So yeah, THAT happened.

[Whoops]

The FJR1300 got new shoes (Dunlop Road Smart 3's) last Friday as the old Bridgestone's were so thin on the rear, I could deform the center tread with my thumb. I finished up doing the semiannual maintenance and since we had a nice 47 degree day, I thought I would take it out and wear off the casting slime as I have done with many new tires in the past.

Well, I got to the first corner on my street and was going just a little faster than walking speed under no throttle and... WHOOSH. Rear tire slid out and for the first time since I started riding street bikes at 18, I went down.

It was so incredibly fast that I don't even remember the bike falling. One second I was barely even leaned while turning, a split second later I was sliding on asphalt. There seemed like no transition at all. I only slid about ten feet, but that's about ten feet more than I wanted to slide. Thankfully I had T-Rex bars which took the entirety of the fall and slide. They left a nice radius gouge in the road as the bike and I came to a stop.

Looks like I am going to need new highway pegs, perhaps a puck and luggage bar slider as well. All in all the bike is no worse for the wear.


The part I am really upset about is my new jacket that I scored an incredible close-out deal on for $550. The leather tore in two spots and it looks like the fabric has a hole in it now that has gone through the GoreTex layers inside. I have no idea if it can be repaired to be waterproof again.



When I was sliding, I put my left hand down and my hand slid several feet. I was wearing my new Warm & Safe heated gloves and I can't even tell other than the tiniest nick in the ulnar pad on the outside of the wrist. My Forma short adventure boots also held up very well. Just a little scuff on the leather on the outside of the left boot and a bit of wear on the ankle pad. My Aerostich AD-1's just look dirty. No abrasions at all.

I had actually commented to the shop tech while he was mounting my tires that it seemed like there was a lot of release agent on them. He agreed and said it was more than he has seen for a while and to be really careful. I agreed and even toyed with the idea of running some sand paper over the tires to try and scuff it off a bit. Ego won in the end though as I have done this many times before without incident, until now. My wife was just glad the gear did what it was designed to do. She tried to get me to put the bike away, but like they say, when you fall off a horse...

Summary: 47 degrees, a small incident, 38 extremely ginger miles.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Forma short ADV boots are great.

Glad the story came out well.

Did this incident happen in a shady part of the road? (not sure if that is possible with low foliage)

[pdedse]

Ouch! Sorry to hear but glad you're ok. Seems like there should be a spray-on product that would "wash-off" or neutralize whatever is used to protect tires.

[the Ferret]

Well, that's a bummer. Glad you are not hurt, and the bike was not badly damaged.

I didn't think Dunlop used a mold release agent on their tires anymore?

[WRXer_imp]

Exact same thing happened to me before up to & including the jacket but luckily I was on on my namesake WR250X.

[Cormanus]

Whoops!. Glad you’re not hurt.

[Gone in 60]

Wow, that’s scary! Sorry to hear about it but glad you’re ok and the bike only suffered superficial damage.

We have a shop in Newport Beach that repairs crash damaged leathers and does a good job. Maybe you could find a place near you that does the same.

[peterbaron]

Wow, sh*t happens without any warning!
Glad to hear you are still in one piece, recover to A1 shape fast!!

...had Dunlop Rd smart 3 on my CB and was very happy with it.

[Whoops]

Forma short ADV boots are great.

Glad the story came out well.

Did this incident happen in a shady part of the road? (not sure if that is possible with low foliage)

It's a full sun area, no leaves, gravel or dirt that I could see. It was too warm for ice.

Well, that's a bummer. Glad you are not hurt, and the bike was not badly damaged.

I didn't think Dunlop used a mold release agent on their tires anymore?

It rained later in the evening when I went back over to look at the gouge in the asphalt. I did notice that water was beading in one area just before I went down. The street is right in front of a school and cars idle in the middle of the road waiting to pickup their younglings. I wonder if somebody leaked oil (even though I couldn't see it when it was dry) and that was enough to cause the slip.

Also, the tires definitely had a varnish appearance. You can still see it a bit on the outside of this picture. I presumed it was release agent, but it isn't just rubber as I can scrape it off a bit.


The only other thing I can think of that could have contributed to it (other than me not being careful enough) was that the shop guy sprayed a lot of lube on the bead. Otherwise, the only thing injured was my pride. Maybe the wallet a bit to fix a few bits. It might be a while before I dare to ride as briskly as I did before though.

[GoldOxide_imp]

One time I experienced something similar, but managed to aggressively muscle the bike upright.

The right turn lane was dry and "glossed" up a bit in the tire path - probably from cages accelerating hard to merge with adjacent oncoming traffic. My rear tire, which also had a slight waxy ooze look at the edges lost traction (my then V-twin reached maximum torque at only 3000 RPM, so it go weird real fast).

I did turn around and examined to spot and found no oil patch, other fluids, sand nor pebbles. So I surmised it must have been the tire waxy characteristic and too much torque applied upon acceleration.