Sliding front tire

[Rink675]

Say you are coming into the corner and you feel the front tire starting to slide or it starts sliding, would you be maintenance throttle and just allow the bike to "fix itself" or would a slight roll on of the throttle cause the front to slide more?

I only ask because if the front is sliding and in my mind I am thinking "if I apply throttle and transfer weight to the rear it will help the front tire regain grip" although at the same time increasing throttle also means increasing speed so it could just amplify the sliding of the tire because if you are already sliding the front that means you are already on the very last limit of what the tire can handle for that corner entry speed and lean angle or maximum braking if you are trailbraking into the corner.

[Hokie]

If you are sliding the front, there's not really any time to try and fix it. You are almost definitely going down.


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[Rink675]

I can't find the exact clip but here is something close, he isn't as deep into the corner as the example I am referring to but see this from 11:25



I know in the older GP days they used to purposely push the front tire but pushing and sliding is two different things.

[MadMel]

In my highly-uninformed opinion, you have no choice but to countersteer a little and get weight off the front and onto the rear with a nice, smooth roll-on that becomes maintenance when the slide stops.

[bmw4422]

Am I thinking wrong? If you would roll on throttle to transfer more weight to the rear, wouldn't you be unloading the front more, thus decreasing its traction even more? In contrast, letting off the throttle would load it, regaining traction, and possibly doing so too fast?

I'm far from educated on this, just trying to learn more too.

[MadMel]

Originally Posted by bmw4422

Am I thinking wrong? If you would roll on throttle to transfer more weight to the rear, wouldn't you be unloading the front more, thus decreasing its traction even more? In contrast, letting off the throttle would load it, regaining traction, and possibly doing so too fast?

I'm far from educated on this, just trying to learn more too.

He mentioned that it was coming into the corner, which I take to mean being off the throttle, perhaps even trail braking. In that scenario, the front is probably sliding from too much weight for the lateral force.

[kmo]

Are you refering to the front tire actually pushing while your at full lean, or are you refering to the wiggle the guy in the video is getting at 11:30 as he is getting ready to turn into the right hander off that straight?

If your talking about that wiggle or squirm then thats not front end slide. Thats just downshifting and braking to the point where your front tire and back tire are spinning at different speeds and your back tire wants to come around. This is pretty common when people are running that fast but can happen to anyone if they downshift to many gears too quickly without revmatch.

If your actually sliding your front tire then you need some better tires...haha

[Smoke]

Your foot / knee / elbow / ear might help prop it up, and frow what I understand, one of the purposes of trailbraking is to allow you to remove some braking to regain grip in case there's a problem.

I escaped gravel twice with the Daytona by ending the trailbraking on both wheels, while hanging out more to reduce the bike's lean angle, while letting the steering do more or less what it wanted, it straightened itself out for an instant then went back to countersteering.

Thing is, on asphalt, you don't really have time to react, and survival reflexes have every chance to get you screwed.

[WiK1d]

I once had a moment where the front pushed bigtime, luckily it was a slide and it kept on sliding, but my instinctive reaction was to push my knee down as hard as I could and try and pick the bike up. Never the less, I pitted 5 corners later and changed a completely shagged front Metzeler K1.

[MacaveliMC]

I understand your thought process - that rolling on the throttle would cause the front wheeler to be lighter and maybe not able to get as much traction. The fact is you are usually sliding the front for one of three reasons.

1. You hit something slippery, which isn't necessarily your fault.

2. The front end is being pushed TOO much, probably from you coming in too hot and/or trying to slow down too much mid-turn.

3. Your tire is toast and you shouldn't be so cheap - get a new tire!

In any case the front tire has broken traction with the ground and is beginning to slide out. Typically front end tire slides are very very quick and you can't really do a whole lot (even pushing the bike up with your knee is close to impossible unless your an absolute man-beast with the strength that begs you be involved in a different sport probably). But the reality is the bike wants to grab again and stabilize itself, so your best chance is to probably try and let the bike do what it's going to do - don't try and force the handlebars. If it has a chance to re-gain and stand up, it probably will. If not, at least you'll slide and not high-side! Better chance of a non-painful recovery for both you and the bike.