OT : Bike Fun

What doesn't?

That's some bullshit right there.

A small diesel spill and bikes go down everywhere. Like winter without the cold and rain.

You can normally smell it / see it, and avoid it...

Depends how you are driving but on a bike hitting a patch of diesel is in most cases a biker going down.

Own experiance (with a car): spilled diesel in a corner resulted in a car leaving the road, somersaulting twice along its longitudinal axis and rolling 5 times. It came to rest on its roof (which by then was 5 cm above the steering wheel) close to 300 m further.

Car, exactely 10000 km on the clock, had no doors, no wheels anymore and I received 5000 fr (80 UKP) for the wreck. I survived without a scratch and waited for the ambulance/ emergency services sitting on the armco. Highway police was the first on the spot and they slipped on the same diesel, putting their BMW rearwards in the rail (I went airborn on the same rail). Then arrived the firebrigade, who paid no notice to me but started looking for corpses in the bushes.

I had to do some expleaning that I was the driver... some more were due when my mom discovered a month later the cut-out photo of the crash (I had cut out the newspaper-article as a souvenir) because I told her my car accident was "minor", just some panels bruised. I felt that technically I hadn't lied ;-)

But then again: you smell it. That impresses me mighty: you thundering down a road and smelling spilled diesel 100-300 m in front of you. Quite a nose you've got!

Tom De Moor

So don't hit it then. :-)

Yes, I know you can't always avoid it, but somehow I seem to have managed to do ok so far on this score.

It helps that I've got decent eyesight...

You're 'out there' on a bike compared to in a car, with the air in front of you being rammed straight into your face, ergo you become aware of smells a bit quicker than in a car with the windows all done up.

I've smelt it and avoided it a few times over the last few years - it's mainly on roundabouts you see it round these parts, hence I've tended to not be 'thundering down a road' when I've encountered it.

You can smell diesel from miles away when you're on a bike.

But what do I know, eh? - I've only been riding them for nearly 15 years and covered over 100k miles on bikes. (Did 35k / year for 2 years....)

I'll see your 15 years, and raise you another 4.5 years of admittedly sporadic riding.

I'm not that sad though... ;-)

You're full of shit, Tom.

Honestly, you're an arrogant, 'I know everything', 'bar-room expert' prize tit.

I know that you have a fair bit of automotive engineering knowledge, but, quite frankly, you post a whole load of self-promoting s**te a lot of the time.

HTH.

Thanks. I didn't know diesel was slippery, and I've never heard of that happening before. It's a good job no one asked to be told that, or I'd have never found out!

And what do you mean about winter? I've rode through several winters and haven't just randomly dropped to the floor because it's cold...

It's the posting of someone who has obviously not ridden bikes - everyone who hasn't makes the assumption they fall over if you so much as look at them.

Nor have I. Too much ale on the other hand... (1) ;-)

(1) Away from the bike or in fact any motorised vehicle in fact, before anyone starts.

I'll chuck in another 7 years of sporadic years. First two being every day of the working week to collenge and back. 15 miles away. And tbh, I've never seen/known of a diesel spill - so either, I've road over it and survived, or it doesn't really happen that often and I've been, well, not lucky really as if you total up every mile that's been ridden on a motorbike in the UK over a year, then divided them by diesel falls, I imagine it's not enough to make a sensible, let's say to 2 decimal places, percentage of 'falls per mile'.

I never came off on diesel. But I was aware of it on roundabouts, so always cut my pace back if I could smell it.

Snow was what got me a few times, though.

I've only ever ridden in that when I've been caught out in it.

'Women... know your limits!'

I didn't have a choice. No car license or car, and a 35 mile commute into the mountains.

Same thing caused my only car crash to date, too.

'Are you lookin' at me bra?'

good job dervy's not into bikes, he'd be chasing the diesel spills.

Ha I fell off mine only once, and that was pissing about doing donuts in the college car park in the snow. It was lovely smooth fresh tarmac under there and me an a mate with a KDX125 were pissing around as we were a bit early and I was trying to stand straight up on the pegs and donut... It was doomed to failure really... Still, no harm done to me or the bike.