Huge Crash and Drama in CT

[TIMMYDUCK]

I posted a little blurb about a break-up of our former crew ODFU in the New England section.

Thru personality differences and shady deals, Band of Riders.Net was born.

I am not a stay on the fence kind of guy, so I choose sides when it had nothing to do with me and went with the new site, and my real friends.

So I came down from Vt to the first meeting at Hooters in Manchester, Ct. last night.

It was a wonderful warm 60 dergee night.

We chowed and talked and rode thru out the night.

Here is a link to the Drama fest that went on 10 minutes after me leaving to go to Simsbury last night.

Do not Click this link if any graphic images upset of offend you.
Link

 

[gunslingerjr]

me no see linky

 

[TIMMYDUCK]

Mileage King.

Link

 

[TIMMYDUCK]

I see MC here.

Hope this is alright to link in .

If not just delete.

 

[Guclu]

 

[BlueHaya]

Dude lucky he was wearing gear.

 

[Busa Dude]

all his riding gear saved him

 

[jessup]

Wow... glad he is still around to talk about it and that he was geared up!

 

[dadofthree]

azz

 

[Projekt]

That is the biggest strawberry I have ever seen. I would be happy to ride away with just that. I would not be happy to try and sit up after and if it scabs up...

 

[bassplayerrider]

That makes me want to get that Joe Rocket riot jacket thingy.

 

[nerfboy]

tank slapper?? Does that mean the bike went into a wobble?

That was my first assumtion, but then he talks about "getting on the gas" to attempt to recover control. Which wouldn't make any sense..

 

[TIMMYDUCK]

Yes,
It was a tank slapper from hitting a metal joint expander on the bridge under full power.
The only way out of a violent slapper is to apply power to hopefully lift the front and get out of it.
This was just a bad place and idea to begin with, it was late this guy had lost every roll -on so far and was being like a crazy poker player always throwing all his chips in trying to win a hand.

Io-bot ( Dave) had already beaten this unknow rider to several 50mph roll on races, both on his 600RR and a new 1000RR. ( Palm Bomb's )

I rolled them both earlier( The 600 RR and 06 GSX-R 750) on Interstate 384 ( A much safer road) and shut down at about 170 with a 30-40 bike lead.

I knew we had already pushed our luck and it was time to settle down.

So, I went home,and Dave unfortunatly went to get his butt cheek scrubed.

 

[Projekt]

Maybe he tried to grip the bars enough to gas it and unload the front but if it was in a major tank slapper that would be next to impossible.
"Tank Slappers" are called that because the bars violently go from full left to full right at very high frequency.
Control is lost when that happens but this happens mostly in older bikes that do not have a steering damper like that on ours at the front of the triple tree.
Speed wobbles are not related to tank slappers.
I had a speed wobble on a fast sweeper at over 160mph last week. Just eased off the throttle and held my breath it was all good after that..

 

[Charlesbusa]

That guy is really lucky! Gear definately saved him.


BUT


I highly doubt he was doing 140mph, on a 600, while doing a wheelie.

Maybe he was doing 110 or so, still fast(not trying to take away from how bad of a crash it was). I just don't think he was doing 140mph.

 

[nerfboy]

Interesting. I have had my share of speed wobbles. One of my first bikes in the 80s seemed to love doing em..

But I guess have been fortunate, in that I have never experienced a "tank slapper" So it sounds like they can be caused by the front wheel landing off angle. I would have thought that would have resulted in the bike going down almost instantly. So what is the general conscious on possible recovery techniques? The driver in this case tried to get the wheel back in the air. Is that a generally accepted technique?

 

[TIMMYDUCK]

No, he wasn't doing a wheelie.
Top speed of a 600RR is 152.
Front tire hopped the expansion joint and with no steering dampener, when it retouched the pavement it started the tank slapper.
Daylight scenes of the crash site are up with measurements now.

I don't know if they put the same kind of joint expanders on Southern California bridges because you don't go above and below freezing temperatures like we do in the Northeast.

 

[TIMMYDUCK]

Yes apply power and shift all weight rearward in a tank slapper.

 

[nerfboy]

Yes Timmyduck, I understand you believe that to be the best technique. But clearly in this situation that did not work.

Does anybody have experience with this technique working? Or a recovery technique that did work when experiencing tank slapping?

Frankly attempting to wheelie as a recovery method seems pretty high risk with a pretty low chance of success.

 

[kawiboy11]

Lucky guy, atleast he had good gear, but not jeans!