Wow... there's another first for me.

I was riding through a neighborhood I've not visited in a while and Hey, guess what! There's a new stop sign. I didn't fully recognize that I had locked the rear until it started to come around to the right.

No panic, no noise, no drama... No problem?

Eh, maybe. I wasn't going fast to begin with (high radar probability over there). I think the reason for the "silent slide" was that I'd locked up on the white paint rather than directly on the pavement. I didn't go back to look for a skid mark.

It was interesting... I know what it feels like now... hopefully I don't have to feel it again.

I've only locked up while practicing emergency stops... never had it step out on me, though. Must have been an interesting feeling...

NO!!

You *should* feel it again. And again and again and again.

On PURPOSE.

Go out and practice hard braking, and learn what it feels like to have your rear wheel right on the edge of sliding. That's good, hard braking. That's what you need to learn to do to be prepared for ugly situations.

I brake to lockup quite often by the way, during regular riding - I did it today in fact. Not because I wind up in an emergency, but because I decide to brake harder than normal just to keep my hand in.

Now that's the kind of safety advice i like to hear...and makes sense. Too bad cops don't necessarily agree on that same kind of safety style. :roll:

Amen that, Sachi and JMD.

NO!!

You *should* feel it again. And again and again and again.

On PURPOSE.

Go out and practice hard braking, and learn what it feels like to have your rear wheel right on the edge of sliding. That's good, hard braking. That's what you need to learn to do to be prepared for ugly situations.

I brake to lockup quite often by the way, during regular riding - I did it today in fact. Not because I wind up in an emergency, but because I decide to brake harder than normal just to keep my hand in.
+1 Know the limits of your tires and how to pregessively squeeze the brake for emeregency stops! Or as my Dad would say, don't write a brake check your tires can't cash.

Gotta say I've never locked the rear under braking.. But i do it all the time when downshifting...Crazy, I know.. I think I get into the "Zone" to much and start bangin the gears around under hard deceleration and end up sliding it around corners.....Its SUPER easy to do once you get the weight transfer to the front.. Funny thing is, Never once has it caught me off guard.. My old gixxer never did that...I find it pretty fun really.

Gotta agree on that locking it up on purpose for practice thing. Plus, if anyone is around and sees you do it, and you get a nice cloud of smoke, the kudos will come a flying! On a serious note, knowing what it feels like will be a great help should it ever happen when you don't mean it to. And it's quite a different feel than locking it up on a downshift. That, IMHO, is scary as hell.

If you choose to practice locking the rear wheel up during a stop, keep that rear tire locked until you come to a complete stop.

Worried about highsiding? That's a concern only if you're leaned over, Skier.

Funny, I just felt my back wheel do a wiggle under hard down shifting from third to second... (it's 21c outside and dry).
First time for me, unnerving, but hey now I know what to expect.. no harm done. I guess it's part of knowing your machine, and it's limits.. :)

Worried about highsiding? That's a concern only if you're leaned over, Skier.

so if you accidentally lock up while leaned you should keep the rear locked until it stops?

Worried about highsiding? That's a concern only if you're leaned over, Skier.

It's the position of many respected rider training courses and riding gurus (Hough, etc..). It's also very tough to coach proper "release when perfectly straight" technique over the interblag. (http://xkcd.com/181/)

Worried about highsiding? That's a concern only if you're leaned over, Skier.

so if you accidentally lock up while leaned you should keep the rear locked until it stops?


If you're leaned over and it locks, you must straighten then continue braking. If you release it before straight, you'll highside. If you don't release and you're leaned over a good amount, you'll lowside.

Easier to avoid it by respecting the slow in, fast out method of cornering... and many other cornering techniques we should all know and practice. :)

It's a bit hard to say with certainty. If you do get a full rear-wheel lockup while leaned over you're likely to slide out from the rear (lowside). What often happens, though, is that the rear begins to lose traction gradually. This can happen either because the rider has gone into the turn too hot or because he or she has cranked in too much throttle while leaned over.

In any case, if the rear starts to slide while you are under power, doing something abruptly to end the slide, such as chopping the throttle or, if the rear brake had been on, releasing it entirely, will cause the rear tire to hook up violently. The sudden reconnection of the tire will cause the bike to jerk upright, throwing the rider off the top of the bike -- a highside.

It is NOT impossible to recover from a rear-wheel slide in a corner. Every good racer in the world these days slides the rear in turns. The trick is not to do things abruptly when you feel the rear end slide.

I know this: having the rear end come around to meet me is a whole different thing on the mountain bike! :lol: That I can deal with -- forty pounds is easier to manhandle than four hundred!

The key to almost any kind of event that could lead to bad things, in a car or a bike, is to be smooth. Never do anything suddenly, as this will undoubtedly upset the bike/car even more. There are a few exceptions, but this is the rule. It seems like 90% of accidents that occur as a result of driver/rider error are because they got freaked out and made a sudden move on the brake/throttle/etc. But it takes experience not to react. I have that experience in a car, but not so much a bike...although i do feel like the principle is fairly well ingrained in my muscle memory. Hopefully i'll never have to find out on the street. ;)

+1, jmd. One of the most useful books I've ever read was "Bob Bondurant on High Performance Driving." What does Bob teach? Smoothness. It's all about the smoothness.

Be smooooooth out there... :)

So...does anyone here know how to get pucker marks out of the seat?

I'm a little late but I gotta weigh in on this topic. I agree with the guy who said practice locking it up, but do it just to feel what it's like. You should really allready know what it's like. If you never " skidded out" on your huffy when you were a kid, then you may want to rethink motorbike riding. It's the same thing.

I recomend a really smooth parking lot when the cops aren't watching. Smooth so it doesen't eat up your tire too much or make it hop. Don't touch the front brake, clutch in, and keep the rear down until you are STOPPED. Give it a little turn to get sideways a little. It's easy. Remember, there is no reason for doing this for an emergancy. Once you lock up the rear tire, you have zero tracktion there, and very little brakeing action. Poper emergency braking requires BOTH brakes and a straight line. If you are in a turn, you are allready using up some of your tires traction (contact patch) So straighten up and apply both brakes, even more front than rear. 70% comes from the front tire.

I just finish the MSF Experianced Rider's Course and a dude wiped out on his F3 because he did not straighten up first. Sorry about the wind.

Yesterday, a truck in front of me slammed his brakes at 60mph to take a spontaneous right hand turn. It's been awhile since I practiced braking and the rear brake never skids for me under normal braking. On top of that, I forgot how much that front end dives when you give it a good squeezing. All this together meant a sliding rear end.

Thankfully, I was going straight and it wasn't a big deal when I regained traction. I definitely don't recommend waiting for a reminder like that before getting some good practice in.

I forgot how much that front end dives...
I'd put this as my #1 most annoying thing about the bike...

I locked mine up in a little roundabout. Bitch didn't even look. Luckily, I wasn't moving very fast. The rear slid around a little, but I was only doing around 15 and almost came to a complete stop, so it didn't get too bad. I wanted to pull up next to her and punch the bitch through her window, though... :x

I practiced locking up my rear tire a few weeks ago. It wasn't scary at all, but again, like everyone has said, it also does nothing to help you stop.

I did have to make an emergency stop a week or two ago when a car came to a screeching halt when they thought that a bus wanted to join our lane (I hate when people freak out for no reason while driving). I slammed on my front brake, thought "oh god, I'm not going to stop in time", and then came within 6 inches before I stopped and fell over. I picked her back up, moved off to the side, breathed a sigh of relief, and then congratulated myself on not locking up my brakes while making the maneuver.

Go me!