Author Topic: Highway Obstacle Stories. Share in the horror... (Read 5987 times)

Seamus · « **Reply #25 on:** October 15, 2009, 02:51:42 PM »

Not seen to much of concern, but once found 2 bicycles lying in the middle lane of the M1 (major motorway in UK) in the home rush hour. On the hard shoulder was a guy and his family with only one bike on the rack. probably trying to figure a way to get his bikes back

bucky katt · « **Reply #26 on:** October 15, 2009, 03:20:41 PM »

iwas heading south on rt 301 in florida, just north of notorious speed trap town Waldo when a tractor trailer in front of me hit a deer, then it hit the car i was in. no real damage but i had to go through a car wash 4 times to get the guts and flesh unstuck from the bottom of the car.

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #27 on:** October 15, 2009, 05:07:03 PM »

I was heading home from a mates place a while back when i came over a rise and was surprised by a car stopped dead in the middle of my lane, i had no time to stop so i went around the guy only to realise he had stopped to let a duck cross the road...

Well you know the rest, i sold the bike 2 years later and it still had bits of duck and stuff baked onto the motor.......you should have seen the cloud of feathers, looked like the duck had stepped on a bomb....

Mick

mick7504 · « **Reply #28 on:** October 15, 2009, 05:13:40 PM »

Quote from: retro rocket on October 15, 2009, 05:07:03 PM

I was heading home from a mates place a while back when i came over a rise and was surprised by a car stopped dead in the middle of my lane, i had no time to stop so i went around the guy only to realise he had stopped to let a duck cross the road... Well you know the rest, i sold the bike 2 years later and it still had bits of duck and stuff baked onto the motor.......you should have seen the cloud of feathers, looked like the duck had stepped on a bomb....

Mick

Hey Mick
What about the spuds and carrots

Mick

Honda George · « **Reply #29 on:** October 15, 2009, 05:16:22 PM »

I once ran over a coyote that crossed the highway in front of me in the middle of the night. I didn't crash the bike but the experience did pucker my a**hole for awhile.

Jerad · « **Reply #30 on:** October 15, 2009, 05:24:47 PM »

I was gunning it down I-84 around 80 or 90 and it a push broom. Luckily when it kicked back up at me
it hit the frame and not me.

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #31 on:** October 15, 2009, 05:40:46 PM »

Quote from: mick7504 on October 15, 2009, 05:13:40 PM

Quote from: retro rocket on October 15, 2009, 05:07:03 PM
I was heading home from a mates place a while back when i came over a rise and was surprised by a car stopped dead in the middle of my lane, i had no time to stop so i went around the guy only to realise he had stopped to let a duck cross the road... Well you know the rest, i sold the bike 2 years later and it still had bits of duck and stuff baked onto the motor.......you should have seen the cloud of feathers, looked like the duck had stepped on a bomb....

Mick
Hey Mick
What about the spuds and carrots
Mick

Funny you should mention that as it was just outside a roadside vege stall....

Mick

mystic_1 · « **Reply #32 on:** October 15, 2009, 06:39:52 PM »

I was on my 750 one evening on a tightly-curving on-ramp for a local Chicago expressway (very fast and busy) when a large opossum darted out from behind a light pole. I had only enough time to yank the bike upright from the lean before I hit him squarely, bounced over, then heeled it back over into the curve so as to not drive off the outside of the ramp, and finally merge into crazy Chicago area traffic.

Adrenalin is indeed brown and runny!

mystic_1

super pasty white guy · « **Reply #33 on:** October 15, 2009, 06:57:19 PM »

On the beltway heading to work at ~ 70 in the middle lane. Was boxed in by traffic with a harley right behind when a retread spread across the entire lane appeared. We both made it through without problems.

I give open loads and trucks with crap strapped to the top a wide berth, but a carpenter's truck carrying a bunch of lumber on top had a entire piece of casement trim come loose in front of me. I'm looking at a 10 ft spear coming my way, spinning in the air. Fortunately, I had enough time and space to be able to dodge that one.

A few on here have heard this before, but on the evening (almost night) I was coming back from taking my wife out for her first ride on the 750. As we were coming into town on the parkway, I wound up having to dodge a hit an run victim who was still tumbling down the road. I can still see his face in the headlights...

spwg

Pinhead · « **Reply #34 on:** October 15, 2009, 06:58:19 PM »

Ran right over a coon the other night going about 55 mph. The worst was on my SL175... Had a deer jump across the road just inches in front of me. Couldn't do a thing but hope. Just barely missed it; when it made it's next jump it freekin kicked my gas tank!

Bodi · « **Reply #35 on:** October 15, 2009, 07:16:35 PM »

I used to drive down a busy street every morning. One day I was luckily wide awake and thinking. In front of me was a scrap metal truck, the kind with the big metal bin on a truck with a rail bed that drops off and picks up the bins. The pipe bender at a tailpipe factory must have gone nuts, the bin was full of bent exhaust pipes... full meaning twisted tubing sticking up about 5 feet out of the top of the bin. Just in time I remembered the low bridge about 200 feet ahead, and laid on the brakes. Cars behind me started blasting their horns and one idiot passed me and roared up right behind the truck just as it met the bridge, which had about one foot clearance above the bin. The air filled with pipes. The car that passed me looked like it had been attacked by a mob with hammers. I stopped well back and the car driver behind me got out and apologized for giving me the horn and thanked me, he said he drove that way every day as well but hadn't realized what was about to happen.
I was leaving from a projector repair job in downtown Toronto and heading back westward on the highway to go back to the shop, the Gardiner Expressway then had a fairly abrupt turn where it became the QEW highway. There was a pretty good bump there too, over about 60mph and you'd be airborne for a second just at the turn exit. Naturally I was going over 60, I liked that jump. Just over tit, and there's a Broomwade 10 horsepower carbon ring oil-free air compressor unit smack in my path. About 250 pounds of cast iron. I just barely managed to miss it.
I happened to know it was a Broomwade 10 horsepower carbon ring oil-free air compressor unit because I had just helped my boss (and several helpers) load it in the back of his pickup before leaving the job. I guess he liked that jump too.

laser145 · « **Reply #36 on:** October 15, 2009, 07:25:24 PM »

Back when I lived in Florida I rode a CL350. One day I was approaching my neighbors house and they were all in the front lawn. I pulled up into the yard slowing to stop. The grass was a bit unkempt and I didn't notice a coconut husk on the ground. I was almost stopped when I hit it, jerking the handlebars hard right and sending me over the left side of the bike. Scared everyone, embarrassed me. I got a bloody foot and a little burn on my leg to remember it by.

johnyvilla · « **Reply #37 on:** October 15, 2009, 08:39:58 PM »

I was riding through WI with some friends last month, when a turkey vulture attempted to land in front of me. I managed out of the way, but you don't realize how big they are until you ride up their ass.

Don R · « **Reply #38 on:** October 15, 2009, 08:58:59 PM »

During my recent motorcycle life. [missed about 20 years] I got the 70 750 running and decided to ride it around the house to where everyone was at, on the deck. I didn't think about all the walnuts under the tree that I haven't raked up yet, It was a little rolly for a while but I was able to stay upright.

I also saw a guy in a little white Cavalier ride through the ditch with a semi-truck re-cap across his entire windshield. The truck never did stop. My aunt's car and my street rod also got some tread marks on the paint.

bryanj · « **Reply #39 on:** October 15, 2009, 09:49:39 PM »

TOML that wasnt a Retread that blew it was a 2 week old NEW first life Bridgestone!!!

Sweep · « **Reply #40 on:** October 16, 2009, 04:42:52 AM »

I was on a long, winding road in my town doing 40mph and had a car just close enough in front of me that I couldn't see the road ahead as well as I should have, especially given all the curves. I was on my cb750 and saw a large log in the middle of my lane. It was too late to swirve and being I was more afraid of hitting it at an angle I chose to run it over directly. My gamble paid off as it turned out to be fairly rotted and I pretty much cut through it while having a heart attack.

phrige · « **Reply #41 on:** October 16, 2009, 07:43:23 AM »

wow, sweep.. id be having heart palpatations for weeks after that one..

these stories are great.
I'd love to see these all in a book, or at least on some late night radio call in show.

mystic_1 · « **Reply #42 on:** October 16, 2009, 01:56:12 PM »

Once I was in my car driving downtown for business, and found myself behind an overloaded pickup truck with an unsecured load. I'd just decided I didn't want to be behind him, when he hit a bump, and a Weber charcoal grill flips up outta the truck and smashes to bits on the pavement behind the truck.

Rush hour traffic so I was boxed in and we were all doing about 50mph. I managed to dodge the legs, grill, and grill body, but then the lid came bouncing along and I couldn't avoid it. It ended up folding itself up underneath the car and wedging behind my front axle. I had to pull over to free it, which involved jacking up the car and yanking on it.

Pickup truck never even slowed down.

Good thing that didn't happen when I was on the bike!

mystic_1

camelman · « **Reply #43 on:** October 16, 2009, 02:14:13 PM »

There are some crazy stories here!

I was on a 4000 mile road trip on my XJ750RJ back in college, and had a few "pucker" situations. The first was in a construction zone doing 70 or so in jam-packed traffic with jersey barriers on either side. The semi in front of me flicked up a large chunk of iron (a good pound or so), and I couldn't avoid it. I moved to the side, but it still clipped my boot. Luckily i was wearing steel-toed boots.
Not long after that, another tractor-trailer shredded a tire in front of me with pieces raining down all around. I split to the side of the road, and zipped along the shoulder until the downpour ended. In both cases I had no choice but to ride behind the tractor-trailers.

The last incident was by and far the scariest. It had just rained on fresh blacktop, it was dark out, and the headlight on my bike was terrible. I was still in Texas (as I was for the first two incidents), and traffic was doing about 80/85. I looked over at something to my right, then noticed a lump in front of me in my peripheral vision. I looked back up, but couldn't tell what it was. Then, I hit it. It was damn near an entire tread from a tractor trailer. From what I remember, it still had complete connection around it in some places. The whole lump was about 10 inches tall, and I smacked it solid. The bike bumped up, and I heard a little noise start as an exhaust pipe came loose, but nothing else happened. I pulled over, checked the bike out, saw another car pull over with his front end hanging off after hitting the same tread, and I decided to ride on.

Texas is/was the worst motorcycle driving I have ever done. Hot, humid, loads of dead animals in the road, and the tractor-trailers loose their tread awful quick in that heat!

Camelman

paulages · « **Reply #44 on:** October 16, 2009, 02:45:21 PM »

about a year ago i was riding on I-84 outside of portland when a truck lost a hubcap and it whizzed past my head. i didn't even see it, but heard a whistle as it passed me. the guys behind me saw it happen and said they thought i was toast. apparently it missed my head by inches...

von_Wanderlust · « **Reply #45 on:** October 16, 2009, 05:27:47 PM »

Oh yeah, animals...

It had just turned dark and I was driving home my first car (woohoo, first car!) a Holden EH wagon (179 Special, originally 3 on the tree, but now has a 5 spd Supra gearbox conversion). Didn't have to go far, no more than 2ks, and taking it easy as it's new to me and it's a bit of a boat when it comes to handling. There's a dog on the side of the road, I'm watching it, but it's walking straight. Watching it, still walking straight, OK it looks fine. At the last minute it turns into the path of the front left wheel (our curb side), which goes straight over the middle of it's back. It was big dog, big enough to lift the front corner by what felt like a foot (we think it was a Rotti

). There's an almighty yelp and my friend and I just look at each other - sh!t! We turn around and stop, looking for the dog. This is a thread about highway obstacles and danger right, and this story hasn't really had any danger to me yet right? Yeah, well that's when I see this big bloke coming out of his house straight at us, uh oh... Hitting the dog didn't do it, but I can still see myself ending up in the hospital before the end of the night. We start talking, and my friend and I start coming out of 'flight' mode (as in fight or flight) when we find out the dog wasn't his or his neighbours. We all had a look around but it had disappeared. There is no way it could have survived very long, we figure it must have crawled off into the bushes to die.

(Still got the EH, can't bring myself to sell it even though I haven't used it in about 12 years.)

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #46 on:** October 16, 2009, 05:41:32 PM »

I was in Sydney in the 80's and was able to get a nice cb900 cheap, it had been in a small accident but had less than 1000 K's on the clock. I spent the next couple of months getting it back to pristine and on my first ride, i went around to my mates place to finally show it off, he wasn't home so i decided to go see another friend , i got about 500 meters down the road when a guy walking his German Shepard reached down and let it off its lead, it then spotted me and ran straight in front of me, i stood up to help absorb the shock of running over this stupid bloody dog but my back wheel took most of the force and bounced up almost vertical, slapping me chest first on to the road, it winded me that bad i thought i was never going to get my breath back. The owner came running over and helped me up and said to get a quote and come around the next day and he would reimburse me for the damage {bent forks ,smashed headlight,and bent bars} i was filthy as the bike was almost brand new, anyway to cut a long story short, i went round to see the guy and he was visibly upset, he proceeded to tell me that his son had just hung himself, the ambulance turned up while i was there. I never went back i just couldn't bring myself to ask for money from the poor old guy considering what had just happened......

Mick

mgbgt89 · « **Reply #47 on:** October 16, 2009, 05:50:12 PM »

The worst i've hit on the bike was a small piece of very thick plywood. I slid a little bit when i went over it, but didn't go down.

Twice i have had to avoid obstacles on the ramp on I-70 in Indianapolis. Once was in my dad's M3, There was a wheelbarrow in the middle of my lane as i rounded the corner. I swerved hard and avoided it. Had it not been such a responsive car, there was no way i could have avoided it.

The same ramp i had to swerve to avoid an extension ladder laying partially in the lane, This time in my civic. I also missed it. I love my coilover suspension.

When i'm on my bike I always ride slowly on that ramp, It's pretty blind, but banked and fast, so trucks tend to loose their loads there apparently.

BeSeeingYou · « **Reply #48 on:** October 16, 2009, 05:54:57 PM »

I hit a muffler at night at 65 mph. One of those older oval cylindrical types and luckily I hit it square on the side so the bike went up and over, I bounced off the seat but we came down together in one piece.

One other time in city freeway traffic I am behind a flatbed truck, one were you can put metal pipes in a bottom bracket around the bed and stack stuff. The truck hits a big pothole on one side and one of the pipes jumps out and hits the road going end for end right at me. Missed me by about a foot. It was around a 6 foot 1 1/2 inch diameter pipe.

Retro Rocket · « **Reply #49 on:** October 16, 2009, 05:57:39 PM »

Quote

One other time in city traffic I am behind a flatbed truck, one were you can put metal pipes in a bottom bracket around the bed and stack stuff. The truck hits a big pothole on one side and one of the pipes jumps out and hits the road going end for end right at me. Missed me by about a foot.

WOW, i have had the exact same thing happen to me except when i pointed out to the driver what had happened he just got all abusive, what an arse....

Mick

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Author Topic: Highway Obstacle Stories. Share in the horror... (Read 5987 times)