Very lucky motorcyclist escapes semi truck

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Here are his direct comments...

A true miracle I'm alive... Luckely I was wearing my riding gear, so my road rash was very minor. No broken bones, no concussion. I'm truly blessed to walk away. Please ride safe everyone, you don't walk away from an accident like this twice
EDIT: How did I get the wobbles? NO I DIDN'T WHEELIE. I was merging onto the freeway, checking traffic while I ventured over to the carpool lane. When I got next to the carpool lane, I check if it was clear again, then merged in while quickly accelerating in first gear. When I got up to enough speed to pass traffic (Traffic was doing 75-80 MPH) I changed into second gear (where the clip starts). First mistake I made was having my weight WAY too far back on the bike while accelerating, that mixed with the extremely bumpy freeway and the acceleration of the bike caused the front wheel to go extremely light. Thus causing the violent speed wobbles.
 
There is a reason some call them "murdercycles." The two wheeler crashes I see on YouTube of Russian bikers are almost always caused by the motorcycle rider going way to fast and/or trying to maneuver between vehicles expecting Mr. Murphy is nowhere about.
 
So can any of the Moderators explain why this thread is being moved around? It was in the Motorcycle section, then unbeknownst to me was moved to the general automotive section, so I started another post with a more descriptive title in the Motorcycle section, which now appears to be gone. Now this one is here.

If I have broken any rules by starting this topic, or you don't want me to start any topics, just say the word.
 
Originally Posted By: DriveHard
Here are his direct comments...

A true miracle I'm alive... Luckely I was wearing my riding gear, so my road rash was very minor. No broken bones, no concussion. I'm truly blessed to walk away. Please ride safe everyone, you don't walk away from an accident like this twice
EDIT: How did I get the wobbles? NO I DIDN'T WHEELIE. I was merging onto the freeway, checking traffic while I ventured over to the carpool lane. When I got next to the carpool lane, I check if it was clear again, then merged in while quickly accelerating in first gear. When I got up to enough speed to pass traffic (Traffic was doing 75-80 MPH) I changed into second gear (where the clip starts). First mistake I made was having my weight WAY too far back on the bike while accelerating, that mixed with the extremely bumpy freeway and the acceleration of the bike caused the front wheel to go extremely light. Thus causing the violent speed wobbles.


It's edited to hide how it started and the speedometer. I wonder why he uploaded the video -- It would be easier not to upload anything at all.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Lots of sport bike riders are not as skilled as they think they are and end up crashing.



Lots of riders are not as skilled as they think they are and end up crashing.

Fixed.
 
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Lots of sport bike riders are not as skilled as they think they are and end up crashing.



Lots of riders are not as skilled as they think they are and end up crashing.

Fixed.


Its the sport bike riders being reckless that causes big time road rash.

Harley riders are just out for a cruise and revving their engine at a traffic light.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Lots of sport bike riders are not as skilled as they think they are and end up crashing.



Lots of riders are not as skilled as they think they are and end up crashing.

Fixed.


Its the sport bike riders being reckless thats causes big road rash.

Harley riders are just out for a cruise and revving their engine at a traffic light.


I've been a Motorcyclist since the age of 6. I've witnessed plenty of bad riding from Motorcyclists riding all styles of bike. I've also helped teach lots of Motorcyclists how to ride. Sport Bike riders, cruiser riders, and all variations in-between. Sport bike riders definitely do not have a lock on poor riding ability.

My advice to all Motorcyclists, is to take basic riding classes, and advanced riding classes, and always strive to become better riders. And of course wear good gear. The guy in the video had marginal protective gear.
 
Harleys and sports bikes do seem to attract the worst riders though...perhaps it's a maturity thing. I see them do the most dumb riding, and I've also seem them in most crashes. Not that riders of other style of bikes don't act stupid...I'm not immune to that myself.
 
If he was going fast and accelerating under full power in 1st and then 2nd gear (as the YouTuber's comment eludes to), then I can see how the front tire could get really light and get upset by the road, causing it to go into a crazy uncontrollable wobble. One reason lots of sport bikes have a steering damper on them to help prevent a situation exactly like this.
 
Yep, I've experienced it on numerous bikes. I believe the riders account of what happened. My aforementioned ZX-12 was a tankslapper, looking for a place to happen. I eventually installed an aftermarket steering damper, before finally selling it for other reasons.
 
Its been decades since I was on a motorcycle, but when did proper driving include twisting the handle bars back and forth rather than driving in a straight line?
 
One lucky guy.
Never rode a motorcycle, though it crossed my mind in younger years. That tank slap stuff is scary.

Question, is the proper way to recover from tank slap to release the throttle or to brake lightly? I can see you don't have much time to recover before control is lost.
 
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Yep, I've experienced it on numerous bikes. I believe the riders account of what happened. My aforementioned ZX-12 was a tankslapper, looking for a place to happen. I eventually installed an aftermarket steering damper, before finally selling it for other reasons.


If you don't mind - how does one get out of this? do you wait until it dampens out?

None of my motorcycles (all in the 70's, all dirt bikes) ever did anything like this...so, is it weight forward? weight back? what reduces it?

It just amazes me that motorcycles can be sold with insufficient stability, which I presume comes from the rake/trail specs...this didn't used to be a thing...did it?
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
02SE said:
Yep, I've experienced it on numerous bikes. I believe the riders account of what happened. My aforementioned ZX-12 was a tankslapper, looking for a place to happen. I eventually installed an aftermarket steering damper, before finally selling it for other reasons.




Taken from:

"http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/tankslapping-how-do-you-recover.269654/"



Interestingly enough, this advice comes from an intervew Erik Buell, who discussed his early career with Harley. He not only designed suspensions for HD, but was at one point also a test rider.

One of his test-riding duties was to determine how wobble-prone a new design would be. The new bike would be tested at various speeds. He'd ride hands-off, then give a sharp jab to the bars to initiate the wobble.

Of course, the major question was how he'd kept his skin doing this type of testing. His answer was that he would clamp his knees onto the tank, and wrap his arms around his knees and grab the tank ahead of his knees. This forces the rider's body into a lower position, lowering the CG, and with the firm grip, it also effectively adds mass to the chassis of the bike.

He went on to say that fighting a wobble with your arms is likely to prolong or amplify the wobble since the rider can't react quickly enough to damp the movement properly in synch with the wobble. His advice is to simply let go of the bars in a tank slapper. This will also avoid sore or broken wrists.
Click to expand...
 
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HOLY SMOKES! I didn't realize the first time I watched this that the guy went UNDER the semi-truck at highway speed. What a lucky guy!
 
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