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I used to race motorcycles and have crashed and unloaded about every way possible and still be alive. Making blanket statements like "never ever" -- you're just fooling yourself. You do what you have to and hope you made the right call. And with experience comes better judgement, but this is not the kind of experience you want.
The ABS brakes on the Street Glide I crashed a few months ago worked great, right up to the point the 18-wheeler changing lanes forced me off the road and into the ditch full of rocks and cinders. Having experienced ABS in gravel before I knew what to expect -- absolutely no brakes and a with serious drop off coming up. I forced the engine guard into the side of the ditch and rode it til it stopped then stepped off without a scratch. And minimal damage to the bike. Now if that's what you call "layin' it down" then that's what saved my skin as going off the drop off would have hurt for sure.
You do what you have to do and nice job on that one by the way.
Naysayers have just never been in the situation yet is all. Although I cannot imagine laying down one these 900lbs beast's on purpose, the old 60's & 70's bikes with crap tires and crappier brakes sometimes the slide was the only way it was gonna stop without that sudden violent impact.
Think that's were most people's beliefs come from on the topic.
Laying the bike down is still crashing. You're just causing an intentional crash in an effort to avoid a possible unintentional crash. I'm sure some would find some logic in that but to me it's not worth dwelling on.
I was rounding a curve at 50 mph this summer - 2 lanes each way with a boulevard turn-around ahead. I was in the left lane. A pickup sat in the turn-around as I approached and when I got to about 15-20 yards from him, he started pulling out. No time to think about anything but slowing down. I jumped on both brakes, screamed bloody murder at the guy, and thankfully he slammed on his brakes. It was over in about 1-1/2 seconds. I missed his front bumper by a couple inches as I went by at 35-40 mph. If I had laid it down, I would have been hurt...badly. Since I kept it upright, all I had to do was swing by Kohl's and pick up a three pack of Jockey's and a pack of handy wipes.
Had a similar incident. Traveling down a 4 lane, guy on my right(I was in right lane) started to pull out right as I was almost in front of him. I had already started to swerve around him when we locked eyes and he stopped. I have had numerous near misses over the years. I have stopped and gave some of them an lecture. Way too many distracted drivers out there.
Well, if you have enough time to react......With my accident last year, an SUV materialized in front of me in a nanosecond. Didn't even have time to brake.
Same with me last year. I never had time to choose one or the other. The car pulled out of a driveway right in front of me. I remember reaching for the brake lever and before I got there I was flying over the car and landing in the road on my left shoulder.
I used to race motorcycles and have crashed and unloaded about every way possible and still be alive. Making blanket statements like "never ever" -- you're just fooling yourself. You do what you have to and hope you made the right call. And with experience comes better judgement, but this is not the kind of experience you want.
The ABS brakes on the Street Glide I crashed a few months ago worked great, right up to the point the 18-wheeler changing lanes forced me off the road and into the ditch full of rocks and cinders. Having experienced ABS in gravel before I knew what to expect -- absolutely no brakes and a with serious drop off coming up. I forced the engine guard into the side of the ditch and rode it til it stopped then stepped off without a scratch. And minimal damage to the bike. Now if that's what you call "layin' it down" then that's what saved my skin as going off the drop off would have hurt for sure.
You did a great job and got out of it without a scratch. You had no brakes. You didn't even lay it down. You rode it into the ditch without brakes.
If you have brakes and wheels that turn you should never ever ever just lay it down. The brakes and steering will always ALWAYS help. Once you lay it down you can't even steer. So closing your eyes and hitting the brakes is still far better than laying it down. I'm not condoning closing your eyes but my point is to trust the brakes and steering above laying it down.
With a lot of accidents you have little or no reaction time at all.
In 1969 I had a cabbie skip a stop sigh and I broadsided him. The handle bar hit my chest and the bike jammed my leg on the cab then I went over the hood and landed on my feet running.
Broken ribs, collapsed lung and a couple of broken bones in my foot. Was in the hospital for over a week.
Went riding in the snow and hit ice (stupid decision) broke my ankle on that one. Surgery and cast for a few months. One of them pump-up jobs.
And this summer my front brake locked and the bike slid out. I had to open the front brake bleeder to release the brake and rode home but at 70 you don't escape injury I.m still recovering from that one.
Guess I've been lucky though that's over 55 years of riding!!
At least most of you saw it coming, I didn't. I got hit in the *** on the xway over by Lansing. Never saw the idiot that wanted my space coming. I laid er down alright, for about 50' dragging under the front of his Dodge dually. To answer the question, I will not intentionally lay a bike down.
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