what happened??!

Turning left and motorcycle sqreesh and then engine stall!

I am in 3rd gear (XF200) on one lane street (speed limit is 40) and wants to turn left but car coming opposite direction was a bit fast and had to slow down using front break. Engine stall and back wheel locks. Luckily no car behind me. Pulled clutch and pushed the bike to far right. Started bike and then went on. I do this all the time but do not have to slow that much.

Should I have greared down to 2nd or 1st? Or all is needed is to feather clutch to control bike? what is best way to handle such a situation?

I tend to use the engine to do some of my braking. It gives me a better feel with regard to engine speed and whether I have to downshift before a turn. You can feather the clutch and regulate with the throttle also but gearing down works best for me.

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Originally Posted by bighead

Turning left and motorcycle sqreesh and then engine stall!

I am in 3rd gear (XF200) on one lane street (speed limit is 40) and wants to turn left but car coming opposite direction was a bit fast and had to slow down using front break. Engine stall and back wheel locks. Luckily no car behind me. Pulled clutch and pushed the bike to far right. Started bike and then went on. I do this all the time but do not have to slow that much.

Should I have greared down to 2nd or 1st? Or all is needed is to feather clutch to control bike? what is best way to handle such a situation?

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A rule of thumb for standard turn offs says that you should be in 2nd and ready to clutch. This will work just fine in 99% cases.
If you feel unsafe, road conditions are bad (wet, sand, ...) you may be better off with pulling the clutch and coast around the edge.
I don't know how fast you were going, but in very low speeds, such as for a turn off, you'd better carefully apply the rear and de-clutch.
In any emergency, and your case might be considered as one, you must de-clutch to cut the engine off. This avoids the rear to be locked up by a stalled engine and the engine still delivering drive to the wheel.

Ride safe buddy

thanks guys for feedback.

Note thought I did not use the rear break at all. Speed was probably down to 20 when the engine stalled and was about to make the turn but hesitated and applied the front break even more but not to a stop though did not downshift. I have to admit, I do not like downshifting much in such situation as cars could be coming behind you and the bike is gutless in 2nd gear!

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I have to admit, I do not like downshifting much in such situation as cars could be coming behind you and the bike is gutless in 2nd gear!

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Not as gutless as an engine that's stalled!

If you're not comfortable with the gear ratios, then it may be worth changing them to something more usable.

CC

One day my bike will grow to be 1000CC :-)

till then, I have to work on my skills first but interested to know how you change gear to something more usable?

It's the same as a multi-speed bicycle. You can change the front and rear "gear" (count the teeth on the gear) to a larger or smaller size to give you more acceleration (but less top speed) or more top speed (and less acceleration).

Worth looking into if you have the time.

CC

Thanks Carl, I will research the site to learn more about the options available.