Drifting Fun

[ariwhiteboy]

Just down the road from me is a little dirt road connector. Over the past few weeks the city has been dumping more dirt and grading it out. That combined with some heavy rains means that the paved end of my road is covered in dirt/sand. Enough to dump you if you aren't careful. Just the other day I was returning home from school like normal and as I rounded the turn gently(being mindful of the sand) the rear tire broke loose. I rode it out and it recovered nicely (more from the physics of the bike than any level of personal skill. ) It's certainly not the first time I've broken the rear loose and rode it out, but like all the others, it spooked me a bit. I got about a mile down the road and thought "Nope, this is a learning opportunity not to be wasted." I turned around an went to face the slippery sand. Starting slowly and working my way up I took the corner repeatedly at low speed without slipping, then I dialed up the angle I was taking it at and applied a tiny bit of throttle mid turn. The rear broke loose and I rode it out. I made about two dozen passes through that little section to build my confidence, learning how my bike responds and finding the right balance of throttle and counter steer (thanks spoonman!) to carry me through the corner sideways. The whole purpose of this thread is to see if anyone else has thought about/practiced this. Sure we've done it with a dirt bike, but it's been years since I flat tracked on a dirt track. Who has experienced a little rear end slide and been scared for a second or two? This guy.   If you are able to do so, get out there and practice. I'd be willing to bet that rear end slide, whether on some sand/gravel in the road or a rain soaked manhole cover has caused a pretty fair amount of riders to go down. If you are lucky enough to find a good place like mine, get some practice in, start slowly and learn your machine. Obviously this is a risky skill building activty, so as always, wear the gear and approach with caution. Hopefully with a little practice, the next time you hit that slick patch in the road a feel the rear end slip you can say "Wow, that was just like I practiced!" instead of "Whew that was close, thank (insert preferred noun here) I didn't go down!"

Ride Safe,
AWB

[fortyhourdays]

That sounds like a good thing to practice.  I'll have to start looking for a sandy curve that has no traffic around. 

[ailkel]

I can't say I have ever practiced drifting on the streets however I do enjoy the adrenaline rush when the opportunity arises.

[hppants]

I wish I had a beater bike exactly the same make/model as the one I ride.  Then I could practice low speed maneuvers like this more aggressively.  Of course, the bike would go down, but I'd learn a ton more.

[Bumblebee]

Drifting on pavement is creepy. I tend to do that on slow school practice days in the dirt where things are far more forgiving. When it happens on the pavement, it's still creepy however I can think sensibly about what to do next instead of dealing with the adrenalin that use to get loaded into my head.

[luckylindy]

Opportunistic Ari.  Glad you took the chance to learn more about your bike in a slide.  I think I lucked out when I had a slide back in August.   Practice for a scary situation like that would be good.  I do regularly practice slow speed stuff, but a slide at 50mph is another animal.

[green427]

You are lucky to have the opportunity. The last two times my rear broke loose I had to pull over and empty my shorts.


Keep it up and you will be as good as this guy:

[ariwhiteboy]

I can only hope so Green! 

[Option13]

I did that in the grass at the old high school's (literally - they're in the process of converting the building to hold the county's servers) football practice field, which is conveniently hidden from view. It is definitely unnerving, but maybe I need to be on something a little less slippery so I can do more than just gun it and wait for the rear wheel to kick out one way or another. I wasn't about to try to turn and accelerate on the grass, but there really isn't a better place to fall off. I mean, put some tape over the gas tank and you'll be hard pressed to cosmetically damage a Nighthawk on soft, wet dirt and grass.

Now, when it happened on the road when it was starting to rain... That was fun. It wasn't a powerslide, but a quick slip out of a very tight turn. I'm not saying it was talent, but it simply didn't scare me and I never even flinched.

[Spoonman]

Lol, your welcome Ari! Not sure when I helped you with that, but sure!

Just remember to wear the gear! I still have scars from falling when I was leaving an interview over a year ago. I got lucky.

[hockeyhawk]

It happened to me a couple times last weekend when I was out on my DR650. The tires that are on there now are 90% Dirt 10% Street, Those knobbies do not grip well when leaning. I was able to ride it out every time although the first time it happened it was an eye opener.