Recently, my esteemed RevZilla colleague Ari Henning devoted one of his “The Shop Manual” videos to the topic of people who crash their motorcycles and later explain that they “had to lay it down,” as if that was a perfectly reasonable and intentional course of action. Ari didn’t hold back on his assessment, calling that “the stupidest statement in motorcycling.”
It reminded me that I’d written pretty much the same thing more than 15 years ago, when I was writing a regular column for the AMA web site, in addition to writing for the association’s “American Motorcyclist” magazine. That column, along with a lot of other material, was nuked in a website redesign years ago, and I thought it was lost forever. But digging through some old files in preparation for a household move, I found a printout I’d made. Below is the original column from 2006, a time when far fewer motorcycles had anti-lock brakes, and I’ll follow it with the subsequent column that detailed the reader responses that I asked for — and got.
The last dangerous myth
Thanks to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, the wide availability of road and off-road riding schools, and knowledgeable book authors and magazine columnists, the general level of knowledge about motorcycle safety and riding techniques has increased significantly over the past few decades. No longer do we hear experienced riders passing on such gems of advice as “Never touch that front brake, she’ll throw you right over the handlebar.”
We’ve made great strides. But lately, I’ve seen reports that suggest that one dangerous myth has yet to be stomped to its deserving death. Some people still think it’s a good idea, at least some of the time, to intentionally “lay it down” on the street.
Let me state my thinking up front, as clearly as I can: It’s never a good idea to drop a functioning motorcycle on its side if you’re on pavement.
My reasoning comes down to two simple facts. One, a motorcycle will stop faster with its brakes applied and on the tires than it will skidding on its side. Two, if a motorcycle is on its tires, the rider at least has a chance of steering around an obstacle. You can’t steer a bike after you’ve “laid it down.”
Those are the only two ways to avoid a hazard: stop before you reach it or swerve to avoid it. A motorcycle skidding down the road on its side may provide a great show of flying sparks for bystanders, but it’s not going to brake or steer. And that’s not to mention the bodily harm you may suffer while sliding down the road, hoping you don’t hit something, and hoping you stop before the asphalt wears through your gear and starts eating away your skin, then your flesh, then your bones.
Yet some riders still talk about “laying it down” as if it were an important part of any rider’s repertoire of techniques. And I’m not even talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger describing how he had to “lay it down” (a “skill” he claimed to have learned from movie stunt riders) in one of his crashes.
It was two other news stories I saw recently that made me realize this dangerous old myth was still alive. The first example was an article from the Yakima Herald-Republic about a former mayor who crashed. The reporter wrote, “As he braked hard, Puccinelli realized that the bike was falling, so he started to lay it down, which is a common practice for motorcyclists.”
I can understand that a news reporter, probably not a rider himself, might believe that laying it down is a “common practice.” What scared me more was another article I read in which a more experienced rider hit some loose gravel on the road and “made the right choice and laid it down.” I even contacted the rider to confirm that the article was correct, and was assured that “laying it down” was the right thing to do.
I couldn’t disagree more (and in this I have the good company of the MSF curriculum and every book I’ve ever read on motorcycle riding techniques), and it worries me that an experienced rider made this comment and may even perpetuate this myth and influence less experienced riders.
With all the MSF courses teaching riders to brake and swerve, with all the magazine articles and books about riding that have educated so many, why do some still think that a motorcycle skidding out of control on its side is a demonstration of proper technique? Why does this dangerous myth persist?
I think one clue lies in the story about the former Yakima mayor who crashed. In his incident, he was braking hard at an intersection because he thought a police car on an emergency run was going to cross his path. He “realized the bike was falling, so he started to lay it down.” In other words, he locked up the brakes (why else would the bike be falling?) and then he “laid it down.”
Like the case of the former mayor, I suspect most incidents of riders “laying it down” can be explained by poor braking technique. Riders who are untrained, inexperienced, or merely hobbled by rusty skills find themselves in a panic-stop situation, lock up the brakes, and crash. Afterwards, it’s a lot easier on the ego to suggest that dropping the bike on its side was an intentional maneuver, rather than just poor braking technique.
Do you think I’m wrong?
If you can come up with a scenario in which laying down a motorcycle on the street is a preferable option to staying upright and braking or swerving, send it to me. I’m not talking about a case in which the rider runs off the road onto mud or wet grass or some other surface that offers little traction. I’m talking about asphalt.
If anyone can present even a remotely plausible scenario that justifies this maneuver, I promise to print it in this space.
If not, then let’s just agree that instead of “laying it down,” it’s time to lay to rest this last dangerous myth.
