- This topic has 10 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 6 months ago by Jim.
My first crash on a street at speeds. Damn Gravel.
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September 28, 2008 at 3:09 pm #2162spiccnspamParticipant
So im taking my virago 535 out on the main road for the first, its all going smooth just cruising at 45 mph, I come to take a turn back into my neighboorhood and i dont see the patch of gravel on the side of the road. As i turn my bike it skids across the gravel and the instant i hit pavement again the front tire snaps the other direction and the bike bucks me off of it, i go flying and my bike goes flying after me, luckily i was wearing all my gear and my helmet never hit the ground so its still good, my bike lands on my leg and burns me with the exhaust. When i pulled my leg out my adrenaline was pumping so hard i actually lifted my 400+ pound bike off the ground like it was 10 pounds. I cranked it up and went home. The only damage i took was my knee which was already hurt from a brawl that i got in at a cross country meet that morning and it was bashed up even more in the crash. Its all swollen and purple.
Lesson learned from this crash, when you fall of the horse made of metal you get back on the horse made of metal I did that turn 3 more times to make sure i know how to look out for and avoid gravel.
September 28, 2008 at 4:21 pm #12884BenParticipantWow! Glad to hear you are ok! Motorcycles falling on your legs are no fun (I speak from experience) but it’s good that the adrenaline was flowing so you could life the bike off yourself. You are going to be sore tomorrow haha.
We learn the most from our mistakes/failures than we do from our successes.
Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles AdminSeptember 28, 2008 at 5:15 pm #12891smokeizfireParticipantLOL. I am glad you are ok and nothing serious happen to you or your V535. Good idea to practice that turn so you may not slip again. You don’t want to slip with a car behind you. =+( Glad to hear anybody who took a spill and lived to post about it. K{ = + )]
HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS
September 28, 2008 at 5:52 pm #12893spiccnspamParticipantyea my knee was already cut up and bruised from a melee ish thing at a cross country meet. now its just a big swollen mass. and going to a concert right after prolly didnt help.
September 28, 2008 at 6:45 pm #12902ilnamParticipantCross country meets are brutal. That’s why I avoided them…That, and I always thought it was crazy to run for fun
Hope your knee is okay for the next meet!September 28, 2008 at 6:51 pm #12903spiccnspamParticipanthaha they are most brutal. my knee should be fine by then but my coach is gonna kill me about missing practice tomorrow.
September 29, 2008 at 12:21 am #12911MunchParticipantNow yay!! your alive and only bruised….now my only question from the playback. …. was the emotion of the morning in you head more then the ride?(assuming I understand the statement). I learned a looooong time ago, especially being a crazy arsed country boy, to not get behind anything motorized unless my head was ” in the game”. Oddly enough I am a contradicition to a MSF point. Being that if your wreckless in a car your likely to continue the habit on a bike…. for me its been the reverse… I am super cautious on my bike and it has moved over to the car. During my divorce I was brutal on my truck, neoghbors thought I was doing the truck version of a Dukes of Hazzard scene. Being mad, upset or even distracted by ” I wish I had done this instead” thoughts can very much make you blind to the split second decisions you could of made earlier.
If this was not an issue for you … grats!
If it was…. you have so been warned for the next time…. and BTW…. you still get no drink :^) . Alcohol for any scratches…but not the drinking kind.Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a prediction, but today…… is a Bi**h
September 29, 2008 at 12:41 am #12912spiccnspamParticipantNah I wasn’t thinking about that morning when it happened, I was thinking, wonder why i feel like im sliding across this pavement? I too have gotten mad bout females and driven my little ford focus like a maniac! But on my bike I feel like im in a totallly different world. Your words of advice will probably ring in my head the first time i get stressed and try to ride.
P.S. its cool you dont have to give me a drink, got plenty at that concert. !
September 29, 2008 at 1:26 am #12916BuddParticipantwatch out for that gravel. glad you are okay.
“I am the best there is at what I do, and what I do ain’t nice.”-Wolverine
September 29, 2008 at 3:19 am #12929JimParticipantGlad you and your bike weren’t badly damaged. Gravel is a bitch.
September 29, 2008 at 4:28 am #12895RabParticipantI know (also from experience) that it’s difficult to think rationally if/when something like this happens, but the first thing you should do in a situation where your leg’s trapped under the bike is to hit the kill switch if the engine’s still running, swiftly followed by turning off the ignition.
At best, an engine running on it’s side may be starved of oil and therefore, will be damaged if left in that state for long. At worst, depending on the damage, fuel could escape, ignite, and you get burnt alive before dying a horrible death.
I know that crashes can happen to anyone, but they are statistically more likely to happen to the inexperienced. All the more reason to start learning on a smaller, lighter, bike, as if you’ve ever tried to lift a 500+ lb bike on a lonely country road when one of your legs is trapped under it, and you’re in agony ’cause you just snapped the gear shift peg off with your big toe under it, you’ll know it’s not at all easy and is no fun at all.
I’m glad the original poster found some “incredible hulk” like transformation that enabled him or her to get their leg out from under the bike quickly, but in my case, that didn’t happen. I was in dirt at the side of the road and my leg wouldn’t budge. After killing the engine, I had to swing my other leg over the bike and use it, combined with my arms and back muscles to lift the bike up enough to get my trapped leg out.
Fortunately, after taking stock and composing myself (as much as I could under the circumstances), I too was able to ride the bike home. In agony and without a gear shift peg, but home nonetheless (about $1000 worth of parts damage).
Note to self: Always carry a charged cell phone in a jacket pocket and always have some “towing” insurance or at least the number of a local cycle towing company.
How did mine happen? By allowing myself to get distracted and using one hand to try and stop two cans of chain lube falling out of my jacket while going round a bend.
We live and learn. Hopefully both…
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