Back during my racing days, learning to handle all mechanical tasks on your own motorcycle was a necessity. Unless you were lucky enough to have someone skilled in such tasks who was willing to wake up at early hours, work their knuckles to the bone in often less-than-ideal conditions, all while being immersed in fuels and chemicals that are now on the EPA's banned list and doing it all for peanuts, becoming adept at bike maintenance was obviously crucial to success. Not to mention just making the grid.
Because we usually mount tires and perform chassis adjustments ourselves during track testing, we're confident that all critical fasteners have been tightened to proper specs (after all, we're not rushing to make the next practice session...) when we hop aboard for our first few warm-up laps. Even then, when conducting any high-speed testing, I try to make it a habit to give the bike a good once-over, checking brake caliper bolts, axle nuts/clamp bolts, chain tension, tire air pressure, etc., before ever throwing a leg over it.
During a practice session at Willow Springs' ultra-fast 2.5-mile, nine-turn road course one race weekend, I suddenly noticed that my Yamaha TZ250 was handling funny. The overall feel was becoming a bit vague, when it seemed to be working fine in the laps prior. Then, as I railed into the fastest part of the circuit, Willow's daunting 130-mph Turn Eight, the rear end of the bike whipped sideways and almost spit me off. I quickly pulled into the pits to see if the rear tire was perhaps losing air, as the bike's vague handling reminded me of a similar low tire pressure situation I'd encountered before.
In fact, let's start at square one: When's the last time you checked your tires' air pressures?
It's all too easy to simply assume that everything is tight and buttoned-down with your sportbike that you just rode last weekend or got back from the shop (no, we're not suggesting that you check every fastener upon taking delivery of your bike from your preferred shop and possibly offending them...but being careful and prudent when riding home-where you can check everything-doesn't take much effort). The problem is that one loose fastener can cause catastrophic failure, or at the very least result in operational issues that can put you in grave danger. There's too much riding on your bike's structural integrity to just take something like this for granted.
When my friend and noted tuner Kaz Yoshima saw me pulling into the pit, he came over to offer assistance. "I think the rear tire's losing air," I said to Yoshima, so he quickly walked over to check if that was indeed the problem. Before even examining the tire, Yoshima stopped and announced in his usual matter-of-fact tone dripping with humorous sarcasm, "Dude...you have much bigger problem than rear tire." When I turned around to see what he was talking about, I was struck by the sight of the TZ250's rear axle protruding about six inches out of the swingarm. In my haste to finish mechanical work on my bike in time for the practice session, I had forgotten to properly torque the rear axle nut. Needless to say, I was one very lucky bonehead.
So much for self-induced near-miss episodes. But a situation that our sister publication Motorcyclist Magazine just encountered with staffer Ari Henning hammered home another hidden danger that comes with assuming that everything is tight and locked down. While preparing for a quarter-mile run with a boutique manufacturer's $40,000 supercharged motorcycle, Henning was in the process of doing a quick shakedown run with the bike to ensure that the fueling and brakes were working properly. Henning did a quick blast up to 120 mph, and then was in the process of gradually slowing as he approached the start line.
Wanting to check out the supercharged engine's throttle response, he grabbed a handful of throttle at about 50 mph. The bike began to pull the front end off the ground in a small power wheelie, so he shut the throttle. Unfortunately, when the front suspension compressed as he chopped the throttle, the fork tubes slid up in the triple clamps due to not having the clamping bolts tightened properly (the bike had just returned from being "prepped" at the manufacturer's "service center"). This quickly jammed the front tire into the bottom triple clamp, locking it solid and instantly throwing Henning headfirst into the ground. Thankfully, the only injuries Henning suffered were a slight concussion, a dislocated shoulder, and some bumps and bruises...but it obviously could have been a lot worse.
Even more fortunate was that both of these incidents occurred in the controlled confines of a closed circuit course. Imagine if Henning's incident had happened on a crowded highway, or if I had been railing down my favorite canyon road...