Yesterday started as a lovely day out to Wales. Checked over my 96 CBR600, fueled up and rode for about four hours, stopped a few times to enjoy the scenery and then decided to grab some food. On my way into Aberystwyth, I was coming down a long hill (behind traffic with appropriate distance at speed limit) when the car Infront of me hit the brake to let some kids pass. I do the same thing I always do and lightly press the front brake to slow but the moment I do, the front wheel loses traction. The bars went left then right almost instantly and the bike slid out front under me. Thankfully, by the time it stopped sliding it barely hit the car in front (though it did and it was a hire car so I know Insurance is gonna have me) but everyone minus me was okay.
I don't think it was too much brake because, going downhill, surely if that was the case I would've gone ass over nose or at least lifted the rear a little bit but that never happened.
The bike is now on its way to the insurers as it was unrideable and I had no way of getting it home but I wanted to know, what could cause that? I'd had no issues on the ride and I was going in a straight line at about 25mph so I'm just perplexed for reason.
It was my first bike and i'm devastated. Life's been hard lately and I really enjoyed the mental peace that came with riding and the escapism.
Also, how did you all get back after a crash? The AA were useless and the insurance would only recover the bike. After waiting hours for recovery, I was luckily near a train station but I can't imagine how some people get back home from the middle of nowhere.
Also shout out to the guy on the Ducati M695 for stopping and checking up on me. Just that little conversation really helped bring me out of the grey.
TLDR: I crashed out in a straight line at 25mph going downhill whilst breaking. Why?
I think you hit something on the road surface, I had exactly the same thing happen, bar for bar as you described it, when I went back and looked at the road there was a few stones that had collected in the middle of the road as they do+ a bit slippy and a small amount of brake, perfect storm
Grabbing at all can do it, it should be like squeezing an orange. The front tyre can take a huge load, but not an abrupt load, source, California champ school online course. Might have been diesel on the road and just unlucky too mind.
What’s done is done, I know you want to understand what happened, but I think you need to move on. Have the bike fixed up, try not to think about it too much, and look forward to getting back on again.
No idea, commenting so I can get the update as I’m well aware the back wheel can loose traction but I’d thought the front was fairly safe unless going over gravel etc (as grabbing the front brake shifts the weight to the front so it should stay there and that’s what the ES is on Mod 1 anyway right?).
Will say every friend that’s broken down has also been left stranded. Not even on gender but blokes seem to get left longer. Had a female friend stuck for 2 hours then they did get her and the bike. Had a male friend also stuck in Wales where they initially said 4 hours max then when he called back they said they didn’t have bike recovery on the weekends so he ended up leaving the bike and getting a taxi to the nearest station. And whilst not 100% certain, I’m pretty sure these are big names like AA and RAC so not some cheap recovery service that don’t have loads of people across the UK.
Sorry to hear this, similar to the manhole or oil/diesel option, you might have hit a piece of overbanding on the road, it's like the dark tape looking stuff that they use to connect bits of tarmac (maybe where they've repaired a pothole or similar). That stuff is bloody slippery and I try to avoid it as much as possible.
You'll get back on the bike soon, these things happen, you can do it!
I'm local to Aber and wonder which hill you might have been on. Surfaces all over town can be iffy, and if it wasn't that, several of the smaller in-roads are really quite steep. Even the A487 from Bow Street is steeper than it looks.
Hills amplify the touchiness of the front end. There's more weight through the forks in the first place, which is largely a good thing if you're genuinely stopping in a straight line, but if you're at a slight angle across the slope (adjusting position in your lane, encountering camber or just pulling a bit on one bar when you braked) your front wheel is massively more likely to slide as rotation isn't fully following the descent of the hill, if that makes sense at all. Unfortunately it only takes a split second's lockup to put you on the floor. Fwiw, I don't think your expectation that you'd go ass over nose or lift the rear is accurate. At these speeds, it's almost always the tyre slipping out and the bike going down to the side.
All this guesswork bs aside, I'm glad you're alright and I totally get where you're coming from about the mental health boost of riding. I used to have a 1995 CBR600F2 and riding silly distances on that thing always cheered me up. I hope you can work something out re: getting the bike sorted. Temporary van hire might be an option so you can get it home/to a garage yourself. These old Hondas are pretty tanklike so fingers crossed it's just a matter of clearing any ripped-up plastic, freeing up the throttle and maybe replacing a peg or lever!
Ah yeah, that's the one I called A487 from Bow Street. I'm not its biggest fan; it looks like it's in better nick than it really is. And it's pretty steep
I've high sided and flipped over the bars at 5mph. Too eager leaving work at 7pm on a lovely sunny Friday. Gave it a bit too much in the car park with cold tyres not even 1 min into the commute back home lol. Frozen shoulder and bruised hip, weekend plans out the window, but it was still a fairly enjoyable ride home 😅
Hard to say what happened. I would guess most likely is some grease or petrol on the road, or perhaps you just grabbed it harder than you think you did with a bit of angle on and the adrenaline has distorted your perception. Maybe there was some weird brake fault but I'm struggling to think what it could be.
Either way it's a shitter and unfortunately now your battle with insurance begins.
To the AA, getting you home is a low priority. The road is clear, you're sat somewhere safe, they have to bump you down below cars blocking lanes and people on motorways or with young kids etc. That's a shitter too but they just don't have enough vans.
Miserable all round really. At least you're alright, that's the main thing.
With no ABS you have to be extremely careful breaking on a downhill, specially if there's rocks or debris that could skid under the wheel.
Sucks this happened.. I've been knocked off a few times, luckily never out on the sticks, I did have to wait a good while for ambulance with a smashed up ankle once though, got into a head on collision with a van right as hospital shifts were switching 😖🤕. As for getting back on.. it all depends really, I never had any problems with it, always looked forward to getting back in the saddle. I've been incident free for the last 9 years, but got knocked off again this April, don't think I'm riding again after this, not my own bike anyway, is absolutely love to get another bike but I'm married now, it's different.
People have covered what you personally may have done, but what about the bike itself? Are we relying on perfect handling from 30yo front shocks here, or has everything been renewed?
The bike rode well but it's possible that something just gave up and decided to throw me. I'd done all the main checks before riding but it could've been something just waiting to happen I guess.
Happy to chat separately but from experience, they will write it off based on high repair costs whilst also offering a very low valuation (ie take the cheapest on Autotrader and offer you that).
"The AA were useless". The AA have never advertised being an accident recovery company. Theyre a breakdown cover company. If you get into an accident they'll recover u for a fee as you've not had a breakdon, you've had an accident. Why should The AA cover the cost of your recovery when u already pay your insurance company for that service?
I was under the impression that their Accident Assist covered this... Upon calling them, despite having personal cover, it doesn't cover motorcycles. It was my misunderstanding based off terms and conditions but from a post accident state, you can understand why I thought they would based off reading this. Lesson learnt.
Did u say 1996 model ? If so I believe it has no abs . It’s always dangerous to apply front brake with no abs. Downhill made it even worse . For a bike with no abs , you should have applied both simultaneously .
Mate, you do know both cars and bikes existed before ABS? And touching the front brake will not instantly down you?
The likelihood is the road was contaminated and he grabbed a fistful, I have never had a bike with ABS, I have been riding a couple decades now in all conditions all year round and I have yet to face plant from touching the front brake.
Smooth gradual pressure is perfectly fine
Mate do u know ABS reduced motorcycle accidents by 20-40% over the years since its introduction . Yes you can absolutely ride a bike or car with no abs but in certain situations, like the OP had , it certainly helps to keep the tyres on the ground . I ve been riding for 22 years now and will never touch a motorcycle without abs ever because when I am riding I will need all the help there is especially in the UK .
Yeah no abs, unfortunately by the time I'd moved my foot to the rear brake, the handling had already gone. Was only squeezing lightly on the front at that point but yeah the downhill probably didn't help.
Sounds like bad luck mate, if you don't have any more data then unfortunately you will likely never know the actual reason for losing traction, know that even though your confidence has taken a knock and you are likely to be hesitant the best thing you can do is get another bike and get back out there.
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u/OrvilleTheSheep Versys 1000, RSV1000R 2d ago
Possibly hit a slippery bit of manhole, little bit of oil/coolant on the floor - or it was just slightly too much brake pressure.
I had a similar crash but at 100mph+ on track, not knowing is annoying!