Front wheel lockup

Got caught in heavy rain on the Rocket today, and a little hail, don't really mind it that much except when it gets too heavy I just can't see ahead what with all the truck spray etc, plus unexpected puddles can be real exciting. But not as exciting as front wheel lockup. I was braking for a stop light and as I braked I drifted over into the left turn lane passing over a fat white stripe.....bad move. As soon as I hit the paint the front wheel locked up and the forks went all the way over to the right. Fortunately I got traction back quickly and didn't go down. I always watch out for the paint but since I started the braking on the asphalt I didn't think to ease off on the brake as I drifted over the paint. Such an innocent mistake that could easily lead to disaster. I was lucky.

This is the third time I have experienced front wheel lockup to the point the forks have gone all the way over. Once on my KLR the forks went back and forth twice before I got traction again. I was lucky all three times and didn't go down.

I have always hated the saying "if you ride long enough you will eventually crash." I wouldn't ride if I believed this was true. And so far after 165000 riding miles no crashes. But dang, how long is the luck going to hold up? We really do walk a tightrope on these two wheelers, today was another one of those sober up days.

Glad it went your way. I'll put that on my things to try and avoid list. Thanks for sharing.

Whew!! glad that you came out of it right side up.

Many of the painted lines today are actually vinyl tape. Lane separaters are still painted but arrows, stop lines, other markers are typically vinyl. When wet, the vinyl is slicker-n-snot!!

There was a campaign many years ago to get Transportation Depts to quit using vinyl since it is so dangerous to motorcycles but the economics of vinyl tape over paint won out.

Be extra vigilant in the wet around intersections where most of the vinyl tape is applied.

I was in Switzerland once riding up and down those fabulous mountain roads when I came upon an motorcycle army corp mounted on what looked like bemeer taking a break by the side of the road and I was informed of some brown ice up on the pass by one of them .
not sure of what he meant I sped off and rode up scraping pegs once in a while, clear blue sky no trafffic just the perfect ride till in a turn banked over I slice a cow patty with my front wheel instantly the meaning of brown ice flashed in my mind I went into a major wobble pedalling with my feet like a mad duck I managed to keep the bike right side up on the wrong side of the road and stopped . from that time on I have kept front wheel lock up or slide very much at the forefront of my riding concern . we should all do that all the time
a front loss of control is two seconds away from a crash guaranteed.....

glad everything went your way it sucks going down i know

rainman said:

glad everything went your way it sucks going down i know

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not mentioning the cleaning ...... crusty on the outside soft on the inside that brown ice found its way in many places!! let us all remember to be careful in any case

how about your experience rainman