How many times have you crashed?

So should I have remained in first gear ?

 

Did you change gear during the turn if you did that is probably why, always complete a maneuver before changing gears

 

Yes almost as soon as I left lights I went up to second and just felt myself going not right enough....maybe I braked then bang ! Yes def a steep learning curve.. .had to fess up to the missus as well....

The CBT is what it is basic training, the real learning starts when you are riding, get yourself some cones and practice all the slow control maneuvers that you did in the CBT, it is not just on the CBT when you use them those skills are used all the time when you ride, and the more you practice the better you will get

I don't own a bike yet.. so have not fallen off one yet.

I was under the impression it is inevitable I will fall off.. fall over.. or crash..

Is there hope for me - or does everyone fall somehow in the first year?!

Have you been put off? You asked is crashing inevitable when you start and a few posts later someone who just started crashes

But sometimes things happen that you just can't fathom out.......I'm still none the wiser on this.

Notice the screen shaking from side to side?

I'd already taken a lower gear before hitting the bend so when I killed the throttle the bike didn't overrun.

Maybe a bit of gravel on the road caused the front to wobble as you turned in?

There's a road near me that has a rut most of the way on the uphill side and you can't help but ride in it due to parked cars on both sides and oncoming traffic, but it isn't in a straight line it veers in and out makes for an interesting ride, i try to avoid as much as possible but it is my shortest route home from most places i go to

But sometimes things happen that you just can't fathom out.......I'm still none the wiser on this.

Notice the screen shaking from side to side?

I'd already taken a lower gear before hitting the bend so when I killed the throttle the bike didn't overrun.

 

Maybe a bit of gravel on the road caused the front to wobble as you turned in?

No......when it happened it felt like a puncture on the back end. Not breaking away.....but losing pressure.

The screen moving (I think) is a consequence of the back end doing whatever it did.

Went back a few days later.......and nothing.

I don't own a bike yet.. so have not fallen off one yet.

I was under the impression it is inevitable I will fall off.. fall over.. or crash..

Is there hope for me - or does everyone fall somehow in the first year?!

Definitely not. I didn't. I wonder how many here have been riding for longer than 10 years or, worded differently, who has never crashed. I haven't.

I don't own a bike yet.. so have not fallen off one yet.

I was under the impression it is inevitable I will fall off.. fall over.. or crash..

Is there hope for me - or does everyone fall somehow in the first year?!

I crashed within 2 weeks !

.had to fess up to the missus as well....

As long as she lets you continue to ride you got it right

You have passed the biggest test....

Definitely not. I didn't. I wonder how many here have been riding for longer than 10 years or, worded differently, who has never crashed. I haven't.

49 years riding......and 20+ crashes!

But broken down, all but one (in 1978) were from 71-73.

And I've owned 63 bikes but only crashed 6 of them.

I'm not including offroad dismounts cos those don't count.

But if I threw those in it would take the total to about 40+ crashes on 10 bikes.

Still means I didn't crash 53 of them though........that must count for something.

I don't own a bike yet.. so have not fallen off one yet.

I was under the impression it is inevitable I will fall off.. fall over.. or crash..

Is there hope for me - or does everyone fall somehow in the first year?!

I crashed within 2 weeks !

There was a guy doing his mod 1 at the same time I did mine - I think he went first. He crashed. It was on the emergency stop: a good helping of rear brake while leaving the throttle on and it was all too much for the rear tyre, even on that beautiful tarmac they roll out over the test centres. I seem to remember he broke his thumb; the bike wasn't in too great shape either.

Have you been put off? You asked is crashing inevitable when you start and a few posts later someone who just started crashes

Not put off... and my logical side says - take it slow - look ahead - keep practicing - i'm not so worried about falling over as causing damage.. I'm old and am scared I will break! I also think having good skills might prevent accidents (I was heartened by the number of no accidents - even if some of those people had lots when they started there must be some hope!)

If someone grew up riding push bikes they've got a lot of the skills needed for motorbikes. If they've driven cars for some time they've learned road awareness. So long as they are sensible there's no reason for an accident to be inevitable.

Most accidents are preventable. On the other hand some of the L plate scooters and 125s I see hurtling between traffic are just accidents waiting to happen. Same goes for the power rangers rounding bends in Wales knee down with no idea what's round the bend.

As the saying goes, there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.

Fell asleep ... A14 ... rolled up embankment and fell off ... not injured .... bike undamaged ... rolled bike down to hard shoulder, removed helmet and laid on the grass embankment and slept for an hour until nice police woman woke me up .... she was panicking slightly ....

Zero so far. Closest I have come was....

On the two wheels without an engine, came a cropper at 30mph downhill (as I always said, coming off didn't hurt, but contacting the ground and the sudden stop did) and also had someone overtake then slam the brakes on. Made solid contact with the back of their pickup and the road but had scrubbed most of the speed off so wasn't too badly beat up from that.

Zero so far. Closest I have come was....

On the two wheels without an engine, came a cropper at 30mph downhill (as I always said, coming off didn't hurt, but contacting the ground and the sudden stop did) and also had someone overtake then slam the brakes on. Made solid contact with the back of their pickup and the road but had scrubbed most of the speed off so wasn't too badly beat up from that.

Nicely done ! ever thought of doing speedway

Honestly to this day I have no idea how I managed it....

I felt the steering go light and vague... I nearly chopped the throttle but managed to override that urge... then felt the rear grab traction again and managed to not fight it and allowed the bike to correct itself without it inadvertently overcorrecting just as I thought it was all over.

It probably helped that it happened fast and I wasn't left to think about it too much.

I went to hospital today as my elbow has been killing me ..had an x-ray but only tissue damage...think I'll be out of action for.a few weeks as atm can't use my right arm at all.

Walked past the scene of my crash and saw a man hole cover right where I went over and wondered if this also contribute to me going over

I went to hospital today as my elbow has been killing me ..had an x-ray but only tissue damage...think I'll be out of action for.a few weeks as atm can't use my right arm at all.

Walked past the scene of my crash and saw a man hole cover right where I went over and wondered if this also contribute to me going over

The man hole cover is probably what caused it. In the wet there's no grip on them. You learn to look out for them and take a line to avoid.

Zero so far. Closest I have come was....

On the two wheels without an engine, came a cropper at 30mph downhill (as I always said, coming off didn't hurt, but contacting the ground and the sudden stop did) and also had someone overtake then slam the brakes on. Made solid contact with the back of their pickup and the road but had scrubbed most of the speed off so wasn't too badly beat up from that.

Nice commentary as well, you could earn a crust covering F1 races.

I went to hospital today as my elbow has been killing me ..had an x-ray but only tissue damage...think I'll be out of action for.a few weeks as atm can't use my right arm at all.

Walked past the scene of my crash and saw a man hole cover right where I went over and wondered if this also contribute to me going over

Quite possible, there is not much grip on wet metal, another valuable lesson though, observations while stood still and look to see potential hazards and work out your planned route for the maneuver

Zero so far. Closest I have come was....

On the two wheels without an engine, came a cropper at 30mph downhill (as I always said, coming off didn't hurt, but contacting the ground and the sudden stop did) and also had someone overtake then slam the brakes on. Made solid contact with the back of their pickup and the road but had scrubbed most of the speed off so wasn't too badly beat up from that.

Nice save!

What caused that......diesel on the road?

I went to hospital today as my elbow has been killing me ..had an x-ray but only tissue damage...think I'll be out of action for.a few weeks as atm can't use my right arm at all.

Walked past the scene of my crash and saw a man hole cover right where I went over and wondered if this also contribute to me going over

Glad you're OK........bet the wife ain't too happy!

And yes.....it'll have been the manhole cover! And be aware that white lines can also cause a loss of traction.

felt myself drifting and not turning right..

There's one thing I'll remember for a long time from my DAS. Turning right on a junction, very slowly, something felt strange and suddenly I'm looking at a kerb on the left thinking "there's no chance I'm not hitting that kerb, sh@t" and my mind sort of froze. Thankfully I had a great instructor and he snapped me back into living by shouting into the intercom "look up, look up!!!" and it worked. I was less than half a second from meeting a foot high kerb.

Can't that explain going wide?

I've had a few rear tyre wobble moments. The oddest one was on a dry, sunny day, perfect conditions, doing a wide hairpin, got 2/3rds the way round - just at the point where you open up the throttle and bring the bike up - when the rear went and the whole bike lurched towards the ground for just long enough to me to think, "hello, tarmac, here I come", and it then magically picked itself up again as if nothing had happened. It was all over in half a second, with just the racing heart to me it really happened. I didn't dwell on it much, so it was a bit confusing when we stopped a bit later and the bloke who'd been riding behind me looked straight at me and said, "Don't you ever do that again". I think it scared him more than me.

Bikes are very stable and will stay upright on their own with very little power at the rear wheel,

it's the rider that messes up the stability