Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[droffsite]

A question for those who've interacted with whatever gets logged on these things.

I managed to high side (I think; concussions suck) last week turning out of work on my way home. Route I've taken a ton of times, nothing special. The last thing I recall is the rear end going loose, then coming back, and then I got ejected. The next hour after that is a blur. I got a concussion and my left heel hurts (maybe the bike came down on it?).

I was curious just thinking about it, then a witness told me "I heard the accident (particularly an unusual-to-me, brief, high-pitched whirring sound)". My thoughts after were how'd the rear end let that far go with normal throttle (dry road, ~40º F/5º C)? Did the traction control (standard) freak out and/or it just go WOT?

So, I'm wondering if there might be anything in onboard logs that would shed some light on what happened. Any insight appreciated.

[Tony]

That sounds terrible, I hope you will recover soon. 

I am not sure what exactly is logged, but perhaps some of these can help?

https://zero-motorcycle-community.github.io/browser-parse/
http://home.hasslers.net/zerologparser/log_parser.php
https://github.com/zero-motorcycle-community/zero-log-parser

[droffsite]

That sounds terrible, I hope you will recover soon. 

I am not sure what exactly is logged, but perhaps some of these can help?
...

Thank you. Couple days of actually feeling my brain swollen, but I'm more or less back in fighting shape. With a limp for a few more days. Meh.

I'll definitely check those out when I get the bike back. Probably should've mentioned: it held up surprisingly well. Needs a new handlebar (the left grip snapped at the module that holds the blinker and mode button) and somehow managed to knock a few bits off the rear sprocket (not sure what angle that was). That was it for structural; the left side of the tank and the left side of the lowest fairing behind the front wheel are scraped (though, again, surprisingly little; testament to how fast I wasn't going, I guess), along with the aforementioned module.

[Fred]

I've been wondering if the traction control worked at all on the Zero. A couple of times now I've intentionally pinned my SR/F's throttle in the wet or on gravel (with the bike upright) to see what happened. The rear wheel just spun up. Admittedly I was being fairly heavy handed with it. It's an expensive bike so I've not tried getting the rear to break lose whilst cornering or anything. My days of that sort of riding are definitely behind me. Had anyone had any evidence of traction control actually doing anything?

With regard to the noise, I remember being a bit heavy handed in the wet on my previous FXS - which I don't belive had traction control. I remember thinking "what's that odd noise"? There was an odd rising pitch whirring I'd not heard before. Then the rear gave a little shimmy and I realised it had lost traction. I hadn't even felt anything happen. I heard it first. Very strange.

[droffsite]

I've been wondering if the traction control worked at all on the Zero.

I got the bike brand new. I took it for a spin off the showroom floor. Turned left (maybe I should just stop turning left?) onto a road and gave gentle throttle: the rear let loose, but got back under control. I attributed it to the traction control working; maybe it was just not freaking out on the throttle and the bike fixed itself?

Crap. I want it to work.

Do you know which level you had set when it spun up? Perhaps standard is a bit too generous.

[TheRan]

I know on the older models the motor RPM is logged (which can be used to determine the speed) but it's not frequently updated, perhaps every minute. I would imagine a traction control fault would be logged (if there was one) or maybe if the traction control did kick in but too late and maybe the motor RPM at those points would also be logged.

[droffsite]

I would imagine a traction control fault would be logged (if there was one)

That's what I'm hoping for. I'd like to validate I didn't grab a handful of throttle (99% sure I didn't) if that's at all possible. There was nothing evident the next morning at the intersection where it happened (no big surprise, but had to check).

If it was some software fault that caused it, I'd sure like to know that. Hate to have that happen again.

[Tony]

I've been wondering if the traction control worked at all on the Zero. A couple of times now I've intentionally pinned my SR/F's throttle in the wet or on gravel (with the bike upright) to see what happened. The rear wheel just spun up. Admittedly I was being fairly heavy handed with it. It's an expensive bike so I've not tried getting the rear to break lose whilst cornering or anything. My days of that sort of riding are definitely behind me. Had anyone had any evidence of traction control actually doing anything?

With regard to the noise, I remember being a bit heavy handed in the wet on my previous FXS - which I don't belive had traction control. I remember thinking "what's that odd noise"? There was an odd rising pitch whirring I'd not heard before. Then the rear gave a little shimmy and I realised it had lost traction. I hadn't even felt anything happen. I heard it first. Very strange.

Which mode did you do the test in? Apparently each mode behaves quite different with the throttle control, rain mode should probably be where you see the effect the most.

I am also curious how well it works in practice, never dared to push it on slippery surface after I had the rear spin off under me on an older DSR before.

[Fred]

My traction control "test" would have been done in sport or custom mode. I would still expect it to work in sport mode. You can't really label it as traction control unless it react to a loss of traction. Dialing the power down so you can't lose traction because the bike wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding isn't traction control.

Some sort of sign that it kicked in would be useful. My Hypermotard has a little light to say "I saved your butt there, buddy. You owe me an oil change and maybe even a wash."

[Tony]

My traction control "test" would have been done in sport or custom mode. I would still expect it to work in sport mode. You can't really label it as traction control unless it react to a loss of traction. Dialing the power down so you can't lose traction because the bike wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding isn't traction control.

Some sort of sign that it kicked in would be useful. My Hypermotard has a little light to say "I saved your butt there, buddy. You owe me an oil change and maybe even a wash."

Haha, yes, I agree. But from what I understand the sport mode quiets down the throttle control to give you max performance with the understanding that you have sacrificed some safety mechanisms. To what degree? Who knows, Bosch and Zero probably, but I found no info anywhere.

I would be very interested to know the details too, seems to me that sports mode is where you would actually really need this feature. As you pointed out, rain mode is already so mellow that there's not much need for any traction control anyways.

[Richard230]

I have traction control on my BMW R1200RS. I tried it out once and was very impressed with its operation. I was was stuck going up a hill covered with loose gravel in a road construction area that had me really worried about loosing traction. The bike went right up the gravel slope without any obvious indication that the traction control was even working. But it must have been as I don't think I could have walked up that gravel without slipping. 

[amrty01]

On my SRS when I pin the throttle on a dirt road the rear tire will spin up for a fraction of a second then stop. I haven't needed it while actually riding yet thankfully. My bike stays in street traction mode most of the time and that is the only mode I have played with so far. perhaps more testing in other modes is in order.