Just had a near death experience on a bike

Good to hear that you're ok. You're lucky!

 

Lucky is right. It's your own fault for not wearing proper gear. I ride 20K miles a year, mostly on a sports bike. Whether I'm commuting, going for a ride with friends, or going to the store two blocks away, I wear my one-piece 'Stich, boots, gloves, and helmet.

If you ride without proper gear .. you deserve whatever comes to you. Sorry for the harshness, but its true.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

Sorry for the dumb question, but what is "roll sand"?

 

NEAR DEATH? Come on, You just tasted a bit of asplault. No broken bones= no big deal. Hell, I'd hate to see you on a BAJA trip with us. Going down is just a part of riding. Don't let it bum you out. The old saying of getting back on the horse is VERY real, just a steal horse this time. EVERY rider I know including myself has gone down, it's just inevitable. You just have to wear the right gear, and stay on your toes. Don't give up now.

Darrell.

 

You make me laugh.

 

ParkhamK

About the Harley being safer than a sport bike. No way. Sport bikes are the safest bikes made. Just think about it, they outhandle any other bike out there. And they will out brake any other bike out there, ESPECIALLY a Harley. Infact cruisers in general are the most UNSAFE bikes there are. They have barley adequate brakes, weigh 700-900lbs!!!!!! and have poor cornering clearance. 3 strikes. Now I love Harleys, but they are not as safe as a sportbike. As for people that tend to ride the different bikes, that is a different story. I just know if the s$^% were to happen, you would have a much better chance avoiding it on a sportbike.

Darrell.

 

Important Question:

How are you feeling today, Parham?

 

Parham,
I raced bikes for 10+ years, and have fallen off more times that I remember, and not just from getting knocked out. Falling of is no big deal.

The thing that you have to do, is see everything, but stare at nothing.
You should be aware of the condition of the road, traffic around you, and cars that come of of nowhere to run you over.
If you focus on just one thing, something else will take you out.

The sand on the road would have put you down on ANY bike, and may have put you off the road in a car.

 

What is "roll sand"?

 

Glad you're alright. My first sportbike ride was over in less than 15 seconds. I was on crutches for a week.




I'll be the third to ask.

What is "Roll Sand?"

 

Maybe it's winter sand.

Or perhaps, sand that accumulates at corners. Man, I remember my first wreck... I thought I was The Town Slider until I put my dad's pickup right into an orange tree. Blamed it on a bee. Didn't work.

Or a lump of sand. The kind that trucks drop and other cars and trucks run over and over until it just kind of rolls.

Or sand.

 

Roll Sand is so slippery it makes you fall and roll in it

if you have a bike sooner or later your gonna dump it, hitting the front brake a little hard in a parking lot or near traffic lights is a sure one as many cars drop oil on the pavement and its like being on ice and with going slow no inertia to ride it out the bike just falls fast.

 

Gotcha - it's like the micro-teflon-banana-peel of sands. Yeah, that's wicked stuff.

 

like sands thru the hour glass.......these are the days of our lives


but some bloody idiot broke the hour glass on a road

 

Quite wrong. Sport bikes are the safest bikes on the road. They have the lowest weight, the best tires, the best brakes, the best handling, and the best ground clearance. Unfortunately for their reputation, what they also have is a bunch of immature morons who tend to buy them, but that doesn't change the fact that they are the safest bikes on the road.

Bill in Brooklyn

 

After I quit racing for Kawasaki (M/X) they gave me one of the 3 cylinder street bikes of the time (I do not remember the number--it was back in 1974) as a parting gift. I was riding it home one night (I was a dirt rider and had only limited experience on the street) and took the exit ramp off the highway onto the service road about 50 mph. I noticed the surface ahead had some sort of liquid on it and I attempted to bring the bike upright out of the lean and ride through the liquid straight. Just before I was able to get it upright the front tire came in contact with the liquid and began to slide out. The rear came into contact and the whole bike just laid over and started sliding on the pavement. Fortunately I was able to pull my right leg up over the bke and held onto the bars as it slid. The bike continued to slide until I hit the island surrounding four gas pumps at the gas station located on the corner. The island stopped the bike but it threw me across the drive into the glass on the front of the building. I had luckily slowed enough so that I did not break the glass, just my pride.....Fortunately this happened around midnight and not during the middle of the day when traffic would have been much heavier.

I was wearing a leather jacket, leather M/X gloves and a helmet at the time but not full leathers. The pavement scraped the leather jacket a lot and the helmet protected me when my head hit the glass. I have always believed in being fully protected when riding a motorcycle.

I went back out to the intersection to see what had caused the fall and found out that a tanker truck coming from the refinery nearby had spilled crude oil on the surface. Apparently it had been leaking from the time it left the refinery and had stopped at the light and leaked out a good-size puddle. If you have never tried to pilot something through a crude oil puddle you need to try it sometime. It will wake you up in a hurry........

 

Morons is true. I was on the way home from work Saturday, traveling west on I-20 around Arlington, Texas. I was traveling about 75 mph and looked in the rearview mirror to see a group of six crotch rockets coming up on me from behind. I was in the middle of the three lanes and they split to go around me on both sides. The lead bike on either side proceeded to pull their front wheels and ride past me about 85-90 mph doing wheelies. The others just rode by in a normal fashion but the two wheelie riders fit the term "MORON" to a T. And they wonder why they get "harassed" by the police....

 

ive been riding street and dirt bikes for 35 years, but the worst spill i ever took was racing bicycles, went down in a hair pin turn going around 50mph, took off most of the skin on my right side, head to toe, again roll sand, had to sleep on my left side for about 3 months

my biggest gripe about street bikes are the idiots in cars, somebody once told me you have to ride like everybody is out to kill you, and its true

 

correct. the sand would have likely put most people down yellow or white number plates alike!

don't let the crash scare you. i will make you ride more delierately however. as a new rider, you should stay on a familiar road so that it reamains a constant and the only large variable is the scoot. as a new rider, it is probably a good thing to do a sighting lap in your car or even bicycle to understand what challenges lay in front of you. Keep your crash plastic and get back on the horse!

you will be fine.

pcb

 

I'm the guy thinking about selling one of my cars, and buying a sports motorcycle.
What I've learned from this thread about trying to live is to wear the full body armor at all times. Stay aware. Don't pop wheelies whilst going 80+ mph on a highway.
What else should I be aware of? I thought that it would be good to start with a 250 bike, so that I wouldn't be misusing power that I can't handle, but a friend told me that the safe part of speed bikes is their speed. If I'm about to get hit, a faster bike gets me away from danger faster. This makes sense...
I'm not worried about getting laughed at or whatever for only having a 250cc engine. I've already had my near death experience (survived carjacking), so I appreciate every day already. AND, I know you can't be carjacked on a motorcycle and thrown in your trunk!

 

http://www.superbike-news.co.uk/Motogp/RiderProfiles/MotogpRiderProfiles.htm
While you're not worried about it - I still think it's very important to remind anyone: You think Motogp fans laugh at 250cc bikes?

I sure don't. Neither does Aprilia, for example.

For example - check out Valentino Rossi - before he was World Champion on 500cc - he was World Champion on 250cc - and that was only after he was World Champion on 125cc.
http://www.superbike-news.co.uk/Motogp/RiderProfiles/ValentinoRossi.htm

Aprilias are rather pricey. A Ninja 250 will serve you handily. Many questions are already answered on this site.
http://www.ninja250.info/index.htm