECENT BIKE !

that might help..

I will bring ya me blue speedy Sv over in July and take yer Duke back with me as excess luggage !

glad to be of help !

NB : the slippy brown stuff u say u saw all the way up the hill!..u sure that wasnt the day after when u did the run again >????

[Warren]

The thing that p*sses me off about this route, (which is 49km in total) is that there are whole sections that I know off by heart but others I get a blank on.This can often see me cursing beneath my helmet due to scrubbing off far more speed than was necessary on several ocasions. I really want to be able to go out on that road and do it text book,one day!
How those guys commit the Isle of Man circuit to memory astounds me! :wink: 8)

I would much rather be scrubbing off too much speed than not enough. :wink:

i was about to say that.

you should treat every corner like you dont know it.

so you are ready for the unexpected (cow sh*t mainly) :)

[Peter Henry]

You guys are correct. There are so many bends on this road that are actually blind,plus there is no get out if you get it wrong.On the way up you have rock face on your right,on the left armco stopping you from disapearing into the wild yonder way below!
I do prefer the one's where I can look across ravines to check if any traffic or obstacles coming in the opposite direction. A very good case in point to support your comments is that a fave spot to go on bikes is actually set on a sweeping 90º bend.Some guys come absolutely hurtling around that to show off.However all it takes is a car to be pulling out, (quite innocently)or to be stopped to turn in and any bike flying around that bend would have no chance.One guy missed doing this by literally one minute on Saturday.
I guess a little to do with it is nowadays I assess the risk potential a little bit more than I used to and prefer to go quicker when I feel that things are stacked in my favour!
Have I become a wuss? :? 8)

Sig...You could be right mate, I'll get her packed for you! :lol:

[Warren]

i wouldnt say you have become a wuss, id say you were using your brain.

i do the same, id like to enjoy another day of motorcycling.

plus, there are many more bends out there with perfect visibility and no hidden dangers (which you can see before entering)

just a matter of saving the knee scraping bug til then.

[wheelnut]

I just had one of those brown pants experience. I was blasting home from work and got stopped at the level crossing! I made my way to the front and then gave it rice from a clean start :P

There are 6 or 7 long sweeping bends and then a long straight :D and then there was a orse! a big brown orse :?

It wasnt walking up the road, it was crossing the main road, with a young girl on it.......................... The horse had a wrinkled grin as it noticed me barreling down, and tried to go faster! I tried to go a lot slower quickly.

Im just going for a shower now! I hope horses dont have nightmares.




Be careful folks :P