Strong forks

I put the strength of the Bandit forks to the test yesterday on the way home from work. I won't try to describe the situation as I don't think you have roundabouts in the US but the car in front of me had to stop VERY suddenly (having previously been accelerating) due to the actions of an idiot who then left the scene without stopping.

Unfortunately I didn't manage to stop quite as quickly - planted my front wheel in his rear bumper (fender) far enough that the front mudguard touched it (so about 6 or 7 inches) He ended up with a tyre mark in place of the paint that had been there before, some of which transferred to my mudguard.

Shook us up a bit (wife was on the back) but the Bandit came out of it unscathed - we stayed upright, there was no damage to the forks at all and the extra paint polished out of the mudguard easily. Extremely lucky. I have no idea whether the ABS triggered but if it did it's incredibly smooth as I didn't notice any pulsing through the lever.

Had we been on my previous commuter (a 650 Transalp) the story would have been very different - no way could I have stopped so quickly (the brakes weren't nearly as strong as the Bandit's) and the forks would have bent, being longer and smaller diameter. We'd almost certainly have come off.

Thank you Bandit.

Glad you're both okay. That's not the approved method of testing fork strength, you know.

We have a few roundabouts here. Almost nobody knows how to drive on them yet. I love them, especially when traffic is light, because I don't have to stop for nobody.

We will be getting more of them in the future. It's a trend that departments of traffic are picking up.

A large, well-surfaced, empty roundabout is a great place to explore the ground clearance and tyre grip of a bike. A large, poorly-surfaced, busy roundabout in the rush-hour (like the one our 'incident' happened on) is not a good place to be on a bike.

ThumperDan said:

Glad you're both okay. That's not the approved method of testing fork strength, you know.

We have a few roundabouts here. Almost nobody knows how to drive on them yet. I love them, especially when traffic is light, because I don't have to stop for nobody.

We will be getting more of them in the future. It's a trend that departments of traffic are picking up.

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Roundabouts are a conspiracy between big oil (send nearly every driver/rider off in the wrong direction so he/she has to buy extra fuel) and the auto body industry (cause far more accidents thereby improving business). There's no getting around burning more fuel and the only effective accident avoidance strategy is to spend an eternity going round and round and round until you are finally able to exit via the same route you entered - then find a detour around the bloody thing.

Personally, I hate them if there is more than one vehicle other than mine within a mile of one of them. Even then they are to be avoided as they truly are confusing, inefficient nuisances. NO vehicle is ever in the correct position to take the proper exit when it comes round even if the driver KNOWS (or can figure out) which exit that is.

Sounds as if you've had some bad experiences, but they're really not that bad. If you had as many over there as we have here (at a rough count there are about 10 on my ride to work - reckon to see 1 every couple of miles on average) you'd get used to them.

I've seen studies that show roundabouts move traffic through much more efficiently than stop signs or traffic lights. They seem to work. There's one in Southlake I go through almost every day, and it is great when people know what to do. It's also great in the morning when there is little traffic. They have to be built and situated correctly. You need good sight lines for one thing. The one in Southlake is really a little too small, but it is tons better than the 4-way stop it replaced.

Congratulations on surviving the "bump." I always like a story with a happy ending.

Roundabouts are great and keep traffic moving.

in the Great United States of America, our government has decided that you are not capable of deciding when or what to do. so, here in California we have a left turn light, that decides for you when you can and cannot turn left, whether or not there is oncoming traffic, in many places with traffic.
at some intersections, if you turn when you are not supposed to, there is an automatic camera, that takes 3 pictures of your vehicle, one from the front showing the driver, one from the back, and one showing the traffic light lens itself. from your liscence plate number, you are mailed the ticket.
it is now illegal to use special clear paint on the liscence plate to make the auto photography incapable of reading your plate number.

round-abouts sound like a good idea.

there are some towns that have them, but often they are in the old part of cities, where pedestrians have the right of way, and its typical of places i avoid.

and now more often, there are speed-sensors on staightaways that also show your speed, and send you a ticket if your speeding.

i hear there are some places in germany like that.

california often leads the nation in many things, this is one of the sad things it may also be leading in.

i try to avoid cities, freeways, and traffic.
happy biking.

suzukijo said:

in the Great United States of America, our government has decided that you are not capable of deciding when or what to do. so, here in California we have a left turn light, that decides for you when you can and cannot turn left, whether or not there is oncoming traffic, in many places with traffic.
at some intersections, if you turn when you are not supposed to, there is an automatic camera, that takes 3 pictures of your vehicle, one from the front showing the driver, one from the back, and one showing the traffic light lens itself. from your liscence plate number, you are mailed the ticket.
it is now illegal to use special clear paint on the liscence plate to make the auto photography incapable of reading your plate number.

round-abouts sound like a good idea.

there are some towns that have them, but often they are in the old part of cities, where pedestrians have the right of way, and its typical of places i avoid.

and now more often, there are speed-sensors on staightaways that also show your speed, and send you a ticket if your speeding.

i hear there are some places in germany like that.

california often leads the nation in many things, this is one of the sad things it may also be leading in.

i try to avoid cities, freeways, and traffic.
happy biking.

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I've read that Arizona is into speed cameras big time, on their interstates. Also, Texas is installing a bunch of them, despite objections from their lawmakers!

see this outrageous write up: $2 MILLION per week!! http://www.g20.net/forum/showthread.php?t=43979&page=1&pp=20

And, California's system is supposedly illegal?

It's all about revenues! When Arizona's revenues started to taper off, they lowered the mph's over, that got a ticket. I think it was changed to 5 mph?

They say many of these camera systems are tended by private contractors. The article said if there is NO mention of a ticket (red light, or speeding) being from your Court system, to just throw it away!

BTW, Mythbusters claim that none of the coatings or covers sold, will significantly affect the image taken.......???

http://www.tv.com/mythbusters/speed-cameras/episode/944570/recap.html

dmerc said:

I've read that Arizona is into speed cameras big time, on their interstates.

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I only saw one last week and it was on a secondary highway coming into a small town where the speed drops to 45 and then to 35. They had advance warning of the camera so you had plenty of time to slow down.

Texas T said:

I only saw one last week and it was on a secondary highway coming into a small town where the speed drops to 45 and then to 35. They had advance warning of the camera so you had plenty of time to slow down.

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Must not be enough warning on Scottsdale's Freeway system, if they can generate 2 million a week.