Spin-off of Big Al's accident thread

[Kaiser]

Big Al's post about "your worst accident" made me think of a question:

For those of you with more "experience" in this area...

If you find yourself i n a low-side slide, it is better to try to stay in the saddle and ride it out, or put as much distance between you and the bike?  This is assuming that you even have the presence of mind in that situation and the ability to physically carry out such a choice.

My fear in staying the saddle would be that the tires would grab and I'd get high-sided.  My fear of putting as much distance between me and the bike is that the bike would come back to hit me or I'd strike an object that otherwise the bike would have absorbed (at least partially).

What is your .02?

[bigguy]

Ultimately each crash will have it's own set of circumstances, but I'd think that most of the time you'd be better off away from the bike. In my case, I stayed in the saddle. (Not really a decision, I just didn't let go.) Things worked out for me, but I don't think I'd have been any worse off if I'd come off.
The bike did a flat spin and I wound up on the leading edge. If we'd hit something, I'd have been smashed between it and the bike.

[Westernbiker]

I am just guessing but I think that MOST accidents happen so fast, I don't know if you have time enough to think about getting off or staying on. Also there has to be a bit of panic in there and that freezes you also. I had one......lets say, get off on the street. Wasn't hight speed but things happened so fast, before I knew it I was on the ground. My worst crashes have come from motocross and desert racing. Lots of desert here in Arizona. LOL! All dirt bike and three or four wheel related in the desert and I do remember not having much time to make a decision, I do remember thinking on some of the crashes 'This one is gonna hurt'

[Daniel Meyer]

If the bike ain't tumbling...ride it till it does.

[sugerbear]

mine low sided and scraped me off. took about 5 sec total, swerve to miss the joker that ran a red light
till i was laying on my back, looking up at an off duty fireman.

no time to think, except to think "this is gonna hurt"LOL

[Jack]

I've never had a chance to think about it in anything but a low-speed accident.  I always get thrown off the bike.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Trying to get away can have it's own set of problems.

I tried it on my first street bike, A 350 Honda twin. I was maybe 18 riding at night and my headlight went out. like the kid I was I stood up on the pegs and banged on it instead of stopping. When it came back on I was just entering a "T" from the dead end side. I layed it over on the left side and tried to get away from it. My right ankle got pinned between the tank and handlebar and I went on through the intersection that way, behind the bike being dragged along. We (bike and I) slid into the ditch on the other side which had a few inches of water in it. The bike stood up as it hit the bank on the other side, and my foot came loose as I stopped in the water against the wheels. Then it fell back into the ditch on top of me. A couple of cars slowed down as I was trying to get out from under it and then just kept on going. Rode it home with no clutch, a sprung ankle and a sore a$$ and traded it for a pickup.

I gave up street bikes for a few years after that.

[Jabba]

I low sided once... on an on ramp... and I am not sure how I did it, but I rode the Yamaha across 2 lanes of traffic like a surf board.  Again... I don't know HOW, but no part of me ever touched the asphalt, that I could ever tell.

 

Again... sometimes better lucky than good.

Jabba

[donaldcc]

If the bike ain't tumbling...ride it till it does.

I like that response.  Try to keep your wits and ride it out as long as possible.

My only fall at high speed was in my 20's when I rode my Honda 350 Four to a motocross race outside Pensacola. Rode out to race site on 4-5 miles of graded clay/dirt road.  Going home, after watching the motocross riders all day, I was going too fast on the road, riding on top of the sand, bike started sliding all over the place and I found myself sort of sitting on top of it as it slid down the road. Probably about 50-55 mph going down.  Not a scratch on me and only a few on the bike. Scary and lucky. 

Like many motorcycle accidents . . . rider error 

I think I am wiser now.

[dosnewfs]

I intendend to stay on the bike and stay on the rubber. Before I knew it the bike was on the ground and so was I.  I think the asphalt pealed me off the bike and off I'm sliding on my forearms(Leather baby)  not so bad until I hit the gravel on the edge of the road and began to tumble.

No time to think or ability to act after my initial reaction.

[Jess from VA]

Dan's got it right, your default setting should always be to stay on the bike, AND tucked in as tight as possible inside the high points that are dragging on the ground (in a low side slide or anytime it's not a pure tumble).  The bike can take many impacts your body cannot, especially the first big one.  The bike front end and other parts can crumple when your body cannot (without serious injury or death). 

I dumped lowside on a midsize bike after hitting a big gas spill in an intersection at about 45-50 mph and slid for 40-60 feet.  Had a bruise on the lowside hip where I hit the pavement, but I stayed tucked inside the bars, pegs, signals, and other high spots, until the bike spun around toward the end of the slide and I came off on my back going backwards.  It was cold weather and I was geared up and slid on my back a few more feet with no injury, not even a scratched helmet.... just the bruise on my hip. (It was only when a car almost ran my head over as I lay on the ground that I sh!t my pants)

Now if the bike is headed over a cliff or under a rolling semi or somewhere it appears you can not survive, then you might as well bail out.  If I stupidly found myself flying into the back of a vehicle at speed with no room to brake (meaning I completely screwed up watching the road), I might rather do a half gainer up and over the cage ahead than slam into the cage seated on the bike.

[Hoser]

Anybody that claims they can control anything after going down is probly just dreaming. JMHO.  Hoser ???