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Doug Tait said:
K8KQD - Hope this helps - Lifted it from another site.
"High-Side"
When a motorcycle rider gets thrown off his motorcycle by being ejected up into the air and over the bike instead of simply falling down along side a falling bike (see low-side). The motorcycle, like the rider, will almost always also be thrown into the air following that rider.

This usually happens as a result of losing traction on the rear tire then suddenly regaining it after the the rear of the motorcycle has slid sideways a meaningful distance.

If there is only a momentary loss of rear-wheel traction, or the rear-end of the bike has not slid meaningfully to the side before traction is regained, loss of control of the bike usually does not occur and the rider is NOT tossed off the bike.
Thanks Doug, I was just going to mention the part of your post that I put in bold here. It seems to me that my Wing gives me just a little more time to correct that rear slide, before it gets crosswise, than my lighter/smaller bikes have.
Maybe it's the Wing, being more mass and length than most bikes, doesn't twitch into a broadside slide as quickly as some. Probably has a lot to do with me not tending to put the Wing into "aggravated postures" if at all possible. I'll leave it to the mechanical design engineers to provide the math, but I find that the farther out that rear end slides, the greater the "pucker factor" becomes. :lol: :lol:
DC
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
I just got back into town and looked at this thread. There is a lot of good info in this thread for all to read. Many comments are correct here.

Initially, I errored in applying too much rear brake and not enough front brake pressure. However, this sequence is necessary in dirt or on wet pavement as you never want the front to lock up or you will go down most of the time. That dirt insticnt must have come to me first, but it was not the best initial reaction on clean dry pavement. Heavier front brake on clean, dry pavement would have been the best first reaction.

When the rear tire locked up and began to move to the side, I immediately released the rear brakes before the rear end moved very far from straight. I knew if I didn't correct the slide immediately, one of two bad things would have happened. If I rode out the slide, I was probably going to lay down the bike and I didn't want to do that with the pick up and cars immediately behind me. If I let the rear of the bike slide too far from straight and then let off the rear brake, I would have probably high sided and flew into the right lane traffic. Once I corrected the slide, I performed the correct procedure and applied heavy front and lighter rear brake pressure.

I've ridden street and dirt bikes for 36 years. I have never wrecked on the street, but in my earlier days I layed dirt bikes down and I have high sided dirt bikes and I learned how to immediately sense slide when stopping or accelerating and correct before losing control.

This entire incident happened in just seconds. Once I realized my initial braking error, I corrected and braked correctly automatically. The slide correction and proper braking just came to me in a quick progression that seemed to be in slow motion. I can still remember every detail of the incident exactly, even pulling in on the clutch and holding the clutch in until I was back in control.

A couple of replies talk about practicing hard braking on the wing. This is a very good idea. I practiced hard braking on the wing when I first got the bike, but I hadn't practiced since then. Most motorcycle safety courses have you on small bikes and you are not going very fast on the hard braking exercise. The wing is much heavier and thus a different animal in hard braking. Remember when the instructor said several times to practise this or that? There's a reason he said practice.

Finally, I appreciate your comments on similar incidents, your mentions that you were glad I came out of the incident ok and the safety info posted in this thread. It's nice to be able to relate an occurance to other motorcyclists who personally understand situations and care about others who ride these two wheeled machines.
 
One of the reasons Honda went to linked brakes was a survey of motorcycle accidents that showed most riders locked up the rear in panic situations. So Hardway, you can be happy to know you're normal in that regard.
But what confuses me here is that Goldwings do have linked brakes for that very purpose. Your rear should not be locking with heavy use of the foot pedal.
Now my personal experience is limited to a GL1500, a CBR1000F and a GL1800 ABS, so I haven't actually done what you did with an identical setup. But I have tried stopping the GL1500 and CBR with hard foot pedal only, just to see what would happen. Both bikes just stopped. No locking up.
Now one thing I admit is the brakes on a GL1500 are nowhere near as good as the GL1800 so that might be why. And trying the same thing with the GL1800ABS just brings the ABS in to play so no comparison there.

My point here is that the rear should not have locked up under your circumstances. There may be a fault.

Has anyone else with non ABS GL1800 tried it out?
 
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