I went out for a long exploritory ride with my brother-in-law This 4th of July(who drives an 02 Suzuki sv650s) and I was riding my 95 zx-6r. We were just carving up some country roads in rural Maury County TN. (by the way bringing a broom is a good idea, didn't have one and really needed it) My bike is in road worthy shape for sure, pleanty of tread on the tires, no leaks ect. I quickly figured out as I led the ride that my rear brake wasn't adequate for sprited driving on curvacious narrow roads out in the sticks. I ended up overshooting two corners that I took on my CBR without any problems.. The first corner that I ended up bailing onto a wide shoulder I was thinking to myself "you just aren't used to the bike under extreeme conditions".. I stopped for a second and caught my bearings.

We took off again and sure enough the next sharp turn I was unable to adequately brake for the corner. I leaned in as low as I could get it and tried to accelerate throught the curve, my knee grazed the hot pavement, and I heard the left side peg scraping. I looked to my right as the bike creeped closer and closer to the loose gravel shoulder. There was a nice flat yard directly to the right of me with no impending objects to hinder my run off. So In a flash I whipped the bike upright, mashed the rear brake as far as it would go down, and headed straight for this unsuspecting homeowners yard. Success!! Due to the lack of rear brakeage the bike slowed to a stop in the fresh cut grass upright and intact!

My brother in law stopped in amazement that I was still riding and not picking myself up off the ground. We went to a gas station to cool down and I took the rest of the ride in a much more responsible manner.

Moral of the story, I am a seasoned rider, I used my oldbike (05 cbr) as a daily driver even through winter for the past 2 years. countless hours and miles of experience and I still made the mistake of overriding the bikes current mechanical ability.. It wasn't mecahnically sound enough to ride aggressivleyin the condition it was inand that almost cost me dearly..I am not sharingthis for any otherreason then to remind everyone that we are human and make mistakes, but on a bike these mistakescan be deadly....

 

glad you made thru. you know your front brake is where most of your stopping power is right? always look where you want to go. it helps too.

 

Correct folllow that line man, pick a point and stick with that through every corner. Glad your ok though. Its not fun to go down in a turn at 65mph... But you might want to use your engine to slow you down too. If you use your front brake in a turn leaned over just make sure you dont grab a handful too. Safe riding.

 

To tell the truth both sets of brakes need attention, the fronts always provide most of the braking power. I always break before the curve then accelerate through the curve. By the time I realized that the light tap of the brake wasn't slowing me down enough I was out of time...

The way I usually brake is a light tap of the rear mixed with a heavier squeeze of the front brakes.. I am getting new tires, and the brakes done next week.

 

I am glad you made it into a nice soft yard instead of a guardrail or something as well.

Get off that rear brake though, it has little too no affect during hard braking because of the weight transfer to the front of the bike. Also sounds like the wrong entry speed, too much speed. Forget engine braking too it just uosets the suspension.

Brake to proper entry speed, select grear and roll on the gas through the corner.

On my track bike, I have all but disabled my rear, no reservoir just a couple of inches of hose with air and fluid.

 

glad your ok , I try to brake before entering the curve and accellerate thru and out of it .

 

Whew! Nice story. I think wev'e all been there. Maybe not that extreme and I'm sure all of us have had to just put it away becuase we were riding to close to the edge. Thankfully the yard saved you. Did the home owner say anything or were they not home?

 

shoot tell home owner that thelawnmowing is free

 

They were outside, and clapped for me....lol.. He said that he thought I was going to bite it....

 

hahaha thats cool.[8D]