I am officially never going to own a motorcycle
 

I know I am probly gonna catch hell for this but I dont really care...Sunday: Roughly 2 PM: some friends and I meet and another friends house to head to the local swimming hole (KY Lake) one of my firneds owns a 96 Ninja 600 SWEET BIKE and he says he wants to ride that he hadnt ridden much that day...as we all enter our vehicles (I am driving the stang with 2 outhers) the passenger yells to motorcycle boy "Dont wreck man I dont wanna see that crap" so where off (rawhide theme) we pull out of my road (the friend is my next door neighbor has been since I can remember) and Im in front bike in middle honda civic in back I top a small hill while bike boy is wating for a car I met to get out of the way so he can pull out..the coast clears out...he pulls away not doing anything stupid not on it to hard or anything..I dont knwo what made me do it but I looked up into my rear view to see the most horrid thing I have ever seen...he toped the small hill it started to get squirly(sp?) then all hell broke loose when the front wheel dived under him (like in the puff daddy video) the bike flew to the right and he skidded roughly 50 ft wearin shorts and a t shirt (and helmet) on the pavement the bike basicly exploded and finaly came to a rest about 150 yds from the original point of trouble...my friend is in the hospital with road rash to the meat on 30% of his body...he lacerated an artery in his left foot that requires surgery but they say he will be ok..I am sorry this is so long but I needed to talk about it and I knew you guys wouldnt care if I did it here...but to all you riders out there BE CAREFUL

I'm sorry you had to witness something so horrible :( That right there is the exact reason why I've never riden a motorcycle and never plan to own one. I'm glad to hear your buddy is still alive, thank god for that helmet...

-jonathon

That sucks man. It is good to hear that he is going to be ok. I guess I will be the first to say he probably would have walked away had he been in full leathers. I feel like that is an "I told you so" kind of answer, but without any broken bones, the road rash wouldn't have happened in the proper gear.

I never ride to the beach or to play sports unless I've got somebody in a car bringing stuff for me to change into. I guess this just shows you always have to be prepared. Sorry you had to watch that. It's never easy to see.

Once again, another example of why you wear safety gear. No offense, but I think people like you friend(who ride in shorts and t-shirt) are idiots. Some gear, and he would have prob. walked away.

Re: I am officially never going to own a motorcycle
 

The ones that ARE careful...wear gear, for the exact reasons stated above. You never know WHERE it might happen, or WHEN...thus, cover your one and only skin with LEATHERS :rolleyes: You have more control than you think, at least when it comes to saving your own FLESH. Many people just choose not to make it because its hot as hell to ride during the summer with gear on...

I pity you if you choose not to ride a bike because your buddyroo there chose to be comfortable instead of safe. If you don't like bikes period, thats understandable, but don't base your decisions while seeing the repercussions of the poor choices of others.

I still don't understand why friends like yours are...quite frankly...so FREAKIN STUPID. Man, I CRY when I fall off my Schwinn...using common sense, it would be reasonable to expect falling off a moving vehicle traveling at speeds double or triple than a Huffy moves....WOULD PROBABLY HURT!!! :rolleyes: Oh well, I really don't care. Riders like that are partly the reason I'm slowly falling out of love with the sport---kids that care more about their level of sweat and "coolness" factor. Insurance rates go up, and I get lumped in with the idiots when it comes to stereotyping...

Re: I am officially never going to own a motorcycle
 

1st of all before I flame, I wish your friend a speedy recovery. Ok what I don't understand is how "the front wheel dived under him" if he wasn't on it to hard. The only things I can think of that could have happened is a tank slapper which is not going to happen unless you are near WOT or you come down from a wheelie wrong. Or he locked the front brake up. If there was nothing in front of him then chances are it was an endo attempt gone wrong. He wasn't turning was he? If he was he evidently did not understand the counter steering theory and about never hitting the breaks in a turn unless it is the rear and you are trail breaking. Both of which are basic motorcycle concepts that anyone should know before ever sitting on a bike (besides trail breaking). That may be what he told the cops but that story doesn’t fly with me. The bad part is from what you said all his injuries could have been avoided if he was wearing gear. I know it gets hot sometimes and you don't want to wear full leathers but at least I will wear boots, mesh riding jacket, gloves, helmet and jeans. I hate to say it but if you looked up squid in the dictionary it would have a pick of your friend and you would find it between “road rash” and “stupidity”. I hope he gets well and doesn’t quit riding but learns from this experience.

Ok first of all, Adam; Micah didnt slide a hundered and fifty yards man, Do you realize thats 450 feet. Micah Did WALK AWAY. He stood up out of the ditch took his helmet off and walked away....
Yes I do fell he made a mistake in not wearing any more protective gear than he was but lets not flame him for that... and Adam not riding a Bike now is the exact reason Im not riding a bike right now. We both still live with our parents, and as long as we do there will be no motorcycles in our household. I would love to havea bike, as I have stated to many here before. I will wear some type of full body protection. I will be riding a cruiser style bike not a sport bike. I feel the type of bike that a person rides is of zero revalance but with that said I think it is stupid to ride without gear. I hve pictures of the bike, I will post as soon as the film gets back..

Brad

People like that need to be flamed a little. I try to do it in a resentful manner. I had a friend that rode in shorts and a t-shirt and the same happened to him. Road rash and he was in a back brace for about 6 months. I flamed him before the wreak and even more after. It was a new CBR f4i with no insurance. He did close to $4000 damage. If he ever gets the money to fix it I bet he will always wear gear. There are 2 types of riders, those who have been down and those who haven't been down yet. I had a friend wreak doing 140mph on the track with full gear on and it didn't mess him up that bad. Although it sucks for your friend, it is good to post these stories. It makes new riders think about more than "it is to hot" I can assure you hot is one thing but it will never compare to the burn of them scrubbing out the 2in deep road rash. I hope new riders and people thinking about riding read this and decide to learn the right way and wear gear. You may look “cool” to your friends riding around in shorts and a t-shirt but the rest of the motorcycle community (excluding squids) will look at you shake their heads and think “what a squid, darwinism in action. There go my insurance rates”

I agree completely kiku...I will flame those idiots/posers until the cows come home. I feel absolutely no pity whatsoever. So few things do we have control over when enjoying a dangerous sport, and I don't understand why some people continue to avoid the little protection they CAN have against the hard earth. Maybe when they are sitting in the hospital having their raw wounds PICKED and PROBED for the asphalt chunks that must be pulled out, they'll pick up a Joe Rocket, etc catalog and give it a flip...

Some pictures of nasty rash. Not for the faint of heart
 

http://www.blackrainbow.com/scrape/

This is what happens when you don't wear gear. What seems worse, being hot or taking your 1st shower with this nasty rash? Shame is I hear this rider gave up riding because of injuries that could have been avoided by wearing gear. I think he was only about a mile away from his house and a car pulled out in front of him I guess you can figure out what happened after that. It is kind of gross but hopefully it will scare newbie riders into wearing gear.

I hope your friend does ok.

Thats why my wife "forbids" me to own a street bike. I have a dirtbike, and a supercharged Mustang, but no street bike.

She is a Physical THerapist, and has patients come in all the time. One was "de-gloved", a term meant that all the meat was pulled off the leg, only hangin there by the bone. Dozens of operations, and therapy for a year, (and kissing the doctors feet for not cuttin the leg off), and he can still drive his Kit Cobra (the only motivation to keep the dead leg).


My brother lost his best friend, when he was sitting still at a red light, both feet on the ground. Somebody didnt notice, pushed him inot cross traffic and squished by a van.

Bikes
 

4 Cyl:

Sad story and reminds me (for the thousandth time) why I never got into bikes. Mainly, I had some wicked car accidents early on in my checkered driving career and survived intact but I saw motorcycle riders who had minor accidents and died or were maimed for life for what would be a fender-bender on a car. Also, living in the northeast, the riding season is quite short. Just not worth the expense and risk, to me. I do see the lure of a bike, having ridden on a few and knowing others who have rode for years as a hobby. To each his own.

The protective gear is a cramp but necessary, as we all know. I had a biker friend who slid a long way down the road when a car pulled out in front of him from a driveway. He had to full-brake to avoid slamming into the car and instead, he went flying over the car. He was wearing a good helmet and full leathers and walked away without a scratch - but never rode again. He considered himself lucky and wasn't going to push it. I didn't blame him.

Bikes are great and many ride for years and years with no problems but the risk is always there and we make our choices. Your friend was foolish but at least he's alive and will recover completley with all limbs and functions intact.

I wish him well.

Ouch! Roadrash looks painful! I wonder what happened to make him go down???
I wish him a speedy recovery.

Luckily after 3 1/2 years I've never laid my bike down and never even scratched it! Of course I've come close, with all the idiots living here in FL, but I've managed to keep it up!! (hehe) I'm not too much of a stunt person, I do them on occasion, but rarely. I'm more of a speeder, but I speed in everything. And I do believe there is a time and a place for all that stuff!

I knew I was gonna get it for this post :( but as for the actual wreck he said when he toped the hill the front end got light and when it did he must have moved it a little or something and when the weight came back down is when it went bad it did the back and forth thing im not sure what its called but it looks like a fish swimming..and thets when the switch on the poo covered fan was turned on and BRAD WHERE YOU THERE??? NO DID YOU SEE WHERE HE OR THE BIKE WAS NO!!!! SO WHATS THAT MEAN YOU DONT KNOW!!!:)

and thanks for the...um...concern/flaming I guess..I am going to go see him today I will let ya know how hes doing

It is called a tank slapper and I have never heard of them happening when you are driving normally or under normal conditions. I did it once pretty bad on some back roads at WOT even with a stock steering damper. I hit a patch of asphalt that had some small bumps in it after that the bars started shaking uncontrollably. If it wasn't for my bike coming with a stock steering damper I would have probably been thrown off. Luckily I rode it out. Why I was cleaning out my boxers I thought "so that is a tank slapper" The best way to prevent this is to throw down the cash on a good steering damper. I would not ride a bike without one. The best thing to do is to lighten up your grip on the bars and roll on the throttle to lighten up the front to stop it from oscillating (praying also helps). Unfortunately the natural reaction is to tighten your grip on the bars and hit the brakes, Bad move. Someone once said: "If your front wheel doesn't touch the ground, it can't shake" Wise, Wise man!!! Here is a tank slapper

Aslong as he lives to learn his mistake and to play it safe next time then everything will be ok. Glad to here he is ok....

§am.

There seems to be a lot of people saying that they wouldn't ever ride a bike because of accidents like this. Have any of you ever been in a car wreck? I have and I still drive. I have also dumped my bike over and I still ride. And just because someone has a dirt bike doesn't mean that you can't get seriously hurt on that either. I hope your friend gets better, maybe next time he will wear at the very least bluejeans.