Fluid Dripping Down My Leg

Editor’s note – This is a true story sent to us by a dear and trusted friend of Cyclepedia.com. He wishes to remain anonymous as his wife would probably kill him if she knew what happened. We are glad he is ok and as he put it “Hopefully my story will prevent someone else from getting hurt.”

So… I was out at the track last night, and my Yamaha R6 was working better with a bit less oil in the forks. I was also much happier not to have the reverse shift pattern. I did three sessions, and was pretty happy at how I was picking up the pace.

So, I was drafting this 99 Suzuki GSXR750 down the front straight. I normally see 156 mph on the speedo on the R6 just a couple of seconds before I brake. I was probably a bit quicker on this run with the draft. I went into turn one pretty deep to get by the guy, then grabbed the brakes. NOTHING! The lever came to the bar with zero resistance. I grabbed it a couple of times and there was absolutely nothing there, and now turn one is approaching VERY quickly…

I jumped on the rear to try to get it slowed. I don’t even remember if I grabbed a downshift or not. !%&@, what a ride. It was leaned over and full-lock sideways as I tried to get it slowed. I think I must have got off the brake just a millisecond before it highsided. It luckily straightened out just as I left the track. !%&@, that would have done some damage to my body to highside at those speeds!!

I don’t know how fast it was going when it ran off. Maybe 124 mph when I left the pavement? Who knows. I was only on the rear brake for about a second before I ran out of pavement. I really launched off of some dirt mound once I ran off – feet off the pegs, bike up in the air. Then as I was plowing through the tall grass it was super close to falling about three or four times. I was just holding on, and hoping that it would get slowed down as much as possible before spitting me off. !%&@ it was so nuts. It seemed to go forever. It finally got less chaotic, and my brain caught up enough with the situation to get my feet back on the pegs and find the rear brake. I couldn’t believe it when I came to a stop!

I was surprisingly not too freaked out, just super happy. To go into turn one at the top of sixth gear at 156 mph+ with no front brakes, and walk away with no damage to bike or rider! I don’t think I’ve seen that before. I remember Alan Cameron had a similar incident in the late 80s. I visited him in the hospital as he was nursing scary internal injuries. His bike was destroyed too. I think one of the biggest things in my favor was that the grass out there was about four feet tall. That really helped me slow down!

I rode slowly over to the corner worker in turn three. Once there I saw brake fluid dripping all over. Here was my error: The 120/70 front tire rubs on the front fender. I was told that they will scrape the fender on the R6, so either sacrifice the fender or remove it. I removed it, but without it in place, the steel brake lines rubbed on the front tire. I hadn’t noticed it, because they clear easily when the bike is parked. But when the fork is compressed under braking or in the corners one line rubbed.

Anyway, very happy to get out of this with just a story to tell!

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We hope this illustrates the point of either sticking with OEM suggested equipment or at least carefully checking and thinking through any modifications you make to your motorcycle or ATV. Of course a visual inspection of the brake lines might have caught the problem earlier on – easy to say in hindsight though. Take a minute to check over your bike before each ride – it might save your life.