A personal example of how full gear can save your ass!

[Triple]

You mentioned having recently installed a new set of forks.

Have you ever done this before? Improperly torqued steering head bearings can create the vagueness in the front-end you described. I had a few mid-corner "oh shit" moments after swapping GSXR forks onto my SV and this was why.

[DLIT]

Originally Posted by Triple

You mentioned having recently installed a new set of forks.

Have you ever done this before? Improperly torqued steering head bearings can create the vagueness in the front-end you described. I had a few mid-corner "oh shit" moments after swapping GSXR forks onto my SV and this was why.

The forks slide right in the triple trees. No need to losen the steering head nut/bearings. This was my 4th run with the new forks, didn't feel anything weird previously.

[Triple]

Originally Posted by DLIT

The forks slide right in the triple trees. No need to losen the steering head nut/bearings. This was my 4th run with the new forks, didn't feel anything weird previously.

Gotcha. My swap required a new triple tree assembly as well.

[t-homo]

glad you are going to be ok man. always weird when someone doesn't post for a while. Could mean they got bored of the forum, or had a fatal wreck and we would never know.

Originally Posted by Triple

You mentioned having recently installed a new set of forks.

Have you ever done this before? Improperly torqued steering head bearings can create the vagueness in the front-end you described. I had a few mid-corner "oh shit" moments after swapping GSXR forks onto my SV and this was why.

he did the exact same swap on his 09ish r6. sitting right next to the r1 in the pic.

[DLIT]

I was bored of the forum. I still checked in from time to time, just never posted anything. Psycho hit me up on Facebook, told me to make a thread.

I wanted to relay the importance of gear. If you have it, wear it. If you don't, buy it and wear it.

[marko138]

Shit brother. Glad you're alright.

[njchopper87]

Originally Posted by Triple

You mentioned having recently installed a new set of forks.

Have you ever done this before? Improperly torqued steering head bearings can create the vagueness in the front-end you described. I had a few mid-corner "oh shit" moments after swapping GSXR forks onto my SV and this was why.

I'm also thinking this is the cause.

Originally Posted by OTB

First off, SHit! how did i miss this thread... and DLIT, I am so sorry.

I am going to take a WAG (wild-assed guess) about the cause of the crash.

You said that in the transition from left to right the front end just "went away"; without more details it's just a guess, but bikes like the R1 (short wheelbase, little rake, short trail) can do a little "pogo" type thing where when you've popped from full lean to full lean side-to-side the suspension unweights for a second at the top of the transition.... a lot of it has to do with if you are trail braking or on throttle and in that photo, it appears that the direction of travel is slightly downhill which also contributes to the unweighting on the front.

Doesn't take much at racetrack speeds. Rushing even slightly downhill causes the vectors to change NOT in your favor.

Just guessing without more data. But I've lost the front in similar situations on bikes i was familiar with, on roads I "Knew".

This would be the runner up. Best to start with the more obvious causes.

[DLIT]

Ranger, impacting anything at the speed I was going is gonna suck. But the collateral damage to me is minimal. The suits work best...if you don't slide into anything, lol. If I had just slid on the pavement and came to a stop, I woulda been able to walk away instead of crutching away in a lot of pain.

Chopper, my forks slide into the triple trees, there's no need to losen up the steering head nut.

[101lifts2]

Originally Posted by njchopper87

I'm also thinking this is the cause.



This would be the runner up. Best to start with the more obvious causes.

The front end will act like a pogo stick under fast transistions because it is either not setup correctly or the valving is allowing too much rebound. This is one major issue on big pistion forks (which he doesn't have). It's possible that the rebound was too quick or compression a tad too tight. It makes the front wheel somewhat loose contact and allow slippage.

[DLIT]

Originally Posted by 101lifts2

The front end will act like a pogo stick under fast transistions because it is either not setup correctly or the valving is allowing too much rebound. This is one major issue on big pistion forks (which he doesn't have). It's possible that the rebound was too quick or compression a tad too tight. It makes the front wheel somewhat loose contact and allow slippage.

Right. I've felt that before. My transition was pretty much done and I was starting to lean the bike more. Could still play a factor after the fact because the suspension is trying to catch up, I dunno. It's just something I've never felt on the track or the street in my six years of riding. It took six years to have an official wreck. Not too bad...considering I ride like a maniac in most peoples' minds.