Sliding front tire

[Rink675]

Originally Posted by 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

Ah maybe the camera is misleading what I am seeing then....I figured if it was just the rear tire getting a little loose that it wouldn't move the camera that much unless it was the front sliding or starting to.

I know this is nowhere near our level but here is more or less what I am talking about start watching at 5:00 and at 5:02-5:03 you can see the front tire starting to slide.

[Rink675]

Originally Posted by 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.

So basically just try to pick up the bike and get to the throttle earlier then you normally would and even if it's just a slight roll on just get to the gas?

Originally Posted by 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.

Yea I knew grabbing onto the handlebars tighter would only make it worse, this isn't something I have encountered but just wanted to touch on the subject because like you said for the different ways it can happen it's still a likely possibility. You don't have to be an expert club racer, you could just simply be a novice and take a corner a little too hot then you thought you could.

Thanks for the info guys!

[Jstu202]

Originally Posted by 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.

Exact same thing happened to me, managed to push the bike back up and save it too.

[Rink675]

Originally Posted by Jstu202

Exact same thing happened to me, managed to push the bike back up and save it too.

So far this seems like the most realistic way to fix a sliding front tire...

[Cayden2]

Was riding on the street one time and came to a 90 degree turn. The temp dropped nearly 30 degrees in a mater of 20 minutes while riding. The front tire completely slid at half lean. A quick stab of the boot to the ground propped the bike right back up. Yes my underwear was changed when I got home.

[Rink675]

Originally Posted by Cayden2

Was riding on the street one time and came to a 90 degree turn. The temp dropped nearly 30 degrees in a mater of 20 minutes while riding. The front tire completely slid at half lean. A quick stab of the boot to the ground propped the bike right back up. Yes my underwear was changed when I got home.

Yea man I bet!!!

[Joseph946]

I'm with MC. Ease up on the bars and let it catch itself. Going wide is better than going down! imo.

[Rink675]

Originally Posted by Joseph946

I'm with MC. Ease up on the bars and let it catch itself. Going wide is better than going down! imo.

Going wide can also lead to going down as well, just depends where you are on track and how fast you are going.

[carnage.inc]

Only time i've had the front slide it happened so fast on a slick spot on the track i was sliding before i knew what happened

[Rink675]

Originally Posted by carnage.inc

Only time i've had the front slide it happened so fast on a slick spot on the track i was sliding before i knew what happened

Did you recover or did you go down?