Accidents & Offs - What happened to you?

[Yokomo]

That's it?  That's all you guys got?  If you're going to have an accident, make sure you do it right next time!

Just kidding, I'd rather never had to go through this one.  I'm still in alot of pain and recovery from it.

[frmtexas]

Yokomo, what happened, or did I miss it?

[Yokomo]

I was practicing wheelies on my 2 stroke.  Over the past couple years I had gotten really good at them on my 4 strokes.  I just let it go back a little too far a little too long.  My wife told me no more! 
  (I'm done with 2 strokes)

[Eville]

I've only lowsided mine twice, both times at low speed, and both times due to gravel.  First time I was just pulling into my driveway a hair too fast and the front washed out and down I went.  Bent the brake pedal back out and she was fine. 

Second time I was lost on a trip through Illinois and pulled over to consult the atlas.  I found a gravel entrance to a corn field and decided that would be a good place.  This time was going going probably 5mph, but the gravel was really deep, about 5 inches, and really loose.  so once again, the front washed out and down I went.

Almost got into a nasty wreck on my way home one day.  I was driving down the highway and came up to my turn (a right) at a pretty busy intersection.  I was going probably 65 or 70 when I got on the brakes to make my turn.  Cross traffic had the green light.  As soon as I got on the rear brake, I felt a strong jerk in the pedal heard a loud clank, and the pedal went limp.  I was still fairly new to riding at this point and panicked a bit.  I stayed on the front a bit but was still fumbling with brake pedal with my foot and paying way more attention to that than I should have. I missed my turn lane and ended up splitting the two straight lanes, got off enough speed to make the right turn, but didnt think I was going to stop in time to not go through the intersection.  I was lucky to find a small gap in the cross traffic, jumped into that and made my right turn across the other straight lane. 

I pulled over into a parking lot to inspect the bike.  Turns out the bolt that holds the rear drum brake to the metal arm to keep it from spinning with the wheel had fallen out because I had apparently lost the cotter pin at some point. When I got on the brake, the drum spun with the wheel, and wrapped the linkage between the drum and the pedal around in a circle before snapping it. 

[piscatorial_phd]

I didn't wreck the bike, but it could have been fatal. I was at a stop light, in first gear and watching my mirrors. I noticed a FedEx delivery truck coming up on me rather quickly. I put the bike into the median and avoided getting crushed. The driver told me that he was fiddling around with paperwork for his next stop and didn't see me. The guy apologized, gave me his number and said he would pay for any damage or detailing I needed to do on the bike.  I said that I would take $5 for the ruined unders.

Note to newer riders: Always watch your mirrors and keep your bike in gear, particularly if you are the first at a stop light and there are no vehicles behind you yet.  Also, have an exit plan if someone comes up on you too quickly.

[Munkey]

Note to newer riders: Always watch your mirrors and keep your bike in gear, particularly if you are the first at a stop light and there are no vehicles behind you yet.  Also, have an exit plan if someone comes up on you too quickly.

+1

Excellent advice. A lot of the guys I know that have been in accidents got run over from behind either at a light or waiting for traffic to clear for a left turn.

[Eville]

I have never been rear-ended at a light or anything, but a couple of summers ago, some moron backed into me at a stop sign.  Busted up the front fender, but no other damage.

[lordmango]

I put my bike (Honda Rebel) down in the garage the 2nd day I got it. I was fiddling with the forks looking for the VIN number (I don't know why I didn't look at the title) when it fell on top of me. Worst part was I was on the phone with the Insurance agent at the time! 

[ariwhiteboy]

You: single white four door, leather interior, likes hugging the double yellow.  Me: Slight Build, Dark, Attractive, Comes with excess baggage. 

Lets meet on the curve of a rural Hwy at about 55 mph.........

Worst Date Ever 

[OhCrap]

Never had a real accident in my live with a car or a bike,. Never on the road, never on the track.

I did fear for my live before I got my license though. Over here you can't get your bike or car license until you turn 18, so from 16 to 18 I had to make do with a 50cc moped. Mine was an orange/blue Honda MT-50 supped op to 70cc (highly illegal, but I didn't care at the time) which did about 75 mls/h with the wind in your back. I crashed and rebuilt it 12 times in 1.5 years or 25.000 mls.....

I do recall two incidents in the 18 years I'm biking though.

Once when I only had my bike and license for only a couple of moths I was driving my Suzuki GS550E back home with my ladyfriend at the time on the backseat late at night. When we were almost home I got blinded by the headlights of a car and got of the road landing in a 2 foot deep ditch that was running besides it at 60mls/h. Just when I was starting to feel releaved that I managed to keep the bike on it's wheels and me and my girl safe I noticed the ditch was about to end in concrete wall of an approaching bridge. I still don't know how I did it, but somehow I managed to get the bike to go left and we jumped up to the road 2 yards before we would have hit the wall. When we got home and off the bike 3 minutes later my girl was laughing out loud saying 'that was fun, you should do that more often'. Somehow she thought I had done everything on purpose, and then she noticed my legs shaking and my pale face...

Like half a year later I traded in the Suzuki and bought my Magna. I was on my way home again, at night again, with another ladyfriend at the time, again. It was freezing and I wanted to get home quick so I took a short cut that unfortunately meant we had to get over a wooden bridge that was completely frozen over. It was only 4 or 5 yards long, so I thought I could do it if I was careful, but halfway there the rear wheel spun out and I lost the bike. I had just picked it up that day and payed my entire live savings for it, and I can still see the left-indicator light shatter in to a hundred pieces right before my eyes when I close them. A cliche proved to be true btw, I actually did pick up and check out my bike first before I remembered I also had a ladyfriend on the backseat...

That actually is the worse thing that happened to me on a bike besides killing a huge duck with my right knee at 65 mls/h, and I plan on keeping it that way. I do notice it gets harder to drive save nowadays though, with the roads in my country slowly filling up with more and more cars every year.

[ariwhiteboy]

I have never been rear-ended at a light or anything, but a couple of summers ago, some moron backed into me at a stop sign.

 

Yeah but you should still be obsessive about having an exit route at every stop and keeping the bike in gear at lights...If Phd had his bike in nuetral he would have been toast, but sometimes even that isn't enough... \/see below\/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36040752/ns/us_news-life/

[drdubb]

i went down this weekend on the Deal's Gap trip. A slow car was in front of me and I was actually a little relieved to have to slow down and relax. (mistakes one and two) I got a little too close to the car. (mistake three) He decided to be a nice guy and pull off into a wide dirt area near a curve. He just slowed down a little quicker than I could anticipate without giving indication. (reference mistake #3) I hit the brakes a little too hard in a wet spot (Mistake 4, 5 & 6 (practice panic stops so that they are 2nd nature)) The next thing I remember is plowing the ground with my face. I'm glad I had my protective gear top and bottom and a full face helmet. Injuries was a 1cm cut on my elbow, a scratch on my left leg and some general soreness. I was able to walk away.

I shouldn't have been relieved to slow down. I should have already done it.
Got too close.
Need to practice those panic stops more.
Never relax. Always be alert and ready.
Wear the gear!!!!

Rode 6 hrs home the next day. I kept thinking about how much it would hurt to go down on the pavement at 65mph.

[Eville]

I have never been rear-ended at a light or anything, but a couple of summers ago, some moron backed into me at a stop sign.

 

Yeah but you should still be obsessive about having an exit route at every stop and keeping the bike in gear at lights...If Phd had his bike in nuetral he would have been toast, but sometimes even that isn't enough... \/see below\/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36040752/ns/us_news-life/

Yeah, I wasn't arguing that at all.  I had an exit plan, I just wasn't expecting to have to use it for the guy in front of me.  I guess my point was to watch out for the person in front as well, especially if they are in a utility van with no back window. 

[luckylindy]

 Glad you made it out with only minor damage Dr Dubb.

[Brittles]

Sorry to hear that drdubb. Thankfully your ok.

[NiteRyder]

About 4 years ago, on my Sportster, at Chubby's Diner I was standing next to the bike, put the key in turned the key on thought it was in neutral and hit the starter. No side stand safety switch, the bike began to fire and took off into a table where two ladies were eating lunch. It was embarrassing as the ladies screamed jumped up and spilled their food everywhere. I not only broke the headlamp, and scratched up the front end quite a bit, I also had the pleasure of paying for their lunch that day.
Lesson: make sure your bike is in neutral before you start it, and always be in the saddle when you get ready to start it.

Next- riding about 40 mph down Shaw ave, a VW bug was turning onto the street where I was, he looked right at me then proceeded to turn right into my lane. I had no time to stop or swerve, he turned into me as I was right next to him. I knew I was going to get hurt so I just braced for impact and hit the bug. The impact through me off the bike and onto the sidewalk. I walked away with just a sprained ankle, numerous scraped and bruises, and a totaled bike. His insurance paid me the full replacement value and $2500 for pain and suffering.

About 20 years ago riding through and intersection, I had the green light, lady runs the red and t-bones me. I spent 5 days in the hospital and surgery on my ankle, a plate and 3 screws. That car never stopped and I never found out who hit me, all I saw was a lady driving. That was the worst of them all, bike totaled and I could not ride for about 4 months.

Dirtbike wrecks-too many to list here. Broken bones- too many to remember, but to summerize both wrists, both forearms, both ankles, right collarbone, 5 ribs, nose twice, and all but my two pinkys broken. Today arthritis, and lots of creaking joints, and would do it all over again, motorcycles are just too much fun to ride.

My mom hates motorcycles with a passion

[LOKi]

I have never been rear-ended at a light or anything, but a couple of summers ago, some moron backed into me at a stop sign.  Busted up the front fender, but no other damage.

Thanks for this one. Pulled up behind a car that decided they where too far in the intersection so needed to back up. Once I saw those reverse lights come on I gunned it to the side. I can't say if the car would have backed into me or not, but I remembered this thread and just got out of the way. I was able to do this because I positioned my bike at an angle and with enough room in front to move. 

BTW. Glad to hear you made it home drdubb.

[rjs5857]

I haven't had any really close calls but about a month ago I checked / practiced my panic stopping and had the rear started to come around from too much rear brake.  I wasn't going fast enough for a real problem, thankfully, because my first reaction was to let up on the rear brake.  Not a good thing.  More practice and now my brain is trained for a while.  Secondly, I just put on some extended mirrors so that I can see more than my armpits when I am stopped in traffic, and I couldn't be be happier. 

[popo303]

My one and only drop was back in 86, we were having second gear races on a go cart track which had been closed for business after a fire had burned down the grandstands and concession stands. It was just off of I35 and Old Oconnor rd in San Antonio. We would go out there most weekends at night and time each other, well my buddy Mark had just beat my time, he was riding his 78 GS750 and I was on my 700SC. I couldnt let him beat me...lol, so on the second lap I was pushing it and low and behold the rear tire went and broke loose and me and my beautiful 700 went sliding across the track and into the grass. Minor scrapes and bruises to both me and the bike, I was wearing my helmet and gloves. Thank goodness it was just second gear racing.
There were close calls on the street with inattentive drivers but thankfully no....... knock on wood...... accidents to date. 

[Cherry Bomber]

I guess its time for me to tell my story, I had been riding since I was a teenager in the early 70s and on a sunday afternoon in the spring of 1987 my late wife and I had been out joyriding and were on our way home. We were traveling south in the outside lane along the elevated portion of U.S.59 (narrow lanes&no shoulder) in downtown Houston on a 70s Honda CB750-k when the car in the lane to the left of me changed lanes to the right to take the exit to I-45 south sideswiping us in the process. The only protective gear that we had at the time were full face helmets and I credit them with saving our lives that day. The driver of the other car didn't even know that he had hit us untill a witness stoped him futher down the freeway.
Ride Safe
ATGATT
Peace
Spike

[hobobanan]

Day after I got my endorsement, my dad and I went to look at my '85 650. I took it for a test ride while my dad talked to the guy I was buying it from. Coming back from the ride, I come to a stop in front of them, don't get my foot out fast enough and drop it on the left side. Only damage was breaking of the end of the clutch lever. Good thing I was going to buy the bike anyways, just meant I couldn't haggle on the price.

[ariwhiteboy]

Good thing I was going to buy the bike anyways, just meant I couldn't haggle on the price.

Why not? It had abroken clutch lever! 

[Munkey]

Good thing I was going to buy the bike anyways, just meant I couldn't haggle on the price.

Why not? It had abroken clutch lever! 

Yeah, no way I would pay full price for a bike that's been dropped recently and had a broken lever. 

[LOKi]

    

[Messorius]

Went out, rode and did practice in a parking lot.  Then I stalled and fell over at a 3 way stop(which was what I had practiced. Apparently not enough). :| Bent the shifter, I had to make it home in first gear, it sounded pretty.