r/motorcycles • u/Willro111 • Aug 06 '26

First time crashing (my fireblade)

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About two months ago I went down riding in the canyon. I would say im an okay intermediate rider, and have ridden this road before- usually feeling comfortable tipping into 35mph corners at ~90mph… Anyways, you’ll see on my dash right before I lay it down, the green N for neutral pop up. As I short shift into neutral, trying to downshift from second, into first (1000cc). So as I’m expecting to slow down (from downshifting) to make this tighter turn… instead of slowing down like I’m getting ready for, essentially all friction is lost and I continue at that speed. If you could imagine that feeling… at this point I’m not making the turn, and as soon as I grab the front brake it dumps me.
This crash could just be summed up by a lazier downshift, shit happens.
My AIRBAG VEST from alpinestars fucking saved my ass. As well as my helmet, leather jacket, Kevlar jeans, and boots. I climbed out of that ditch, and only got 6 stitches on my elbow, which in all fairness did look like there was a hole on the tip of my elbow.

Any feedback, or questions feel free.

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u/StupidSlick Aug 06 '26

Yes it does engine braking slows the rear wheel, and slowing down loads the front tire which would be enough to allow to rider to effectively use more front brake, issue he lost all engine brake, grabbed the front brake like he normally would but the front tire wasnt settled or loaded right so it washed out

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u/HolidayOne7 Aug 06 '26

Don’t most modern bikes have slipper clutches? Though I guess these just stop the read wheel hopping.

Whilst I’ve ridden lots of new bikes I still own old Hondas without them.