A personal example of how full gear can save your ass!

[njchopper87]

Originally Posted by Triple

You mentioned having recently installed a new set of forks.

Have you ever done this before? Improperly torqued steering head bearings can create the vagueness in the front-end you described. I had a few mid-corner "oh shit" moments after swapping GSXR forks onto my SV and this was why.

I'm also thinking this is the cause.

Originally Posted by OTB

First off, SHit! how did i miss this thread... and DLIT, I am so sorry.

I am going to take a WAG (wild-assed guess) about the cause of the crash.

You said that in the transition from left to right the front end just "went away"; without more details it's just a guess, but bikes like the R1 (short wheelbase, little rake, short trail) can do a little "pogo" type thing where when you've popped from full lean to full lean side-to-side the suspension unweights for a second at the top of the transition.... a lot of it has to do with if you are trail braking or on throttle and in that photo, it appears that the direction of travel is slightly downhill which also contributes to the unweighting on the front.

Doesn't take much at racetrack speeds. Rushing even slightly downhill causes the vectors to change NOT in your favor.

Just guessing without more data. But I've lost the front in similar situations on bikes i was familiar with, on roads I "Knew".

This would be the runner up. Best to start with the more obvious causes.