47 Years, 3 Notable Accidents

[ThomWV]

I love riding as much as anyone but sometimes a sobering post is in order. For those just beginning to ride I want to warn you that it is just a matter of time until you go down. It happens to everyone who rides, for some it is the end of the world. I can not tell you how to avoid accidents other than this, pay attention. I thought I'd give you the bare facts about my big 3.

1. Most serious accidents happen within the first 90 days of riding. My first serious accident took just a little longer. In 1962 outside of a small farming town in Maryland while riding on a step-through Honda (I think that is what it was) I simply fell off. I was screwing around, riding like an idiot with two teenage friends. It cost me my first serious road rash and what I can only describe as the epiphany of mortality. With the sting and the blood I knew in an instant that these things were not only fun, they were absolutely dangerous and could kill you faster than you could react. Good lesson.

2. The Norton. This one is real simple. A friend had bought a Norton Commando while stationed in Germany and had it shipped home when he was discharged. The day it arrived he picked it up and was out showing it off. He handed me the key and told me to 'crank it up'. At just over 100 mph on a paved road in Miami, Florida on a warm spring evening in 1971 I laid it down. Who knew that this nearly new bike had a high speed wobble? At the time I was wearing a pair of cut-off shorts. Thats it, not so much as a T-shirt or shoes for protection. It all happened in slow motion; you stick your hands out to try to break your fall but all that does is take all the skin off of your palms and pile it up back by your wrists. A doctor would simply snip it all that skin off with scissors later that night. Major road rash; chest, knees, elbows, back, and most painfully the corners of my hips, all missing patches of skin and then of course my hands. Wear gloves.

3. High sided, 1982. Blame this one on alcohol. I had just bought a new (for me) Kawasaki KZ1000. The prior owner had made his own dual disk front brake setup for it; he told me it was touchy. Within the first mile of riding it, and at moderate speed (45 or so) in the Sunnyside area of Morgantown, West Virginia I tested the front brake by pulling the lever with just one finger. The front wheel locked and the bike high-sided me. I landed on the corner of my left shoulder. I broke everything on my left side. The hospital stay was just over a week. They could not put a cast on the broken arm because of its weight. They could not put a brace on me for the broken collar bone because of the broken shoulder blade. They couldn't do anything about the broken shoulder blade of course, it was just like the broken ribs in that regard. Oh, and of course the road rash. Lesson learned: helmets save lives.

I have only had 1 friend killed on a bike. He was killed when a driver in a car ran a stop sign and hit and dragged him. The casket was not opened during the funeral. The accident was a hit and run. The driver, who was 17 years old, was identified by the police and arrested several weeks after the accident. I don't know what happened to him after the arrest.

[Robb]

1. Thanks for this

It's so hard to express to new riders how really, really dangerous riding can be. Sometimes I think nothing works except the rider "surviving" a get-off.

I get the odd comment or two suiting up at the office. "Crash a lot?" etc. Always dress for the crash, not the ride.

[dmallind]

2. Useful info but if I may offer input without giving offense

These are crashes at least in most part down to some questionable riding choices you made (other than the KZ1000 perhaps unless alcohol was directly involved - those brakes weren't called butcher blades for nothing. The standard joke at the time was the big Z's didn't need brake levers, just an on/off switch).

I'm no safety prude but I always have armored jacket, bike gloves (standard gloves are useless) and full face helmet and most often armored pants and boots too. I do cheat with jeans and tennis shoes for a commute or two which I know is no safer than a long trip, but I do feel guilty about it and in all honesty I do take even extra care then.

I'm no legal prude either. I've seen the shiny side of three digits a few times - but not without due care and attention and good knowledge of the bike first.

I've fallen off too. Twice when I was just starting - one pure ignorance and one overconfidence. Nothing worse than a bit of stitching luckily. Only dropped a "real" bike once when I graduated to the larger machines and that was gravel I just didn't see in time. Nothing for 10+ years touch wood.

I'm not trying to preach here - I have no idea of your mileage but your experience in years is double mine for a start even though I'm no beginner there either. Safety is always a sound message, but motorcycles are often only as dangerous as the people who are riding them. I'm fully aware that I'm vulnerable and even as an experienced safety conscious rider all it takes is a semi driver not paying attention to leave me nothing more than a smear and a memory, but the same is true of cars after all and I'm damned if I'm going to do anything to make such an accident less unlikely than it is by my own actions whether with two wheels or four.

[ThomWV]

3. No Offense taken at all

Remember the original Kawasaki 3-cylinder 2-strokes? Those had On/Off switches, but for throttles, not brakes; they had no brakes.

No offense taken at all. There was one reason for each of my three falls; stupidity on my part. I could not claim anything less. Its just so very easy to get either inattentive or stupid on a bike and accidents themselves are really so mundane, just one little thing happens and then you get hurt. So I thought I'd just post a reminder.

You got me to wondering about the mileage. I remember a 71 Suzuki 500 (old 2-stroke twin they used to make) that I bought new in 1971 that I put 25,000 miles on the first year I had it and then a Honda CB-750 that I bought in Miami and rode to Washington the next day (3 days actually) to show it to my father. Nowadays if I put over 200 miles on the Deuce in a day it leaves me crippled for a week. Gettin' old sucks.