Yep, I’ve been a victim of the diesel again! :pinch:
That’s twice now! Although, it is only twice in two years of riding, so I suppose it’s not as bad as some people have had it in recent years!
So, I’m on my way to Borough Market, (for some of Ally’s cookies, which were very nice! ), and I stopped to let a pedestrian cross at the zebra crossing just off the Rotherhythe Tunnel Roundabout.
The girl got across, so I pull away, knock it into second, and the back end just comes right around and lowsides me! So, I kick away from the bike (luckily only going about 20mph) and start sliding down the road behind my bike.
Anyway, I eventually stop tumbling along the floor, only to be faced with the bumper of a BMW aproaching at speed, and stopping about 8 inches from my visor! :blink:
Thankfully I managed to be buzzing with adrenaline, and managed to pick up my old, steel framed, CBR600f like it was a mountain bike!
Happy to say that a fair few people, including a few bikers, stopped to offer help.
Total damage to bike: smashed rear left fairing, shredded crash bung (did it’s job wonderfully) and a bent and slightly mangled clutch bar. All in all not too bad, and I still managed to get to Borough Market and have some coffee and a cookie!
Starting to feel a bit mangled now, and am self medicating with Ibuprofen and Stella. I may be popping to the doctors in the morning!
Glad to hear you’re ok! I do that roundabout twice a day, I’ve come off on diesel on it before, and for some reason it’s always at least greasy. Maybe the lack of rain in the tunnel means grub is being pulled onto the roundabout?
+1, falling off is not as it seems on LB a rite of passage. Not a pop at you Nathan, and glad to hear that you’re not injured - it can happen to anyone in the wrong circumstances.
“Road hazardPetrodiesel spilled on a road will stay there until washed away by sufficiently heavy rain, whereas gasoline will quickly evaporate. After the light fractions have evaporated, a greasy slick is left on the road which can destabilize moving vehicles. Diesel spills severely reduce tire grip and traction, and have been implicated in many accidents. The loss of traction is similar to that encountered on black ice. Diesel slicks are especially dangerous for two-wheeled vehicles such as motorcycles.”
That said the general LB concensus of accepting spills as “de rigueur” is not right.
Ride within your limits and accept that a motorcycle is not always a stable vehicle.
Falling off is not a “rite of passage”. Sometimes it is an accident, and not our fault.
More often than not we get away with it through luck, skill or our bike’s ability to cope when we panic.
We should not expect or accept any quarter when riding at what we consider our limits, we must take responsability for our decisions.
glad to hear you’re ok, particularly sorry to read this post however for this reason…
I have been riding 18months now and have not had an off (only dropped it while turning, was practically stationary)
But everyone says you’ll more than likely come off sooner or later, and more worrying…other bikers tell me you can smell diesel… I do not smell it, which worries me, cos i wont know its there.
Sounds as though you had no control over this one, but you were lucky with the beemer coming towards you… rest and do what you’re doing with the painkillers. Maybe not the stella today ;)
Ouch. Get well soon. I’ve done the tarmac surfing thing thanks to diesel as well, a total nothing you can do about it experience… Hope you can fix your bike up easily. My crash bungs saved me biiiig money too.
), and I stopped to let a pedestrian cross at the zebra crossing just off the Rotherhythe Tunnel Roundabout.
I think I felt a trickle of the old “brown adrenaline” go down the back of my leathers! 
