Sun glare + gravel = crash

My luck has not been good with motorcycles. Not good at all. With
only 1859 miles on the clock I went down again. I was at a four way

2000 miles is nothing. Nothing. It's a three day weekend for some of us,
with time out for sightseeing. A bike is barely broken in at 1000. So take
heart. Recognize it for the newbie mistake that it was, and get on with it.
Do be more careful, and mind the potholes.

Hear, hear.

He's averaging a major accident / total loss /
nearer-my-god-to-thee experience every 600 miles. He doesn't actually
get to the 1,000 mile break-in point before he needs a new bike.

Sounds like that bike is a blast.

Yeah, and 120 even more so :-)

So, who won the pool?

stop and when it was my turn to go, I proceeded with confidence. That
confidence was shattered when in the next instant my bike was sliding
off the road with me following it. Good thing I had full gear.

You don't say whether you were proceeding straight through the
intersection or turning. I would guess you were making a turn?

I did not see the gravel that acted as ball bearings under my wheels.
The sun was in the way. A witness to the crash pointed it out to me

You simply failed to observe the state of the road. When you can't see
the road conditions, you have to assume the worst. You mentioned glare,

Yep. This is one of the big commandments of motorcycle riding: always
assume the worst. If somebody's sitting at a stop sign waiting for you
to pass, ASSUME that he's going to pull out in front of you. And if
you can't see the road surface in the middle of a turn, ASSUME that
it's slippery as greased glass. Assume, assume, assume. Always, always
be prepared.

Bill S.

were you wearing sunglasses, or a tinted visor?

after the fact. My crash sliders failed to fully protect the engine
casing although they did prevent any punctures.

Perhaps that confidence was misplaced ?

I'd suggest an inexpensive, used, naked bike, underpowered, paid for in
cash with no collision insurance that you're able to work on yourself.
Glad you came out OK. Good that you had the right gear on.

I must say this has been a serious blow to my confidence and pride.
I thought I had the crashing thing behind me. It turns out that is
not so. Best guess on the crash was a bit to much throttle and a
little too much lean. I've taken that intersection many times before

Well, there you go. I have a feeling that, next time you have a less
than ideal picture of the road surface, you will proceed with more
caution.

Dont be silly. Dave may be the nicest guy on the planet, but he's probably
the worst at seeing more than 2 feet in front of himself too, so he'll be
wiping out bikes from now 'til eternity. Or 'til he croaks hisself anyway.

I'm lucky. I got all my bad falls out of the way when I was riding a
bicycles, as a younger man. By the time I got my first motorcycle, I
was all wiped out.

without incident. The heavy rain the day before may have pushed the
gravel onto the road.

David, I am sorry to hear you have kissed the asphalt again, but glad
to hear only your pride has been injured.

More disheartening is once again you are shrouding the cause of the
accident. Too much throttle or lean did not cause this accident. You
did not observe the road conditions. You failed to see and respond to
a visible hazard.

It's true that I failed to see the gravel. With the sun in front of
me, the road looked fine like it normally is. The gravel was visible
from the other direction. Not that that did me any good.

One poster recommended amber lenses for situations like this. I wear
glasses so I'll look into getting a tinted visor for my helmet that
will help with glare so I don't miss such a hazzard again.

Better luck next time, but remember you are quickly using up your
allotment of luck.

My allotment of bad luck seems infinite. Not that luck absolves me of
any fault.

Again, it sounds like you are making an excuse here, rather than admitting
you failed to observe road conditions that can only be described as
nothing out of the ordinary.

With only 1859 miles under your belt, how can you claim any confidence?
I would advise humility and awareness of your experience level, rather
than confidence and pride. You're a tenderfoot rider and you will be
for a good while.

The damage to the bike is cosmetic. It still runs. I'm getting it
fixed anyway. I don't know how this will affect my insurance beyond
not getting a disappearing deductable for a while.

Now before certain individuals decide to flame me for crashing, please
know that this will cost me.

Nah, it won't: the flames[1] are free in reeky!

If you can't take the flames, don't post your crash stories here.
I'm not trying to make you feel bad-- just to get you to take a good
hard look at what you're doing, and whether you need to reexamine your
attitude toward riding a bike.

I'm glad you're not hurt, it's a good thing you were wearing good gear.
Get your crash mushrooms enlarged or moved so they protect the engine
cases next time.

I always thought we HAD to share our crash stories here.