Perhaps a combination of both? Maybe something malfunctioned, causing the rear brake to lock.. which resulted in the crash?

 

Hmm. I dunno. That doesn't seem to fit with what I experienced. At one moment I was up and travelling around the curve normally. The next moment I was on the ground, sliding towards the guardrail. My very first impression was that the front end had washed out. Thats what it felt like and what I told the officer(s). I didn't feel like I skidded first then fell.

Like I said previously, I rarely use the rear brake and its weak from the factory. You'd have to be putting a lot of pressure on it to get it to lock up. Also, I usually ride with the balls of my feet on the foot pegs, especially when going around a corner. I wouldn't have been able to reach the brake pedal in that configuration. In other words, I'd have to consciously make a decision to put my foot on the rear brake, with a good amount of pressure. That, I can definitely say did not happen. Did some freak confluence of events happen to lock up the brakes? Yeah, some people in this thread have already mentioned ways that could have happened. Possibly there was another factor involved that we don't know about?

Also, I'm a fairly seasoned rider. I rode bikes from age 8 to my early 20s, quit for a while, then bought this bike about 4 or 5 years ago. I've been to the tail of the dragon on that bike and broke the speed limit once or twice, without crashing. I rode that bike to work about 2-3 times a week (less in winter, but still rode year round). Based on the questions I was being asked, I felt like the officers were getting the impression I was a newb, hence the panic brake lockup theory.

Sorry for getting so wordy and taking up your personal time, but this has obviously had me very concerned since it happened. Thanks again for the feedback.