Stopping

[SL1D3R]

I was driving on the highway today during a rare time when it wasn't raining. The road was dry. Everything was fine. Until traffic decided to stop...suddenly.

I'm directly behind an 18-wheeler, notice that I'm quickly closing the gap between us and his trailer is becoming bigger by the second.

I think there was an accident up ahead on the right somewhere, anyway, I was in the middle lane, couldn't change lanes, so I hit the brakes.

Instead of actually stopping, which I assumed would happen when I stepped on the brakes, my rear tire fish-tailed and I slid for 20-30 feet, finally coming to a SMOKING stop 1-2 feet from this guy's trailer. I also noticed that my engine had died. *shrug*

So. Why the hell don't these damn bikes stop!? I wasn't going at an abnormally fast rate of speed: 45-55 mph. But, HOLY SHIAT, I'm freaking fish-tailing, smoking up my rear tire on the freeway and the damn bike just keeps sliding along like I'm riding on wet pavement. Ugh.

I hope I never get in another situation like that. Nearly crapped myself.

[paradoxmd]

You've got to ease on the brake. I know that may be easier said than done, and if that is the case, then you need to practice panic stops in a parking lot. But you did do the best thing in that situation and that was not releasing the rear brake. Once you lock it up it's usually best to keep it locked. Just gently apply more pressure to the front brake. That one you DON'T want to lock up.

I assume that you didn't pull the clutch in when you locked up the rear and that's what caused the bike to die. Rear wheel locks up, chain stops spinning, countershaft sprocket stops, engine dies.

[MiloDK]

i did a powerslide the other day, just to try it... the road was wet and shiny.

i pulled the clutch, and slammed the rear-brake... the tire locked up, and i THINK the motor died, at least it had NO sound, so i released the rear brake, and it sprung back to life... (don't know if that was a good move?)

.stefan

[GenericEric]

The chain stopped spinning is the only thing I can think of.. Or, chain spinning so slow the engine barely cranks..

How much gas did you have when you did that? If you were on reserve or near it, gas MAY have sloshed to one side momentarily starving your engine.. There's almost no chance of that but still.

[GytRDunKat]

Sounds like you need to work on your panic stops, ESPECIALLY with your front brake (you stated you stepped on the brakes, which I assume is rear brake only). On modern bikes, the front brake emits 90% of your braking power. If your using all rear brake, you won't stop very fast, at all, ever. It will take a ton of front brake to go a$$ over tea-kettle, so I wouldn't worry about doing a stoppie, unless your trying to.

Are you sure your using your front brakes, or your front brakes are up to par?

[thetable]

More front brake, less back, and much, much more practice. On solid ground you will get the most braking power right before the tires lock up. And the engine died because you neglected to pull the clutch.

[87vert]

when was the last time you bled your brakes?

[The CyberPoet]

Not to be a wise-arse, but do you understand the two-second rule? Watch something the vehicle ahead of you passes and count off two full seconds... add 2 more for each time you had a panic reaction in the past year, as well as 2 more for each of the following: wet roadway, rain, night/low-light situations, sun shining directly into traffic (sunrise headed east, sunset headed west), bad road surface. Yes, at night, on a bad road in the wet & rain, that could in theory put you 10 full seconds or more behind the next vehicle -- but those 10 seconds can easily mean an extra 50 years on this planet.
In general, for a healthy young male, it will take 1.7 seconds from the time a brake light comes on to the time you can process the info, send the message to your muscles to respond and have them actually start effectively putting pressure on the brake system. That means if you weren't at least 2 seconds behind something that brakes just as fast as you, you don't have a chance to react fast enough. And if you're behind something that can brake faster, it's all over before it started.

As the others have pointed out, you flat out panic'd. Classic panic reaction. I see it every day in people driving cars; with bikers, these kind of reactions means you haven't trained enough, you haven't analyzed the situation enough before it turned to crap, and you don't have at least two "outs" to your predicament. What might result in a $3k bit of accident damage in a small couple or sedan can send you to the funeral parlor in the meat wagon.

Here's an eye-opening tip:
A fully loaded semi can stop faster than an empty one because it can put more traction to the ground. A fully loaded sand hauler or cement truck can stop faster yet (fast enough to literally ripple the aspault of the road surface for a 6 or more inches down because it's weight makes the tires grip so well).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[GabeC]

your engine died because you didn't have the clutch pulled in. if you EVER plan on coming to a stop while braking you need to hold the clutch in or shift down then hold the clutch when you come to a stop.

you likely also didn't use any front brakes, like one of the guys said above the front brakes is what you need to be using, i know people who ride and dont even touch the rear brakes, but, i've always been told, hit front brakes then ease into the rear brakes and apply continual pressure to both.

[katana bob]

I only use the front brake most of the time, but will use the rear to assist in a hard braking situation. when you are braking hard, remember all the weight of you and the bike are transferred toward the front. the rear becomes very light at that point, (you can even pick the rear wheel up off the ground) so it doesn't take much to slide the rear tire. like everyone said find an empty parking lot and practice hard braking. get a good feel for how much pressure you can use on the front brakes. if you do cause the front tire to skid, ease off the brake and regain control. but if the rear slides hold the slide until you stop completely or you could cause a tank slapper or high side.

also, check your tire to make sure you didn't flat spot it during your slide. if you did, i'd replace it asap.

[Black Kat]

reach out with your right fingers and grab that lever.

[kwebbel]

Here's an eye-opening tip:
A fully loaded semi can stop faster than an empty one because it can put more traction to the ground. A fully loaded sand hauler or cement truck can stop faster yet (fast enough to literally ripple the aspault of the road surface for a 6 or more inches down because it's weight makes the tires grip so well).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

You should have told him ANY cage will be able to stop faster than ANY motorcycle. (and that's with or without ABS)

Btw I'm surprised you didn't mention the influence off tyres on braking properties....

[River]

I've had 2 close calls. Came to a very quick stop. Never locked 'em up, or slid. CP is right, and it should be common sense to make sure you have a big buffer zone in the event you need to stop, swerve or otherwise take evasive action.

I follow my 3 second/3 car rule. If I can't see 3 cars ahead, I widen the gap.

[thetable]

add 2 more for each time you had a panic reaction in the past year

Never heard that part before, but I definitely like it. That means I should follow about a day behind any traffic on the road. I wonder if my boss will accept that as a good reason for being late to work?

[The CyberPoet]

You should have told him ANY cage will be able to stop faster than ANY motorcycle. (and that's with or without ABS)

Maybe I should have, but the reality is, at least in the American automotive market, that braking distances for both cars & bikes are almost always fairly similar, and it's not uncommon for bikes to be able to marginally out-brake most low-end (under $30k) vehicles even on the stock brakes.

I was trying to stress the idea of safe following distances more, because I think it's a far more important point to his becoming an older veteran rider (as verses to a young fatality).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet