"High-side save"-looking for rider who saw it Thanks to all riders and instructors who have repeated "When in doubt throttle out." It saved me big time!! I have never ridden moto-cross(dirt bikes), so sliding rattles me. When I slide-- grabbing brakes is my natural reaction. Thank God, this time it was not. I was heading into turn 12, something happened and I almost high-sided. I felt like on was doing a hand-stand on the bike. The front end was going back and forth like a baby-rattle. The rear was doing the same. I had one leg on the bike and somehow managed to get my hand on the throttle and give it a little twist. Luckily the bike straightened out. I would like to speak with the rider who was behind me and saw this happen. He gave me a thumbs ups,(Thank you!) I would like to gain an understanding of what I did to cause this, if possible. This happened Sunday April 12, 5 session Adv. group. My bike has a red tail with the number 55 on it. Any help is appreciated. Btw, It was another great weekend at Barber with STT-- Thank you everyone!
Is that what I was supposed to do? I've unlearned the handful of brake panic reaction, but when my rear end started to break loose between 3 and 4 in March, I never would have considered increasing throttle. Isn't too much throttle what caused the rear to spin up? I didn't save it. It was before the turn (little or no lean), and I was told it was a high-side.
There is a bump in 12 (Barber) that has caught a few people out. I think it is still there and if my memory is correct you need to be way inside on the exit of 12 to catch it. By itself it is not a problem but will unsettle suspension and have things go wrong from there. I followed another rider that did what you describe there but did not come down on the bike square and crashed. IMO for a mild spin up DO NOT grab extra throttle on pavement (dirt when in doubt gas it) However what was described in post #1 was a high side not a spin up which would result in a low side unless you wacked the throttle closed. In my experience the best thing is to do nothing on the throttle. Don't feed more nor less and the bike will hook back up in many cases. I am sure someone better than me will chime in on that part though.
I saw it happen however I was a bike or two back so I couldn't tell you what exactly happened...I will tell you I had a similar thing happen on my KTM rc8R in the march barber event. I thought the factory steering dampener would do until I started hammering away exiting turns. That bump caused a tank slapper that sent me to the edge of the track at over 100 mph. Front tire hit edge of pavement and went flat and bent the wheel. I rode it out through the grass.... By the look of your near wreck the bull almost bucked you off.
Thanks Andrew I thought maybe my dampener is/was to loose --gonna have a look, yeah the bull almost got me for sure
It sounds like you are describing a tank slapper. Yes, throttle will sometimes fix a tank slapper. Rear brake is another option that might fix a tank slapper but in my experience, by the time you think about that alien rear brake, it's over. A highside is when the rear tire spins up, the bike turns sideways, catches an edge and throws you to the moon. The cure, if you can combine skill and luck, is to go neutral on the throttle, IE rolling it off maybe 10%. If you snap the throttle closed, you'll be ejected. If you keep it open or continue to add throttle, you'll probably lowside. BTW, there are times (think 100mph+ high speed sweeper) when the best thing to do in a pending highside is to pin it and lean harder, forcing the bike to lowside you! Better at that speed to come off on the ground than six feet in the air. Basically, when these moments occur, you get one instant to react and then physics takes over. Doing the right thing is no guarantee of a happy ending. Ain't this sport grand!
When I first saw this post I thought I might have caught this on video. I caught a Blue bike, black leathers, red helmet Sat in I group in the 1pm CDT session. Quite a tank slapper coming out of T10 (1st rt hander after Museum) but saved it then threw the hand up right away. I looked for the rider but could not find. If you are there. I have it on video as I was behind you.
I asked Draik, all he saw was a ducati dive bomb past him into 12 and out through the grass. It was ugly but the guy saved it.
Agreed. I'm sure most of the coaches have seen some high side saves. K3 was behind me when I averted mine on acc south. I still remember what he said to me when we rolled back into pit lane "welcome back to the world of the living..." I went neutral on throttle,pure luck that I didn't crash.
You guys need to ride more mini bikes, I save four of five of them in each corner. Ok not really but you still learn a bunch on mini bikes or on ice....or mini bikes on ice. Only way you will ever save this stuff is if it is already hard wired as instinct. But for a small slide you just kind of push the bike up(less lean angle)with out doing anything with the throttle or brake, this is the same weather it is the front or rear sliding. But once the rear slides to far you are better off pulling that bad boy down into a low side, as was said above. But seriously slower bikes teach you more faster.