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SkidMark from Adventure Sidecar on Vimeo.
Coming upon an unexpected car in his path, this rider goes wide to avoid it, effectively turning this into a decreasing radius, downhill, right hand turn. He has almost completed the turn when he gets nervous and pegs the rear brake, sliding out of his lane to the opposite shoulder.
He made a series of mistakes, compounded by fatigue and an unfamiliar bike. He should have used both brakes to slow to a speed he was comfortable with before getting in the corner. He would have felt more stable and confident had he shifted his weight to the inside of the turn. Again, this should be done before entering the corner. He should have stayed off the rear brake once in the turn, relying on the front brake to control his speed. And he should have looked through the corner towards his intended path of travel. Instead he fixated on the opposite shoulder and he went directly there. The fact that the bike didn’t slew around and the skid mark is relatively straight suggests that he actually was steering towards the curb when he locked the brake.
This is probably the most common scenario for serious accidents involving sidecars: going wide in a right hand corner. Turning towards the sidecar tends to cause the sidecar to come up. Even when the sidecar wheel stays on the ground, this can be very unnerving for a novice rider. Combined with the fact that you do not countersteer a sidecar, this gets many riders in trouble, especially those with lots of 2 wheeled experience but little experience on 3 wheels. That is why we have the S/TEP classes. Even with the classes it takes lots of practice and saddle time to ingrain the reactions needed to avoid this type of mishap.
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GREAT POST, MENACE!
Good video~! Besides going wide in a right and corner, speed in excess of conditions is another problem. If speed is low enough that it permits corrections, then there would be no problem with an unexpected hazard such as shown in the video.
But then, going a little slower takes all of the fun out of it.
gnm109 - 9/9/2010 5:57 PM
Good video~! Besides going wide ina a right and corner, sped in excess of conditions is another problem. If speed is low enough that it permits corrections, then there would be no problem with an unexpected hazard such as shown in the video.
But then, going a little slower takes all of the fun out of it.
in this case, speed was not an issue. He had all but completed the corner when he froze and locked up the brakes. With proper technique he would have had no problems at all. This rider had about 5 hours of actual road time on a sidecar, all done that day, most of it with no traffic. He actually did quite well and he redeemed himself the next day, driving perfectly under some difficult situations. But, it only takes a momentary lapse and we are all quite relieved there was no oncoming traffic when he had his!
RedMenace - 9/9/2010 6:44 PM
gnm109 - 9/9/2010 5:57 PM
Good video~! Besides going wide ina a right and corner, sped in excess of conditions is another problem. If speed is low enough that it permits corrections, then there would be no problem with an unexpected hazard such as shown in the video.
But then, going a little slower takes all of the fun out of it.
in this case, speed was not an issue. He had all but completed the corner when he froze and locked up the brakes. With proper technique he would have had no problems at all. This rider had about 5 hours of actual road time on a sidecar, all done that day, most of it with no traffic. He actually did quite well and he redeemed himself the next day, driving perfectly under some difficult situations. But, it only takes a momentary lapse and we are all quite relieved there was no oncoming traffic when he had his!
It's arguable that he was riding over his head.
It's arguable that he was riding over his head.
No argument. I think we all end up over our head when we first ride on the street having just learned to drive a new vehicle, be it a bicycle, car, moto or sidecar. But you've got to start somewhere. Take the classes, practice and try to get some miles on in a low traffic environment. This is exactly why I shudder when folks talk about doing a buy and ride as their introduction to sidecars!
Fatigue really did play a major factor here. He did much better earlier in the day and also on the second day when we took more and longer breaks.
I learned a valuable lesson from this incident: I am really scaling back the first day ride for my tours. I am going to use it to evaluate and allow my clients to self assess their skills and will tailor the subsequent rides to match that skill level.
This rider has many miles of motorcycle experience-this is also a very good illustration of how different the skillset is for safely riding a two wheel vs. a three wheeled vehicle.
When I took the advanced rider course the teacher wore a T shirt that showed a MC all crumpled up at the base, the wording said,"See tree Hit tree"l, look where you want to go NOT at what your gonna hit because you didn't.
good tips!!
I fit the description of this rider. 30+ years on 2 wheels in just about all weather conditions, but only 1 season with a sidecar. I get to watching the cart in hard right turns to see if it is lifting off. stupid I know, but getting better. wish there were more folks in the MN area to learn from. keep posting the tips.. thanks
And continue collecting rats or flies in between your teeth.
For first day riding my tip is to go mainly on gravel and off road that trains much better the muscles and reaction then asphalt.
I do not know better, but I feel like that the riding on gravel with a rig is much more similar to riding an enduro, so the learning curve goes faster.
And where should have been the back pack?.... inside the sidecar's box!
---- resumee: too few ballast and a simple beginners panic
Better pull a sack of concrete too much until it got hard, then play too early with a too light rig.
Stanley, Lonnie and others might have another opinion in this point and should correct me if I am wrong.
Regards
Sven
The "backpack" is his CamelBak hydration device and is right where it belongs. We had loaded the sidecar with tools, some extra jugs of water and food to provide some ballast. This followed a morning of practice on a grass field followed by a day long ride, primarily on dirt and gravel. If you watch the video again, you will note that the sidecar is not lifting and he has passed the point in the corner where lift should be diminishing. More ballast would not have changed the out come. More practice will and I am confident this rider will learn from his experience.
Good post Vernon and a great video that shows how important practice really is. Fortunately nothing was coming and all worked out okay.
I agree with all you have written here. To complete that turn shoudl hav ebeen a total non issue. After a little more seat time thta same rider will probably look back on that video and shake his head.
You wrote: "More practice will and I am confident this rider will learn from his experience."
And practice a little out of one's personal comfort zone under safe conditions is very important.
Hello Vernon,
Last Wednesday we did on Independence day a ride through the wilderness and one of the riders had a bottle like this on his back. Until then I did just know the squirt bottles for bikers. To my messenger times I used chewing tabaco. Perhaps I am sort of out aged.
So possibly the incident was due to a conflict of the fellow's learned solo rider reaction which is opposite of the needed rig driver reaction.
After riding gravel roads you certainly experience quite a difference on paved road, which might have switched his mind "back to normal".
This experience seem to be just as riding in England. The moment you think you are acustoumed after a few days you will find youself back in the upcoming trafic. Each time in England it happened to me on the 3rd day. On my first rig day 13.Dec.86 I went 3 times on 140km straight into the green.
It must be interesting to be a kind of rig riding teacher as you are. My change comes in the next month when my daughter gets her learners licence. She passed theory yesterday. On the farm she handles reasonably well, and I want to have her trained first on the rig, then the solo, then relive the 1960 Willies and last the normal car.
Lets watch how it comes out.
Best wishes
Sven
Best of luck with that, Sven!
I took my nephew out to learn to drive stick shift in my pickup a couple of weeks ago. It is easy to forget how complicated it seems when you first learn to drive. He did well, but a perfect shift meant he wasn't paying attention to speed- it got a little exciting at times!
Vermon
Touch is the secret in mechanics, machining and engineering.
Once one nephew on the Willies with one round on the farm burnt the synchronization rings... once again to pull out the box...
But with the rig he is doing fine now.
On my birthday he was on charge of the Carousel means Jolly Roger2, my rig.
Although we had heavy rain storms that day you should have seen the smile on the faces of him and the kids!
I am pretty sure your clients get similar face expressions after your training in the woods.
Best wishes
Sven
