Tips to avoid falls

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Tips to avoid falls
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Tips to avoid falls

Basic tips to avoid falls
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Falling is a big issue for motorcyclists because it hangs over every pilot like a sword of Damocles. A number of factors that we can already influence also decide whether it will fall or not. PS reveals basic tips to avoid a fall.

Uwe Seitz

03/19/2014

At some point it will be quiet. Crazy fast breath booms in the helmet – it’s mine. Fine sand and sweat clog your eyes, your teeth grind. I slowly understand: fall. At the moment I was still sitting firmly in the saddle of my bike, I put my brakes heavily on the brakes and had everything under control. But then I tumble through the gravel while the motorcycle blows very nasty noises from somewhere over to me. What went wrong?

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There is no such thing as a typical fall. Reasons for dismounting without stopping are as varied as gears in an in-line four-cylinder. Falls can be roughly split into two categories. Either it does ouch because the person makes a mistake, or there is sudden contact with the ground because the technology fails. The latter does not mean, however, that it is always the tire to blame when the involuntary Rittberger follows at the exit of a curve – at least most of the time. Even if that makes a great excuse afterwards in the paddock. “Suddenly my rear wheel is gone” actually means “I pushed the gas too briskly” – the human factor is the number one reason for a fall.

So what can we do to stay seated? The simplest solution: change the hobby. Nobody can ever rule out falling off while riding a motorcycle. That is the lot of a single-track vehicle. Whether on the country road or the racetrack: If the lateral, circumferential and adhesive forces are no longer in harmony, history will turn. But now the passion has grabbed us. What to do? It would be naive to believe that you can use a few tricks from a trade magazine to protect yourself from falling on a motorcycle. But we interviewed experts and had our own painful experiences. The result are tips that may make falls a little less likely. And some very useful pointers on how to make it less ouch if it does.

Lack of tension and lack of concentration?

“When I think back to why I went down, there are two reasons,” says ex-IDM crack and PS instructor Pascal Eckhardt. “On the one hand increasing demands combined with pressure that came from outside or that I made myself. And secondly, a lack of tension and a lack of concentration. ”Eckhardt’s first point concerns dealing with one’s own limit. Those who drive prudently, push their limits slowly and step by step with increasing experience, run significantly less risk of falling to the ground. “I was considered very stable and at first hardly fell,” says Eckhardt. “I competed for victories without challenging my limit. Then it is particularly easy to drive, and everything is even easier. That changed in the IDM – the team and the sponsors have expectations, you want to quickly get involved with the experienced rabbits yourself. If that is no longer so easy, you try the crowbar – and fall! “

Anti-fall rule number one: never use force. If you don’t have to satisfy sponsors, you should take your time. “Start slowly and work your way up. This is the best way to get faster without falling, ”confirms TT racer Horst Saiger. “Every fall leaves its mark, a piece of trust is simply gone.” Regaining this trust usually takes much longer than taking your time, but keeping the risk of a crash low.

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Keep concentration and tension high

Pascal Eckhardt’s second point describes the exact opposite of pushing with all your might. If you take things too easy and drive without the necessary tension and concentration, you make the well-known “stupid” mistakes that quickly lead to falls. “It already went very well during the tests, and my ego went a little with me,” said Jorge Lorenzo, explaining the sometimes bad highsiders in his first MotoGP year. “I was often too sure of myself and therefore unable to concentrate,” said the Yamaha star. Exuberant ego and this feeling of always having everything under control are just as poisonous as “I drive fast, can you …”.

Anyone who gets on a motorcycle should do so with full concentration, know what they are doing and never put their head anywhere else than on the piece of asphalt they are walking on. If the trouble with your girlfriend is getting too much and if you can’t think of anything else, you should leave the motorcycle behind. “And anyone who has already opened the beer in their minds in the paddock will not have the necessary focus for the last turn,” adds Eckhardt. Some people who at the end of a nice day of race training have thrown their bikes away at the very last minute will now nod their heads bitterly.


Tips to avoid falls


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After the fall, the frustration is particularly great. But what to do when it turns into real fear?

Only those who ride with concentration can even feel what the bike is doing and have the opportunity to improve the chassis, for example. If the senses are not tense, we do not devote every grain of our attention to the route, the motorcycle and our impressions, it makes no sense to think about air pressures, compression and rebound stages or braking points. If you push anyway, you will also reach the limits of the machine.

A very important factor in staying focused and not falling is fitness. We don’t need to be a marathon runner, but some good physical condition is essential. Actively driving a motorcycle – and the attack on the racetrack is just as much as fast driving on the country road – requires energy. Without it, we are only attentive to a very limited extent, the reaction time drops immediately when the necessary body tension is already exhausting us. If you notice that you are getting tired, that your thoughts are constantly drifting away, it is better to end.

What if it does happen?

Warm-up exercises and a bit of stretching, especially before turns on the racetrack, are also not bad. Many racing drivers also have a ritual to build concentration. Who does not know Rossi’s deep crouch in front of the footrest before he rushes into the race. The number 46 champion also drinks a lot over the race weekend – non-alcoholic, of course! And he feeds lightly and in moderation, because a hard-working stomach draws much-needed energy elsewhere. If the engine bursts, oil spreads on the tire, the chain tears or the rubber comes loose from the carcass, neither fitness, ego, nor prudence are of any use – at most when it comes to damage limitation. It goes without saying that you should take a close look at your sports equipment before every trip. Is the air pressure in the tires correct, are the axle nuts firmly tightened, are the brake pads still good for hard braking maneuvers, is the oil level okay and the oil filler neck firmly closed? Those who act conscientiously can almost rule out the causes of technical falls today.

Would have, would be, if it doesn’t count anymore, if it actually happens and we involuntarily go to the ground. But even on departure you can still make the best of it. Of course, this is far less possible on public roads than on the cordoned-off racetrack. Anyone who is cleared from the car simply has no way of reacting. It looks different if you fall over the front wheel and slide over the asphalt.

Rule one: let go of the motorcycle and, if possible, push it away! Fingers or other body parts that are polished to the bone are often the bitter result of trying to save the bike somehow. Rule two: it is best to hold your arms and hands close to your body in front of your chest. This avoids them lashing around wildly and breaking the bones from the collarbone to the little finger particularly easily. Rule three: Ideally, you should slide on your back with your legs first. Never try to get up while you are sliding. Even experienced racers underestimate the risk of overturning because the body is still sliding fast enough.

Braking / steering camber


Tips to avoid falls


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The problem also hit Valentino Rossi very early on.

Braking and turning in are physically not possible at the same time without restrictions. If you want to know exactly, you should deal with the Kamm circle and lateral and circumferential forces. The situation requires full concentration on the front wheel. Slight vibrations in the handlebars, rubbing on the front wheel? Carefully release the brake and rather allow the slightly wider line. The later the problems arise when you turn in, the more mildly a fall will be.

Lowsider


Tips to avoid falls


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With the lowsider, the machine and driver slide outwards on both wheels.

The braking and turning phase is over, the motorcycle is angled. But it still remains exciting. The next delicate situation is reached when the gas is applied. This takes the load off the front wheel and shifts the pressure to the rear wheel. Depending on whether the accelerator is too abrupt, the rear tire acting on the flank gives up and pulls the front tire into ruin. The driver reflexively releases the accelerator, the grip is lost and man and machine slide outward over both wheels.

Highsider


Tips to avoid falls


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With the Highsider, the driver is catapulted into the air in a high arc.

The worst thing that can get you. The moment of courageous acceleration at the exit of a curve has been reached, the view is usually far out onto the straight. Then the tire buckles in the back from the brutal force over the chain. The stern is compressed, the spring is almost completely compressed. Then it rebounds under the enormous force, the motorcycle executes a real leap and catapults the driver into the air in a high arc.

Since this happens in an extremely uncontrolled manner and with enormous forces, the consequences of a fall are usually very severe. Tip: A higher rebound stage damping can minimize the risk. In addition, ensure that there is at least 10 mm negative spring travel at the rear. In this way, rear wheel slips can be better controlled when accelerating.

Andy Ibbot on the fear of falling

When the professionals come back after a real crash and struggle to be among the best in the world again, they often say that they first have to get their heads back under control. Bad experiences just make us cautious. It’s a bit like someone telling you that you have nothing on it. Anyone who has to take a few such setbacks will lose their self-confidence because you automatically expect it to happen to you again the next time. That leads to fear.

One of my students felt the same way. The 18-year-old boy fought his way up to the top ten in the Supersport World Cup. Then he fell. The injury was nothing special for an aspiring professional. Two ribs and a shoulder injury. Everyone thought that at 18 he was ignorant enough and anyway only full of spermatic cords – as soon as he was sitting on the motorcycle, it continued seamlessly. But it didn’t. In the next few races he fought at the very back of the field.


Tips to avoid falls


Manning

Andy Ibbot is CSC’s chief coach and a long-time coach of GP drivers.

As a coach and trainer at the California Superbike School, I’ve met a lot of people who have lost all their confidence when it comes to corners after a crash – racing drivers as well as normal motorcyclists out there. Quite a lot of them even admitted that because of this, they no longer enjoy riding a motorcycle. Time doesn’t help anymore either. According to the motto: “It will get better over time.” The reason for this is the deep-seated fear of inevitably falling again. This fear outshines all other senses. You can see the course of the curve exactly. You aimed at your turn-in point. Know the apex and also the exit of the curve. And yet, deep down inside you, this quiet voice whispers: “This can go wrong.”

Driving with this fear doesn’t make anyone faster, better, or safer. The more you try, the harder you work on it, the worse it gets. At the end you climb up and keep saying to yourself: “I mustn’t fall, I mustn’t fall.” And what will happen? One falls. So we need that confidence back. And how does it work? Just through knowledge. It’s our only weapon to deal with fear. Our 18-year-old racer thought more about a possible fall than concentrating on the principle of every successful cornering, the visual information. All that we taught him. Keith Code, who has successfully trained racing drivers for decades, discovered that almost all driving errors originate in the eyes. And fear changes our vision, limits it.

The better you can interpret, the safer you drive

Anyone who is afraid of hitting a stone looks at it in panic – and then drives right on it. On the street you have maybe two and a half to three meters of space on your side of the line, on the racetrack maybe twelve meters. Now drive into a curve too fast for your comfort and you will run out of space very quickly because you are looking in the wrong direction. If you don’t know where you are, you have a hard time deciding where to go and how to get there. So the better you can interpret what you see where, the safer you drive. It’s amazing how much space there is suddenly on the street or on the racetrack to play. And those who see correctly also have a lot more time to react and make decisions. That relaxes, and with it one overcomes fear.

By the way, fear is a natural reaction to potential danger. Our eyes are made to constantly scan the environment for it – real or imagined. If they have identified a supposed danger, one loses the feeling for space and time. Fear now determines action. If you start nervously, you get into this dilemma much faster and the risk of falling increases enormously. When our man became aware of this and we practiced our eye guidance more, he was a new racing driver. In the next race, at least twelfth place jumped out.

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