had to "lay it down!"

The lady who cuts my hair asked me if I ride my motorcycle much (since I rode it to the shop and it was "only" 50 degrees outside). I responded yes, and she informed me her husband rides a Harley. I tell her that's nice, but she goes on to state he only rides on Saturday afternoons in perfect weather, and then in the country. No big deal to me, do what you want, right? But then she gives me his riding wisdom, which amounts to having the ability to lay it down on a moments notice. he has, apparently, "laid her down" numerous times! She asked if I had ever done that? I truthfully told her I prefer to keep leaning, steering, gassing, braking, whatever to avoid the wreck til I have no other options. She thought I was talking out of my ass, so I shut up (she did have shears in her hand).
is this a common riding technique, to just give up and bail off? Guess I been doing it wrong for the past 30 years..

Yes, all the best riders do it. Give it a try sometime.

Ever watch CHiPs?

Even the modern version. most of our "motos" out here are barely capable of riding a desk chair.

I think the technique should be applied to cages as well.

1. give up
2. open door
3. jump out

Problem solved!

Last week I had a guy talking to me when he found out I ride. I was talking how I've had 3 people (now 4, careful out there guys) pull out in front of me, even with my hi-viz gear on. He started saying how sometimes you just have to lay it down and how he used to ride like 20 years ago. I told him IMO there are vary rare instances where you'll have to lay it down. You should be scanning, anticipating, have an escape route planned and enough training to know how to handle each scenario. He kind of shut up then. I wonder if laying it down is something they used to teach.

Awesome.

Another thinly disguised Harley bashing thread.

It's not there yet. I'd give it a little bit more time. Maybe jiggle the bait a bit more. By the time I get back, it'll probably have a chaps reference and maybe a few pics.




(but I do love the "had to lay it down" meme since I've got a friend who firmly believes it's Good Technique -- and he doesn't ride a HD)

Is not.


It's a "Lay'n 'er down" bashing thread.


I've laid 'er down a couple times but not because I had to.

I used to work with a older dude (hes 70 now) and he had been riding since he was 16 on the street. He told me that the lay it down thing used to be common wisdom when brakes on bikes sucked. You drop the bike and give yourself a buffer zone between you and whatever. But he told me with any bike made in the last 25 years youre better off staying on the tires now that bike brakes work like they ought to.

I've gone on two poker runs in my 12 years of riding and both times, the stops were pretty much a bunch of cruiser riders (not necessarily HD) drinking, talking about their latest piece of chrome they installed, and "I laid her down" stories.

It was actually somewhat entertaining due to the one-upmanship taking place:

Rider 1: One day I out on my Virago at night and out came a couple deer and I had to lay her down.

Rider 2: I was coming around a blind corner on my Shadow and there was a farmer on a tractor going 3 mph and I had to lay her down. I broke my right leg in five spots and had to have my knee fused into one position. Luckily, I have forwards now so my leg can stay straight.

Rider 3: Just after 'Nam, I was riding my red, white and blue '72 Super Glide to a Iron Butterfly concert in Spokane. I had her wide open through Montana and as I came up on a stop light on a rural highway I thought I could make it through the yellow.....that's when I realized the Catholic school bus at the light was going to come across the intersection so I laid her down to save the nuns and children from my 700lbs of American iron. The EMTs patched me up and the only thing broken on the Superglide was my front brake handle which was cool because I only use my rear brake. Anyhow, I still made it on time and Ron Bushy was so messed up he forgot the drum solo during Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida....I was bummed.

See... now that's funny!

This.

I've heard the "lay 'er down" advice from a few folks over the years, and it always sounded awfully fatalistic. If you have time to bail off and Lay 'Er Down, you have time to evade/avoid/brake...If not, you need to learn to pay better attention!

are they talking bout motorcycles or chicks....I had to lay her down.

Actually I see it as once again pointing out there was a time when a poorly trained rider thought "laying it down" was an effective crash avoidance technique.

You however have inferred that the mount of choice for such riders is a Harley Davidson, ergo you infer that owners of Harley Davidson motorcycles are poorly trained riders, or simply can't ride well enough to have any strategy but "laying it down."

I have to agree. I have been riding (offroad) since I was old enough to get a leg over the bike (Mom says 6, Dad says 5 - maybe it was my birthday). Got a H-D for my 16th BDay (I was racing an HD flattracker at that time, my parents had good intentions)

Until last year I raced SBK, now this older gentleman has been riding longer than me, and many others have also; but never once have I ever even thought I should lay the bike down to avoid something. The physics don't really work out that well, but more importantly a little throttle and a little lean goes a long way.

BTW, I have been riding more than 25 years.

I had to "layer down" the other day.

It was getting hot riding so I took my fleece sweatshirt off.

Are you telling me there is another strategy besides laying it down? WOW. I will have to look into this grain of wisdom and find out if it might be true.

Well, if you have crappy (Or no) brakes, and bad tires, there is probably a higher coefficient of friction between Leather (Cow or Human) and concrete, stopping you faster.

I started to work layered down this morning, but I had to stop and layer up (it was cooler than I thought).

oser