Much depends on the shape of the tire. Some tires tip in better than others. And then there's your comfort zone too. Some people like a tire that tips in quicker than others. Some don't.
The first time I slipped like he did I would hi-side , something to consider when you get that unexpected slip is to try to not panic ( easier said than done) and trust the bike to do the right thing with the gyroscopic forces applied.
I spent a long time, trying a lot of different wet weather gear, and by & large, unless you spend a lot of money, yes, you get wet (to at least some degree). However, with my current setup, it's yet to leak (18months or so of mixed weather). I have a two-piece textile setup lined with gore-tex, boots lined with gore-tex, gloves (one pair is gore-tex, another is heated instead). For biblical weather I use an Oxford one piece Rain Suit that I'm still convinced I could go scuba-diving & still stay dry wearing it.
There was a good element of luck in your outcome. Abrupt control input changes (brake or throttle) under a loss of traction situation are generally ill-advised. Better to gradually make the adjustment even if it causes you to transition through an unstable phase coming out. For instance, gradually backing out of a rear wheel slide can land you in a zone where the traction catches and releases before traction is regained. Snapping the throttle closed in that situation often nets you a high-side. In a front tire slide with full throttle, my response would have been to smoothly remove only enough throttle to restore traction. Once traction is restored, you can back out of the remaining throttle quickly if you wish. Some loss of traction appears gradually and some is sudden (like your black ice experience). Not knowing what kind of traction anomaly you may face supports the strategy of leaving a good margin for error. How much traction your tires can supply changes with each new foot of roadway - sometimes significantly. There are lots of things you can know: traction is worse when it first starts raining; painted lane markings are more slippery than the road; worn tires break traction easier than newer tires; etc. I was riding near Keyser, WV long ago when a light rain started. The roads had a film of coal dust, which the locals had come to expect, but which caught me totally off-guard. I topped a hill going into town and found a red light at the bottom. I started braking and broke both tires loose. The bike went full sideways to the right and my over-spirited response put me full sideways to the left. I guess that the only reason I did not fall down is that I didn't have enough traction to do so. Neither skill nor good judgment were responsible for my outcome. I stopped, still sideways, at the light. An old woman in a Lincoln was in the adjacent lane pointing her finger at me and giving the full treatment behind her closed window. I just shrugged and said, "Yep, I'm an idiot."
Ditto... and proper gear makes all the difference...
That's an interesting observation regarding the grip and feedback of radial tires vs bias ply. Because radial tires generally offer wider performance envelopes they typically allow riders higher safety margins before it gets critical. Your many years and miles on the G547/548 no doubt give you great confidence.
"most of the time" means down to ~25% left on the wear bars. I told you that, didnt IFixed it for ya!
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None. It was kind of like a spiral. As the bike rotated the lean increased until gravity took over. The right hand mirror popped out but it popped right back in the mirror cover. It's like the ST's. I did find that I could not right the bike by myself after several tries. Having popped my lower back out trying to right the ST once I knew to just leave it be. I walked out to the road in the background and a few minutes later a truck came down the road and two young guys helped me lift it.
Paul, like me I'm glad you and the bike were not injured or damaged.Whoa, glad to hear you're OK Dave! How's the bike?
I too had a little spill the other day, in gravel though... I was on a paved road and made a left turn, but didn't see the thick gravel in the middle of the turn... it blended well against the pavement. As I turned left and accelerated, the rear slid out right, causing my body to go left and subsequently my right wrist twisted the throttle. The bike spun 180° and I just let her go down gently and stepped off. The inside marks are my left boot trying to (unsuccessfully) ride it out...
