05-13-2013, 06:57 PM | #1 |
125GP Champion
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Worthington, OH
Moto: Empty Garage
Posts: 3,418
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Front end confidence
So recently I have had a few scares that have kind of shaken my confidence a bit. The other night I was leaving a friend's house to go grab some late dinner with some other friends. Her street has 2 left handers that are almost 90*, and it was about 10:45. I went through the first, and arrived at the second one. I was half way through the bend when I realized there was a huge patch of sand in the middle of the road, right where I was tracked to go. There was no correcting or I would have most definitely gone down. I rolled off the throttle gently and decreased my lean angle slightly and prayed as I hit it. The front let go for what seemed like a foot (most likely a few inches) and caught solid pavement. I caught my breath and decided if I needed to change my underwear, but I was all good. Dodged that one...
Today I was off work, so I decided to get out in this gorgeous weather and just get lost... find some new favorite roads type of ride. And I definitely accomplished that. Found a great new circuit with some empty country roads that snaked around. Half way through the ride I was out in BFN and had no idea where I was. I caught this awesome long left hander that led to a one lane bridge over this scenic creek, and into this awesome sequence of elevation and winding turns. I hit this almost double apex type of turn that was winding right and climbing uphill pretty rapidly. Half way inbetween the two apexes.... the front suddenly let go. Scared the shit out of me, because unlike before, there was no warning. Warm tires, dry pavement, sunny weather, moderate tree cover, no sand or gravel, my pace wasn't overly fast, and my lean angle wasn't super low by any means. And it wasn't like the double apex scared me into over-correcting. Could tree pollen make the road slick? Anyway, after that it just ruined the rest of my ride. I hit quite a few other awesome winding sections, but my confidence had been hit. It's not like my tires are shot either. It only has 3,600 miles on the set, and there is TONS of tread left on the front. I'm just kind of confuzzled....
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*Coming soon? 2010 Ducati Monster 696 - Sold 1984 Honda VF500F - Sold 1999 Yamaha R6 - Sold |
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