Overconfidence is not your friend... That dirty bastard.

So I finally dropped my bike.

If the R6 is your first or second bike and you've only been riding for a couple of years, save yourself (at minimum) a lot of annoying hassle and/or (more likely) some unpleasant injuries and remember these handy dandy tips:

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1. Never do any spirited riding if you are not 100% able or in the mood to concentrate.

2. Never get cocky, especially if you're at a point where you're keeping up with the fast guys reasonably but haven't laid her down and learned humility yet.

3. Never take any piece of road lightly, especially one that you've done many times before and consider yourself comfortable on.

4. As fucking obvious as this is, if you own good equipment, always wear it! (And jeans don't count! I never understood the point of protecting your upper body but leaving your legs to get mangled between the bike and the pavement.)

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Most new guys are pretty cautious, and grizzled veterans are... well, grizzled veterans, but there's a point somewhere in between where you really gotta watch out. I found that point the other night as my helmet was scraping down the sidewalk with me thinking to myself how surreal it sounded.

Not a particularly difficult turn, slight distraction going in, loss of concentration (happened a bunch of times that night, and if I was smart I'd have stopped riding way before), stupid mistake, and bam... fairings fucked, exhaust fucked, engine cover cracked and leaking oil, and a huge insurance/repair hassle. If I hadn't been wearing a jacket, armored pants, gloves, and boots, I'd be in a hospital right now -- as it stands it's some nasty bruises, a bunch of scuffed equipment, and a trashed helmet.

So, for all you dudes that were pretty responsible at first, took your time getting used to the bike, fancied yourselves intelligent enough to try and learn some proper riding techniques, didn't engage in unreasonably squidly behaviour, tried to ride with guys you could learn from but were able to realize your limits and not get in too far over your head, and are getting progressively more comfortable with the bike and starting to think of yourselves less as decent riders....... well, no matter how stupid and easily avoidable the mistake is, any good stuff you did in the past still won't get you a rewind button and do-over, so <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> don't make it<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.

what it sounds to me is that you're telling people not to be comfortable with their bike. how could we ever improve our skills if we take your advice?

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If I may, I'd like to say this advice goes for everyone, jot just those mentioned in the quote above.

Eli

Tony:

I think that on two wheels you really shouldn't ever be all that comfortable (i.e. complacent).

There's just no margin for error -- you can't bump into a curb and keep going, you can't misjudge a corner and drift into the gravel a little bit, you can't swerve away from impact with a truck knowing you can bounce harmlessly off some other car next to you. There's different escapes available on bikes, but you need to execute them and be on the ball, not rely on luck and a stable, four-point contact patch with the ground.

I took things for granted: We had just done a set of pretty fast ramps and about 25-30 minutes of hard riding and on literally the last corner of the run before heading for a break I got distracted on the entry and fucked it up. It wasn't a particularly difficult one either, and one I'd done many many times before. I was so comfortable with it I didn't even realize I messed it up until I was sliding on my face.

Glad to know you are ok.

I just have a comment on how you use the word "comfortable" with "complacent". I don't work for the Princeton Review, but I think they are two very different words. It's very important you become comfortable on the bike. If you are not comfortable on the bike, you can't be smooth and that's key to help you go through a patch or gravel or a bump in the road. I have gone through those hazards MANY times and I am training myself to not target lock or "stiffen" up through those hazards. Being anything but comfortable and smooth will minimize your "margin" for error. This past weekend, I went through an oil patch without thinking much about it (I was trying to look far and wide, not near and fixating at the ground). Once I'm past a hazard, I can't be thinking "wow i am a lucky bastard", I have to be focussed on the next turn. My life is on the line, yet i strive to be smooth.

Some errors would be the user's fault (despite there being water, oil, car or dirt). There was a video I seen of a flat tracker making a fast turn around the curve and successfully made the turn, yet freaked and bailed when he saw a car coming towards him (who was within it's own lane and he didn't go wide). That crash was his fault, not the car.

Your arms act as steering dampers, your body position can upset the balance of your bike. Before blaming a water patch or the quality of your tires, speed wobbles because of a bump, etc. analyze what you are did to the bike prior to the accident. The R6 is a superior handling bike with the best in tire technology, if riders from the past had to deal with inferior bikes of the past, we have ourselves to blame. No one is perfect and we learn from mistakes. And I certainly had my share of them.

-Daniel

Yo I hear you dude.

Just when you think its safe to travel at a rapid clip,having built up confidence and most importantly skill,there it goes.OOPS.

Believe me I understand where you are coming from.
I would consider myself a carefull rider but things happen,wether its a lapse in concentration or just going too damm quick.

Just glad you got away ok.


B.

42,

I'm right there, where your talkin. that transition between learning and starting to really push it. the r6 is my second bike, and i'm definately not using it to its full potential. at times tho i ride on the edge of my potential. i know its a dangerous area.

when i first started getting into riding, i noticed i would get a rush from just getting on the thing, then after awhile it would take a little more to get that same rush, and there we are, the fine line between in control and having a blast!

i had a friend go down just recently that really made me start to think about going down myself. he was trying to keep up with a very experienced friend of ours, which is for the most part, impossible. he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. he's lucky he didn't get hurt worse than he did.

i really don't know what to say, except your right. i'd like to say get back in the saddle as soon as you can, as i can't imagine not having a bike. i'm sorry to learn from what happend to you, but your post makes me think, again.

jeremy

42,

Sorry to hear that. Gald you are ok. I am glad this was brought up. I am not going to argue the finer points of confidence, complacence, or comfort. I knew what you meant, and likely so did everyone else. It's a very good point you bring up. We all get to that part where you start to look around and all of a sudden you are one of the faster guys. You have to always remember that unless you are 100% commited to everything you are doing on a bike, that there is the chance for something to slip your attention. Hell sometimes being 100% commited doesn't make up for poor judegement, and other shit that happens our there.

Be safe.

freakboy

42,

Sounds like it's time you got your ass to the track. Track riding teaches one to appreciate the finer things in life, like why survival skills for the street are so important. It will also teach one that riding fast on the street is just plain dumb. And it teaches one that the EGO can be your enemy, just waiting to kick your ass.

Glad you're ok, and dittos to your advice. Now, quit being so hard on yourself, eat the crow, and get to the track. You'll find it's way more fun there than taking all those risks on the street.

freakboy: You nailed it, dude. It's not about semantics -- it was just a story that I probably would have benefitted from if I had read that I wanted to toss out there. No slam at the guys who were picking at words, but it wasn't a legal treatise: Just a reminder that you do indeed need to be 100% comitted and focused, and not just when pushing yourself.

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I wish I could do most of my riding on the track, but alas, it's the street for me. Either way, I dropped it not because I was pushing it too hard for the street, but because I lost my concentration on a decidedly medium-difficulty corner.