| Author | Message | ||
     Ahowudoon |
Well, Sunday morning south of Chicago was looking to be a good day for a quick loop around town, just to get the juices flowing again. Turned out to not be the case..... About 15 minutes into my ride, I was going through part of a local forest preserve. There was a pedestrian in the road and several active herds of deer on the move in the woods near the roadway. Wile looking out for these other hazards, I missed the one hunk of ice in the whole road. When I hit it, the front tire was jammed to the left and then caught traction again on the clean road next to the ice. One of those situations where being 6 inches one way or the other would have made all the difference. Once the front tire caught again, the bike went into a wobble that for about a second I thought I might be able to recover from...I was wrong. Instead, the bike went down and I got pitched over the far side. When all was over, the bike was in the snow about two feet off the roadway and I was right next to it. I got up and checked myself-finding I still had all my parts. Thanks to AGV for the helmet that saved my mellon and Joe Rocket for the jacket that saved my upper body from serious injury. I made it out of the ER and yesterday's subsequent doctor's visit with a broken right wrist, separated left shoulder, bruised ribs and groin and minimal road rash to my lower back and left wrist. The Uly made out better than me - at least preliminarily. Broken mirror, broken turn signal, scratched windscreen, scratched frame slider and some scuffs to the rear top box I had on. I hope to do the minor repairs myself, then take it down to my dealer to have them give it a check-up and safety inspection. If anyone is interested, I can try to post some pictures later. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
ouch. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Did you do it within the first 600 miles? I did.  Glad you're ok. Uly's crash well. | ||
| Maximum |
Pictures are always good! In retrospect...is there anything you would have done differently? I prefer to learn by other people's experiences whenever possible. Glad to hear that your injuries do not sound too serious (although I am sure that you are pretty sore)! | ||
| Ahowudoon |
Hind sight is always 20/20, so after thinking about it, here are two things I would have done differently. 1) I would have driven the projected course in my truck first to check for road obstructions or hazards. 2) I should have stayed out of the forest preserve areas, with their shaded areas, I should have known ice and snow would have been slower to melt off the roadway in these areas. And yes, it was within MY first 600 miles(I got it as a manufacturer demo with a little over 700 miles). | ||
| Froggy |
Now you can upgrade to the Turono mirrors!  | ||
| Hdbobwithabuell |
I hate that wobble! It gives you that glimmer of hope that you are about to save it, when BAM! Glad you are ok | ||
| Ahowudoon |
Do you have a link for the mirrors? I know I've seen them around here, just can't remember where.... | ||
| Mike_dinger |
Sorry to hear bout that! How fast were you goin? You can probably find everything you need from www.americansportbike.com, Or you can always go with OEM replacements. Might want to hit up www.darkhorsemoto.com for axle and bar end sliders, a very wise investment IMO. I wouldn't worry about the frame puck...it's probably alright if you can live with the scuff marks. I've laid mine down 3 times and I can honestly say that the Uly is a freakin' tank! Other than a collision, not much can compromise it's integrity. Accessories are easy to replace! Good luck, heal soon! Take it easy with the wrist injury, those can be a real bitch! Was it the left or right wrist? | ||
| Ahowudoon |
I was running about 35-40mph. Trying to take it easy with the new bike till I got used to it. Of course I screwed up my right wrist and my left shoulder - getting me from both sides.... I'm not too worried about the cosmetic stuff, just want to get her back up and running. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I see from your profile that you are a Firefighter/paramedic. Came in handy. Glad you are alive to ride another day. | ||
| Ahowudoon |
Here's some pics from the scene and after...        | ||
| Alchemy |
Ouch, is that brusing from the separated shoulder? or impact related? Any shoulder armor in the jacket and if so did it help? Thanks for the pictures. Heal up soon! | ||
| Ahowudoon |
The bruise is from the impact. I had shoulder armor and I'm guessing that's why the bruise is the shape it is, as the impact was diffused throughout the area of the armor/padding. Without the armor, I'm guessing I'd have a broken shoulder or worse..... | ||
| Ulywife |
Ulys do crash well and thankfully enough are not terribly expensive to fix. Hope you heal fast and well. Glad you had your gear on. | ||
| Mike_dinger |
Damn dude! That looks mighty tender! Hope you get well soon. Just take her easy while you're recovering and fix your bike little by little. So i'm guessing you high-sided? Not sure what you meant by getting pitched over the far side. | ||
| Strada |
Wish I had a few spares I could send you - tough luck that  | ||
| Ahowudoon |
Yea, I digh-sided... My brain is still catching up to the vicodin. I ordered my new helmet and gloves yesterday and I'm slowly starting to feel not so much like I got run over by a truck. Not to shabby for my first bike accident huh?!  (Message edited by ahowudoon on March 06, 2008) | ||
| Mike_dinger |
Nah, you did pretty good there! Don't sweat it. Happens to most riders, unfortunately. | ||
| Froggy |
Oh yea, the mirrors, go to your local Aprilia dealer: #AP8104921 #AP8104922 They should be $18.25 each side. If you don't have a dealer near you, American Sport Bike now sells them too. | ||
| Ahowudoon |
Thanks. I found a guy selling some mirrors here on the BW, but I might just look into these as well. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
One hell of a hicky. | ||
| Ahowudoon |
 Forgot I had this stashed away on my computer. I set it as my background as a reminder. If anyone wants it, email me and I can shoot it over to you; there's a few other good ones as well for those of you who may not have seen them yet. | ||
| Ahowudoon |
My new bruises are really coming into their own now - even more colorful in person....    | ||
| Freyke |
yow! | ||
| Davolous |
The question is while you are all brused up: do you mess your Ulysses or do you never want to see it again? ------------------------------------------- An older rider told me an old saying the other day: "There are only two types of bikers those who have been down on their bike and those who will go down on their bike." (Message edited by davolous on March 08, 2008) | ||
| Midnightrider |
Glad to hear you're "doon" OK. I took my first spill last Sept on my Uly when I hit a diesel spill on the highway. Got back in the saddle as soon as the bike and I were healed but it's fair to say I do have a bit of a confidence problem still. Just starting to feel comfortable these last couple weeks. Decided to go for a ride today. Weather was perfect, yet in the few minutes it took me to gear up (ATGATT) I got a few big raindrops on the bike. Went in and checked the weather report and it showed 30% chance of rain moving to 0% over the next two hours. Anyway, 2 minutes into the ride it started to rain pretty good, but I was already going north on the beltway. Figuring this was probably not the best time to "prove" myself, I opted for the next exit to head back to the ranch. I didn't mind the rain, but the crosswind was wicked. Rather than get back on the beltway heading south, I decided to take the local roads back home. The wind was definitely less of a factor on the 35 mph roads, but the raindrops got bigger and bigger. Stopping at a red light and wiping the visor, I noticed the raindrops were bouncing. Freaking hail!. No problem, almost home. Made a right hand turn at an intersection and found myself already to go over a wet, muddy, 4' x 8' steel plate over some construction that wasn't there yesterday. Yanked the bike up straight, braked as much as I could (thanks MSF instructor) and then got off the brakes just before my front tire rolled over the steel. Felt the back tire slip just enough to get a good pucker and by then I was over the steel and back on pavement. I've got a couple stock mirrors if you'd like them - just send me a PM. But for under $20 a side I'd go with the Aprilas Heal fast! | ||
| Ahowudoon |
Actually, I find that as friends stop in to check on me, all I want to do is bring them out in the garage to show them the bike. I can't wait till I have enough parts here to put her back together. Pretty much everything is ordered already. I ordered the Aprila mirrors, but they are on back order from Italy. However, there was a guy selling a set of used XB mirrors in the classified board, and he is sending me those to use in the meantime. Thanks for the offer Midnight, wish I knew about you a few days ago - but at least I got something I needed at a good price from a fellow BWer. Thanks again for all the well wishes, I can't wait to get back out and RIDE!  | ||
| Hooper |
Your story reminds me of my first "real" spill back a month ago or so. Here's my story: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/335907.html?1203891921 Do you remember ANYTHING between the second when you left the bike and when you stopped sliding? Such a bizarre piece of time. I love that I'm seeing the same folks chime in to you that responded to my first-crash post. We need each other for support and information. Midnightrider gave me some encouragement too. Hey man, I was out today on my Harley on Route 29 north of White Oak to enjoy the warm weather and test out MY new helmet (Arai RX-7 Corsair - the cream of the crop...why not?). I saw those evil clouds moving in from the west and turned around. I got rained on a bit, but I didn't see any hail. When I get my Uly back, we should hit some MD roads this spring! That shoulder bruise is sick - looks like something I had when I fractured my shoulder skiing. My left shoulder took a hit, too, but with no bruising. I couldn't lift it past 70 degrees for a couple weeks. My Olympia AST jacket has some impressive shoulder armor, so I'm thinking I might be thankful to the equipment too. The Uly damage looks JUST like when I beefed it on that deer, except on the left side. My insurance company matched the dealer's (Battley) estimate exactly, except they recommended I replace the frame(!!!!). The dealer appraiser found nothing wrong with it. That's $1100, baby. I went in and walked around the bike with the dealer and knocked 50% of the costs off the estimate...they listed things that were scuffed but not broken, my bar ends, both boxes (only the left was damaged). I understand they want to list all the damaged items, but did they really expect me to hand the insurance check over and say, "sure, replace it all". Doesn't make sense. If I want to fix a scuffed mirror or shock guard, I'll do it myself and save the $95 labor cost, and hopefully get my bike back sooner. If I didn't have front-end damage, I could have done everything. As far as I'm doing, the rib pain is gone - just some funky strain when I get out of bed in the morning (could be just that I don't want to go to work); the cut on my leg is healing well (should have gotten stitches); and I'm mentally eager to ride whenever the weather lets me (I have a single-seat Harley cruiser, the yin to the Uly's yang). And, in 3 weeks I'm riding from San Francisco to Big Sur on a rental Electra Glide with my girlfriend. That's a huge vote of confidence from her. In other words, I second all the advice and knowledge you've received here, as long as you internalize the experience and take it as something that makes you safer. One of my best friends - once I decided to share the news of my get-off with him - told me that he thinks this should be the event to get me to give up this "activity". In my mid-30s, only riding for less than four years, and with 27,000 miles on two wheels, I'm a LONG way from that. Yeah, you and I dodged a bullet, but maybe that was our one big bullet to be grazed by, so the odds for repeat are low. Or maybe we're now just better at tipping the odds of the enjoyment of motorcycling and the encounter with another "bullet". We only live once, and as long as you do what you need to do to heal, and are not being risky, you're doing what you're supposed to be doing: living life! (Message edited by hooper on March 09, 2008) | ||
| Ahowudoon |
THANKS! I can't wait to get riding again. | ||
| Midnightrider |
Hooper Yes - we should hit the road ( no pun intended) sometime soon. Looks like I may be moving to the Burtonsville/Silver Spring area soon and I'm looking forward to exploring some of the more rural roads. d |
