Fellow motorcycle riders.

[Bree]

Lots of good info on thye page and some info that I disagree with as well.

1) When falling is imminent, I hold onto the handlebars come h*ll or high water, and squeeze my legs around the bike , for I believe that I will be safest when staying with the bike. Once motion stops, before the dust settles, I can flip the kill switch, shut off the fuel valve, and can try to get the bugger upright as fast as possible, before doing a body check on myself. This I practice whenever possible.

Bad idea. When a bike goes down and you have exposed pipes as is common in cruiser type bikes, it is critical to make certain that your leg does not get pinned under the hot pipes. If it does, you will NOT be able to get the bike off of you and the burns you receive will be unlike anything you can imagine. It is a good idea to not get pinned even if there are no exposed pipes. If the fuel tank catches fire and you are pinned, you will be burned to death.

If it is inevitable that you are going down ala low siding the bike, kick your legs up so you can't be trapped under the bike.

If you are goiong to be high sided off the bike kicking out won't matter since you will be violently thrust off the bike. The key there is to try to avoid the high side crash entirely since your bike follows you and crashes into you when you land.

This is one of the very very few situations where it is preferable to "lay the bike down" or convert the upcoming highside crash into a low side crash of the bike. A low side crash is the lesser of the two evils. Kick your legs free on a low side crash.
My $.02

[SgtWKPII]

Originally Posted by Bree

Lots of good info on thye page and some info that I disagree with as well.



Bad idea. When a bike goes down and you have exposed pipes as is common in cruiser type bikes, it is critical to make certain that your leg does not get pinned under the hot pipes. If it does, you will NOT be able to get the bike off of you and the burns you receive will be unlike anything you can imagine. It is a good idea to not get pinned even if there are no exposed pipes. If the fuel tank catches fire and you are pinned, you will be burned to death.

If it is inevitable that you are going down ala low siding the bike, kick your legs up so you can't be trapped under the bike.

If you are goiong to be high sided off the bike kicking out won't matter since you will be violently thrust off the bike. The key there is to try to avoid the high side crash entirely since your bike follows you and crashes into you when you land.

This is one of the very very few situations where it is preferable to "lay the bike down" or convert the upcoming highside crash into a low side crash of the bike. A low side crash is the lesser of the two evils. Kick your legs free on a low side crash.
My $.02

I will agree with you. I did a lot of track riding at VIR when I was stationed in NC. I went down at about 90 and I held on to it until I was at the grass, and as soon as I hit the grass I kicked the bike as far away from me as could be. One big injury to track riders happens when they get rolled over by their own bike. I don't know about the guy who wrote that part, but when I'm rolling I don't want a 350 lb weight rolling next to me.