My crash story

[BassCliff]

Hi Andy,

It's good to hear such great news from you. I can sympathize with the "can't be still for too long" syndrome, although it's just my knee. But it's better if we keep moving anyway. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

Take care Andy. All the best to you and yours.

Cliff

[shwokee]

Hello Andy,
Its a beautiful morning in Cincinnati and am about to head out for a ride and for whatever reason I clicked on this thread. I have never been in a crash...probably because I am a new rider and don't have the miles you all do.

I am a rock climber and took a good fall a few years ago that led to injury. For me, and hopefully its the same for you, at first I didn't want to climb anymore but I gradually got back into it and now I'm climbing stronger than I ever have...mentally and physically.

I know this is kind of apples and oranges as far as your situation and mine but I just wanted to say to hang in there and keep doing what you love!

Thanks for your story...my awareness level just shot to the roof after reading it.

Mark

[Mr. Sinister]

Glad to hear you made it thorough that crash. From the sound of it, you could have easily not.

[es518069]

holy crap man! I am glad you made it through that one, your bike got destroyed!
I hope your healing has gone well.
best wishes.

[Call Me Ahab]

Greetings fellow GS'ers,


The car was driven by an 18 year old girl w/ a learners permit, which requires a licensed driver to be w/ her. There was not. Of corse she stated she "didn't see me", And actually told someone at the seen that I ran into her.


Andy

Jesus ... Nearly the exact same story as the wreck that killed my brother on 9/14/12. 17 yr old girl pulled out into the road, ran stop sign, didn't check her lane - my brother had no time to react before he hit her. @60mph the head-on collision shattered part of his helmet and tore it off his head. Flipped her car twice - would have gone farther had it not struck the car behind her.

Died on the scene. Nothing to be done. I couldn't bring myself to get back on my bike for nearly a year. Now I ride with an underlying sense of dread - which one of these *******s on the road could be the one who "doesn't see" ME?

Some of this has passed in the weeks that I've been riding, but I find myself extremely weary of other drivers. For this reason I am considering designing and building my own front fairing w/ additional lights and modified flashers. Young drivers make me nervous as hell, and in a town w/ a large high school and a community college they're impossible to avoid. Riding something custom designed and flashy should boost visibility. I'm looking for work out of town currently so that I can leave this place and never look back.

I'm really glad your collision didn't end worse, I hope your recovery was smooth! I can't imagine I'd be too keen on riding after a wreck like that, but I imagine trepidation wouldn't dissuage me for long. I truly hope you can enjoy your ride - be safe out there. It's encouraging to see someone survive these days, thanks for posting this.

[ALB80-850]

Sorry for the loss of your brother.
I was lucky, bottom line. I have recovered as much as I'm going to. About 80% of what I used to be. Has taken a long while to learn what I can and cannot do. I still ride and enjoy it as much as before, if not more. I clock about 10,000 miles/year, sometimes more. Enjoyed a nice 3200 mile trip out and around Minnesota in July to visit family and about 1300 miles to Vermont in September.

Good luck.

[aaaaaaaaaachooo]

Thanks to this story...I will now be a lot more watchful for "left-turners". This story probably has helped people avoid some serious wrecks.
Thanks for sharing man.

[shootmymime]

I had a large SUV try to turn left left through the intersection in front of me as i was about to enter the intersection. I always tend to back of the throttle in intersections and laid on the horn the whole way through it.
Stay safe out there!
PS. i got hit in the knee by a rock from a passing car. hurt like hell.

[Chuck78]

My first ride on my first GS750, I was 4 blocks from home cruising 25mph down the street, and a car pulled up to the stop sign at an alley, stopped, and then proceeded to pull across the road directly in front of me heading down the other side of the alley, as I jammed on my stock brakes and locked up the rear and nearly the front... That was a rude awakening as to how oblivious people can be in while driving cars, and has had me always trying to expect the worst while riding in the city and anywhere near intersections. I swear the driver looked right at me, but apparently a motorcycle did not consciously register as an object to be expecting to be coming down the street when this careless driver was in la-la land.


A few years later, just a few days over one year ago, during rut (deer mating season), I was trying to get a good long all day last ride of the year in, and after seeing only 1 deer all day, at 430PM slightly before sunset (twilight hours are peak deer strike /activity hours), at 57mph a deer sprinted out from a blind downhill off the side of the road at I swear 35mph sprint, all I saw was two of it's hooves touch down on the pavement just past the center line into my lane, no time to even pull the brake lever...and...boom! luckily I wasn't going any slower (1-2mph slower and I would have totally t-boned it and gone over the bars), as I miraculously kept the bike upright as the deer's head destroyed my headlight&bracket, turn signal, & speedo. It's body folded around the side of my bike and planted my knee 3 inches into the side of my gas tank (true "knee dent!"), my leg or the deer body broke the top off my #1 spark plug, and the deer's body got plowed so hard by my stator cover that I had a very persistent oil drip coming from my crankcase halves seam after that. I was VERY lucky to limp off with only two months of painful grapefruit sized knee and replacing $200 in used motorcycle parts that I was going to mostly upgrade anyways...

Moral of those stories - always expect idiots in cars to not see you - lane changes, intersections, ONCOMING LEFT TURNERS, stop signs, etc... Always always always remember to expect the worst possible car driver behaviour/cluelessness. AND in rural areas now, I am terrified to go over the speed limit anywhere with limited visibility - steep banks, corn fields, dense woods, dense underbrush along sides of road, etc... ESPECIALLY early in the morning and an hour before sunset and several hours after... I have vivid visions even driving on the interstate in my car of deer suddenly bolting out in front of me, a year later still! And I didn't even lay the bike down!!! A member here named Brian had a similar accident shortly after mine, with some of our other members following him, and he was not so lucky. surgeries,, screws, plates, and he was fortunately able to be back to work and back on the bike many months later. I think that was his second broken leg due to a bike-deer collision, on top of one or more accidents with oblivious car drivers... What a trooper to keep coming back.

[Chuck78]

I also been an avid bicycle enthusiast, BMX racer, BMX dirt jumper/stunt rider, mountain biker, road bike commuter, and general bicycle fanatic for the past 33-1/2 years since learning to ride down the hill behind our house with no training wheels at the age of 3 (I'll never forget the thrilling feeling of those first ever downhill blasts of freedom, and never looked back!). With getting out on a road bike on the streets as a commuter more and more the past decade, and having dozens and dozens of friends and acquaintances who are also bicycle fanatics and commuters, I see sooooooo many accidents where cars don't see cyclists even with incredibly bright flashing taillights that can be seen from more than a mile away, as two of my friends got plowed from behind and ejected 30-40 feet ahead of their bikes by a 70 year old oblivious driver... Another acquaintance was going straight through an intersection at probably 30mph in a 35 zone, and the classic LEFT TURNING CAGER did not see Travis, who had to spend months in the hospital and rehab since to learn how to walk and talk again after brain damage despite having a very nice helmet that was properly worn... He struggles with recovering his former personality traits and social skills still, over a year later due to a left turning clueless cager.

I myself watched a youtube video of a cyclist going down High St across Lane Ave intersection and having an oncoming left turner pull right in front of him and plow the cyclist down with the front fender of the car. THEN not terribly long after that at the exact same intersection, the exact same thing happened to me, but I narrowly missed the offending car as I nearly went over the bars with the back wheel off the ground from my extreme panic braking from a mid 20's mph pace. Luckily I was seeing the possibility of that happening a second or two before due to my heightened awareness from the video that I watched/heard about of the same incident weeks earlier, and I was able to slow enough to miss the car by a few inches...

[M.Hayes.GS450TX]

I was rear ended a month ago by a kid texting driving a SUV. I was at a stop with my feet on the ground and didn't see it coming
I had a wild ride.

[82Suzie]

1979 GS750E + Speed Wobble = Bad News

I've kissed pavement four times. Three of those times I bruised my ego and bike, but I survived and
the bikes were repaired. The fourth time almost killed me. The year was 1980 and I was riding my
new 1979 Suzuki GS750E on a cold but clear day. My riding buddy was riding a CB550 with Vetter
fairing.

I had recently installed a Slip Stream full handlebar mounted fairing on the Suzuki. Prior to
installing the fairing, I had taken the Suzuki to little over 100mph on a few occasions, I was
young and immortal. It was a rush because the engine went in to hyper-drive at 6,000 rpm and that
came out to 100mph. It was a dumb thing to do, but I was 24 and didn't think of things like
mortality, just speed and girls.

But on this day everything would be different, after I whacked open the throttle the bike went into
a speed wobble around 90mph. I didn't know what to do so I tried to slow down, but the wobble just
got worse. Then I thought I might be able to speed up, straighten out and slow down, but that only
took the speed wobble to a higher rate of speed, the speedometer was pegged and
everything was out of control! To make the situation even worse, the road was about to take a sharp
left turn, I was running out of time. At that point I realized I was going to die, there was nothing
more I could do, so I said a prayer and asked that my death be quick and painless. I hit the brakes
and at a 115mph the bike flipped up and threw me off, spun around in the air and smacked the
pavement next to me, then it flipped up into the air once more and over the cliff it went. I
continued to roll and slide the length of two football fields, I later learned from the police
report.

It's crazy but when I finally came to a stop on the side of the road the very first thing I thought
of was, how would I going to get my bike back up the cliff and repair the damage. I'm alive and
only seconds earlier I was sure I would meet my maker and now my first thought was of the bike! My
riding buddy watched all of this to his horror and somehow got me to lay down until help arrived. A
few minutes later I went into shock, man that was painful. An ambulance soon arrived and took me to
the hospital were four people held me down while the doctor poured four bottles of hydrogen peroxide
over my wounds to clear out the rocks and glass I picked up while making love to the pavement.
It took me two months to teach myself to walk again and I still have a few minor scars, but I
stopped riding fast and learned to enjoy the back roads and country side from that day forward.


I remember this ad.
It's a great picture of the bike and reminds me of those twisty roads I rode my GS750E on back in the day.

[1_v8_merc]

I've kissed pavement four times. Three of those times I bruised my ego and bike, but I survived and
the bikes were repaired. The fourth time almost killed me. The year was 1980 and I was riding my
new 1979 Suzuki GS750E on a cold but clear day. My riding buddy was riding a CB550 with Vetter
fairing.

I had recently installed a Slip Stream full handlebar mounted fairing on the Suzuki. Prior to
installing the fairing, I had taken the Suzuki to little over 100mph on a few occasions, I was
young and immortal. It was a rush because the engine went in to hyper-drive at 6,000 rpm and that
came out to 100mph. It was a dumb thing to do, but I was 24 and didn't think of things like
mortality, just speed and girls.

But on this day everything would be different, after I whacked open the throttle the bike went into
a speed wobble around 90mph. I didn't know what to do so I tried to slow down, but the wobble just
got worse. Then I thought I might be able to speed up, straighten out and slow down, but that only
took the speed wobble to a higher rate of speed, the speedometer was pegged and
everything was out of control! To make the situation even worse, the road was about to take a sharp
left turn, I was running out of time. At that point I realized I was going to die, there was nothing
more I could do, so I said a prayer and asked that my death be quick and painless. I hit the brakes
and at a 115mph the bike flipped up and threw me off, spun around in the air and smacked the
pavement next to me, then it flipped up into the air once more and over the cliff it went. I
continued to roll and slide the length of two football fields, I later learned from the police
report.

It's crazy but when I finally came to a stop on the side of the road the very first thing I thought
of was, how would I going to get my bike back up the cliff and repair the damage. I'm alive and
only seconds earlier I was sure I would meet my maker and now my first thought was of the bike! My
riding buddy watched all of this to his horror and somehow got me to lay down until help arrived. A
few minutes later I went into shock, man that was painful. An ambulance soon arrived and took me to
the hospital were four people held me down while the doctor poured four bottles of hydrogen peroxide
over my wounds to clear out the rocks and glass I picked up while making love to the pavement.
It took me two months to teach myself to walk again and I still have a few minor scars, but I
stopped riding fast and learned to enjoy the back roads and country side from that day forward.


I remember this ad.
It's a great picture of the bike and reminds me of those twisty roads I rode my GS750E on back in the day.

That's ****ing crazy man, glad you made it out alive, that's amazing!
I used to work at NJMP tracks, and always had to work on motorcycle days. Fun, but there were usually nasty wrecks.
I almost watched a guy die right in front of me, the bikes were coming around a sharp turn, riding in a pack, about 3 or 4 wide, at 80+mph. I suddenly see a guy get Launched Straight Up and over the other bikes, he flys off the track, and begins sliding on the dirt...he's damn near going as fast as the bikes passing him! It felt like he was sliding for miles.....well he finally stopped, but his bike didn't, bike Slammed him Directly in the head...that thing had to be moving at least 60mph. It knocked him out cold, he was carried out of a stretcher, non responsive. Lucky son of a bitch, he ended up cracking his face and skull in like 20 different places, almost choked on his own blood. He eventually recovered fully.
And that was in Full Racing Leathers! Can you imagine these idiots on the streets riding around with No Gear!?

[82Suzie]

I wish I had back in the day, the gear we have today. I now ride with gloves that have plastic over my knuckles, jacket with elbow, back and shoulder armor and pants with Kevlar. If I had had that gear back in 1980, I'd have fewer scars today and would have spent less time in the hospital. But I lived and learned.

[Lou]

I'm a new member here while scrolling I found your 16 years old crash story.. hope you will be fine at that time,