Rear Tire Slipped, Almost Wet Myself!

[ornery]

I've heard from more than a couple people, and read in books, you probably have a little more traction than you think.  So, I'm always trying to lean a little more on each ride.  Seeing where the limit really is.  This morning I was hardly pushing it, and the rear tire slipped, causing me to gasp a bit.  Just didn't expect it at all, and without knowing what went wrong, I'm going to be pretty timid with cornering for a while.
 
[video src=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unhG_CVc-Hc&feature=youtu.be]
 
No brake applied. 6:00AM, 50°F, 6 miles of riding 35MPH prior. Roads dry, no sand or gravel. Tires new and inflated exactly at Yamaha's spec. Wasn't leaning that much, IMO.  Was on a line to stay in my lane until it cut loose.
 

[wickedtwister]

It's probably due to the cold temps. Not sure which rear tire you have but cold grip can be a problem but 50 isn't that cold. By the way where are you it's 80 here at 6 am... Also many miles on tires? I had similar issues with new tires but once they are "broken" in they are fine.
 
I was riding and the road had nice high speed rolling hills speed limit 55. Came across a long sweeper and there was a solid line of gravel on the road that I hit mid lean. I started to slide really bad and a quick jab to the pavement with my brake foot righted the bike but man was that a pucker moment!

[NICKY NEON]

also check your tire pressure should be about 34 psi

[Tyler Jane]

Yikes, pretty scary. I've been afraid of this. I keeping trying to lean more and more and so far I haven't had this happen (as long as I'm not touching the rear brake). But I guess it's bound to happen eventually.

[cndnmax]

Probably gravel or something in the road, you can't always see it.

[fz07fanboy]

More than likely is because the tire wasn't warm enough. Also your posture when leaning can make a difference. it also looks like in the video you may have went over a damp/wet section on the right side of the corner. There also looks what seems like what i call tar snakes (seals cracks in the road) in the road that you may have turned on as well.

[pantheraleo]

It's possible you picked up a bit of oil or something before the turn and it reared its head then. Cold temps and damp road conditions are possible other suspects, but after 6 miles, the tires should be warm enough for a turn like that one.
 
Don't let it freak you out. My rear has slipped quite a few times. It's okay, you just ease off (NOT release quickly) the throttle and ramble on.

[bmwpowere36m3]

Best to ride it out… i.e., don't freak out. This is where dirt experience really comes in handy. Once you become accustomed to "sliding" around… driving on the street will seem tame by comparison. I went from street riding to dirt… boy that was an eye opener.
 
Best advice is to never apply the brake (probably worst thing you can do) and either hold the throttle steady or very and I mean very gently and slowly reduce the throttle. Unless the entire turn is covered in gravel… likely you'll slip for a bit and then regain traction. Now if you hit an oil/gas/diesel slick or wet spot… that's tricky because the bike will very quickly slip out.
 
You only have so much traction… I'd rather slide at a slightly higher speed, but have all the grip available to cornering instead of giving some of it up to braking. And if you're sliding, i.e., reduced grip, any braking generally will only make you slide more.
 
I was ripping down a very hilly backroad and I "knew" the road was dropping off, but I was on the throttle hard and didn't lean forward…. pulled a wheelie over the crest of the hill/drop. Definitely a big pucker factor since I knew it was coming, but didn't really expect it. I've also slightly slid around corners, but mostly due to loose "road material" that still covers some of our roads from the winter (i.e., freeze, thaw and plowing knocked up a bunch of gravel-like material off the roads surface).

[bmwpowere36m3]

The video doesn't really show much of a slide and I don't see much counter-steering. However I'm sure you slid some. You cut the corner pretty close to the sidewalk and at the "apex" (near the sidewalk curb) there was a "darker" patch of asphalt (maybe wet, maybe not) and there seamed to be a few "bumps" mid-turn (either from tar snakes or roads patches) as well.
 
It probably was a combination of outdoor temp, tire temp, maybe a wet spot, a bump mid-turn and jerky throttle (FZ-07's seem to be jerking when going from closed to open throttle).

[ornery]

Which of you folks is Astrality84?
 
He replied, "Most of those slips occur because the rider lets off the gas. The bike is then engine braking in the corner which is bad for traction."
 
This may be it. Tires have 850 miles on them, and are perfectly inflated to Yamaha's spec on the swing arm.
 
I went through the turn today very cautiously and looked for oil, sand or other contaminants on the road. It was perfectly clean, but it was foggy, so I suspected it may have a mist on the surface this morning, and didn't push it.
 
Thanks for the input Astrality84, you've given good advice and encouragement. Only wish there was a

 

[norcal616]

When the tire is under 3k miles old it's still kinda slippery in the areas that get used only when you corner from my experience...my stock tires are 3500 miles old and the cornering area of the tire is getting better as it ages...I find the rear brake on this fz is super strong...

[Guest Ralph]

Your only doing about 25 and to be honest I cant see anything amiss with the way the bike
acts, those tar repairs can be very slippery and I think you felt the wheels cross them and
that caused you to over correct a little maybe just jolted you confidence. Tyres are generally
run in or what ever you call it after 100 miles but if you don't lean the bike a lot you can
end up with quit large areas that have not made contact with the road so if you then suddenly
start to lean it further you can end up cornering on what is untouched rubber. Trick is to
progressively lean further over the first few miles on the new tyre not suddenly go from near
upright to full lean.

[speedingtickets]

Was it sand? Dirt bike experience taught me to lay heavy on the throttle when going down. It is difficult to do psychologically. 

[jake]

I've had a few myself on several surfaces recently I got caught in the rain I was going faster than I should and hit the lane stripes and felt the rear let go. Don't panic let the bike do its thing and keep going lol.

[Cruizin]

When ya get more experience rear tire slip can be fun heading into a corner. Kinda like when we were kids and pulled the e brake in moms car to do a powerslide. Rear tire slip is ok, it happens and the thing to do is just go with it and not start hitting brakes. On dirbikes, we power slide most corners by hitting back brake to slip the tire out and then pin the throttle, which allows us to roost our buddies behind us with rocks.
 
Take corners slow for a while and with more miles under your belt you will get used to it.

[ornery]

..if you don't lean the bike a lot you can end up with quit large areas that have not made contact with the road so if you then suddenly start to lean it further you can end up cornering on what is untouched rubber...

That makes so much sense.  Thanks! 

[Guest GringoStarr]

Have you watched Twist of the Wrist II? I couldn't tell what your posture was from the video, but hanging body parts off the bike toward the inside means less bike lean and more traction. I assume a tire can lose traction because it has too little load. TOTW2 repeats something like this ad nauseum: " roll on the throttle evenly and consistently throughout the turn." This transfers weight to the bigger rear tire for more grip.

[norcal616]

I never minded the rear tire slipping after all my years of dirt biking...I always keep the throttle steady if I feel the rear slipping...I will not quickly let off the throttle when I feel the rear slipping as it will gain way too much traction way too quickly...

[Beemer]

A little bump while in a turn, maybe some very fine crumbled asphalt you couldn't see. I did notice some patch work in that spot or even just some fine surface oil you couldn't see. Intersections are notorious for that. No one can say for sure what caused it because so many different things can cause it. Not taking any chances of anything slick in a turn, I always brake and down shift while going in a straight line before a turn and I'm at the speed I want to be at before I enter a turn, I don't lean it hard & fast, I lean gradually and I slowly roll on the throttle exiting 'after the apex', not through-out the turn. That's my way of being cautious. 

[ornery]

Thanks for the input. First of all, this happened after only about thirty days of riding. Now that I have a whopping 1,400 miles under my belt, another incident like this wouldn't shake me up much. It probably was the edge of the tire not being worn in, along with not rolling on the throttle, or possibly even allowing it to slow during the turn.
 
I've had it get squirrelly on me since then, and just accepted it. I think it would be a riot to throw a 250 pound dirt bike around, but I've come to terms with the fact this bike is too heavy to wrestle around. I'm just a conservative commuter from here on out.

[RobMoore]

This bike isn't heavy, but it is undersprung and underdamped. I think your slip was from bouncing over the rough patch of road you hit cutting the corner the way you did.

[thomascrown]

I've lost both the front and rear tire, i just put weight on the outside peg to get the bike as vertical as possible. The more upright the bike, the longer you have to reacquire traction.

[ornery]

This bike isn't heavy...

Pffft, this thing is too heavy to be ridden like a dirt bike. That was a rude awakening for me and that's where the gasp comes from.  Knowing If it starts sliding out, putting your foot down ain't going to keep it up.   

[hobbs]

I hit a massive gravel slick last week on a windy backroad. The bike came very close to eating an asphalt sandwich.
 
It all happened so quick I nearly fell off the bike. But I managed to hang on and she recovered after sliding across the entire lane. Not going down that road again I tell you!

[sorkyah]

This bike isn't heavy...

Pffft, this thing is too heavy to be ridden like a dirt bike. That was a rude awakening for me and that's where the gasp comes from.  Knowing If it starts sliding out, putting your foot down ain't going to keep it up. 

Thats not entirely true... but maybe its because of my size.
Ive saved myself from some rather nasty spills by kicking off the ground.
usually they involved dirt, gravel or slick/wet corners.