[Senzo]

Mainly because of the deal, 2600 delivered to my door with 1000 in after market stuff. She weighs about the same as my sport and feels quit nimble. Doesn’t feel like much in the power area though. I feel like I down graded in that sense compared to the ninja but its fun just the same. Decided to relearn on a smaller cruiser before I get into a 1300/1500.

[Senzo]

Fair enough. Thank you!

[Senzo]

I only mention the VTX1800 because of a great I saw for a sweet looking bike. My bad conciousness whispering in my ear. My uncle has a VTX1300 and I found that to be quite comfortable and ergonomic for me while sitting on it. He didnt let me actually ride it though I’m not keen on floor boards anyway.

What about a Harley Super Glide, Street Bob or Fat boy?

[Senzo]

What I meant by engine breaking is down shifting and then easing off of the clutch after down shifting. Naturally, if I wanted to a stop completely I would use no throttle after letting out of the clutch and braking. If only slowing down into a turn I re-apply throttle after slowing down sufficiently.

I use engine breaking in conjunction with front and rear braking when slowing down in general.

In this instance in the rain, I used only front and rear braking to slow down while down shifting and not letting out of the clutch until I was into the turn. Then I let out the clutch and gave it throttle once I was entering the turn. I quickly discovered I didnt have enough torque/centrifugal force to propel the bike through the turn or atleast into a lean and it just kept rolling forward towards the divider. My reactions were a bit slow given the amount of time I had to actually react and the short distance of the turn. I didnt use enough throttle for being in 4th gear in a 20 mph turn. Because of the rain maybe i was concerned I would skid out the rear wheel. I didnt think to or didn’t have enough time to down shift in the turn causing me to react the way I did. Instincts took over and they weren’t the correct instincts.

An accident is seldom one factor. Other factors such as riding fatigue, visibility, comfort, soaked gloves and boots all contributed to my making the error. Better gear and preparation for this type of riding would have helped.

Lessons learned as follows:

1. Get back on and try again.
2. No matter how well you think you can ride or how much you reduce your ladder of risk there is always a chance you will drop your bike or have your right of way violated.
3. You dont go out believing you will crash but should always believe that you can so gear up if your serious about riding.

– Senzo

[Senzo]

I also am a new rider this season in the new england area and put 2000k miles on my Ninja 650R before I lost her on an off ramp exiting interstate 95 in torrential rains. i road for 3 days straight in that crappy weather 1:30 hrs each way dodging oil slicks, cars, and riding through grooved wet construction roads. I read somewhere that you should use more break and no engine breaking when riding in the rain because you could lock up the wheels and low side. I decided to try it on the last day and did so just before entering my exit ramp. Since i couldnt feel the engine speed I came up short on being to high in the gears when i entered not delivering enough power to the rear wheel to lean the bike in to the turn. It just wanted to go straight and in an instinctive act I tried to recover by turning the front wheel to where I wanted to go which caused me to high side the bike. I had on full gear, the worst thing that happened was I got gutted by the right handle bar end when the left end hit the pavement and I caught it as I propelled forward bending it 90 degrees. I even put a crimp in it. Mind you I am 350 lbs. and all i got for that was a big bruise.

Lessons learned and with some humility the insurance company totalled my bike out. I did however get a last ride on it because I needed to get back on otherwise I would think to much and convince myself to not ride. Bent handle bar or not. ( Ok, I just road around the block but still )

I am currently looking for a new bike now and invested some serious cash in some custom fitted air mesh kevlar motoport gear. ( Worth every penny )

The most important thing here is that you learn from your mistakes and keep going.

At The Gear All The Time. Happy riding!

[Author]

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