Topic: What Did You Do On Your Bike and Survive.??

[ekpent]

OK, Old Timers and Young alike.If you have been on a motorcycle long enough you may end up going down or destroying one, its in the cards. Be it that first little dirt bike,or your first Big Four. We hate to hear about a fellow rider going down, or Blowing up a motor, but if you have a good story to tell' or a lesson for our new friends' lets hear them.If your OLD and got broken bones you get bonus points------- ----  I slammed into the side of a celery truck when I was 16 on a Suzuki TC125 Prospector..--OW

[Tews19]

Umm clarify "OLD" please... My first accident was on a 70's dirt bike when I was 11...... Went off a little jump, landed and flipped over the front handle bars and flewwwwww.. Ripped my new Scottie Pippen Nike's front toe right off and turned my shirt inside out so I wouldnt get yelled at..

Push forward 13 years and broken L1 thru L4, Broken 6th rib, punctured lung, lacerated liver, bruised kidney, fractured spleen, seperated pubis bone, and numerous fractures to my pelvis... Lead to a week in the hospital.. Poor brothers brand new CBR though..

[ekpent]

I did not get an official count on those bones,but we can stretch the rules a little for the younger Guys, and I think you are in the Lead. Those dirt bikes are the worst--You don't wanna hear about ribs and 1981 Yamaha  YZ250's---Still own it since 85-------    CB stories later--------

[splitt]

I had an '81 XR500 Honda. Probably the best dirt bike that I ever owned. I used to run down the gravel roads at 50 mph then crack the throttle open an see how far I could ride a wheelie. One day I replaced the cracked stock rear fender, with  a new Cycle-Am rear fender then decided to take the bike out for a quick ride.

Two miles from home I decided to ride a wheelie just like I had done numerous times. I cracked the throttle wide open and the next thing I know the bike was standing on the rear wheel past 90°. When I heard the sound of the rear fender hit the gravel, I knew I was screwed. I let go of the bars and tucked and rolled. When I finally felt that I was starting to slow down, I went spread eagle and slid to a stop. The bike was on it's side 30' feet away from me in the middle of the road. I was worried that a car might be coming over the hill and hitting my bike, but I was to dizzy to get on my feet, so I had to crawl to the bike. By the time that I reached my bike, I had started to regain my bearings, so I picked up the bike and rolled it to the side of the road out of harms way.

I sat down down on the edge of the road and finished regaining my senses. I then looked back down the road and put together the chain of events. I could see where the rear fender made contact  with the road and where I hit the ground. I also could see where the front wheel of the bike hit the ground causing it to tumble end-over-end twice before it landed on it's side and slid to a stop.

The forks were bent to the point where when the front wheel was straight, the bars were turned at a 15° angle to the right. The newly installed fender was hanging by the tail light wires. The plastic body panels were scratched, the right footpeg and brake pedal were bent and the seat was torn. The only injuries that I suffered were a ripped pair of jeans, ripped underwear, an abrasion on my left hip and some bruises.

After removing the bolts for the rear fender and reinstalling them, I was able to hold the fender in place without it falling off. I started the bike up and limped it home.

The Cycle-AM rear fender had a lifetime warranty and was replaced by them under warranty. I straightened the fork tubes with a press and I had purchased a new seat cover a few months earlier (this expedited the installation slightly).

I quit doing my high speed wheel stands after that.

[Danno]

I guess my story does not compare with you guys when my brother and I were 13 and 15 we had a pair of 70cc street bikes that we used to road race each other on constantly

 they were the same model and all (honda of course) so the racing boiled down to skill versus skill neither had the advantage

we were out by the air port and we of course had both bikes hammered about 52mph when either I turned into him or he into me

to make a long story short I climbed on top of my bike as it layed and rode it to a stop
he did the same but his hit a tree stump in the field we ended up in and it threw him

I ended up with nothing not a scratch he ended up with a dislocated shoulder

well it was obvious to me what was wrong with his arm slung low and no indication of internal bleeding but a lot of screaming going on (he always was a big baby) and I knew I could not get both us and the bikes home; which were mostly ok  ,and it was pretty obvious he was in a lot of pain so I walked over to him and told him I could fix it and popped his shoulder back into place he immediately stopped screaming and had to admit that it felt a lot better so we picked up our bikes and rode home

to this day he says that setting his shoulder was the wrong thing to do that the doctor would have given him pills to fix it (bologna 27 years ago the doctor would have done the same thing)

I just respond by saying and yeah your azz would still be sitting in that field too

[RustyStuff]

Umm clarify "OLD" please... My first accident was on a 70's dirt bike when I was 11...... Went off a little jump, landed and flipped over the front handle bars and flewwwwww.. Ripped my new Scottie Pippen Nike's front toe right off and turned my shirt inside out so I wouldnt get yelled at..

Push forward 13 years and broken L1 thru L4, Broken 6th rib, punctured lung, lacerated liver, bruised kidney, fractured spleen, seperated pubis bone, and numerous fractures to my pelvis... Lead to a week in the hospital.. Poor brothers brand new CBR though..

Now I'm kinda scared of getting my bike done and rideing it. :
Did a car hit you?

[Tews19]

I guess my story does not compare with you guys when my brother and I were 13 and 15 we had a pair of 70cc street bikes that we used to road race each other on constantly

 they were the same model and all (honda of course) so the racing boiled down to skill versus skill neither had the advantage

we were out by the air port and we of course had both bikes hammered about 52mph when either I turned into him or he into me

to make a long story short I climbed on top of my bike as it layed and rode it to a stop
he did the same but his hit a tree stump in the field we ended up in and it threw him

I ended up with nothing not a scratch he ended up with a dislocated shoulder

well it was obvious to me what was wrong with his arm slung low and no indication of internal bleeding but a lot of screaming going on (he always was a big baby) and I knew I could not get both us and the bikes home; which were mostly ok  ,and it was pretty obvious he was in a lot of pain so I walked over to him and told him I could fix it and popped his shoulder back into place he immediately stopped screaming and had to admit that it felt a lot better so we picked up our bikes and rode home

to this day he says that setting his shoulder was the wrong thing to do that the doctor would have given him pills to fix it (bologna 27 years ago the doctor would have done the same thing)

I just respond by saying and yeah your azz would still be sitting in that field too

Your new name is ruthless! Sounds like the story gets a few laughs when told to family

[Tews19]

No I didn't hit a car. I was on leave before our deployment. My bro got a 03 cbr f4i out of a box.  Had 2k on it and he allowed me to drive it to the zoo. My first time driving in a while it became overcast. Decided to leave the family and head home. Got to my
Buddies place and he asked to see what the bike can do. Well I showed it alright. Going into 2 gear popped the clutch rode a wheelie and BOOOm into a curb and flew 20 plus feet into a ladies yard who wanted to call an ambulance.  I told her no and tried  to walk. Got up and slid back down as I felt my separated pubis bone grind the worse pain in my life.  I couldn't walk so I had my buddy carry mento his car and he brought mento the hospital.

[CoachDoc]

Nov. 8, 1999 I tasted the pavement for the first time after more than 30 years (at that time) of motorcycle ownership and riding. The oil builds on the roads in Southern California during the Summer due to almost total lack of rain. The first rains of the Fall then create unusually slick conditions as the oil is lifted by the rainwater. This is what I fell victim to. I was riding a Goldwing up Torrey Pines Road in San Diego in a light rain that had just started falling. The roadway rises through a winding  uphiil run in a canyon. I was doing about 50 and just about at the apex of a left curve when suddenly my back wheel spun out and I hit the pavement on the low side (fortunately). The road was so slick I slid like a hockey puck about 75 yards, my leather jacket taking the brunt of the road abrasion. Thank God following traffic was able to avoid my oh so vulnerable body. The bike rolled several times and went end over end at least once- a total wreck. I came out much better, my only injuries some skinned knuckles and "rug burn" on my knees and elbows. I had an angel on my shoulder that day- I could easily have  slammed into a tree or concrete abutment while sliding, and fatalities often arise in these situations when following or oncoming traffic can't avoid the fallen rider. It was a good wakeup call for me. You can't ever get complacent about your safety when riding a motorcycle.

[CycleRanger]

Hit a culvert doing about 45 when I was 16 back in Arkansas.  Totaled the bike, double compound fracture left tibia and fibia.
Mom was not happy. Nor was I...

Ten years later I got hit from behind by a kid in a Mustang doing about 35 mph here in Austin
The nose of the car went under the back fender and the frame and bike stuck upright to the front of the car and was pushed probably 50-60 feet while he braked.
I just saw blue sky as I went back into his windshield and then back on into the street.
I realized I'd been hit and all I could think was he had knocked me into the other lane and I was going to get hit by another car!
I jumped to my feet and tried to get oriented and fortunately all the traffic had stopped.
I totally lucked out with only a bruised ass and a busted coccyx where I went over the tail light.
There was a constable in an unmarked car behind the kid who saw him run me down.
He was arrested for outstanding warrants...  He had a literally 4 printed page driving record and he was only 22!
Of course he had no insurance....    I won the lawsuit
Anyway, been there.

[BeSeeingYou]

Been hit by a car and received a few broken bones.  Have hit at night at highway speed (1) a muffler and (2) a coyote.  No damage to me.

[Randy]

I was riding a Vespa P200e scooter drunk. I was weaving in the lane from right to left and back right again, screwing around... I hit some oil in the middle of the road, the bike went out of control and hit the curb..I went flying and the bike hit a telephone pole... I bent the bike in half... the leg shield on the right side was smashed to the frame and the frame was bent like a "V"... I did ride it home the next day...After a new frame..I was on the road in about a month..

[Terry in Australia]

In Oz, your 21st birthday is a big thing, even though you've been able to legally drink, vote, drive etc for several years, it's a very importatnt "coming of age" thing.

It was 1978 and I'd been in the army a year or so and my older brother was about to turn 21, so having crashed my shiny new CB750 the previous week (long story) I took the train up to the country to spend a couple of days with the family.

The day after his birthday my brother told me that he couldn't get his BMW R75 going, and asked would I get it running for him while he was at work? "Sure", I said, and spent the next couple of hours cleaning water out of carbs, filing crappy points and cleaning apark plugs.

It was a nice day, cold but sunny, so once I had it running, decided to take it for a test ride. I had a great ride, 20 miles to a little seaside town called "Lakes Entrance", where I sat on the wharf and ate fresh fish and chips, and fed the seagulls. I rode home, and was only two blocks from my folks house, when I thought, "nah, it's too early to go home", so I turned left into a side street.

I was riding past a car that was parked on the side of the road, just as the driver decided to do a "U" turn. My front wheel hit him smack in the middle of the drivers door, and I was ejected over the top of the car, landing about 40 feet on the other side of the car. I still remember laying in the middle of the road, looking back and being surprised at how far I'd travelled through the air.

The BMW's cylinder head had virtually torn the door and front fender off the car, the bikes forks were bent and fibreglass fender busted, I'd torn the knee out of my jeans and broken my little finger, but my brothers shiny new "Brando" style leather jacket that  he got for his birthday the day before had protected my upper body pretty well, even if it wasn't looking so good.

Anyway, apart from the legal action (the car driver actually sued me for damages to his car, so I sued him back for personal injuries) that was pretty much it. It was pretty spectacular, probably could have been fatal, but now it's just another page in my never-to-be-written personal memoirs. Cheers, Terry.

[dhall57]

I think the year was 1970 I was 13 and my Mom tired of me crying and fussing had bought me my first Honda a red CT70 or mini trail 70. My best friend and next door neighbor had a Honda CL70 and there was a large open field between our houses that we rode them in when we weren't burning up the roads had the law called on us more than once(those were the days). Long story short we ran into each other some how in that big pasture and even today when I think back I don't know how we did it but we did. My friend didn't get a scratch, but me I spend the next 2 weeks in the hospital with a fractured skull and many weeks after that recovering at home. But as soon as I was able I was back on that little 70 with bent handle bars and all riding again not with my moms blessings though. Lesson learned always wear a helmet Here's a pic of that CT70 that I crashed and burned on all those years ago.

[mick7504]

I threw the old 750 (original one) into a corner on the way back to work at lunchtime and was running a bit late.
That was 1975.
My then boss was a friggin a/hole and a pisshead and he used to give it to me whenever he had an opportunity so I was hootin back to work so that I wouldn't be late.

Anyway, I left the side stand down and got bucked off when it dug into the bitumen and got chucked clean over the handlebars and smashed my right elbow.
I think they called it a comminuted fracture.
There was no blood but the elbow was about the size of a tennis ball.

I ended up having a bone graft from my hip and a couple of stainless pins stuck in to keep it together.
Aside a few big spins and some bark ripped off, that was the best one.

A new alternator cover, handlebars and a clean up and paint job on the fuel tank and the old faithful Honda 4 was as good as new again.

[boatsdickson]

You guys take the cake. I cant compete with any of you cuz I havent had my crash yet, although Im leavin for Blues Bikes & BBQ in Arkansas soon, it might happen there.

My story thus far though is: my k8 and I have survived 3 DWIs 2gether....lessons learned.....boats 

[andy750]

My first bike was a MZ 125cc and I still had a learners permit. The day before my bike test a friend came round to see if I wanted to go for a night ride in the country. Sure, why not. So we sped off into the night going way to fast with too little light or experience. I was trying to outrun my friend on his 100cc Honda and so took off down a straight that ended with a sharpish right corner. I overshot the corner and rear wheel touched the grass just enough to slip and the next thing I know I was bouncing down the road on my head (+helmet). I can still remember the feeling off my head bouncing off the road and the horizon being vertical.

I lay there in the road and felt my toes, felt my fingers and thought that was a good sign. Got up with no damage except a scuffed knee/torn trousers and some hero marks on my leather jacket. Helmet had a good scrape on the side. Bike was on its side still running with only a broken mirror. Picked it up and rode home.

Lesson learned -dont take too corners too fast at night! Failed the test the next day and never had a crash since (21+ years and counting).

Andy

[MoMo]

 No crashes, thank God.  I cannot count all the times I got on a bike either stoned or drunk and got to my destination in one piece. Not a recommended practice to say the least...Larry

[mick7504]

No crashes, thank God. I cannot count all the times I got on a bike either stoned or drunk and got to my destination in one piece. Not a recommended practice to say the least...Larry

I think that is what saved me from grief many times back in the day Larry. 
A cool head and maximum concentration and certainly not recomended. 

[CrankyOldGuy]

Story Time ... Installment No. 1 of 2 

Back in the summer 1971 ... I was travelling on my CB750 K1 with two other motorcylists (a Kawasaki 500 and Norton 750 Commando) at night on some backroads in Nova Scotia, 200 miles from home.

I had fallen behind the other two and had sped up to catch them.  I could see there tail lights but little did I know there was an S-turn in the road between us.

As I entered the first turn I soon realized I was going too fast especially with the gravel on the asphalt pavement.  I ended up laying the 750 down on her side with me on top. 

Everything was going well until the tires hit the gravel shoulder.  I still remember .. like it was today ... the 750 and I doing circular rotations in the air ... the bike on one side and me on the other.  Eventually we ended up down over an embankment ending up in a rose bush (not kidding).

As I made my way up to the highway, a car stopped , and a young fellow got out.  He said "Harry is that you?".  It was a guy who I had met at an army cadet camp in Alberta the summer before (coincidence  ... or just plane scary .. see installment No. 2 for a more scary coincidence).

We tried to roll the 750 up the embankmet but at the top of the embankment there were guard rail posts, painted white, with no guard rail.  The 750 would not fit between the posts.  The 750 and I had been in the correct postions of the rotation so we both missed the guard posts on the way over.

The only damage were twisted handle bars, a bent rear fender, dents in the gas tank, and a few scratches on some painted surfaces.  No personal injuries.  I was able to ride her home and the rest of the year after straightening the handle bars.

I telephoned the RCMP to notify them of the accident but they were not interested in coming to the scene unless someone had to be taken to the hospital.  This became more apparent the next day as I saw a guy riding a CB450 with a full length leg cast 

The end result the Candy Garnet CB750 became the Candy Red CB750 I really wanted. 

Harry O.

PS.   Driving apparel .. steel toe leather workboots, denim jeans, leather motorcycle jacket. leather riding gloves, helmet and safety glasses.   This apparel kept me from any serious personal injury.

[CrankyOldGuy]

Story Time - Installment No. 2

Fast forward to the summer of 1972.

I was taking a guy for a ride on the CB750 K1 at night on some local city streets.  He had never been on a motorcycle before.

We had just left an intersection .. probably doing 25mph .. when a German Shepherd come out between two parked cars approximately 10 feet in front of me.

Talk about a sudden stop ... over the handle bars we go.  I still remember sliding down the street with sparks flying off the zippers on my leather motorcycle jacket.

End result ... no personal injuries except for a bleeding finger ... dented gas tank ... scratched front fender .. a little abrasion on the fins on the right side of the cylinder head, and one dead German Shepherd.  The hair is still stuck between the tire and front rim.

The city police happened to be at a local park so they stopped by and had a look..  I said I thought I should be taken to the hospital so I could have my bleeding finger looked at.  They thought it would be a good idea so and that I should have someone take me there ... duh.  The Owner of the dog was not at home so they placed the dead dog on his front doorstep.

Now for the coincidence.  The next morning my sister was golfing and got grouped up with a guy.  On the second hole the guy says "something funny happened last night, when I got home last night I found my German Shepherd dead on my front steps".  My sister says "that's funny ... my brother killed a German Shepherd with his motorcycle last night".

True story

Harry O.

[Magpie]

I bought a brand new to the world 1969 CB750 in Candy Rubytone Red in July of 1969. It was a traffic stopper! "Hey, pull over! Why does that have 4 pipes? What the f**k is that!? Don't race that, it's the new Honda 4!" About 5 weeks later, after another trip to the shop for fouled plugs (those damn 140 main jets I think) I just left the shop, right near where BC Place is now, went a block north, a girl in a red Cortina blew through the stop sign, I T-boned her in the driver's door, woke up to a fireman wrapping a bandage around my head, the salesman that sold me the bike had run the block from the shop to my crash asking how I was doing. Next woke up in the ambulance. They patched me up, missed a broken radius bone and sent me on my way that night. I was not speeding or accelerating hard.
The bike was a write off with the front wheel now jammed hard against the engine, the steering head bent and tons of other damage. I still have limited movement in my right arm and a scar on my chin. If anyone tells you that helmets don't save lives, have them email me. I'll tell them they are full of crap!
It took me nearly 2 years to get another 750, which I still have.
Here's the bike not long after I bought it.
Cliff.

[pknopp]

 I hate to say this out loud.......I've wrecked many times on mini bikes and dirt bikes. Never as much more than a bit of a red spot. I've never went down on the street.
 
 I did fall off the back of a car once which was one of those slow motion surreal things. I had to pick gravel out of my head on that one.

[ekpent]

WOW-Some pretty epic tales there ,glad we can still all be together to share them.
   Another crash I had on a CB750 was around the mid 80's.It was the night before Halloween and I was over at a buddies helping him set up a big party we were throwing the next night. Drizzled just a tad but not a hard soaker. Going home around midnight I went through a very sharp turn in town that I was familiar with but a homeowner on this turn had raked all his wet leaves out into the road.Well you know the rest,I went down hard,bike slammed the curb and ended up in a yard. I got scuffed up pretty good,the bike got the handlebars bent into the tank,broke the stator cover so hard that it even bent the end of the crank which I had to replace. Felt a little Crappy at the big party the next night.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

It's not so much what I did as what the guy in the van did - took me out head on.  No real story to tell. He locked up his brakes on damp pavement and slid into me. Just glad the bike and tree stopped him. His front wheels were pointing at me again.