How to handle twisties with obstacles?

[BigBadDodge]

Have always prided myself as the crazy bastard that will take a stretched bike through the twisties from time to time(and generally hard when i do) But came across something i didnt know how to handle today. Was on this empty road heading to my brothers and there is a real nice long right hand curve i like to lay into. The road is 2 lanes, open fields on both sides. So i get up on the balls of my feet and get into it hard(probably 60-65ish) everythings going great, bike feels good, watching the end of the corner and see 2 large prairie dogs in the middle of the lane. Now i have hit a prairie dog before, but the bike was straight up, little bump and made a mess of my pants, shoes and bottom of the bike. (note:avoiding a deer totaled my first busa, i evaluate now and if its not something thats going to kill me i hold on and dont swerve out of my way to avoid it). Oncoming car cant swerve out of my lane, and im not going for the field so only thing i could think was to straighten the bike up. Threw my weight back and got her almost vertical, ended up missing both of em, couldnt tell you by how much but i couldnt see em and they were in the road when i looked in the mirror.

How do you handle this? i figure they are small but its gonna get slick if i hit em, but i wasnt able to get the bike all the way vertical either, my thoughts are it would just wash the tires out.

The more i play with this roush the more im taking an interest in handling and chassis setup, i've never had a car that handled so great, and now im looking into chassis mods to make things not only straight line fast as hell but also be able to hang with smaller cars in the curvy's. Its started to carry over into my riding now, im not going to take the bike back to stock length but i guess im getting more in tune to the right way to twist these things around and be able to hang with the swb bikes in the canyons even better than i can already

 

[fallenarch]

Well I hate to tell you this but I could do almost anything I want at 65 in a long sweeper. That's nowhere near the limit for a stock length Busa with properly setup suspension. If you aren't stretched too much and have a stock size tire you can handle decently in the twisties. I would say if impact is unavoidable like in your case I would scrub off as much speed as possible and then at the last second try to hit it clean with the bike as vertical as possible.

 

[BigBadDodge]

I'm at a 70" wheel base on a 240 i'm no where near a stock busa. But that's about what I figured dust off some speed and get up right. I've taken this thing through the canyons at 100+ this corner I wouldn't do at anymore than about 70

 

[Fastfrog007]

idk man, I'd just poo my pants and fall off, but Im guessing thats not the best way to handle it

 

[cheferman65]

Not to pee in your Cheerio's...But, unseen obstacles will always be a threat. Riding above the limit increases your chances of not being able to avoid them.

This being said, I am no saint. I would avoid best possible without too an evasive move that jeopardizes my well being. Probably hit them straight on, or as best possible. Changing your line mid corner isn't the greatest of ideas and some times worse.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Straight up and on the gas if possible is best.
Hit something on a lean and tires may kick out from under you and you'll go sliding off.
On the gas lightens front end. If you can at moment of impact or right before it hammer it.
It will help you skip over and not push into the object. I've run over coons on my Rz350 and a big chunk of wood on my Zx11. Both times the above helped he get thru it.

 

[PAPA SNOW]

Blanca, he was asking about curves,,everyone knows there are no curves where you are,,I bet you have to watch the Discovery Channel to even see what they are !!

 

[dadofthree]

idk man, I'd just poo my pants and fall off, but Im guessing thats not the best way to handle it

And we have video

 

[dadofthree]

Scrub off all the speed you can left thumb on horn switch and aim to miss toward their rear. Not many animals back up.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Blanca, he was asking about curves,,everyone knows there are no curves where you are,,I bet you have to watch the Discovery Channel to even see what they are !!

Now that was an uncalled for cheap shot.

The things I've hit we're in Ct and Tn and the coon was same situation laid over in a curve do there nanny nanny boo boo.

 

[dadofthree]

Well he did forget that you guys turn into the 7 / 11 or gas station once in awhile

 

[BusaWhipped]

I wish I would have been running with the GoPro yesterday. I could show you how to handle a courtacy bus pulling out of a side street in front of you while leaned over in a corner at 70 mph. Front brakes only, start squeezing, don't grab. Get the bike upright as quickly as you can while applying more and more pressure. I was about a yard from the bus with a bunch of passengers pointing at me when I got slowed down to the point impact was avoided.

 

[dadofthree]

I wish I would have been running with the GoPro yesterday. I could show you how to handle a courtacy bus pulling out of a side street in front of you while leaned over in a corner at 70 mph. Front brakes only, start squeezing, don't grab. Get the bike upright as quickly as you can while applying more and more pressure. I was about a yard from the bus with a bunch of passengers pointing at me when I got slowed down to the point impact was avoided.

That's nothing but experience, track time, and good sense not to panic in a panic situation. Did you think about a plan B just in case ?

 

[Big E]

Clench your butt cheeks and hope for the best possible out come.

 

[twotonevert]

I concur with Dennis. Try to hold your line and if you must scrub speed, start squeezing on the front brake and gradually brake, while holding the line and standing it up as easy as possible. Its tough to do without upsetting the geometry of the suspension. However, you can not avoid it because as soon as you start braking you are putting weight on the front tire. Generally you should be accelerating through a turn and should have scrubbed speed before rolling through(throttle). I like Roberts tip, but those pesky squirrels tend to do an about face.

 

[BusaWhipped]

That's nothing but experience, track time, and good sense not to panic in a panic situation. Did you think about a plan B just in case ?

Laps and laps and laps and laps of trail braking practice helps. There realy wasn't a plan B available. This thing pulled out from the left blocking both lanes.

 

[Busa1166]

Try taking the turn slower and you may find obstacles less of a threat...... Guard rails, cliffs and oncoming traffic bad for your health

 

[fallenarch]

We were running through the country roads once in formation doing around 80 mph once when we came upon a wrecker that decided to make a 3 pointer right in the middle of the road in the blind side of the corner. My riding buddy has a BMW with ABS and slowed to a stop but rather than move out of the way he cut me off too, shortening my stopping distance by another 20-30 feet. I made the initial mistake of hitting the rear brake which sent the rear end around to say hello! After letting the rearbrake pedal go, I went slowly on the front (like trail braking) and then I started cutting the turn into straight segments where I could get the bike up and max brake, then turn, max brake, turn, etc. I ended up with the rear wheel in the air sliding to a stop and kissing the side of the truck. It was pretty funny because I don't know who had the funniest look on their face me or the wrecker dude as for a moment we were looking at each other eye to eye.

If I hadn't gone to the rear brake initially I probably could have made it without all the drama. Also, If my buddy hadn't planted his butt right in my path and sat there I would have had more room to get around the truck. By blocking my escape route he forced me to come to a full stop.

Riding the streets there is always a surprise. I always try to slow her down and then ride around of the obstacle. Trying to come to a full stop can be dangerous. I can tell you from experience that if all else fails, If I can get the bike down to 30 mph or so I'll just drop it as I can depend on T-Rex and my gear to survive that without major damage.

There is a guy in our office that came around a corner to a bear in the middle of the road. Now that's a delima! Stop and he might kill you, hit him and he might kill you. Turning around is too slow and he might charge you. He said he just maintained speed hoping if he hit the bear he would kill it and aimed for his butt. He passed the bear so close his boot brushed the bear's side but he got by without impact. Now that's a pucker moment right there, I don't care who you are

 

[Busa1166]

There is a guy in our office that came around a corner to a bear in the middle of the road. Now that's a delima! Stop and he might kill you, hit him and he might kill you. Turning around is too slow and he might charge you. He said he just maintained speed hoping if he hit the bear he would kill it and aimed for his butt. He passed the bear so close his boot brushed the bear's side but he got by without impact. Now that's a pucker moment right there, I don't care who you are

 

[lankeeyankee]

Ohh the joys of obstacles in the twisty back roads lease: that you dont tense up and let the SR's get the best of you.
Ive hit, gravel, grass clipings, snakes, squirells, opossums, and clipped a turkey once swerved around deer and large dogs.
It will happen if you do a lot of street riding on twisty country roads. The more you expeirence this the less you panic and
the pucker factor isnt so tight to where you feel you are going to get hemoroids.
If I know I cant avoid hitting an object I try to get the bike in its most possible upright position, squeeze my knees so tight it
feels like I am going to dent the tank in, flat foot on the pegs and leaving my upper body and arms firms to take some of the shock of impact.
NO BRAKES do not apply the brakes.
With grass, gravel and other road debri I kind of make my body like a float feeling, allowing the bike to move around / slide etc. I am no superstar team gixxer weekend road racer but I have came out of a few situations while street riding that ranked pretty high on the pucker factor over the 20+ years.