had to "lay it down!"

I think it's more of a "Naw, I didn't crash, I MENT to do that!"

Ya know sometimes when youre lane splitting and your ABS fails, youre already dead so the only chance you have is to lay it down...

Crashing, to avoid crashing. Makes sense to me! :huh

I just searched HDforums for "Laid it down" and got 246 hits.

Then I did a search for the same words at stromtrooper.com and got zero. Svrider.com: 244. But don't worry, they all argue endlessly about ABS, oil, and riding attire.

I'm glad I switched to a Wee.

Once I was at a trailhead parking lot watching a forest fire in the distance and a guy on a Harley and leather gear adorned with fringe pulled up and was watching also. So I said "nice bike" to be friendly and start a conversation so he starts telling me about his bike how he "customized" it with bolt on chrome and all of the "battle scars" it has.

"This was from laying it down on the way to Sturgis in 97" - a .75inch scuff on some chrome.
This was from laying it down on the way to Sturgis in 99 out running a hail storm" a 1.25inch scuff

And a few more battle stories about little scuffs that look like they were 0-3mph tip overs and I am thinking this guy tipped over his bike a few times and made up some big stories about it. ?
Idono I always thought "laying it down" meant sliding out at road speed= bent handle bars, broken parts, major gouges though out the bike. But I guess it can also mean a tip over in a parking lot to some people.?

I hate telling my wreck story to certain types of riders. My accident was at 60 MPH with my ass hanging off the side of the seat in a hard left corner. A car coming the other way decided to make a u-turn in the middle of this corner. I saw it develop with enough time to look for an escape. Going on my projected path was suicide and hitting the brakes would have launched me into a brutal high-side.

I looked for an escape route and the result was predictable: I rode exactly where I was looking at the time and that meant into the gravel, off the road and that lead to a brutal high-side.

There was no avoiding this crash. Yet, it bugs the crap out of me to have a person hear it and start nodding enthusiasticly and saying, "yup... I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes, ya gotta lay er down."

I didn't lay it down! I stayed with the bike as long as I could. Had there been an escape, I would have taken it. I had no time to scrub off any speed.

The really irksome part of it is, if I had just "laid er down" I probably would have been better off. Laying it down and accepting the low-side would have kept me out of the hospital completely and the bike would not have landed on my back. Still though, laying it down just isn't ever a plan. At least its not for me.

this very thing has made me stop, consider, and shut my mouth on numerous occasions

The funny thing about common misconceptions is that they tend to be, you know, pretty common.

you know that cable guy "get r done" thing?

whenever I see these threads, in my head I can hear some :ymca talking about "layin er down"...but they always talk with the cable guy's voice

I allways get a kick out of that line. In the movie "On any Sunday" they discuss the reason. I don't recall entirely but I think they talk about flat track racing and how much better it is than high-siding. In truth I would say that my footpegs and handlebars scraping on the street had more stopping power than my 61' Panheads brakes . These days I'll take tripple disks, ABS and some good rubber.

Strangely me too. I have never "layed er down" but I have had several involuntary dismounts though. Usually in the dirt because I was being a dumb ass.

That makes sense. I know when I used to drive old American cars with lots of motor and not so much brake there was a point at which braking wasn't going to do dick, so you'd resign yourself to going over, under or through whatever hazard was ahead of you and accelerate. I have to say cutting my teeth on old cars driven fast really got me into looking very far down the road and taking everything in. My father called it "Chess, played 10 steps ahead" and it's worked a damn treat for me so far.

I wonder if cowboys and calvary men ever had conversations about "layin" their horse down to avoid the random stagecoach, recklessly driven?

Matteeanne posted it best on another thread. Look at this guy :huh The WTF of WTFs!

See, I was just thinking maybe the one time it would be ok to "lay er down" would be to slide right underneath a transport truck! It would be James Bond awesome to slide underneath, stand the bike back up and keep going!

Of course I think someone else should try it first.

You know that "laying in down" in those chaps will wear a hole in the seat of your britches? Oh, and no pics......there ya happy?

See, dude should have been riding Megaforce and he would have been all right;

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The guy that *met* the truck, did he even attempt to brake?:huh

I figure that if his leather stops him by the time he get to the truck's tires, his brakes really could have done a better job.

that was my first thought, had to watch it again just to check

sure didn't look like it

Okay, so it wasn't just me, that bike went from straight line to sliding down the road much faster than it would have if he had lost control. Sure seems like it was tossed down intentionally.

And heaven help me, if you see me sliding down the road, something is seriously wrong, because I've said it before, and will say it agian, I'm not looking forward to skidding down the road on my ass. In fact I'll do everything I can to stay upright. That's just my chicken, self-preservation side showing, though. Some people sure don't seem to have much self-preservation left.