Topic: Wear your gear and be safe !

[Blackhole]

My son bought his first bike this last fall and we spent the winter fixing it up.  He took a three day safety course and got his endorsement and rides very well for a newbie.  Well last night he was heading to a friends house and hit a deer and put his bike down going around forty five or fifty.  He had on a armored jacket, gloves, Icon riding boots and his helmet and walked away with just some road rash and a broken bike.  He is very sore today but alive.  We will get the bike back on the road by the time he gets a new helmet but we are VERY lucky the wholething went down like it did.  Just a reminder to wear your jackets and helmets even when you think it is too hot...remember the suicidal Ohio deer don't care how hot it is   Be safe...wear your gear!  OK I am getting off of my soap box now....but I am a very lucky man tonight.

[BobbyR]

+1 I wore the gear even during the heat wave.

[KCbarsos]

i hate those rats  . glad your kiddo was ok. at least he got his first crash out of the way  . hope hes riding soon

[boogiedude]

dress for the slide, not for the ride..

[dave500]

dont ride at night.

[MoMo]

dont ride at night.

Damn deer/rats are so prevalent on the east coast Dave that they are out during the day.  I had both a day and night collision with deer.  Rural expansion and animal rights activists have created a massive deer overpopulation.

Very glad your son is OK  Blackhole...Larry

[Bailgang]

dont ride at night.

Damn deer/rats are so prevalent on the east coast Dave that they are out during the day.  I had both a day and night collision with deer.  Rural expansion and animal rights activists have created a massive deer overpopulation.

Very glad your son is OK  Blackhole...Larry

+1
The deer around here don't care what time it is and if you spot one early you still better be hitting the brakes because chances are there will be 2 or 3 more following it.

Glad to hear your son is OK Blackhole.

[andy750]

+1 and glad he was able to walk away.

I was riding last weekend in northern Maine on some very rural back roads and saw plenty of deer skid marks. It wasn't until I was back in Boston riding through the suburbs at 2pm on a sunny afternoon that a full size doe jumps in front of me - lucky not on me! I hate deer!

[70CB750]

Very glad he is OK!

I kilt 4 pointer on my CB750 last fall and this very morning had a close call with a fawn.

[jamesb]

dont ride at night.

Yep here in kansas they are out all day I was watching four of them last week while eating lunch. The one that I hit was at 2:00 in the afternoon.

I'm glad to hear your son is okay I hope this doesn't discourage him from riding anymore. A lot of people quit after a good wreck.

[Proto]

10-4 on the gear! 

Pulled the Harley out of the garage Sunday for a ride with a local group of Hog riders.  We hadn't even got out of town yet when one of the riders went down on a curve on her 2 month old bike.  She slid about 35'.  She was wearing typical Harley garb (Leather vest and chaps) plus was wearing a helmet.  After the crash, her boots were nearly pulled off and her chaps were scratched up plus  some light scratches on the helmet.  Her vest did not protect her elbow though and she got some road rash there.  No major injuries.  Had she been wearing a good jacket, she would have probably walked away without a scratch. 

I look out of place with this group as I ride with the same gear I use on my SOHC4 rides: Mesh/armored jacket and pants plus a full-faced helmet.  I love the statement above "Dress for the slide, not the ride"!

[750K]

Good to hear your kid was fine after going down, I always ride in my full gear. Lately I've switched to a denim jacket with a leather vest over top but I always wear boots, gloves, full face and jeans. My armored leather jacket is vented everywhere so it's not hot to wear, love that jacket.

[Muckinfuss]

I've yet to get my head wrapped around the crotch rocket racers that ride around in shorts and sandals, with their pit-tootsy on the back in short shorts, tiny top and she's the one with the helmet on.  They make such a mess when they go down.

[74750k4]

Wear yer' kilt n be safe! Scares the hell out of em' !

[grasscutter]

dress for the slide, not for the ride..

+100. 

[Blackhole]

He is more upset about his bike then sore right now...but he is sore.  He was going to take it back to school with him tomorrow but that is not going to happen now.  I hope to be able to take it down to him after I find a stator cover and some other small parts.  He can ride it like it is for the rest of the season then we can work on it again when he comes home for Christmas break. We too were laughing about the "dress for the slide, not the ride" I think because of how true it is.  Thanks

[70CB750]

Wear yer' kilt n be safe! Scares the hell out of em' !

Exactly:

Call Me!

[jneuf]

Good advice, and I think all riders need to be reminded of it from time to time. For the most part, every time I go out I throw on all my gear (mesh armor jacket, boots, gloves, full face helmet etc..), but occasionally on a quick trip to the store I'll just wear my helmet, and then realize after the fact I made a bad decision.

Deer are unpredictable. Glad your son is okay.

[Bankerdanny]

I have a First Gear Mesht Tex jacket that I wear in the summer. It still sucks to be stuck in stop and go traffic when it's 90. But once you are moving again there is a constant circulation of air and the jacket is only slightly warmer than riding with no jacket.

[canonball]

Glad he's alright!

Here in FL I see a LOT of people (usually on crotch rockets) with a tank top, shorts, some flip-flops, and no helmet. All I can do is shake my head and thank God I have more common sense.

[mono]

glad he's OK!

I live in Toledo OH near a city park, and every night at dusk there are deer all over the damned place -- deer that do not flinch at the sound of an oncoming vehicle.  I am always cautious, and even though i have great "deer vision" from years of hunting as a kid, i still have almost nailed 2 of them already this summer.  last one was about 1/8 mile outside of the park next to my bank -- i spooked a doe crossing the street and sent her clambering up the side of a steep hill... I've been taking the main roads lately to avoid this problem (and keep my face on)!

I think the overpopulation is driving them into more urban areas.  That and they're just terminally stupid animals to begin with.  Good eatin', though.

[bjbuchanan]

Overpopulation is killer with these deer. You see it more in counties where people don't shoot as much. They practically just hand you doe permits left and right to control the population but it doesn't work because no one is hunting that much

[mono]

Yeah around here there's just nowhere left to hunt.  All the old farmers with land are dying off, and their kids or whoever takes over the land isn't letting people hunt, or is charging game preserve rates to use the land.   It's stupid.  And because of that we're seeing a lot more coyote also -- even in the suburbs! 

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[70CB750]

And you are getting inbreading and diseases spread and stupid people in suburbs feed deer - some of them old farts  feed through christmas and in January go to Florida; kinda leaves the deer herd stranded.

Northern Virginia deer season is September/October - March.

[stereosilence]

I have heard that there are wind whistles that trucks put on their grill that keep deer from running in front of them. Has anybody tried anything like that?

[flybox1]

I would think that any deer that doesnt run from the sound of our bikes, wont run from a plastic whistle 

[70CB750]

I seen those whistles on cars damaged by hitting a deer - they dont work IMO.

Flybox, sure, they will run when they hear the bike, but in a situation like yesterday - woods, road and field with the deer in the field - they will run for the cover, i.e. woods and cross the road in front of me.

[flybox1]

70CB750- I should have said run AWAY.     I used to live in a heavily wooded area with lots of deer.  Had one run beside me on the shoulder for 20-25 yds before it jumped the ditch.  I was on my 350F and yes, i had a 'deer whistle' on it.  Luckily I had slowed to about 20.  The whistles (if they actually work at any speed under 60mph) and the sound of our bikes certainly dont scare them in the opposite direction. 

[thelowmax]

Just the other day I went for a long ride on the highway on a very hot day. I usually wear my gear but because it was so hot decided to just wear street clothes (long sleeve button up shirt, jeans and boots). After about 90 minutes at high speed the beating I was getting from my shirt flapping in the wind was driving me crazy. Plus I was roasting under the blazing sun. I realized that my jacket provides just as much protection from the elements as well as cooling ventilation. Traffic jams, however, are another story.

[bjbuchanan]

The whistles don't work, plenty of wrecked cars get whacked right near them lol. Another issue with the deer is the "spook" thing. They get scared and run but it is an instinctual thing, they just bolt, no direction intended a lot of the time.

I have seen what I know is a "dead" deer jump straight up in the air and run for a quarter mile after it took a shot straight through it's heart. After me and my grandfather chased the damn thing down and field stripped it we got back to the house and discovered he had blown the heart up when the bullet hit it