Need some advice post my first lowside on my first sport touring bike

[Giaka]

Not sure what reading is going to help you on this one. Were you familiar with this road? Didn't read the whole thread so sorry if I missed it. If not familiar then you just happen to come across a shitty situation (those are pretty severe dips).

Sounds like your two biggest mistakes could have been not looking through the corner (target fixation, Lexus) and locking the front brake. With the massive dip then a bump then a corner (and water?), probably the only thing you could have controlled was looking through the corner which could have required less braking. Even that may not have helped with the suspension being so upset with what was going on.

Glad you didn't get hurt much. This is a brush yourself off and get back on the bike situation. Oh and slow down if you come across that causeway again.  

[napper]

"The Proficient Motorcyclist" by David Hough is my personal favorite  

Good luck with getting back on the horse. Take it easy, read up on some techniques/basics, parking lot practices are invaluable and take the course as soon as you can  


I will admit to cringing when I read that you left your 16 month old napping at home while you went riding. I presume (hope) that someone else was there with her?  

At first, I thought the daughter was asleep on the back of the bike.  

[JSharp]

So I got a new to me 01 Aprilia Futura on labor day this year. The bike was great, the power smooth and controllable but oh wow fast compared to my little yamaha. I took it for a ride on a curvy road when my daughter was napping (the other kink in this is having a 16mo old little girl, our first)

I was taking it very easy trying to get used to the way the bike feels cornering because it is so alien to me and the weight is hard to get used to, I ended up hitting a concrete causeway where a creek can flood the road and losing control barely missing an oncoming car locking the front brake and having a lowside at about 20-25mph

Not to make light of what others have posted about books and practice since they're all 100% but...

Maybe the photo doesn't really show how rough the road was, but I looked at it for a while and it seems to me what got you wasn't the road or the bike or your actual riding skills. It was lack of confidence. You may well have gone in too hot and when the bike bottomed it felt like it was a major upset. It may even have been one, but it seems there's nothing there that can't be negotiated at 20-25mph had you not panicked.

You got on the brakes hard and apparently scrubbed off some speed. Enough that had you got off the brakes, looked where you needed to go and committed yourself to get there, that you would have made it.

It's a hard thing to learn and mostly comes with scaring the hell out of yourself repeatedly. But there are just a couple of choices in a situation like that. Panic and lock up the brakes with the ensuring slide putting you on your ass. Or get rid of all the speed you can, then turn your head to where you need to go and turn your bike. Sure, you may run out of tire or ground clearance or traction and not make it. But in the first case it's guaranteed you're going down. So the latter choice is better.

99 times out of 100 you're going to make it because the limits on modern bikes and tires are so much higher than what most riders, especially new riders are comfortable with. Keep in mind too that almost anything you could do on your old dirt bikes you can do on your new street bike. It just might require more input to do it. The flip side is you have traction to work with you could never find on the dirt. So you have a huge advantage there. Don't be afraid to try to use if it comes down to that or a most certain crash.

[coho]

^That.
'When in doubt, gas it" is the rule in the dirt.
Sometimes it's the right choice on tarmac, too.












Sometimes not, but better to try and fail than to not try and fall down anyway.

[Rincewind]

All the advice is great, thank you


Just to elaborate on what happened

I came from the far side
The causeway itself is actually straight although there is a turn after it
A white lexus turned the corner and was headed toward the causeway in the oncoming lane, it was probably around the start or in that shadow when I began to have an issue
I am fairly certain I did bottom out or bounce the suspension, at least enough to bounce me off the seat
I was focused on trying to look where I wanted to go (behind the car) and honestly thought I would not make it in time and would hit the rear quarter panel somehow I dodged it but I was trying to brake and scrub all the speed I could before the impending impact. After I passed the car I was heading fairly straight as I had not had time to make the corner and thats when I locked the front brake and lowsided.
You can actually see the faint skid marks just this side of the shadow in the picture I believe
I believe my overall path was quite straight

How fast were you going when you came upon the concrete section?  Really sounds like you were going too fast.  It also seems that you may have: forgotten about the necessity of countersteering, panic braked, and maybe did some target fixating on that rear panel of the Lexus.  

What I believe you should have done was slowed down more when you saw the concrete surface, settled the bike chassis ASAP afterward and immediately gotten into the lean required to safely make the corner.   Panic is the enemy.  Ride the speeds that will safely allow you to come home to your young one.

Good luck and welcome to STN!  

[Mastros2]

I recommend any of the MSF classes as well, the above mentioned books and practice.  

You mentioned that you picked up the bike recently.  Has the suspension been dialed in for your weight?  A suspension that isn't set up correctly will cause the bike to be unsettled over bumps and at angles.  Find a nice shop that does motorcycle suspensions and have them set it up for you.  The cost is usually around $50 but it will completely change the bike.  

[cbsnbiker]

I also wonder if the suspension is working properly and/or set up properly. Should it have bottomed out as you describe if you were driving at slowish speeds?

As others have suggested, consider taking an MSF course. Hold off on the ARC for now; save that for later. The BRC2 (formerly known as the ERC) would probably be best for you, or maybe even the BRC.

It's possible that, after the course, you can figure out for yourself what went wrong with this incident.

Best wishes!

[Orson]

Should it have bottomed out as you describe if you were driving at slowish speeds?

I think it wuz me who mentioned bottoming out, not the OP  

I don't know if they bottomed out. I just meant that having the suspension rebounding from a dip, just as you were leaning into a corner, really upsets the physics of the whole operation  

[cbsnbiker]

I think it wuz me who mentioned bottoming out, not the OP  

I don't know if they bottomed out. I just meant that having the suspension rebounding from a dip, just as you were leaning into a corner, really upsets the physics of the whole operation  

You did mention it first, but he affirmed your opinion in a later message.  

[Bounce]

All good advice. Bring the bike upright through the causeway, then deal with the follow-up curve separately. Let the suspension do it's job, then deal with the curve. If you have to slow down to accomplish this, the do so BEFORE the causeway.