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I'm not looking for sympathy or a Dump Trophy or anything, I'm just trying to work through this and maybe see if I (or others reading the responses) can maybe learn something useful.
I'm an experienced rider, concerned with safe riding. I've had my 1997 Ducati Monster 900 for more than six years. I recently had the forks revalved at Aftershocks in Palo Alto, with the springs stiffened a bit. I was leading a group ride on Mines Road at the time. The bike was working great and I was happy with how smoothly I was able to take the turns. It was way better than the previous Mines ride when I came straight home and yanked the forks off.
We made it from Livermore to The Junction, down Del Puerto to Patterson for gas, and were less than a mile from making it back to The Junction again. I was probably going about 50 mph slightly uphill on an almost straight section of the road when I crossed a cattle guard and the bike began a violent tank slapper. The steering went lock to lock about eight times, then the bike went down on the right side and slid up the road a ways and into the ditch on the left. I didn't slide nearly as far and remained in my lane.
The tank slapper happened without warning and there was nothing I could do to regain control once it began. I've heard theories that you can let go of the bars, or give it more gas or something, but I expect that you would have to practice doing tank slappers to be able to do it when needed. Most of you have probably seen that video clip of the guy on the black bike at the Isle of Mann in the violent tank slapper who eventually goes down. Mine was just like that.
I don't remember any point between when the bike first went out of control and when I stopped sliding that I felt I had any control at all over what was happening to me.
My Olympia Kevlar leather gloves protected me well as did my Fieldsheer leather jacket and Sears work boots. The left glove is still in pretty good shape, the right one is kind of ripped on the palm and knuckle of the little finger, but my hand only has bruises at those two spots, no scrapes. I was wearing Firstgear textile riding pants over Levis jeans which didn't protect me quite as well. I have a nickel-sized scrape on my left knee where it all wore through and about four square inches at the top of my left thigh where it also wore through everything. The jacket is scraped all down the front and both vent zippers and the front zipper were damaged, but it all held up well.
I broke the bone in my left hand connected to my ring finger, plus my thumb was dislocated in two places. Boy, that was fun to get fixed. Not. I'm guessing that the violent bar action dislocated my thumb and I don't know what to blame for the broken bone.
The bike is probably totalled, since the frame is bent at the rear, the tank is really smashed, and all controls and externally visible plastic pieces are destroyed. The engine and suspension all look fine.
I know of a few other cases of Monsters going into tank slappers, the most notable case was Thomas Alberti, who founded the original Ducati Monster e-mail list. He gave up riding because of it, but he had much more serious injuries from his crash. He was a big proponent of steering dampers for Monsters after that, while I was of the opinion that they're not needed and have said so multiple times. Apparently I was wrong.
I get to spend the next few days dealing with doctors and insurance. I guess I get to spend the next six weeks with a cast on my hand. I won't be doing much more typing after posting this long note.
What good am I hoping this note can do for others?
First off, I was wondering if it is worth it to go on group rides, since I really dislike dealing with others when they crash (and I've watched three go down in front of me this summer). But I really appreciated all of the help I got from those who were riding with me. It made a big difference. I also appreciate good friends who are willing to instantly drop everything on a Saturday to drive 50 miles in a pickup truck to fetch a wrecked bike and injured rider.
Second, wear good protective gear. Leather works better than textile and textile works better than jeans. It doesn't matter how good of a rider you are, you don't know when some unexpected event will cause you to go down, so you need to be dressed appropriately all the time. Better riding gear could have prevented a couple of my scrapes, but I'm pretty sure my hand wouldn't have been much different with better gloves.
Let's all ride safely out there!
I'm an experienced rider, concerned with safe riding. I've had my 1997 Ducati Monster 900 for more than six years. I recently had the forks revalved at Aftershocks in Palo Alto, with the springs stiffened a bit. I was leading a group ride on Mines Road at the time. The bike was working great and I was happy with how smoothly I was able to take the turns. It was way better than the previous Mines ride when I came straight home and yanked the forks off.
We made it from Livermore to The Junction, down Del Puerto to Patterson for gas, and were less than a mile from making it back to The Junction again. I was probably going about 50 mph slightly uphill on an almost straight section of the road when I crossed a cattle guard and the bike began a violent tank slapper. The steering went lock to lock about eight times, then the bike went down on the right side and slid up the road a ways and into the ditch on the left. I didn't slide nearly as far and remained in my lane.
The tank slapper happened without warning and there was nothing I could do to regain control once it began. I've heard theories that you can let go of the bars, or give it more gas or something, but I expect that you would have to practice doing tank slappers to be able to do it when needed. Most of you have probably seen that video clip of the guy on the black bike at the Isle of Mann in the violent tank slapper who eventually goes down. Mine was just like that.
I don't remember any point between when the bike first went out of control and when I stopped sliding that I felt I had any control at all over what was happening to me.
My Olympia Kevlar leather gloves protected me well as did my Fieldsheer leather jacket and Sears work boots. The left glove is still in pretty good shape, the right one is kind of ripped on the palm and knuckle of the little finger, but my hand only has bruises at those two spots, no scrapes. I was wearing Firstgear textile riding pants over Levis jeans which didn't protect me quite as well. I have a nickel-sized scrape on my left knee where it all wore through and about four square inches at the top of my left thigh where it also wore through everything. The jacket is scraped all down the front and both vent zippers and the front zipper were damaged, but it all held up well.
I broke the bone in my left hand connected to my ring finger, plus my thumb was dislocated in two places. Boy, that was fun to get fixed. Not. I'm guessing that the violent bar action dislocated my thumb and I don't know what to blame for the broken bone.
The bike is probably totalled, since the frame is bent at the rear, the tank is really smashed, and all controls and externally visible plastic pieces are destroyed. The engine and suspension all look fine.
I know of a few other cases of Monsters going into tank slappers, the most notable case was Thomas Alberti, who founded the original Ducati Monster e-mail list. He gave up riding because of it, but he had much more serious injuries from his crash. He was a big proponent of steering dampers for Monsters after that, while I was of the opinion that they're not needed and have said so multiple times. Apparently I was wrong.
I get to spend the next few days dealing with doctors and insurance. I guess I get to spend the next six weeks with a cast on my hand. I won't be doing much more typing after posting this long note.
What good am I hoping this note can do for others?
First off, I was wondering if it is worth it to go on group rides, since I really dislike dealing with others when they crash (and I've watched three go down in front of me this summer). But I really appreciated all of the help I got from those who were riding with me. It made a big difference. I also appreciate good friends who are willing to instantly drop everything on a Saturday to drive 50 miles in a pickup truck to fetch a wrecked bike and injured rider.
Second, wear good protective gear. Leather works better than textile and textile works better than jeans. It doesn't matter how good of a rider you are, you don't know when some unexpected event will cause you to go down, so you need to be dressed appropriately all the time. Better riding gear could have prevented a couple of my scrapes, but I'm pretty sure my hand wouldn't have been much different with better gloves.
Let's all ride safely out there!
