How did you crash?

When I was 15 and was trying to teach myself how to ride I pulled the front brake on a grass strip I was riding on. The front tire slid out and I went down and broke every bone in my left wrist. Later when I actually took an MSF course they showed a video of a professional rider lock the front tire on some wet asphalt. As the tire started to slide out he released the front brake and the bike popped right back upright.

Lesson learned: don't be afraid of the front brake - the front brake is your friend, but if it locks immediatly let off or you'll go down FAST. The opposite is true for the back. Generally ride it out if it locks (you can let off if you're perfectly upright but once you start to drift if you let off the rear you will probably high side) Right?

[audiogooroo]

Mine was 1979. One of those unseasonably warm days in the middle of February. Mid 60s, dry and sunny. Decided I just had to go for a ride. I chose an area nearby that is just beautiful and has a lot of twisties, all asphault.
As I crested the top of the "pass" and started down the other side there was a pretty sharp turn and I slowed for it...probably doing about 25-30 mph. Then I saw it...a long wide line of sand that the county had spread on the road. (We had almost 2 feet of snow about 10 days earlier)
As soon as I hit it it felt like my bike was yanked right out from under me. I slid about 65 feet right down the asphault behind my bike. I had a 3/4 helmet on, jeans, boots and leather jacket. My jacket slid up and exposed a couple inches of my abdomen between my belt and my jacket. Ground a hole all the way down to my stomach lining. Same type injury on my right knee. But no broken bones. Took about a year for the wound to close up but I did pull gravel out of that wound for almost five years as it worked it's way to the surface.
Could have been alot worse, But now I really pay close attention to road surfaces. Especially in winter.

[Top Cat]

2006 coming back from Americade on my 650 Yamaha. Back road. Cindy riding 2-up with me. Came to a curve and saw something in road. Straightened bike up to change line through curve. Got too close to edge , watching edge of road where dirt started ( can you say target fixation ) could not bring bike back on line. I knew if I hit the edge at the angle I was going we were going down. Straightened bike up and took the lot hoping for the best. thought I was going to slow down and ride it out untill I saw the rear tire sliding up by my left side. Bike went down on its right side, Cindy and I separated from the bike and did a perfect baseball slide and then the bike highsided. We were lucky, not a scratch on either of us. We were in a clover field. The bike got a bent clutch lever and windshield broke but thats all.
I think I forgot to pull in the clutch lever and when the bike slowed enough it stalled locking up the rear tire. If you look close you may be able to see the path we took and the spot where we ended up.

[dantama]

Excellent responses, lots to be learned here. I'll respond later today after a meeting.

Thanks for the posts.

[coacha]

I haven't crashed...yet. I almost did the first day I road to school. Some jackoff in a semi towing a 30+ foot ProLine boat was doing a U-turn on the road leading to the school (5 lanes). I saw him slow down and pull to the right hand lane when I was 300 or so yards behind him, so I slowed down too, to about 25 mph. He had his right turn signal on so I thought he was pulling over to the edge for a mechanical problem so I pulled out to the left lane and continued at slow speed watching what he was doing. Next thing I know he whips it around to the left blocking 4 of the five lanes with oncoming traffic! What a piece of work. So I braked, then swerved to the right and went behind him. It wasn't extremely close but it did scare me a tad. All I could think of was "sh*t, first ride to work and I'm fixing to get crushed by a dam boat".

[blowndodge]

OK.... here it comes.


Aug. 25, 2007 rode to Palomar Mountain Observatory (elev. 5,000') in N. San Diego County.... 2 up on the Nomad.

Drove slow as molasses through the twistys on the way up.... feeling like the puussy that I am.... felt "my nuts" ... like it would do whatever I wanted it to.


Coming back, we took a short-cut down S6 (Southgrade) ... a road I had never been on.....extremely twisty. Felt stupid.... went into a tight left curve, day dreaming about BD's HUGE C0CK, hit gravel and went down.

I remember downshifting from 3rd to 2nd as I approached the turn
........ I know I was close to admitting to my wife my gayness as I entered the turn (a bad habit of mine, like playing with myself of camera) rather than in the right half of the lane.

I remember all the men I've been with..... butt seemed to go straight towards my mouth..... I leaned over to grap his underwear (pulled it down) and he seemed like he wouldn't cooperate......

I don't know my colon entry depth.... but I would guess a good 12 inches....

At the point that I really pulled down my underwear too, I was real close to his right shoulder and that's when I hit his bladder....


I was already out of control with excitement.... no doubt that I panicked and hit him in the rear .... and most likely at some point gave him a reach around at the front as well.


Don't know my own name when we actually shared our blissful moment and went down on each other..... had to be less than 15 years old.....


Series of errors:

I was running a cheap condom.... I had felt that a slightly smaller one would make me look bigger!....

I had a bottle of cheap ripple as well....


My other boyfriend who rides a KTM 950 SM passed out an earlier love session.... he later told me he noticed than when I was giving it too him....
it appeared my rear butt cheeks were flexing. (wasn't on the side of my thighsl, but on the flat glutes.

I had not checked his age prior to that day.



It was a nasty feeling to be out of control..... I had been butt humping with a high degree of confidence up until then........


Now....... I feel like I'm on a horse and enjoying it more! until he got spooked and threw me off....

I don't know if I will ever regain that same level....... I'm fine on my boyfriends behind..... but not the same on women anymore....

I've replaced my man's nipple rings.... they feel great... but his butt is still in my head......

We went skinny dipping a couple weeks ago and I saw a similar situation with another man....... I dropped my short the rest of the afternoon for any man that wanted me... made me nervous as hell.


I wish I had a video of it so I could see exactly what did happen.

(Shut up BD)

Remember, it's not "if" who you go down on... it's "when".... and I hope you experience it.

I'm open to any and all men and boys.... hopefully myself and others can have a similar experience.

There you have it. I bared my butt.






NOW THE TRUE STORY:::



I hit gravel in a tight mountain twisty and laid it down rather than go off the cliff!

It saved my life!!!!

;)



p.s. 4 broken ribs for me, small hemo thorax, road rash.
(was wearng a cool leather vest and skid lid.) hit head.

Sue: 8 broken ribs, small laceration on spleen, small pneumo thorax.
(leaher jacket, full face helmet) hit head.

Judi was behind us and went down as well..... major bruise left hip.... some road rash.

Nice story

[dantama]

OK.... here it comes.............

I remember leaning and counter-steering..... but bike seemed to go straight towards the R. shoulder..... I leaned much harder (pulled it down) and it seemed like it wouldn't turn............

Nico, of course I don't know what really happened in your crash, and the tire information complicates it, but it reminded me of a discussion on the other forum that I used to participate on, so I went and clipped what the expert on that board said.

It may or may not apply to you.

The most frequent accident on a motorcycle is running off the road in a curve. I'm of the opinion that is not, necessarily, because the rider was going too fast. Rather, I believe, it is because the rider has at that time forgotten about counter-steering (or never heard of it) and found himself 'fighting' the bike - it felt like it would not go in the direction he wanted it to go.

Counter-steering is EFFORTLESS!!!! If you ever feel that the bike does not seem to want to go in the direction you want it to go you are trying to STEER rather than COUNTER-STEER.

It is important that you not try to rationalize this steering method - when you need to change directions there should not be any time lost as you decide how to do that. Simply internalize (AND BELIEVE) 'push right, go right - push left, go left.'

Of course you know how to counter steer, or you wouldn't have gotten up the mountain in the first place. I have known of fairly experienced riders getting in a weird situation where they are fighting the bars.

(For this think of he old ladies that swear they are pushing on the brake, but are really flooring it into a crowd in a car) Riders think they are steering like normal, but it's not turning, so they try even harder, and nothing.

Just like unintended acceleration in a car, if somebody is sure that they are pushing on the brake, but really are pushing on the accelerator, they keep doing the same thing, only harder, and thus keep accelerating right into a crowd, still sure it's the brake.

If you have a brain fart and try to direct steer, then try to catch that, but not give it up entirely, you have a fight between direct steering (=counter steering the wrong direction) and counter-steering and either the bike goes straight (a tie between both steering inputs) or you turn, but not enough (one direction wins somewhat).

If you take James R Davis's comment from the quote above that states:

"Counter-steering is EFFORTLESS!!!! If you ever feel that the bike does not seem to want to go in the direction you want it to go you are trying to STEER rather than COUNTER-STEER."

It seems to fit your situation, but events are complex and I don't want to say that I know what happened in your situation, because I have no idea.

This just rang a bell and seemed to be somewhat applicable, but could be completely off.

[dantama]

..............
Lesson learned: don't be afraid of the front brake - the front brake is your friend, but if it locks immediatly let off or you'll go down FAST. The opposite is true for the back. Generally ride it out if it locks (you can let off if you're perfectly upright but once you start to drift if you let off the rear you will probably high side) Right?

Right

[Scoot]

Mine happened along time ago. I was 18yrs old and having a party at my folks place on the river. Well alot of folks didn't know how to get there and we assumed they might have stopped at the first landing on the road. So I asked a friend if I could ride his bike over to check it out. Wasn't more than 5 miles away. No problem he said so off I went. No problems going there but coming back I decided to see just how fast this bike would run. It was a 650 Yamaha had ape hanger bar the were over my head. I think it had extended forks.

I got it up to about 115 mph and then I passed this man and his wife in a old truck. Had just gotten it back in normal lane and it started going into a high speed wobble. Well it scared the crap out of me and I let off the gas, it got worse (saw my life pass in front of me) then it went into full tank slapper. I don't remember much after that but I do remember everything went into slow motion. I remember being bucked off bike and as I was falling I looked back and saw speed was 90mph and I thought I was going to die. I hit face first on the pavement and it knocked me out. Next thing I remember was feeling like I was in a dream. I was trying to get up when the man I had passed came running up to me. I had knocked a few teeth out and had really bad road rash on face, both arms, back, knees and feet. Spent 3 weeks in hospital going Thur burn treatment (sitting in whirlpool) and then letting them peal all the dead skin off twice a day. They said only reason I didn't have any broken bone was I knocked out on first hit.

What some folks told me I did wrong was when it got to wobbling instead of slowing down like I did I should have gassed it to make the front tire lighter to this day I'm still not sure.

[Idaho]

I was 18, had a Honda 175 Scrambler and was on my way home from work in the late afternoon. Took a fav road home with lots of twisties. Late afternoon sun was low in my face so I could not see the change in the color of the road surface to indicate that the County had tared and chipped the road that day. Did not realize it until I was into a turn and felt the bike start to slip. Stood it up straight and pointed it at the ditch. Was going to go through the ditch and up and over a hill on the other side. Sounded like a good plan in the 1/2 second I had to formulate it. Me and the bike went straight off the road into the ditch. Front wheel dived into deep mud and water. It looked like the bow of a boat plowing into a wave of water. Mud and water peeled off to both sides and the bike came to a dead stop upright with me still on it. I stepped off and started trying to free it from the muck. A couple of people stopped to help and we were able to pull it out. No damage, mud packed in every crevice. Can we say lucky?

I now have a Supervisor on the top of my face shield to shield my eyes from the sun.

What some folks told me I did wrong was when it got to wobbling instead of slowing down like I did I should have gassed it to make the front tire lighter to this day I'm still not sure.

The following is from the motorcycle safety site refered to by Dan Lund in a previous thread: http://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/to...?TOPIC_ID=2234

[Scoot]

[quote:jjsu2hba]

What some folks told me I did wrong was when it got to wobbling instead of slowing down like I did I should have gassed it to make the front tire lighter to this day I'm still not sure.

The following is from the motorcycle safety site refered to by Dan Lund in a previous thread: http://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/to...?TOPIC_ID=2234[/quote:jjsu2hba]

good read but with those ape hangers my hands were above my head and I thought that was the main problem I couldn't lock my arms and fight the wobble or absorb the wobble

My personal belief is that if you are in a tank slapper their aint much your gonna be able to do except crash. The forces involved are are probably more powerful than anyones arms... Similar to semis jack-knifing or lets say even fishtailing in a car - steering into the skid is fine if you catch it soon enough but once the back end starts coming around with enough force -its going around............ steering aint gonna bring it back.

[ringadingh]

I had a bike that was a tank slapper, an 82 GS1100. I used to hang around with some road racer guys back then and we went for early Sunday morning rides at high speeds on the backroads.The first time I cracked it open it scared the crap out of me, while acelerating it would started to go into a wobble at 120 mph, Backing off the gas doesn't really help stop the wobble. Hitting the brakes hard did stop it every time. My bike wobbled between 120 and 130 mph, once I was above that speed it handled great all the way to 155. Once I was aware of this it was easy to deal with, I let the bike pull through it hard as it could on the way up, and would watch the speedo coming down and hit the brakes just before the bike was ready to start wobbling until I was below 120. I sold the bike to my brother who had a great idea,"fix the problem" He added a fork brace just above the fender that stiffened it up a bit and never had a problem again. This was in my younger foolish days when I thought I was invincible, not the case today. I still like the high speed rush, but am very cautious of my surroundings now. Besides at 80 my Nomad feels like my sportbikes did at 150 which usually cures the itch.

[dantama]

I had another crash in the beginning of Sept. I wish that it didn't count (my theory of dirt roads not counting), but if it does have to count then it's 17 years in between crashes.

This one was totally and completely my fault and my carelessness.

I was going down a gravel road at a very brisk pace.

This road.





I was going 40mph hour down, it's more comfortable going fast up gravel roads, than down, and I was feeling pretty good about my ability to get down the road fast (dumb I know).

I also, as you can see above, like to take photos along the way on my rides. I saw an abandoned structure that I thought would make a great picture and I was looking to see if I should turn around, or go further down the road to get the best angle. As I was weighing the merits of each I looked back to the road in front of me, like I should have been all along.

I had a really holy sh*t moment where the corner that was way down the road was now coming right up on me. That happens at 40mph when you are only looking at the road with your peripheral vision.

I used maximum braking (for gravel) and was extremely concerned that I was going to blow the corner (hair pin).

I hit a protruding rock that bounced me up and with no friction on the rear tire it locked in the air and came down locked (happened in a split second). I now had a locked rear wheel that probably came down already quite a bit sideways. I low sided for about 3 feet, then high sided very violently.

The bike got tossed about (from memory, didn't get the police report) 20 yards down the road (when state trooper got there she was parked up the road from the bike a ways, and we had to walk past her car a good bit to the 3' skid marks), landing on about a 2 foot ledge on the side of the road, facing back up the road. I landed nearby.

From the 3' low side crash bar skid marks, to the landing spot, there were no other marks. It went through the air and landed with a thud, not a slide (both of us).

I broke my clavicle severely. All the way in half and I could put my fingers all the way in between the the broken parts. That was the first time I've become nauseated from an injury, and it was just from feeling how much room was in between.

Somebody stopped and said that they would go get help. The help the got was the police. They said that it was a state road and that they had to call the state police.

In major pain I had to wait, just sitting in the rocks and weeds, for an hour for the state police to get up there, then got a ticket for failure to maintain control.

I took a picture of the bike up on its perch and the 3' skid marks, but decided that pictorial evidence of my stupidity wouldn't help me any with the wife, so I deleted them while up on the mountain. Wish I had them now.

Spent a month waiting for the clavicle to hook itself back together (no sympathy from the wife, she spent the month pissed off at me for doing it).

Lesson learned, perhaps go slower, but that is a hard lesson for me to learn, and another lesson that is easier for me to learn is, WATCH WHERE THE HELL YOU'RE GOING! Don't let corners sneak up on you.

Here's a picture of the windshield, scratched up from the low side.



Here's the hard bag from the plop after the high side. Looks like it only moved about 8 inches after plopping down.





My theory is that it must have gained a lot of altitude, and came down at a pretty steep angle, wish I knew what exactly happened. But it was all certainly not necessary and was totally rider error.