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Wrecked my Road King - Questions

S

Scarletride

Member
Took my bike out ten days ago on a beautiful Friday afternoon in North Texas and had my rear wheel fishtail out on me entering a curve. I was able to upright the bike but crossed the opposing traffic lane and went off off the road. I was happy to make it down into the grassy shoulder gully still under control when the front wheel dug into some soft dirt and flipped the bike.

Here is where I hope someone can help me understand what might have happened. The road condiitons were great and there was no visible dirt or sand on the road. I came off the front brake a second before entering the turn and off the rear brake as I began to lean the bike into the turn. I was going at an appropriate speed heading into the turn. I have done that previously with no problems.

I have had the rear wheel of my 2010 Road King Classic skid out on me on turns on 3 previous occasions, all on good road conditions. Once when downshifting after entering the turn. It was not a bad or crazy downshift, just to get the bike in the right gear to pick up speed exiting the turn. Two other times for no apparent reason, no excessive speed, no braking, etc. My rear tire only has 4,500 miles on it and the tread looks fine.

I realize that this is probably due to my lack of experience, I have only been riding for one year and previously 30 years ago. I feel stupid but very lucky to have not gotten injured.

The bike had extensive damage from rolling over and will get fixed. I am fine and anxious to get back on the bike. Any suggestions of what I might be doing wrong? I know not to brake in a curve, I did not know that coming off the rear brake entering a curve might be a hazard. I guess it is???
 
Glad to hear your OK. that is the most important part of all. my only question would be how was your tire pressure? i check my tires for air pressure before every ride as part of a pre ride check.

good luck with your repairs and once again glad your ok
 
Glad you are OK, I like to look through the corners and roll on the throttle to keep the power up through the corners, lay off the brake so you dont loose control of the rear wheel and steer thru it JMO Good Luck on your repairs, maybe a riders advanced course may help
 
One day I was comming to a stop sign and applied my front brake and the front of the bike started going side ways. It seems my front wheel was on top of a piece of broken tail light lense. I was as slippery as any ice patch. Maybe you ran over something like that.
 
Jack and Smitty are both right. Get your speed and gear right before you enter the turn and roll on the throttle as you go through. Remember to look through the curve not at the curve. See where you want the bike to end up not where it's at. Like Smitty said, watch for sand or gravel in those corners, that will bite you quick. A course, whether it's the beginner, or advanced riders course is a good thing. It definately can't hurt. Ride safe and keep the rubber side down.
 
I learned quickly about entering a turn at a slower speed and rolling gently ON the throttle when in a turn. A buddy of mine had almost the same thing happen to him riding some curvy beach roads in RI last summer. He entered the turn just a little too fast....he tried braking when he noticed how fast he was going but when he let off the breaks the back end kicked out. Fortunately he was able to steer through the turn and get everything lined up again before going down.

I was riding behind him and this is what I saw....his breaklight went on just before he entered the turn.......I could tell he was coming into it too hot but just as the breaklight went OFF (as he let go of the breaks) the back end kicked out.

My opinion from what I saw is it had to do with weight transfer.......when you set up for a turn and start to lean you can't upset things abruptly or transfer of weight can cause you to lose traction.

BTW he was riding a Road King as well.

I can say I have never had this problem because I drive slow on the curves......HD's are cruisers not racers!
 
lorne said:
Glad to hear your OK. that is the most important part of all. my only question would be how was your tire pressure? i check my tires for air pressure before every ride as part of a pre ride check.

good luck with your repairs and once again glad your ok
Click to expand...

Thanks, I check my tire pressure every week as it needs acouple of pounds of air every 4 to 6 weeks. I did not check before this ride. It is such a pain to check the tire pressure on the RKC with the brake disc and spokes in the way that I do not check it every ride. I will from now on though.

Anyone have an easier way to check tire pressure on the rear wheel of the RKC? The ball type connector seems to be the easiest to use. I have tried 4 connectors with not much improvement from one to the other.
 
Hey, one easy tip someone showed me, when entering curve and it's sharper than you expected, if your leaning left push your left hand down on handle bar grip, it'll help you turn sharper, same on right hand curve , push down with right hand, lack of experience will send you through the woods if your not careful, roadkings are top heavy not like a softail or other models, stay safe!!

And always check front and rear tire pressures as stated above!
Check shock air also as it'll leak down as well. As a single rider I use 26-30 psi on my air shocks, rides well for me, 6'2" 255lbs.
 
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