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| Tips & Training Riders new and old can always learn. Share and experience ideas for making motorcycling safer and more enjoyable here! |
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05-16-2006, 11:07 AM
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| Found second gear by accident  Join Date: Feb 2006
Bike: 06' C50 (Blue/Gray)
Location: Richmond, Va
Posts: 327
|  First Floorboard Scrape
I just wanted to share my experience in hopes that other newbs might know what to expect when it happens. I was on my way to the shop Saturday morning to drop off the bike for the 600 mile service. It was a hectic day with lots to do and little time to do it. I was in the middle of a u-turn when I herd and felt the S-C-R-A-P-E. Obviously my first thought as a new rider was WTF is that!? But I’ve read enough about peg & floorboard scraping here to realize what it was. My next thought was oh sh#%, now what do I do? I was scraping pretty hard and it seemed like it was starting to slow me down. The answer for me was to roll on the throttle enough to give the back tire a little more bite and force a slightly wider turn than originally planned. The scraping almost immediately stopped with no loss of control and I was able to continue while not disturbing the normal flow of traffic. After I got to the shop I wondered why it happened and not in the 600 miles prior. I came up with two reasons. First, I was in a hurry. I was not focused on what I was doing but rather where I was going to and how soon I could get there. Second, I was over-confident in trying to take the turn tighter & faster than I should have. Either one of these two errors in judgment was more than enough to cause me to wreck, but I did not panic which gave me time to decide on a course of action. In the first 600 miles, I have taken a few turns that I thought were pretty tight and was relieved that the tires didn’t slip out from under me. (Still getting a feel for the bike.) Now, it is nice to know that I can go all the way to the floorboards without slipping (provided that speed is not excessive), not that I plan on making a regular practice of this. This was completely unintentional. It was a very alarming experience because it makes an awful sound and was completely unexpected. Just don’t panic, but continue on with the turn and you will be fine. It’s amazing what you can learn from a 12-15 inch gash in the asphalt! -Sandman |
