| Author | Message | ||
     Jmartz |
RT: Years ago I was coming home from work in my car (Datsun 8 something, the one with the 240Z engine and 4 wheel independent suspension). It was raining cats and dogs. It was on a freeway, wide and slight down hill. Lets just say my tires were not new and my speed was above 55. As I begin to roll on the incline, slight power on, the tail got loose and stared to come around. I cut the power ans steered into the slide but could not really aim the car anywhere. Well, the rest is history, the car was destroyed and I awoke in the hospital with a lot of tubes in my body. No, I wasn't buckled and can't remember exactly how I crashed. Did take out a few other that survived with minor injuries. Since then I've lost all respect for helmets ... | ||
| Road_Thing |
Jose: Your views on helmets are well known to this group. I belong to the "It's your head, you should be allowed to decide what you want to wear" group, but I personally prefer to wear a helmet. On the good days, it keeps my bald spot from getting sunburned! Mrs. Thing's helmet has a couple of chips off the left side (the side we fell down on) that probably would have resulted in scalp wounds or concussion without the hat. I don't want to start a helmet debate. Ride safe and live long! r-t | ||
| Blake |
"Since then I've lost all respect for helmets ... "  I'm not following your logic there at all JM. | ||
| Birdsong |
RT, Glad to hear you are OK. I hope the fall does not scare Mrs RT from getting up on two wheels again. Let me know if I can help you with anything. | ||
| X1glider |
Hey "no way Jose", check out this link to those who said "it'll never happen to me." bumps and grinds | ||
| Jmartz |
I wasn't trying to be logical but if I had been wearing a helmet I would not have had a head injury. How many of you advocate wearing them in cars? BTW it is illegal to do so in GA. | ||
| Jmartz |
x1: That was a nasty gash. I hope you are fully recovered. Mine was more internal and within the hair line. | ||
| Blake |
Now I'm even more cornfused.  | ||
| Leeaw |
Blake, Maybe the head injury gave him ESP? | ||
| X1glider |
Not my injury, bro. At a minimum I wear a 3/4 helmet, but I always wear one. It wasn't until I started racing mountain bikes that I decided to wear one for good. | ||
| Benm2 |
Wow, X1G, didn't know you were a mountain bike racer too! I spent alot of time MB racing over the last 3-4 years, but stopped recently (hip injury, overuse). Based on crash experiences from the MB racing, my street gear was race spec boots, gloves, full face, Joe Rocket armored jacket, and nylon/kevlar overpants. Went down ONCE on the M2 (locked front wheel practicing my "oh s**t some moron in a minivan just cut me off" panic stops) missing ONLY the pants in the above equation. I've got two nice, matching knee scars from that lesson. I wonder which is more dangerous, though, MB racing with those little styro helmets, half-gloves & lycra over rocks, roots, etc. vs. higher-speed crashes in full gear on a racetrack. Guess I'll find out soon enough... | ||
| Totway |
Mountain bike racers these days have great protective gear! I'm a 10 year veteran of Track bicycling, we race on a 300 meter concrete banked oval without brakes or gears. Let me tell you as an EMT/RN people wearing only lycra loose a lotta skin at 40 mph!!! Tim | ||
| Benm2 |
Only the downhillers have great protective gear. But, they don't count as mountainbike racers anyway, that's more like a timed BMX race. With regards to track racing, concrete is smoother than asphalt. Mountain bike crashes tend to end with a "thud" vs. a slide. Besides, track racing is for cyclists with no stamina. :-) | ||
| Djkaplan |
I just recently got back into bicycling for the first time since 1976, the year I got my first motorcycle. Perhaps it's all the times my motorcycle helmet has saved me from injury - I was racing offroad for two years before I rode my first streetbike, but I won't even get on the bicycle without wearing a helmet now. If any of you haven't ridden a mountain bike lately, you should check one out. They are going through a suspension revolution and the bikes are pretty trick. It's like everything you ever dreamed of in a bike when you were a kid. | ||
| X1glider |
I must agree with Tot. I started out as a roadie and have abraded myself on a number of occasions. But I have done more than that on the mountain bike, abrasions AND impacts. Damn, trees hurt! We do have great gear, I still wear full finger gloves and a mouth guard. It wasn't until 2 years ago when I quit MB racing. The Tejas heat got to me. 90 minutes balls out riding then trying to cool down afterwards in 100+ deg heat was impossible. All for fun now. One great thing about riding in the dirt, with or without an engine, I believe the skills we hone make us better motorcyclists. | ||
| Cessna |
I was making a rite hand turn on my orange m-2 when some yoo bro must have thought the stop sign was optional, laid the bike down on the rite side, busted off right brake pedal, and bent right brake handle on bars. got slight road rash on knee and pretty bad around the ankle. I had Just painted my hand made aircleaner orange to match bike(look at awpriors pics, thats my orange m-2, and my aircleaner is what he used to make a pattern for his), but nothing on the bike was scratched. he was 17 had no drivers license, and no insurance, and was under the influence. He pushed me a couple of times, and i broke my face sheild on my helmet as i hit him across the face. broke his nose and he lost two teeth. did not get in trouble as it was in self defence, he is now in prison. the buell is fixed, and ready to ride, and i am now totally healed up too. | ||
| Buellistic |
ATT: Cessna This is one of those instances that a FULL FACE HELMET can cause an unsafe condition! In buelling BUELLISTIC and/or Hardley-Harley | ||
| Darthane |
Woohoo! I got the first crash report from the Gap! Anyways... I trucked my bike down with a pair of buddies who rode from the Detroit area. We didn't get in until late Thursday night at Fontana Village, so I was itching to ride early Friday morning. I saddled up and took af about 8:30. Coming out of Fontana on North NC28 towards Deal's Gap, I came upon the second 20mph right corner. It's a downhill decreasing radius preceded by a gentle right-left combo. I was taking it nice and easy and slowed down to posted speed before entering the turn.  I leaned into it and the rear wheel whipped right around on me. I ended up backwards before I could blink, rolled down the opposite lane (which, ironically enough, I was now facing the correct direction for) and off the road before the bike flopped over on the right side. I went off the road just to the right of that stone sign that is visible in the first picture above, thank God I missed that. I also have a picture of the sign that's a tad lower down the curve that another Firebolt rider hit later that same morning. He broke his back and last I heard had been airlifted out without the use of his legs. If anyone knows anything about his condition, we'd appreciate it. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I took the brunt of the impact on my right shoulder and the flat of my back, both of which are quite sore but still functional. The bike slid a bit on the edge of the asphalt before hitting the grass, and it landed on my right leg. Broke the magnesium fairing support, turn signal, brake lever, rider peg, headlight mount and fuse box. The damned bike tried to shove the broken footpeg right through my foot, and as a result I discovered that my cheap Sidi ankle boots are capable of repelling a sharp object travelling at ~20mph with 440lbs behind it. It did go through the boot, barely, and took a chunk of my foot with it, but nothing broken. Scrapes all over my leg. Other than that, I came out of it pretty well. I wrestled the bike off me and upright, but wasn't in any shape to push it back up that hill, so I started walking. After having 3 people go right by me, a friendly old local stopped and gave me a lift into Fontana, where I walked back to the cabin for my buddies and truck. A trip up to Knoxville Buell got me the turn signal, brake lever, and peg. A half hour later I was good to go and my girlfriend and I hopped on for the ride to dinner that night. I'm still pretty sore, and my 'bolt's a little scruffy, but with another $150 worth of parts he'll be just fine. I don't require any new parts, just a good drink and a couple days. ;-) Bryan | ||
| X1glider |
Bad news for you and worse for the other dude. Something about the the Gap, like a force or something, that makes people push themselves too hard. The official site has a seeminly endless post of crashes and mishaps for bikes and cars alike. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Hey, any whoopsie you can walk away from is something you can add to your bag of experience. You just got to make sure you don't empty your bag o' luck first. Any idea how much the magnesium fairing support is going to be? More than a good helment I'll guess. | ||
| Darthane |
$115. MUCH less than I thought it would be. But much to my relief, especially considering I think it'll break in any reasonably violent crash. Very true about the whoopsies. I was quite lucky - I managed to land in between the numerous signs. As I mentioned, there was a very unfortunate soul on another Firebolt that hit one. I'm still hoping someone on the board can tell us how he's doing. Bryan | ||
| Buelliedan |
Bad day for Buelliedan, Crashed my S3 hard at the Thrills(Spills?) in the Hills rally here in Texas on Sunday. Was approaching a nice sweeper doing around 60. My best guess is I either hit some gravel or just grabbed the brake too hard as I was slowing for the turn. The next thing I knew I was on the ground rolling and seeing my beloved S3 following me. Luckily there was a decent runoff area so I didn't hit anything solid. I have some really nasty road rash on my knees and a little spot on my left elbow and I might need to have some minor surgery on my right thumb due to hyper extending it and tearing the tendon but other than that I am just bruised and battered but able to walk so life is good!! My Shoei helmet has a huge chunk missing on the chin bar and several chunks on the side missing so I can only imagine what would have happened if I hadn't been wearing it. I also had on the Fieldsheer air jacket which did remarkable well considering how light it is. The padding works. I just wish IO had on leather pants instead of jeans. My knees are hamburger!! The S3 has all the plastic broke,broken fairing spider and mirrors, footpegs and sidestand bent, bent Banke shifter, handlebars and left controls destroyed and my Corbin seat is torn. But the bike started right back up!! These Buells are tough!!! I have full coverage with a $250 deductible so it will be back on the road soon ! | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Jeez Dan! Glad to hear you are in pretty good shape. Metal and plastic can be replaced, flesh and blood on the other hand....... Keep us posted on your progress. Was Cil with you? Brad | ||
| Buelliedan |
Cil was behind me on her Blast about 1/2 mile back. Luckily she didn't witness the actual crash, just had to roll up and find me on the ground bleeding all over which was bad enough!! Luckily we were a large group so there was plenty of support to load my bike up and get me to a hospital. | ||
| Rocketman |
Dan, in your profile it says your favourite ride is your wife. That sounds like a great road to recovery. Glad to hear you survived to tell the tale. Heal well  Rocket ps, that damaged shifter for sale give me a shout TIA | ||
| Hootowl |
Dan, Glad you made it home OK. That thumb is going to hurt for a few months. I've been there. Jeff | ||
| Roadrunr |
DAN, I was watching my video and I got ya on it. rolled up on you right after it happened, not a pretty picture but it was very sobering and it made the rest of us be a little more careful that day. Sorry it had to be you or anyone for that matter! If it's just your thumb, Cil can push the start button for you, right?  ...keep us posted and hope to ride with ya next time. | ||
| Shawnm |
Crashed the Blast today ... I was on a canyon road by my house and I came up on a tight left hand turn- I was really pushing my limits, probably going too fast, but how else am I supposed to learn right? Anyway I didn't quite make the turn, when I knew I wasn't going to get through it I tried to slow down and went off the road, over about 4 feet of shoulder, up a little bump, and down a 7-8 foot bank into some soft sand etc... Went over the bars and to the left a little- jumped right back up not hurt at all exept my knee is sore kinda. My bike is okay too I think... I bent the shifter toe peg, and there are some scuffs on the fly shield and tank cover but thats it. I rode it home ( I flagged down a passing truck, happened to be a fireman getting off work, he checked me out and helped my get the bike back to the road). Any way is there anything I should look for on the Buell besides the obvious that may be wrong? I've went over it as good as I can and don't see anything at all wrong- it felt fine on the way home and I was paying attention... Thanks for any help Shawn | ||
| Rockbiter1 |
Shawn I dropped my Blast Oct 2001. Check to make sure your handle bars are straight, along with your brake/clutch levers. I bent my right "Y" leg too. Glad to hear you are doin ok, I was sore for a couple months. A good helmet, good gloves and a good jacket, I won't ride without them anymore! (Yup, they proved thier worth that night, the only "real" injury i had was a little road rash on my thumb, everything else just ached lol) | ||
| Mikej |
Indirect report: A friend of a friend of a friend story: She was riding her bike on county-Q near here west of Germantown and Monomonee Falls earlier this week. There was a traffic accident up ahead. An oncomming car turned in front of her. T-boned into the car as far as I know. Rider wound up with a lacerated knee and got life-flighted to the hospital, was being loaded into the copter before she woke up. Car driver was distracted by the other wreck and apparently didn't see the rider approaching. Just an indirect report. Stay aware. And traffic wreck zones lead to rubber-necking and further loss of attention by all in the vicinity. |
