Feb 27th 101

[depohmel]

Hello, everyone, I want to share my recent crash story. I was riding in the Bay area for the last 4 years, commuting almost every day, plus occasional weekend trips.

It was Tuesday 4 pm, I was on my way home on my 600 miles FJ-09.
Traffic was slow, so I was lane splitting. My speed was around 35 mph, when big black Chevy Tahoe jump from the right lane into left. I hit the brakes...
I avoided all cars.... but despite ABS, I flew over my handlebars...
Tahoe changed lane without turning signals and from the far right side of its lane. It didn't see me, it didn't stop even after I was on the ground.

As damages, I fractured 2 bones in my forearm and now have 2 plates in it
Based on my helmet, I landed on side of my head. I was wearing an air-bag vest, and thank to that thing, I don't have any neck injuries.

I would say this is nothing new, standard story. But I just want to remind people, please be careful.

I always cover my brakes with 2 fingers while lane splitting. My motorcycle has abs and tc features. Did not matter, front wheel got locked

 

[DataDan]

Hello, everyone, I want to share my recent crash story. I was riding in the Bay area for the last 4 years, commuting almost every day, plus occasional weekend trips.

It was Tuesday 4 pm, I was on my way home on my 600 miles FJ-09.
Traffic was slow, so I was lane splitting. My speed was around 35 mph, when big black Chevy Tahoe jump from the right lane into left. I hit the brakes...
I avoided all cars.... but despite ABS, I flew over my handlebars...
Tahoe changed lane without turning signals and from the far right side of its lane. It didn't see me, it didn't stop even after I was on the ground.

As damages, I fractured 2 bones in my forearm and now have 2 plates in it
Based on my helmet, I landed on side of my head. I was wearing an air-bag vest, and thank to that thing, I don't have any neck injuries.

I would say this is nothing new, standard story. But I just want to remind people, please be careful.

I always cover my brakes with 2 fingers while lane splitting. My motorcycle has abs and tc features. Did not matter, front wheel got locked

Too bad about the fractures, but injuries could have been worse. :thumbup for good protective gear.

You say you flew over the handlebars, but you also say the front wheel locked. More likely, the wheel did NOT lock, and the ABS did its job. A front wheel lockup usually results in an immediate lowside crash as the bike loses the stability it gets from the rotating front wheel (don't ask me how I know this ). ABS can prevent that, but it doesn't limit the braking force you can apply while the tire is still gripping.

All I'm going to say for now about events that led up to the crash is this: Read the BARF Lane-Splitting Guidelines, then post here again about what you can do in the future to prevent a similar crash.

 

[kurth83]

Yeah doesn't sound like the tire locked, rider likely hasn't practiced full-force braking. I have to keep that up myself, as it is easy to get out of practice there. When I was a less experienced rider I had a lot more ABS activations than I do now, so paradoxically it is easier to get out of practice because I am better at avoiding nasty situations.

This situation doesn't sound very avoidable, but the crash might be.

Am I reading things right that this was on a cruiser?

Assuming cruiser geometry, that kind of bike can brake really hard, without worring about endoing the bike (lofting the rear). Low bars also make panic stops harder as the ergos don't work in your favor if you are sitting upright, again easier to fly over the bars, you have to learn to duck and grip the tank as you brake hard, similar to hard acceleration. An easy fix is raise the bars a bit. I always raise bars on bikes, but never really thought about it making braking easier until now.

Another thing about hard braking is it can mess with your sense of balance, I have learned that the hard way several times, do a panic full stop and find the bike slightly leaned over after fully stopped, and have to do a heavy-lifting rescue, one time I just gunned it since I had room. Best to learn that in PLP.

Heal up! And love the vest.

 

[Smash Allen]

it was an fj09 with short wheel base and soft forks. so if you are inexperienced and ill prepared, a panic grab could quickly drop the front by 3+ inches at the same time throwing your ass up and off the seat

it is a good idea to be proficient at emergency braking, especially at any speed you split at

 

[kurth83]

oops, fj-09, ok, lots of braking power with those dual front disks.

You didn't mention the speed delta, or how far in front of you the vehicle was when it cut you off.

I keep my speed delta lower, at two car lengths in front of me a lane diver wouldn't make me break a sweat, 1 car length and I would be in trouble too.

So speed delta and braking practice, that's what we got so far.

 

[ScottRNelson]

I can't offer any help for this particular accident, but you can practice braking in a parking lot to optimize and improve your braking skills.

Find a clean flat parking lot where you can practice braking at least a dozen times in a row. Mark a point where you'll begin braking, then get up to 25 mph and brake as quickly as possible at that point until you come to a complete stop. Mark where you stopped. Now go do it again and see how you can improve on your previous stop. Repeat at least 10 times. Note any differences in stopping distance to figure out how you can consistently get the shortest ones.

At the fairly low speed of 25 mph, you'll still learn most of what you could learn at a higher speed, but there is much less chance of dropping the bike if you make a mistake like locking the rear wheel. Keeping track of the distance it takes to stop helps you optimize for the shortest distance. And the feel of the brakes at maximum braking is the same as what it feels like at higher speeds.

I need to get out myself and so some braking practice. It's been a while and doing it in a parking lot helps you fine tune and optimize your braking skills.

 

[Chicago_FJR]

Heal up!

Hello, everyone, I want to share my recent crash story. I was riding in the Bay area for the last 4 years, commuting almost every day, plus occasional weekend trips.

...

I always cover my brakes with 2 fingers while lane splitting. My motorcycle has abs and tc features. Did not matter, front wheel got locked

Speedy recovery and I'm sorry to hear about this!