Having been through a high-side exactly as Tuf has described, I have to agree with his senario.
We had been bottled up behind a gang of cages forever and no-place to pass...then out of nowhere, our lane opened up to a two lane passing zone. I was not in a gear for being wound up because we weren't in "Attack Mode" for the curves. I came into a hard right turn, set my speed, laid it over, and gassed hard out of the turn. The back tire lit, the bike turned completely sideways and snapped - I had no time for any type of reacion (chopping the throttle). The snap happens so fast, and the bike gets so far out of line with your momentum, that I don't think it could have been saved - no matter what I could have done. I went over the bars, bike was totalled. Broke my collarbone, and right big toe. Pulled the sole off my boot...I thought at first I had broken my leg. When I took my first step, I stumbled, looked down and realized my foot/sock was actually on the pavement (with my boot still covering the top of my foot
).
BTW...I was on an 01' Blue and Silver - exactly like I.G.'s Still miss it too...I could put the freaking spank on some dude with that bike. Surprised many a rider at Dragon's Tail.
Hence, the aquisition of my K8
Just can't seem to hustle it as well as my GenI
First, very sorry for your get off and the injures - that's a real bummer. I had a real tankslapper at about 110 on the racetrack in the wet going over a bump (which was coincidentally removed some time after my crash by the racetrack), you know like a giant shook you a few times and threw you off the bike. Ended in a lowside, almost no injuries, the bike and me slid on the banking of the track, hit the wall with a top of the bike (I stopped 5 ft from the wall) breaking the hump, upper plastic, etc. - all repairable, but wasn't pretty at the time, and leaking oil from the stator cover.
OK. I am trying to learn something here, but can't comprehend the input.
Here is the scenario I can comprehend. A rider smoothly rolls the gas on at the exit. The rear starts spinning. The rider stops rolling the gas on, and holds it steady. The rear hooks up nicely. If the gear selection was such that the rear started spinning (i.e. there was enough torque to break the traction whatever the gear selection was), and the rider still holds the gas, and the rear is at some angle, why would it hook up abruptly - it shouldn't, it can't. The bike continues to straighten. As the rear comes more into alignment with the path of travel and only a few degrees off, only then the rear may hook up gently (because the torgue is still on) which may result in a small shake and a possible wheelie.
Now, there could be a couple of different scenarious where a rider makes a mistake leading to a possible highside.
1. The rider rolls the gas on so aggressively that the tire spins way too out of control. Holding the throttle steady causes the rear to come around until it reaches a steering lock or close to 90 deg, and this causes a highside no matter what. Closing the throttle would cause the rear to snap while still not aligned with the path of travel - also a highside. Partially closing the throttle quickly would be an ideal solution, but it's very hard to measure the input and execute it quickly, so most likely the rider would fall into one of above actions, both of which cause a highside. Now, being in shorter gear and close to a redline would force a rev limiter to kick in, thus limiting the amount of spin while providing a good amount of torque. This would prevent the rear spinning out of control, and allow it to come into an alignment and hook up nicely. Or, staying in shorter gear (and high torque rpm) if the rider shuts the throttle or starts to close it, the rear hooks up with a big shake, but not the highside.
2. The rider rolls the gas on smoothly, and the rear starts spinning. Instead of holding the gas steady, the rider panics (or simply out of the wrong reflex) closes (or starts closing) the throttle while the rear is spinning while being out of alignment with the bike's path. This causes an abrupt hook up, and again since the rear is out of alignment, a highside occurs. Now, in this scenario, the rider may be lucky to avoid a highside if the engine is in high rpms (i.e. being in shorter gear) and makes more torque which in turn softens the hook up, thus avoiding a highside and only causing a scary shake. So, for this scenario staying in shorter gear makes it more forgiving in case a rider makes this particular mistake.
So, yes I agree that staying in shorter gear becomes a safety feature which increases the likelyhood of not highsiding should the rider make one of the two mistakes above.
So, my point is, that being smooth and progressive with roll ons, and holding
the throttle steady once the rear starts spinning will make for a nice hook up regardless of the gear selection.
I personally had it as far as the rear starts losing traction, but never actually went into any spinning (small lose and grab sequence), at which point I said to myself "OK, I got the message" and held it steady.
So, where am I going wrong?
Oh, yea, a nice shot of that blue/silver you are missing, prior to my get off. I think that's from '05. Still wearing Katana 600 helmet.
