Interesting reaction to front wheel slide

dutchy · Post by **dutchy** » Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:51 pm

I was coming home from work today and was going up the last little bit of dirt road that leads into my driveway. Its a little bit of a left bend into the front gates (that are always shut so the family labrador doesn't escape).

I'm usually pretty cautious with my braking when i'm on the dirt and most of the time using the rear more than the front to slow me down. I thought I was going a normal pace in the final run up to the gate today but must've been coming in a little hotter than usual. I've put the front break on, while turning left (bad move

) and initially slowed as intended but then it turned into a slide. Here's where my reaction got a little wierd.

I released the front (good move

) but instead of maybe using the rear i've actually done the old emergancy on/off braking thingy with the front only. I did it about three times, the first two it slid a little again and on the last it just slowed and then I pulled up just before putting the front wheel through the gates.
I went back and had a look. The first slide was maybe 3 foot or so, the next one half the size, the last ones barely noticable.

I've never actually done any practicing with emergancy breaking the front wheel and I can only put it down to similar situations I experianced with all the push bike riding I've done in my younger, far more fitter, far more agile, way better looking years.

Just thought I'd share

I think another option would have been a nice slow application of the rear brake, and I'm interested to hear wether some of you more experianced riders think I've done the right or wrong thing. If its the wrong thing to do I'm going to be pretty worried because apparently when push comes to shove and I'm running off instinct or muscle memory or whatever the fark it is, this is apparently the way I react in this situation.

oldman · Post by **oldman** » Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:34 pm

From my 53 years of shitty riding experience it sounds like you did exactly the right thing. You stopped before you hit your gate and you didn't go down. Sounds right to me. From what you describe, I think an application of the rear brake would have caused you to either crash because of a slide or possibly hit the gate. Good reactions. I always second guess myself when I get in a less than ideal situation, but if I don't crash then whats not to like about how I handled it? Cheers!

Strika · Post by **Strika** » Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:49 am

With a little practice, you can hold a front wheel slide for ages!! Dirt or tar.

I did rider training course back in 1992/93 prior to me starting racing. The rider trainer was a then unkown guy called Steve Martin. He had a bike supplied by one of the shops. He demonstrated how to hold a front wheel lock up for us before we all tried it. ironically, he crashed showing us

but, then he picked it back up and did it over and over and over to prove it can be done safel and he just wasn't concentrating on the first one.

He was right though. With a little practice, we were holding front end slides at 60kph and more on dry tar.None of us crashed by the way. But you almost have to lock your elbows into position to hold it.

ducati_paul · Post by **ducati_paul** » Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:06 am

I did an off road riding course and one of the drills was to get up to about 60km/h on the wet grass then grab a fist full of front brake while still on the throttle and hold it for as long as you can

it's suprising how long you can ride with the front wheel locked (on grass) as long as you kept the steering inputs minimal, if you started to turn the front washed out pretty quick, we probably spent a good 20 minutes doing this drill and I only dropped the bike twice which I thought was a pretty good effort

Post by **robracer** » Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:08 am

I would have thought Paul would suggest getting on the gas & use the gate as a berm

swearbear9r · Post by **swearbear9r** » Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:41 pm

AWESOME save then lol. good on ya

seiko1 · Post by **seiko1** » Sun Nov 21, 2010 12:22 am

Well I'm drunk....so your an idiot