Target fixation. That is what put you down. Couple that with lack of ability (not being a dick, I am serious). If you weren’t speeding, unless that entire corner lane to lane was covered in shit, a good rider could make it out of the turn fine. Pics wernt clear enough to tell the true conditions so I wont make judgment on conditions.
Also this isn’t me assuming anything, this is first hand experience:
http://www.shift518.com/showthread.php?t=11773&page=2 Edit, holy shit I must have been on some gooood shit because I cant even follow my own reply with the bad spelling and whatnot. lol
I did the exact same thing. Saw the gravel, thought ohh fuck that’s not going to be fun and target fixated away from the gravel, and that’s (close) to where I ended up, except I hit a frickin tree instead of the grassy yard I was hoping for! There was shit in the inside of the turn when I went down, but knowing what I do now, I could have just changed my turn in point and avoided it, if I only looked to the right ahead of my turn, instead of bailing on the turn and looking left. I finally got to take my bike up around the sacandoga lake around the town of Day, Hadley and up around North shore to blast some turns last weekend. I just had some time to scrub the chicken strip off the bike… I was riding hard, and came into a few turns with some sand and gravel in them. Its still an unsettling feeling for sure, but somehow my brain just adjusts and works on memory and did exactly what I said above and went around it. Always look ahead and just let your brain pick you another line around the shit in the road, don’t be so quick to bail. It takes seat time, and more importantly a few mistakes along the way… there’s simply is no way around that fact. I am glad your OK, and aren’t giving up.
And I would NOT jump on a sport bike 600. Here is why. They are made to be pushed through a turn, not ridden through a turn. What I mean is they are sprung, valved and the geometry is made so they stick their best when they are aggressively sent around a turn. Get your braking and speed under control first, get your weight situated and get on the throttle around the turn to plant the bike. This will make your speeds go higher even if you are a responsible rider, so your mistakes like what happened here will be worse. You come into that turn on a sport bike too hot and lean it in fast and hard your rear tire will be very loose and you will slide it out trying to avoid junk in the road. My ducati is valved for a 180lb or so rider and I am 140 wet, and the bike is about 25lbs lighter from my mods. I have it set as soft as I can and I still have a hard time planting it in a turn sometimes. My confidence isn’t in the bike where it should be to ride it like I want to all the time. I have had the ass end slide out on me in turns and exiting turns more than a few times, because I just cant get the weight into it like the bike needs. The brakes are strong, but you have to be aware of them or they will bite you too. You wad on the brakes as hard as you probably did in your wipe out on that 300, and you without a doubt will have tucked a front tire on a 600 sport bike and have been much worse off. What I am saying is if you began to get comfortable on that 300 with soft suspension, geometry designed to be ridden easier through a turn, easy brakes, easy power delivery… stick to something like that. Getting on a Ninja 636 or something is the polar opposite machine… its not just more hp.