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Have you CRASHED.....yet?

Bell doesn not protect against...
1. Tar and gravel
I hope it protects against pot holes. This spring it's going to be like riding on the moon. Hope you ended up o.k. Maybe you were hanging the bell in the wroing spot? :) Got to be a reasoin, right! At least I'd like to think so. I haven't received my bell yet. I guess I should say, I don't even know if my wife bought me one.
 
yep. i've been there. took a turn too fast on my old dyna. went off the pavement and actually made it through the turn and at the transition from dirt/gravel to getting back on the road that i went down. really banged up my shoulder good, it wasn't right for about 4 months and a decent amount of road rash. oh yeah, and all the embarressment you can handle. not fun, i don't recommend it.
 
Crashed and totalled a 82 650 Honda night hawk back in 86,some old dude turned left in front of me, I hit him square in the middle of the rear wheel! The bike and passenger stopped where we hit (pass. ok). I on the other hand ,went over the handle bars upside down over the trunk and landed on my back in the middle of the intersection ,unbelieveably uninjured. My pants were split in the crotch were I aparrently snapped off the mirror on my way over the handle bars,an inch lower and I'd be a soprano!!!!!
 
Right...bass or baritone good...soprano or tenor bad...CHECK!!! We get music appreciation at HDT too :laugh
 
I crashed quite a few times before I was 20 (this seems to be a common theme). Never serious but once quite fast. Since then I've crashed once (nearly 20 years ago) - had to ride in the gutter down a steep hill to get past a big truck stradding both lanes coming the other way - lots of gravel and wet leaves in the gutter, snatchy brakes (Ducati), ham-fisted braking (me), low-speed tumble... I think I'd just stop in the same situation now and let the other guy figure out what to do.
 
My first bike was an 82 Honda CB900SS. I inherited it from a close friend who died (not on the bike). So I picked it up from his wife and had no idea how to ride this thing. Never been on a bike before but I figured "how hard can it be?". So anyway, managed to get the bike home without killing myself and practiced riding around the neighborhood (Southside of Chicago). After about a week and maybe 50 whole miles I was ready to go get my license. Anybody who ever grew up in the city or Chicago for that matter will remember how the neighborhoods were set up. Block, alleyway, block, alleyway with cars parked in front of every available inch of curb space. So basically it is a mine field of cars just waiting to pull away from the curb right in front of you. Which is exactly what happened. I was cruising down the street with my shades on (helmet strapped to the seat) t-shirt and shorts (there's that 20 year old thing again) when a car started to pull out about 20 yards ahead of me. First reflex was to flash my highbeam and beep the horn which had no effect as they were in their own little world. So I jumped on the rear brake and started to slide to the left. The look on this guys face was priceless as he finally looked up seconds before my bike slapped his car (I kicked my right leg straight back over the rear tire) and I put my hand on his window sill to steady my now not running bike and said "where did you learn how to drive?" Amazingly I only suffered a cracked side panel but I learned early on that people in cars find it amazing that there are still bikes on the roads, because they never see them.
 
:42: I struck and killed a dog (medium size) yesterday while riding at about 55-60mph (mid-day), and was #3 in a string of 3 other scooters. It trotted from my left right out in front of me and I'm a faithful "dog lover" so, I really had a lot of things to think about before doing something about it. We had just lost both of our 14-yr old German Shorthair pointers to old age, less than a year ago, and had actually bought new EGC and SG to "replace" the fun times we had spent with them. There was no immediate on-coming traffic, there was a loose gravel shoulder with about a 4 ft. deep rough shoulder. What to do, Oh what to do. Thinking about all this, plus my XM radio was tuned to the hits of the 40's, and I was rockin' ... so, I just gripped firmly, and I think I accelerated ever-so-slightly, and steered firmly straight ahead knowing that I had to keep control. My EGC is now in the repair shop for "no front brake" as the pooch must have effected it somehow. No fluid leaking, so ... Crashed? Yup (regretfully). Did I put'er down? Nope. Thank you Jesus, Amen. And I hope you guys don't have to either. :small3d011: :42:
 
In my early riding days (80's) I was just young and stupid.

Had my first bike (Yamaha RD350) in about 1984 and took a sweeping corner too fast and with not enough experience. Went into the curb at about 40 mph and went over the bars. Bike was ok. Some damage. My ego was bruised.

Then I got my second bike (Kaw KZ650) in 1986 and got roped into a race against a Honda Highthawk. Beat the Honda but my near-bald rear tire gave out in some gravel and I did a bunch of somersaults in a freshly plowed field at around 110 mph. Bike was pretty toasted after that but I walked away. (full leathers, boots, helmet).

I considered myself lucky after that and gave up riding until I was mature enough to handle it. Bought my next bike in 92 and haven't wiped out that one or the 3 bikes I've bought since then.

No more 4 cylinders for me. I've a Vtwin guy and like it that way. Life is alot better when you're enjoying the ride from behind the bars and not over them. Probably why I don't speed that much on 2 wheels anymore either.
 
I took up riding about 4 years ago when I was 55-years-old. I had my first and only accident so far about 8 months later. I was executing a slow speed turn and preparing to stop my Goldwing when I made the mistake of putting my left leg down to steady the bike. The bike was still moving and the heel peg on the heel-toe shifter hit me in the back of the leg. Since my foot was planted on the ground, the moving heel peg broke my left leg. The bike then fell to the left and I landed on my left side. This caused two broken ribs.

Needless to say, I learned to never ever put either of my feet down to steady my bike while it is still moving. I apply that lesson whenever I ride my 05 Wing or my 09 Road Glide.
 
I have not wrecked the Harley yet, but I have crashed everything else I have owned. The closest thing to a bike wreck was my moped. One of our main roads here was concrete at one time. I remember riding on the shoulder and I went to go out into the road from a uneven shoulder and down I went on the lip sliding into the road. It was pretty bad, but I got back on and kept going. I am still a little leery of roads where you can see the seams and it is a little uneven and the bike jerks or slides a little going over it. I always have that feeling like the bike is going to slide out from under me when I cross em, especially on the highway changing lanes going 75!!
 
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