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Who here has wrecked their bike?
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I'm not talking about driveway downs - we've all done that. I'm
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Yeah, I walked away from my pristine Candy Wine Red
'93 ZX-11 thinking the side stand was all the way
extended. It wasn't, and I heard a really bad crunching
sound as I walked away.
But even though I've been riding for over 30 years, I
have yet to wreck a street bike. Dirt bikes are another
story.
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talking about outright wrecks - you hit something, something hit you,
you lost control and went down without hitting anything, someone else
caused you to go down and you still didn't hit anything... and who
among you were injured and.or your bike insured as a result?
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1970 Hartsville, SC. Minibike. Stuck my foot in the chain and
sprocket. 58 stitches and one toe less than normal.
A few years later and 1300 miles away
1976 Austin, Tx. Just bought a brand new 1975 Norton 850 Commando.
Less than a mile from the dealership it starts misting and I hit a red
light. Brand new tires, oily road and first bike I'd ever been on
with disc brakes. Went one way, saved it, went the other way and down
I went. Speedometer busted along with a clutch cable. Me with one
split knuckle. Road it back to the dealer and a few replacements
later rode it home a hundred miles or so.
Skip forward 30 years.
2006 Myrtle Beach, SC and headed down for bikeweek Wednesday
evening. 7PM. Beautiful day. I turn south off Seacoast highway at
the Cherry Grove light onto Ocean Drive. 35 MPH limit and I'm going
slower since I'm only going about 5 blocks before turning. Hit 14th
Avenue, signaled right and started braking for my right turn onto
15th.
I'm leaned over in the turn and there is a face right there looking at
me with its mouth open. Guy I had passed back on Seacoast snuck back
up and was trailing me where I didn't see him. I check my left mirror
when I started slowing but never thought to check the right.
His front wheel hit my crash bar and just pivoted the bike and me to
the ground. Bike was screwed up and my neighbors brought me a trailer
and loaded it.
Me? Broken collarbone. ER that night. Ortho visit Friday. Surgery
that Monday. A hegie pin if you want to look it up. It hurts. Big
time.
Well it didn't heal so back in March we did it again. Only this time
with a plate and screws. Didn't hurt as much this time probably due
the medicinal product Mr. Morrow hand delivered. Of course now I'm
addicted but I sip slowly and infrequently from that bottle.
Released by the Otho for good a couple of weeks ago.
Dave (Dukes Sheep)
'07 FLHTCU NAH#2 DOF #5 SENS
"Oh bother" said Pooh, as he was connected at 14.4kps
A: Because it disturbs the logical flow of the message.
Q: Why is topposting frowned upon?
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When?
I need a time frame or I'll use too much bandwidth.
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I knew i shouldn't have clicked.
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I'll start...
Summer of 1973 (maybe 1974 - youth was somewhat hazy :). Just got my
first street legal bike (rode plenty of things that weren't street
legal before that). It was newly used with only a few hundred miles..
I got a ride over to the guy's house about 30mi away to pick the bike
up.
I rode the bike to the state DMV to get it tagged, inspected, and me
licensed, which back in the day you could do at one place. The license
test was real simple - go down a little path, make a u-turn, come back
and stop.
I then rode another 25 mi home on the highway.
Got on the bike to ride around the neighborhood and started down a
hill to a T-intersection. Stopped at the intersection - no traffic -
and took off, gunning the engine such that I ran right into the curb
and went head first over the handlebars onto a grassy incline.
I was 17 and made of rubber so nothing happened to me personally. The
bike however suffered bent front forks. i had just gotten the bike
inspected and in that state, bikes were a one-time, lifetime
inspection.
Having no money, I didn't get the forks fixed; the bike still ran
well; just made it a little harder to ride at 55mph and above; felt
like a jackhammer.
How about you?
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Five in all. Which one you want first? :-)
I'll start with my first. I was living in Philly and was dating a
couple of students from a nearby nursing school. I'd taken one for a
very nice ride through the countryside out around Valley Forge. We
were coming down a hill on a small road into a right curve, and the
bike just went out from under us. Because we weren't going too fast,
we only ended up with a few bruises & road rash; but our clothes,
where they weren't ripped, were covered with some sort of oil. The
entire curve looked like half of somebody's crankcase has emptied.
What a friggin mess. I had a date with nurse #2 that night, and she
was more than happy to clean my injuries with straight isopropyl.
Learned more than one lesson that day.
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Two times on the street in 35 years.
Got my first street bike, a Kawasaki 500 triple, in 1972. Prior to
getting it the fastest thing I had ever been on was a 305 Honda.
Within a month I was racing it at the drag strip and playing around
with wheelies. Stopped at a gas station to show some friends the bike
and a bit of what I had learned. Lofted the front wheel as I left.
Looked back to check for traffic as I was about to enter the road with
the front wheel still up. Not sure why I hadn't looked before that.
Too busy showing off I guess. Anyway, there was a car coming.
Managed to turn my unicycle so as not to get hit, but found a pole in
my path. Got the front wheel down just in time to slam into the
pole. Ended up with a 3 corner tear in my jeans, and a 3 corner tear
in my thigh to match. Caught it on something while going over the
bars. The bike got a bent fork and the front wheel needed to be trued
up. I kept racing after that, but pretty much lost interest in doing
wheelies.
In 1992 I was riding over a mountain pass. Flogged it pretty good on
the way up, but I knew there was often gravel on the other side so I
backed off at the crest. Going slow there was time to look at the
view. There were mountains beyond mountains as far as I could see. A
glance back at the road revealed the gravel I expected, but it had
been pushed into tracks by all the cars. Going slow it would be no
problem staying in a clear path. Plenty of time for more gawking
before I'd get to the next sharp turn. When I looked back at the road
again so I could stay on the clear path around the curve I saw the
whole road was covered with gravel. Cars tend to drift around a bit
in sharp curves spreading the gravel out. Tried to turn but the front
end just washed out. The front wheel went through the guardrail
cutting the tire and bending the fork. That kicked the back end out
throwing me across the centerline. Good thing it did since it gave me
more room to slide before I reached the guardrail again. My leather
jacket got cut up on the guardrail but I got away with a bit of road
rash on my elbow and hip. The bike was still running and the bars
turned, so I decided to ride it back to the last village on the flat.
Not a soul in sight so I rode on to the next village. The tubeless
tire was staying on the rim, folding up around both sides so the rim
wasn't getting beat up. Could go 35 mph no problem. Had gone 40
miles by the time I found a garage open, and it was being run by a 12
year old kid. He offered to let me use the tools they had, but I got
to thinking how the fork was going to spring if I took the wheel off.
The way things were goin I decided my chances were better to just ride
the flat the remaining 60 miles to get home. Made it no problem.
Now race track crashes are another story....
Bruce Richmond
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Then there was the bus. IIRC, I had moved across the river to S.
Jersey, and was headed home from Philly. I was running along Vine St.
headed for the Ben Franklin Bridge when a transit bus merged onto the
road from the left. Not really wantiong to slow down for a bus, as he
merged right, I went left. Unfortunately, he shot left again to get
off at the very next exit, and I just couldn't quite stop. Boom.
Right in the back of the bus. Picked myself & the bike off the
street. No serious damage to either vehicle, except I broke my clutch
lever (again). The bus drived stopped & walked back, saying, "I
*thought* I heard a bump." Very funny. To those who ask, "How do you
run into the back of a bus?" I can only say, you had to be there.
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Okay, then there was this fine, crisp fall morning. Nurse #2 from
previous story, now my steady girlfriend, had spent the night at my
place in Jersey. It was a fine, beautiful morning, and I romantically
thought I'd fix us some breakfast. Being the bachelor pad it was, I
had no food in the house. No problem, I'll hop on the bike & run to
the nearby convenience store.
Admittedly driving at grossly excessive speeds, I shot through the
development to the store, got my stuff, & shot home again with the bag
of groceries on my lap. Almost made it.
Just before my turn, I came to an intersection with a stop sign to my
left. The guy didn't stop. He clearly couldn't have seen me; and I
braked hard. I was going to die. Fortunately, he didn't stop and
cleared the intersection before my bike and I, now separated, both
slid through the intersection, me on my butt, the bike on the brake
lever, leaving a cool trail of sparks ahead of me.
We both came to a stop eventually, with surprisingly little permanent
damage to either. The most amazing part was that I had bought a dozen
eggs, and not one of them broke. Until I set the bag on the seat
afterward & it fell off.
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Your stories are entertaining; I'm waiting for #4 and #5 now.
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LOL. Thanks. #4 was boring. Slid out on another grease slick at a
city bus stop.
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