05
Bad Corner
Filed Under (Bikeography) by Anthony StClair on 05-08-2008
Stupid rookie mistake
Bit of a freakout moment last week, and frankly I’m surprised Sveta and I are okay. Basically, on the way home from running errands I wound through a parking lot at a local park, to wrap up a quick fun jaunt before heading home. Then I took a corner wrong.
The sidecar wheel bumped up onto the curb. Then I really screwed up, and must’ve shifted my weight left — because suddenly, the sidecar was in the air, and I was leaning really, really far left.
“Oh crap,” I thought, “I’m going to crash.”
Bike was still going forward. Luckily there was no one in the path of the bike and no traffic in either direction. I got across the access road, amazingly still on 2 wheels. I shifted weight to the right and put the tub down, then drove over the opposite curb and brought the bike to a stop. Amazingly, I didn’t even stall the engine.
I powered down, dismounted, walked around the bike and checked everything over. All looked okay. Only thing out of whack was my shaking hands, only thing damaged was my pride. I drove home without any other events. Once home, a scotch on the rocks helped settle my nerves.
Freak accident, nearly complicated by a stupid rookie weight shift mistake. Can’t believe I didn’t wind up under the bike. Can’t believe I misjudged that wheel-to-curb distance.
Be careful out there. And mind how you shift that weight, no matter what’s going on.
Lessons Learned
- Mistakes happen. How you respond is often more important than the mistake itself.
- Always shift your weight the way you want the tub to go — because that’s the way it’s going to go.
- Don’t panic. I wanted to panic, could feel it gnawing at me, but I also had a woman to get home to, and in one piece. She’s more important than panic. I thought about Jodie, and got the Ural back under control.
- If the tub comes up and you don’t want it up, shift weight right and put it down.
- Stop evenly.
- Keep an eye on your surroundings; I knew I had leeway to fix this situation, because I scanned around me and knew there was no one nearby who could get hurt, and nothing for me to run into.
- Don’t beat yourself up too badly. Mistakes happen to everyone, just also be sure to learn from them.
Anthony,am happy that the only thing that happened was a gain in ridding wisdom! Yikes! These things can easily happen. I heard another help to stablization of the rig is to put 100 lbs of wieght in the tub. If my wife is not sitting there, I usually put two 50lbs wieghts bought at Walmart for balast. Just to help out. Flying the car can happen even with wieght, but every little bit helps! Anyway, good to hear you and the rig are in one piece!
Thanks, much appreciated. I’m just glad I didn’t high-side the thing!
Ballast is really handy, especially starting out. I spent the first or two with decreasing ballast - started with 3 40-lb. bags of stove pellets, and took out a bag as my skill and confidence increased. I don’t ride with ballast now, and prefer it that way, but will see how things go.
When I got my Ural…the dealer suggested that I go to a parking lot and practice turns to get use to the way it handled…once confortble w/that he had told me when I could make a 360 flying the sidecar I would be ready for the road..which I did. It came in handy when an old man got on the freeway on an off ramp (drunk) and I had to make a quick turn to avoid being hit
Try rolling on some throttle, smoothly, around the turn. If you can make the bike go faster than the tub nothing’s going to fly into the air. Dragging the rear brake some helps as well, particularly if you’re going into the corner hot. Conversely, a blip of front brake will facilitate an easy left turn but will hinder turning right, as you tub will be going faster than the bike.
Leaning may help (or hurt) some, but it’s not nearly as effective (or predictable, or aesthetic) as correct throttle/brake control. The only time leaning is really essential is when you’re trying to fly the car. (I’m sure to somebody those are fighting words, but it’s how I was taught and I swear by it. To the leaners: please don’t get your hackles up, I don’t care if you lean or not.)
Note that when it does fly you have way further than you think before anything tips over, and even then the engine guard scraping will help right the rig.
Cheers!