Downed bikes. What just happened?

[thompsonr]

I went to You Tube to see some motorcycle videos and came across this titled BMW bike crash. Tell me what just happened here. Two bikes go by the camera person (another question) and round a small corner at a average speed .First bike goes down cant really see much of it .Second bike front wheel turns left then goes down.

Seams weird to me. Was there something on the road ? Oil ? Why was the camera there? Coincidence ? Or did they place something on the road just to get a video of something like this.

I know you don’t have and maybe no one has the answers to this just thought I might get someone else’s 2 cents on this.

Been buggin me. Thanks
Heres the video does show two bikes going down which none of us want to see but maybe theres something to be learned here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHwB3x5BGM

[TexanRT]

I went to You Tube to see some motorcycle videos and came across this titled BMW bike crash. Tell me what just happened here. Two bikes go by the camera person (another question) and round a small corner at a average speed .First bike goes down cant really see much of it .Second bike front wheel turns left then goes down.

Seams weird to me. Was there something on the road ? Oil ? Why was the camera there? Coincidence ? Or did they place something on the road just to get a video of something like this.

I know you don’t have and maybe no one has the answers to this just thought I might get someone else’s 2 cents on this.

Been buggin me. Thanks
Heres the video does show two bikes going down which none of us want to see but maybe theres something to be learned here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHwB3x5BGM

Watching the second rider a few thoughts or questions come to mind: (1) I think there are two sets of skid marks -- maybe the first bike was going in too hot and low-sided trying to get around the corner after braking too hard for the lean angle. (2) I think I saw the brake light go on just before the second bike went down and you can see that skid mark so I'm not thinking there was anything slippery on the surface or there wouldn't have been a skid mark (edit) -- could they have grabbed too much front brake in the corner and lost the contact patch? (2) looking at the second bike's lean angle -- was there enough remaining to corner a little harder and get around the first bike? (3) The second bike was following very close -- less than 2 seconds -- if there was something on the road, the second bike would have had more time to respond with a little more following distance. JMOFWIW

[BigSkyRider]

No ABS....hence the skid marks??:scratch

[ben795]

The first bike may have hit something in the road, oil, loose sand, who knows?
The second rider just lost it. Understandable, when it happens right in front of you. You just lock up and slide. It is almost impossible to remain focused on your own lean angle, and complete the turn, when your riding buddy goes down hard in front of you.
Everything locks up, kind of like being paralyzed for a second.
Its not really the same, but, I had this happen when a deer jumped into the road ahead of me, I was going about 60 mph, and just froze and locked onto him.
I was fortunate that he jumped again just before I would have impacted him. It was one split second. The car passing me on the left hit him square! BANG!
I know what "object fixation" means. No time to react.. so you just freeze..
Now I try to concentrate more, especially in traffic, with an "exit-out" in mind. constantly scanning left and right, to see which would be the better choice if I need to turn to avoid a problem. Always looking through the turn, not at the turn. Its hard to tell how you might react when the crash is a split second in front of you.

[lamble]

2nd bike brakes when the bike is leaned over, guessing front brake.
If the second rider had counter steered by pressing the bars left to right there was enough lean available and space to have missed the first.

Didn't get enough of the first bike to make any suggestions based on accuracy.

[EXR911]

I went to You Tube to see some motorcycle videos and came across this titled BMW bike crash. Tell me what just happened here. Two bikes go by the camera person (another question) and round a small corner at a average speed .First bike goes down cant really see much of it .Second bike front wheel turns left then goes down.

Seams weird to me. Was there something on the road ? Oil ? Why was the camera there? Coincidence ? Or did they place something on the road just to get a video of something like this.

I know you don’t have and maybe no one has the answers to this just thought I might get someone else’s 2 cents on this.

Been buggin me. Thanks
Heres the video does show two bikes going down which none of us want to see but maybe theres something to be learned here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHwB3x5BGM

From what you can see of the corner the first bike is on a very bad line (on the center line of the road well before the apex). Not shown is how the first bike crash occurs but the rider when on the ground appears to have tried to "step off" the bike and let it low side into the guard rail - hence all the sparks.

The second rider, if the front wheel is turning left, is steering the wrong way. From what can be seen of the second bike's line the rider was following the first bike's line rather than "riding his own ride".

Hard to tell speed from the film but I would say they were "too hot" as well as being on a very bad "early apex" line for the corner since it appears to steepen as one gets into it.

PT9766

[SCQTT]

First rider lowsided, my guess is he ran out of cornering clearance. Second guy locked the front and lost it.

Looks like skid on the right was from the rear of the first bike.

Skid on the left was from the front of the second bike.

Not certain I would have done anything differently.

That guardrail looks ugly.

[GlennB]

Localized gravity anomaly. Very hard to predict and transitory in nature. Be afraid.
:laugh

[R80RTJohnny]

Rider 1 - entered curve too fast then lowsided. Rider 2 - Realizes what 's happened then grabs brake hard (the oh sh*t factor) then loses it.

Were they aware that they were being filmed and they might have pushed just a little too hard.

Hope that they are OK.

[thompsonr]

Rider One: Dude…. there I was…. smoke’n through this corner at about 90…. You know go’n quick, but not really pushing it. Then all of a sudden there it was a Mayflower moving van in my lane and he was passing a school bus with 30 kids on it in the other lane. I thought to myself….”Self, this is knarly,” and I was about to take the whole thing off road. You know, no big deal, I’d just pop a wheelie and jump the Armco and power slide my way through the corner, but then, like I saw the puppy on the side of the road so I just kinda slide the bike off into the weeds. You know, totally under control…. Don’t want to trash no puppy man.

Rider Two: I was putting a pass on that turtle and as soon as I put a wheel into him he freaked-out and lost it man. Totally not my fault man… I was fly’n you know.

AK................ What are you smokin?..........................:groovy

[Sit]

Okay, what kind of BMW's were those? Sure didnt look like air/oil heads.

Good cornering lines, I always try to corner with my head and body over the center line, helps me get home faster.

And as previously stated, no ABS and panic equals ah crap!!

[robertklee]

Looks to me like oil. Front tire on second bike flies out from under bike...

:usa

[85138]

Going into the turn, they both had pretty good lean angles (looked at start of video) plus his body position was poor. Hard to tell w/ the 1st bike but I'm not convinced it was road conditions. He might have ran out of clearance or locked up by trying to scrub off speed. (Looks like it was a K12RS) Then again we don't know what shape the tires were in.

Second bike seems to have applied brakes to avoid the 1st. You'll see the bike sorta stand up (typical if brakes applied while leaned over) then tuck the front. In an instance like that 'instinct' or habit takes over. He didn't have much time to react. In hindsight he might have been able to avoid the 1st by tightening the line but that would have been a tough one to pull off.

Note also it's practically a double apex (or 'U' shaped) turn and seemed to be decreasing radius at exit.

Hope they weren't seriously hurt. That's always a risk wicking it up while following closely in twisties.

[bobh41]

I heard the engine RPMs on the second bike increase - as in a downshift, perhaps. It looks like the second bike had begun a good line for the entire curve, but probably fixated on his buddy and followed him into the guard rail, also panic and squashed the front brake - my guess.

[R1Zst]

Hate to preach, but first and foremost they are not on the track.
The K bike I find is top heavy with a tank full of gas.
Cant really tell when he fell.
The second bike had a wrong line and leaned way over the yellow.

Ahhh they were probably showing off for the camera.
In any case, hope they are ok.