I would like to know if any experienced riders out there have advice to pass on regarding rear wheel slides? I’m not looking to make the rear slide deliberately, rather, I’d like to know a bit about what to expect if it happens while I am riding in reduced grip conditions.

Are there different phases to the slide? Does the initiation of the slide feel different from being in the middle of the slide? Can you feel something that tells you the tire is close to losing full grip and a slide is about to happen or is it just a sudden entry into a slide? Apart from riding Kieth Code’s slide bike, are there any safe ways to get a feel for a slide?

The answers to these questions will probably be based on personal experience and ‘feeling’ when riding and thus hard to describe but I would be interested to see what people that have experienced rear slides have to say about them.

 

Hmmm....

Hard to sum up in a forum post. I'm not big on typing page after page.

It varies quite a lot from a gradual slide almost imperceptable at first to a full break loose. If the road conditions are good and your just pushing to hard its just like drifting a car or riding a dirtbike where you can feeel the back end stepping out and you just over steer until it comes back. The trick I guess is keeping your throttle input VERY smooth and constant. Any sudden input will upset the situation. You also don't want to start leaning to hard into it, try and keep the bike very balanced and be prepared to compensate for any changes.

The other extreme is when the back end just washed out. You can't do alot with that. Again don't panic on the throttle and don't reach for the brakes (in either case really btw) and most likely your going to have to put a foot down and try to hold the bike up and/or control the slide. No way that I know of to practice that off the dirt on a dirtbike of maybe wet pavement and a dirtbike. It's going to happen fast and your going to feel like your just going to fall over fast.

The only thing I'd add is learning how to fall. Dont' try and break your fall with your hands. It don't work, you just break your wrists/fingers/etc. Roll your fingers into your palms and try and keep your elbows into your body and roll with the fall. If you can get into a slide, thats ideal but not always an option. And this sounds weird probably but don't try and get up too fast. You don't always know when you've actually stopped so just lay there and get your senses before getting up and doing more damage.

IDK. Probably missed some points in there and I'm sure someone going to tell you why everything I said is wrong but thats my experience fwiw.

Hopefully you don't find out either way.

 

I think that is some great advice. My biggest mistake 5 weeks ago was that I held onto the handlebars tooooo long. I should ditched the bike quicker. When I hit the ground at 50+ the brake handle came down on my hand, and broke it in 2 places. Cast is now off, bike is repaired, and riding again!!! Been 17 years since I put a bike down hard. I got complacent, and complacent can get you dead on a bike.

 

Get a sand paper with 80 grits , sand it both side , just remove the shiny spot .

 

If you lose the rear end completely, better to fall than to try and stand the bike up. You DEFINITELY dont want to straighten up when the bike is pointing in another direction. Better to try and gently counter-steer the bike up if possible. Lowsides are waaayyy better than highsides

 

maintain steady throttle. chopping throttle will result in a highside. getting on the gas will result in a lowside.

 

Depends on the situation i guess, I've slid quite a few times now and all of them have been in the wet and at the same place. Slowing down for a roundabout with a car stopped in front, just a tiny bit too much brake and the wheels lock. Fortunately traveling in a straight line it simply had a tendency to just keep sliding in a straight line, so one foot came down just to skim the ground for a bit of extra balance and I eased off the brakes (not easy to do when you think your going to go into the back of a car). Luckily the bike came to a stop before hitting the car but had stalled because the rear wheel had locked up.
Another time I simply put too much revs on when pulling out of a junction in the wet, the bike fish tailed and I sort of raised myself off the seat into a dirt bike position and steered in the opposite direction and it rectified itself.
I spent many a days in my youth riding off road and I guess some off what I'd been doing I transferred on to road riding when things become difficult. Or I'm just lucky.

 

Pretty good advice here. Especially the bit about how to fall correctly. You don't really think about that side of things, but that'll definitely help save some rash if you down.

 

Any reason you're going back and bumping dozens of threads that have been dead for years?

 

Just doing some research I took several years off of riding and am brushing up.