Anyone here ever actually "lay er down"?

We've been having fun with the stories we've all heard about "laying it down", and the notion of climbing on top and riding it to a halt.

But, have any of us ever actually done it? Intentionally laid a bike down while riding? I'm not talking about crashing and ended up laying on the ground, or having a bike squirt out from under you. I'm talking about deliberately laying a bike down onto the pavement?

I don't know that I've ever known a person that really has deliberately "laid it down". I don't know that I could actually do it myself. Even in a situation that warranted it (like going under a semi trailer, I suppose).

Just curious.

Nope.

If I'm to guess the whole expression probably came from Harley riders who typically use the rear brake and nothing but the rear brake. Too much rear brake when a car pulls out of you and down you go...

Sort of. I'm one of those mid-life crisis guys, started riding at 40. BRC, check. Little bike (Super Sherpa), check. Stepped up to a Ducati Monster 620, still small but a lot bigger than the Sherpa, not gonna hold it up with legs alone when it starts tipping slowly over.

Out on a ride, tight right hander going up hill, downshifted to second, shoulda went all the way to first (Monsters are geared pretty tall). Bike started lugging, panicked, braked, didn't clutch, bike stalls, I put the foot brake on and the left foot down. Bike starts going over to the right (right hander, remember?). Still panicked, put the right foot down, can't correct the bike, soooo...

Slowly I "Layed her down." Got off, picked the bike up, and noticed the old man walking his little yippy dog. What he must of been thinking I don't know, but I bet he got a good laugh.

David B.

I use to do it with my bicycles when I was a kid all the time.

Not so much with the motos

No.

In before this thread gets kicked to the basement. To answer the question, no.

I Laid er down just to get a pic for this thread.




I'm too good of a rider to actually crash





That's my story and I'm sticking to it

that's a drop.

Does intentionally locking up the back to take the low side over the potentially soon to come high side count? If so then yes, I hate high sides.

Not on my motorcycles, but I lay my Bianchi down all the time because it doesn't have a kickstand.

Not on pavement, but if I'm going down a hill that has become almost to steep to stand on and I know I have .04 seconds before I'm going 100 mph, I'll lock the front brake, step over the bars and grab for the nearest tree. Usually the bike flops over and doesn't go too much further down the hill.

Went riding the other day. Early spring, still cool in the morning. Hooked up with my buddy and we went to ride some sand roads in the pine Barrens. By then it was noon and I was sweating my ass off. I had to lay 'er down.

So you deliberately locked the rear, and swung it round until you were down on the ground? If so, I'd say that counts! I really wonder if I could do that, or if I'd be constantly trying to minimize speed and keeping it up on the tires. Certainly I've done what you describe, but it was incidental to locking the brakes, not deliberate on my part.

Wow, I'd say that counts too. Not a scenario or a technique that I was thinking of either. I can't think of the time, but I suspect I've done similar "dives to safety" as well. Especially on bicycles.

intentionally, no, but one crash I had was almost like fun
I was heading east on 221 in Roanoke, VA when I see a dinky little sign that sez "Parkway Entrance" and think to myself, "oh sh!t, thats my turn"

I was heavily loaded on my SV650, as I countersteer into the on ramp, I could see that there was more asphalt than aggregate on the ramp, one big tar snake, I felt the front end washing out and thought to myself when I slid into that granite curb, this lowside is gonna turn into a high side

so, I stood the SV up, and took my chances keeping it under control on the median/island between the onramp & off ramp. but, the grass was wet with dew, slipperyer than ice, I went down the instant I hit it, my Vermont rounder U-bag acted as a frame slider, I got some grass stains and went for a ride, 0 damage other than slight rash on turn signal and headlamp trim ring

I was tempted to do it again

I layed it down.. 100% on purpose and very strategically I might add..

Going down a steep hill covered in ice. No chance of stopping or slowing down before the 90 degree turn at the bottom. Fly out the back of the turn into a snow ditch or crank the bars over and hang on while the panniers dig in to slowly stop all nice and easy. Lay er down !!!

There is a video from some TV show of a stunt guy "lay ing it down" to slide under a tractor trailer. It was pretty sweet. I can't find it.

He even talked about how much of a concerted effort it is to pull off. Not that easy.




Had to "lay er down"

About 30 years ago on an MZ TS125. The drum front brake and Teflon-coated Pneumant tyre made the bike a bit of a menace, although the ovality of the front drum acted as a kind of primitive anti-lock. In any case, I was going along a street in Chelsea in the rain in a bit of a daydream when the car in front pulled an emergency stop. Only way for me to avoid collision was to stand on the back brake, which locked the wheel and, given that the back tyre was as slippery as the front. dumped the bike on its side. Non-folding footpegs dug in and ensured that it and I stopped short of the car.
I call that a lay down. IIRC I bought a pair of Pirelli tyres the next week.

I know some gal with a K1100RS that intentionally "laid 'er down."

When I was 12, the throttle stuck on my minibike, and I was heading for a building, so I had to lay er down. Not too gracefully, as I recall.

No. You generally only do that (Lay 'er Down) when you don't have the skills to ride it out and need an excuse to not really embarrass yourself explaining to someone else why you crashed.

Really.