Brown trouser moment!

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?

[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.

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.

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by Peter Henry

does dry diesel leave the surface with less adhesion?

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.

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

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 ?

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)

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.

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!

you don't by chance have a scottoiler fitted