Well I laid it over....

[paulsmith]

If you want to learn to ride better and safer on public roads (and not race tracks) then I would recommend "Motorcycle Roadcraft".

Books are great and all, but nothing compares to actual hands on experience in my opinion. 

I am not sure I agree. I know too many riders who think they are good because the have this many years or that many miles. Just because you have got away with something many times does not mean you are doing it right.  
A book can't teach you everything you need to know, but nor can experience.
 

[xpress]

It's just my opinion, because I am a hands on learner. It's not to say that reading a book won't improve ones skill, it's just that they tend not to work for me because I need to experience it in a FPV manner.

[michael]

Books can help you improve your riding skills while you are sitting on the can. Anything by David Hough is good.

[Trambo]

Books can help you improve your riding skills while you are sitting on the can. Anything by David Hough is good.

Absolutely, 100% yes. You wanna know how to survive on the street? Read his books.

[wessie]

Books can help you improve your riding skills while you are sitting on the can. Anything by David Hough is good.

Absolutely, 100% yes. You wanna know how to survive on the street? Read his books.

You make riding a motorcycle sound like a ride across the Bering Straight ice floes.
 
It's a mode of transport, not a death defying activity. I feel more at risk walking to Sainsbury's than riding my MT09 Tracer. 
 
 
 

[Trambo]

That's not quite the sentiment I'm expressing. Motorbike street riding has it's share of risks, and even more when compared to driving a car where you are surrounded by a steel cage and strapped in with belts with airbags and such protecting you. I can't speak for the UK but in 'Murica vehicle crashes are unfortunately very common, and motorcyclists have virtually no protection other than whatever gear worn. This info I have quoted with some quick numbers:
 
 
 

On an average, there are more than 6 million car accidents on the roads of the US, annually. More than 3 million people get injured due to car accidents, with more than 2 million of these injuries being permanent.
 
There are in excess of 40,000 deaths due to car accidents every year.
About 40% of car accident fatalities occur because of a drunken driver. About 30% of the car accident fatalities can be attributed to driving above the speed limits and 33% and above because of reckless driving that causes the car to go off the road and result in an accident.
 
The majority of car accident victims are the drivers, then the passengers of the car, followed by pedestrians, and lastly cyclists.
 
Every 12 minutes, one person dies because of a car accident. Every 14 seconds, a car accident results in an injured victim.
 
For those in the age group of 1 to 30 years, the leading cause of death is due to being involved in a car accident.

A good helmet and leathers is lovely but doesn't always prevent broken bones, dislocated joints and crushed organs. Good gear is great but not 100% effective in serious crashes.
 
All said, I certainly I'm not trying to be a fearmonger here; Sh!t happens, we often have no control over it, and there you go. People with an extreme aversion to these possibilities typically choose to not ride motorcycles for that reason, and I bear no ill will towards them for their decision. We all make choices in our lives and choose what level of risk we are willing to mitigate in our living.  
 
That said, we as riders can reduce our risk level by reading about the many types of risks to us, and educate ourselves as to how we can better reduce our chances of becoming a statistic. Newer riders especially can benefit by learning things they may not have known, and these books are a fabulous resource for this. Understanding how to avoid a crash is obviously the greatest lesson you can learn without having to find out the hard way through experience.
 
Thus my hearty agreement with Michael's post regarding David Hough's books.

[captainscarlet]

"Holy sanctimonious git Batman!"  Some serious pontificating going on in this thread.  
 
I think it's a bit unfair to lay the entire blame on the OP.  Accidents are called accidents for that very reason; "an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally".  Stuff happens, whether we're riding our bikes, jumping out of an aeroplane or are asleep in bed.  Obviously any given situation has different risks attached to it and we can choose to act accordingly.
 
Reading can help understanding of course but it's important to keep things in perspective.  Let's just get out there and ride and be a bit more sympathetic when one of our fellow riders has an ACCIDENT. 
 
None of the above should in any way be construed as pontification! 
 
CS

[checkereddemon]

Wessie wrote: "You make riding a motorcycle sound like a ride across the Bering Straight ice floes. It's a mode of transport, not a death defying activity. I feel more at risk walking to Sainsbury's than riding my MT09 Tracer.<<
 
Wessie, certain metropolitan areas in the US are *absolutely* death traps. And failure to recognize that will get you dead in a hurry 'round here....

[paulsmith]

Exactly who else can you blame? The truck that going so fast it was a NASCAR contender and yet had no problems avoiding a bike and a body that were suddenly  lying in the road in front of it? The tyres that could have won a motoGP race in the wet only a few years ago? The traction control system? Or the rider who, despite claiming to have been in that position 'thousands of times', still made the decisions and took the actions that left him lying on the road in the face of oncoming traffic? And if he succeeds in passing the responsibility on to someone or something else, then why would the OP change the decision making process that is trying to kill him? It is not a contradiction to feel sympathy for his accident and at the same time call him a fool for trying to blame anyone other then himself.
 

[michael]

Exactly who else can you blame?

I don't think assigning blame serves much purpose.  
 
I do think that if I were to find myself in dicy situations frequently, then it is time for me to take a long hard look at myself and what I can do to not get into those situations.  After all, I am the only one I can control here, so I can either work on fixing the *me* part of the problem or I can go on blaming the machinery or other people.  
 
I think working on *me* is liable to prove more productive.

[captainscarlet]

Exactly who else can you blame?

 
Woooah, easy tiger. I think you missed the little nuances in my post. I said perhaps it's not "entirely" his fault. As ever we all choose to read and interpret other peoples texts somewhat differently. It's pretty easy to sit behind a keyboard and call a spade a spade. I read the OP's story as a frank account of what happened where he described a number of contributing factors. Typically that's what lies behind accidents, a number of factors (not just one).  Ok so the OP wasn't particularly introspective about his own contribution to what happened but I certainly didn't read his post as looking to blame anyone and everything apart from himself.  I would suspect that he's taken a few valuable lessons away from the experience.
 
My reaction and posts arise from the, in my view, staggeringly judgemental attitude with which some people have expressed their views regarding this incident.
 
Let's take an example of the fact that accidents can happen to anyone.  I'm referring to a certain Australian former MotoGP rider, let's call him Casey.  Now before you all start screaming about crashing on the ragged edge I am in fact referring to the 2009 Valencia GP warm-up lap where he binned it.  You can read about it here.  According to the armchair experts here that accident should be squarely the riders fault.....
 

[redfjniner]

New parts ordered at the dealer- I don't see the appeal of riding without the handguards on this bike, it just feels so wrong :-S  
 

Now, lets not go picking on those (us-me) for taking the handguards off.  We have our reasons and they serve us well. (you can't put mits over the handguards)  We may even like it that way.  If you like them on, that is your business.  Those that take them off is their business.  Anyway, how did that get thrown into this crash discription? 
Crashes?  Here is mine and it is a bit longer than yours as it is part of a ride report.

[root]

Condolences to the OP. I hope you and your bike heal quickly.

[cowboyrog]

Why on so many of these forums when somebody describes a mishap they have to be TOLD that they screwed up, how to correct it and with an attitude that you would not use on your own riding buddies.
Also with a tone that the person telling them is a perfect rider 100% of the time.
I agree 100% that corrections need to be discussed but can we please do it like we were talking to the person as a riding buddy, after all I consider everyone on this site as a riding buddy.
Sorry for your mishap and I feel for the damage to your bike.
You didn't even mention if you were hurt until the end.
Typical motorcycle guy talks about his bike damage first and then a broken bone second. LOL...
i appreciate the knowledge we can all share that will keep us all safer, but let's share in a productive way.
Just my opinion.
RC
 
 
 
 

[michael]

Why on so many of these forums when somebody describes a mishap they have to be TOLD that they screwed up, how to correct it and with an attitude that you would not use on your own riding buddies.

I wrote this September 14th, 1993, the evening of one of the worst days of my life.  I share it here, now, so that perhaps some people may understand why I feel it is important to analyze this stuff and change our behavior based on that analysis.  The places named are in the Santa Cruz Mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area.
 
 
If you ride, Please Read This!
==================
 
Today was a sad day for me. I was riding with my good friend Brett and his boss Tom in the "four corners / Alice's Restaurant" area. Brett was on his '93 Ducati 888SPO, I was on my '92 851, and Tom was on the Ducati 900SS he'd bought last week.
 
We rode from the intersection of Highways 84 and 35 down 84, through La Honda, and down to the coast. It was drizzling down on the coast, so we were taking it easy as we headed down Highway 1 to Pescadero Road, and then we stopped at Duarte's for lunch. After a pleasant lunch with much good conversation, we headed up Pescadero Road back towards La Honda. Since it was dry on Pescadero Road and there was little traffic, we picked up the pace a bit. Brett was leading, I was next, and Tom was behind me.
 
When we reached Highway 84, we turned east (up the hill) to return to Alice's. Brett wicked the 888 up immediately upon leaving La Honda's 35MPH speed limit area, and for some reason I was feeling that it was not a good time to go fast, so I hung back at a more conservative pace. I lost sight of Brett after a couple of turns.
 
About a mile up the hill, I came around a gentle left onto a short straightaway and saw a flatbed truck loaded with huge logs that had been heading down the hill as it came across my lane and crashed into the dirt embankment on (from my perspective) the right side of the road. I applied the brakes and stopped just short of the truck. I parked the bike and ran over to the truck to see if the two guys in it were ok. I was standing on the passenger side of the truck, talking to the driver when I saw through the driver's side window a horrifying sight.
 
Brett's 888 was lying twisted and broken on the side of the road about 50 feet on the other side of the truck, and Brett was lying face down about 10 feet farther up the road. Brett was motionless, and a large pool of blood was streaming out of his helmet.
 
I ran around to the other side of the truck and talked to Brett, trying to assess his condition. There was no response. He wasn't breathing, and he had no pulse that I could find. His helmet was smashed and cracked, and there was lots of blood coming out of his nose and mouth. Tom suggested rolling him over but I thought we shouldn't (due to the possibility of spinal injuries), and I jumped back on my bike and streaked down to La Honda in search of a Sheriff or a phone.
 
As I entered La Honda, I spotted the Sheriff and flagged him down, waving frantically. We both stopped and I yelled at him to get an ambulance because there was seriously injured motorcycle rider about a mile up the road. He acknowledged, turned on lights and siren, and we both took off back to the accident site.
 
The sheriff put out flares and shielded Brett from the traffic with his car. He also checked vital signs and found none. I overheard him saying something on the radio about a possible fatality. My heart came up in my throat. Shortly, the paramedics from the fire department showed up and put Brett on a respirator and commenced CPR. Tom and I were encouraged by their
efforts, which went on for about 40 minutes until the ambulance arrived.
 
Unfortunately, when the ambulance crew hooked up their vital signs monitoring stuff, they got nothing but flat lines. My good friend Brett was dead. I'm going to miss him terribly.
 
The curve where Brett died is approximately one mile up the hill toward Skyline from La Honda. It's a right hand sweeper with a decreasing radius and a blind apex. It's clearly marked with a yellow 25MPH sign at the entrance. The Sheriff's deputies and emergency personnel in the area refer to that corner as "Dead Man's Curve". There have been three motorcycle fatalities on that corner this summer, as well as several serious injury accidents. According to the guys in the truck, Brett had swung WAY wide on that turn and hit their truck while he was several feet to the left of the centerline. Skid marks from the truck and scrape marks from the bike on the pavement confirmed that story.
 
On numerous previous rides I'd seen Brett cross the center line when he failed to properly negotiate a turn. One day on Pescadero road, I saw him do it on three consecutive corners and caught up with him and pulled him over. I said, "Brett, we need to talk... PARK IT".
 
I told Brett that although these may LOOK like two lane roads, for all intents and purposes there is only ONE lane for us to use. The centerline needs to be thought of as a solid wall. You CANNOT cross it in an out of control situation.
 
He said the suspension was acting up on the 888, and that it was causing him to swing wide. I checked the suspension adjustments and found it to be badly misadjusted. We adjusted what we could right then at the side of the road, and I had him make several test runs over the bumpy sections that were giving him problems. He knew nothing about suspension settings and really didn't want to take the time to mess with them, but I tried to impress upon
him the dangerous conditions he was exposing himself to by riding it in such a state that he couldn't even stay in his lane. We got the bike working much better and rode back to his house in Foster City, where we spent the remainder of the day getting the rest of the adjustments corrected. When we were done, the suspension was top notch and properly adjusted for Brett's
body weight.
 
However, on subsequent rides, I again observed Brett crossing that line when he felt he was in a corner too hot, and repeatedly asked him to slow down and ride within his limits. He always kind of "poo-poo'd" these discussions. I also tried repeatedly to get him to sign up for CLASS and learn high performance riding techniques in a SAFE environment. He said he would, but hadn't gotten around to it yet.
 
People, these high performance sport bikes are potentially LETHAL weapons, and if we ride them carelessly without sufficient training, we are, in effect, pointing these weapons at ourselves and others. Brett's most recent previous experience was in riding Harleys, and I think he had trouble believing in the cornering capabilities of the 888. In this accident today, that bike was absolutely capable of going through that corner at probably 80 MPH... IF it was leaned over and steered properly. The bike was properly set up and had a freshly scrubbed in set of VERY expensive, VERY sticky Dunlop D364 race compound tires, and they were fully warmed up when the accident happened. I think Brett's accident was the classic "Oh shet, I'm in too hot, hit the brakes, stand it up, look at the other side of the road where I DON'T want to go, and then across the line". I saw him do it too many times in the past to believe otherwise.
 
If you cross that line into what I feel is "The Killing Zone" enough times, sooner or later there is going to be a large block of high velocity metal waiting to meet you. That day was Brett's time to meet HIS block of metal, and he paid dearly for it. We, Brett's friends and fellow riders lost a kind, witty, generous, gentle man today, and we are all diminished by this loss. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU OR YOUR FRIENDS!!
 
If you're going to ride these crotch rockets, GET TRAINING from someone like Reg Pridmore's CLASS Motorcycle Riding Schools (1-800-235-7728). They'll teach you performance riding techniques in a SAFE environment (the racetrack). Another good alternative is the Motorcycle Safety Foundation courses (1-800-CC-RIDER).
 
If you come into a corner feeling you're in too hot, LOOK through the corner as far as you can, ROLL on the throttle, and COUNTERSTEER the bike into a sharper lean angle. The worst that'll happen is a lowside and a slide, and your chances are much better that the bike will actually stick and get through the corner ok. This is the advantage of training... you get to learn what you and your bike can do in a SAFE environment. The street is FAR too dangerous a place to experiment with self-teaching of high speed motorcycle riding.
 
Treat that centerline as if it were a WALL, not a line. If you make a conscious decision to cross it in a pass, although it is illegal, in many places it can be done safely. But if you cross it in an out of control situation, IF YOU LIVE THROUGH IT, pull off and have a little talk with yourself. Calm down, and think about what you could have done to avoid going over that line out of control. The bike can negotiate the turn, 9 times out of 10.... you just have to fight those survival reactions and LET it.
 
Pick up a copy of Keith Code's "A Twist of the Wrist, Volume Two". Read it, study it, LIVE it. The information contained in that book can literally save your LIFE. If you have a copy of it and have digested it, LOAN IT TO A FRIEND. (Keith's books are available from California SuperBike School, 1-800-530-3350 as well as from several local dealers).
 
Ride within your limits, and understand that your limits can change from day to day depending on such factors as how sharp you are feeling, weather, bike setup, traffic, etc..
 
I'm sorry for rambling on for so long, but this was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life, and dammit, I want Brett's tragic death to count for SOMETHING positive. My tears and grief over Brett's passing won't do anyone any good, but if just ONE person reads this post and manages to save themselves from a similar fate, then Brett's death won't have been in vain.