Advice on accidents

Hi guys, I had a bit of an incident a couple months back where I hit a corner that tightened up a bit quick; managed to slingshot myself out to the other side of the road and brushed against a car on the other side, broken toe but that's all really, could have been much, much worse. Thing was, I couldn't seem to turn for a couple of seconds maybe after the corner, i.e., to get back on my side of the road. I think it may have been the fact I was braking, but still, are there any tips you guys can give me on how to swerve immediately after a corner?

Would I be right in keeping on neutral throttle, keep the weight off the front and a quick countersteer?

Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble.
Thanks!

Personally i would look to avoid the problem in the first place, rather than see how i could rectify it. Look at your corner entry speed/lines.

If i'm honest i can't picture what you're describing 100%, but it sounds like you got the corner wrong, hit the brakes and coasted on to the other side of the road. In my exprience once you brake sharply and stand the bike up its pretty difficult to manoeuvre with any immediate finesse.

just push down on the inside bar; it will go round. Temptation is to stamp on the brakes and to go all rigid. It really doesn't help!

Personally i would look to avoid the problem in the first place, rather than see how i could rectify it. Look at your corner entry speed/lines.

+ 1, its not about your method of recovering but avoiding getting into that situation!

Temptation is to stamp on the brakes and to go all rigid. It really doesn't help!

Target fixation is also a huge problem with some riders.

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave

+ 1, its not about your method of recovering but avoiding getting into that situation!

Target fixation is also a huge problem with some riders.

Yeah. Girls can be such distractions I wonder if there's a lower accident rate in Muslim countries where they're forced to wear postboxes over their heads

[SoulKiss]

Dont have them - they hurt and are expensive.

Glad you got off relatively lightly chakraist. I reckon most of us get caught out once in a while.

Use the rear brake carefully, that'll tighten your line and make sure you're in the right gear for the corner. The Sv is fairly forgiving as it will chugg around most corners but I try and change down so I've got around 7k revs then you've got the engine braking too if needs be.

[Stu]

It's all very well advising not to get into that situation. But to answer the question, get off the front brake (or trail it ever so slightly*) get off the throttle, a gentle push of rear brake* but not sharp enough to lock it, and give it as much countersteer as you can and there is so much more chance that you will make the corner (if dry) and not run wide than the slight risk of low siding that you just have to have faith.
try practicing in a car park etc. once you've fitted your crash bungs.

*If you've got a lot to think about counter steering then probably best to ignore the brakes & put all your effort into counter steering.

Also, picking up on the target fixation, look as far round the corner as you can! I find that the (too many actually) times this has happened to me, and forcing myself to (as said above) release the brakes etc. only works if I also make a conscious (and often hard) effort to rip my eyes away from where I am looking and turn my whole focus towards the runout from the bend... Or failing that as far as I can see through the bend.

I know many will say "that's just how you corner" but I find that for me, the biggest thing is craning my neck and looking as far around as I can when I begin to feel to myself "uhoh this is too much speed/the wrong line"... And generally speaking I get myself into those situations by not looking as far as I can in the first place - hey, I'm only human.

My hunch would also be target fixation, ie. "oooh hell I'm going to hit that car" and you just go where you're looking. It's an incredibly hard thing to get out of because it's basically tied to your most basic instincts (ie. fear of pain) but with practice it can get better, just keep repeating the mantra "I go where I'm looking, I go where I'm looking".

It's easy to analyse a situation in hindsight and you can come up with the perfect solution sat at your desk (ie. as you yourself and other folks have said, neutral throttle, possible slight trailing of the back brake), but in practice it's hard to put all those things together and it's something you just have to practice in normal riding so much so that they become instinct in an accident situation. But if you can concentrate on counter steering that's your solution, assuming reasonable road surface your bike can very happily scrape out the foot pegs, it can corner a lot quicker than you instinctively think it can. Really push down hard on that inner bar and your line will tighten. I'm willing to bet that in your crash you didn't find the limits of the tyres before impact, ergo, there was more cornering power available, it just wasn't used. My personal top tip, seems to work for me, is to consciously drop your inner shoulder as you approach a bend, it seems to relax your upper body and put you in the right position for attacking a corner and adjusting your line should the need arise mid way round.

Oh, and if you live in the south west ish, there's a wonderful but frightening set of corners called Fish Hill down here that tighten up quite viciously without warning. It's not a place to push your limits, because if you exceed your limits here then, well, it'll kill you, but for careful practice it's great.