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Still On The Fence On Electronics?


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Yesterday I went for an errand and took the expressway. In my path was a large concrete paver stone that got dropped off a landscape truck. There was not a lot I could really do to avoid the paver and I hit it head on at full speed. The bike was launched into the air instantly and both wheels left the ground. The bike landed with very little drama and I pulled over to assess the damage. None really. I was expecting a flat front tire at least or a bent wheel. With some more riding I discovered I had lost a wheel weight and my belly pan got some scratches on it from the paver. One tough machine!

 

I pulled the data off the bike just to see what I could see and was pretty amazed to see how DTC had stepped in instantly to deal with the situation. You can see in this image DTC the purple line coming in and dealing with the Aqua line the slip rate. Both are off the scale. The green line is the engine RPM which went up because the rear tire completely lost it's contact with the ground.

 

DTC.jpg

 

DTC turned a dramatic situation into a not so dramatic one. I'll never know the outcome if I did not have a DTC equipped bike but it could have been a much different situation. I know one thing for sure. Dealing with the shock of the impact and flying through the air and landing I did not have time at all to react. DTC reacted within milliseconds.

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Holy . Glad to hear you made it through fine and WOW, THANKS FOR POSTING THIS AWESOME CHART!! This is really, really cool.

 

Good job for riding it through without panic braking, stiffening up on the bars, etc., just letting the bike do its thing.

 

Really interesting to see what the bike's electronics did in this situation.

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DTC turned a dramatic situation into a not so dramatic one. I'll never know the outcome if I did not have a DTC equipped bike but it could have been a much different situation. I know one thing for sure. Dealing with the shock of the impact and flying through the air and landing I did not have time at all to react. DTC reacted within milliseconds.

 

It's some interesting data for sure, but I don't buy this statement. You were upright, experienced a debris induced bunny hop and your wheels lost contact with the ground for a split second. What did the electronics actually do in the fraction of a second that the bike was airborne that made the situation less dramatic ? How much different could it possibly have been without electronics? I find it VERY hard to believe that in the time you were airborne, even with WOT your wheel speed would have increased enough to cause a issue when you landed.

 

I 100% agree with Hotfoot's statement about riding through it with good technique and I'd bet money that all of your schooling at CSS is what made this a not so dramatic situation.

 

The electronics are impressive, and you can no doubt show all kinds of data where the step in and save a rider from himself, I just don't think this is a example of that.

 

Tyler

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Some great comments. I forgot to subscribe to the thread so I am just seeing these. :)

 

Did DTC completely save the day? No. I'm pretty convinced though it did play a part in making the situation less dramatic. If you look at the orange line (grip position) and the blue line (actual throttle) the shock of the impact caused me to make an unintentional throttle input.

 

Did my CSS training help me? Absolutely. I saw the paver and had just enough time to decide on doing something stupid which would have made the situation much worse. I remained calm and just let the bike do it's thing.

 

The reason I shared this was in my curiosity of looking at the data I was absolutely surprised at how quickly DTC got involved in the mode the bike was set to (Race mode). Within milliseconds it reacted to the traction issue. Way faster than I did. If you look at the orange (grip position) and blue (actual throttle) I reacted well after DTC already had. Part of that of course was the shock of the impact and the sudden pain I was in from smashing my gentlemans area onto the unforgiving BMW race seat. OUCH!

 

I learned a lot from this situation. Faster riding gives you less visual information and a lot less reaction time when you do finally identify an issue. DTC gets involved way faster than a human being can. Last but not least when it really matters the training that you get at CSS is a lifesaver.

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