In hindsight, how could you have avoided your first crash?

[volpino]

3rd week owning my very first street bike, Suzuki Katana 750 (I am not going to count the numerous drops in the mud on a dirtbike as wrecks)

I was riding to the beach, following 2 friends who both rode GP. I kept up until we hit the first real corner, I went in what felt too hot and panicked over the speed (a modest 45mph) and grabbed the brakes. Luckily I went wide to the ditch side, and slid along the wall, not over the cliff down to the water. In retrospect, I now laugh about that wreck, as the corner was easily doable at 60mph, even without super hard leaning or exceptional skill, it was a simple case of speed fixation and panic.

[jmillheiser]

Only getoff for my so far was during the MSF course. Grabbed too much brake during my first emergency stop and had a 10mph lowside. I was unscathed and the bike only suffered a broken clutch lever (which was fixed in 5 minutes)

[KarateChick]

During my m-c course, I was given 3 different bikes in the first couple of hours due to my height and the instructors hoping I could flat foot something. I ended up with a Yammie TT dirt bike with a very touchy throttle. During a long stretch when you need to shift from 1st to 2nd and down again, there was a turnaround to get back into line to keep going. Yep, that chain link fence and I never broke eye-contact all the way through that turnaround until we met face-to-face. I'll never forget how amazed I was hitting that fence and thinking "(a few expletives first) then, Wow, this thing's just like a net the way it grabs and it's so springy!" just before it tossed us back and the bike & I rolled over to the side. Thankfully there was no damage to me except my pride and very little to the bike. I can still see poor Warren (instructor) extracting the bike from the fence's clutches which took him about a good 10-15 minutes as I had tangled it so well.

Oh yeah - definitely my own stupidity. DON'T fixate on something!

[Flting Duck]

Try this one on for size: Drank until 4am with best friend at his bachelor party. Woke up at 10am with an IMMENSE hangover - probably still a little drunk too. Left at 11am for two hour ride home. FELL ASLEEP while riding about halfway home, woke up doing 60 as I drifted off onto the shoulder, tried to slowly bring bike back onto the highway but struck a large rock which took me out.

Was VERY lucky and only broke my knee a little - no other damage to me but bike was totalled.

Guess which box I checked in the poll.

[jrdudas]

This is not my first crash, but it is one that I remember well. It was many years ago when I was 15 or 16 years old. I had a Vespa motorscooter that I put a lot of miles on (lived in Florida at the time). The bolts that attach the kick starter to the engine had broken off and I was pushing the scooter while running along side to start it. Usually I did this in 1st gear; once you get some speed up you release the clutch and the engine starts up. When it starts you pull in the clutch handle and run it down until it either stops or is rolling slow enough to jump on. I had done this many times without a problem. This time however, I had it in 2nd gear by mistake. When the engine fired the scooter took off; the faster it went the more my hand pulled back on the throttle making it go even faster. It didn't take long for me to realize that it would soon be going faster than I could run, so in a moment of panic I pulled the front brake handle instead of the clutch. The scooter took a nose-dive and I went over the handlebars. Left part of my shin on the front shield bodywork of the scooter and landed in the street a few feet in front of where the scooter dropped. One of our neighbor ladies had seen the whole thing and came running out to check on me. Luckily, except for my shin, which still bares the scar, I was more suprised and embarrassed than hurt. I attribute this accident to my poor judgement, and the good luck of little injury to my young age.

On the plus side, I won't be running along side any other two-wheelers that I own. And hopefully I will always remember the authority with which the front brake engages.

JR

[Nibblet99]

Took (what I perceive as) a sensible route on learning (1 year on 125cc bikes before my big bike test) Still not crashed

[Mad Mac]

A single pebble trapped under my front tire low sided me on a right hand corner. Melted asphalt sealant at a stop sign in August caused my front tire to lock up then pitch me off in a high side. The blower equipped pickup I was racing at the drag strip was so loud I could not hear my own engine and made me do a donut on the launch.

No excuse. Every one of those was operator error. With rare exception, it always is. You have to stay in your performance envelope. To paraphrase Clint Eastwood, "A girl has to know her limits."

[basshole]

why focus on crashing??? I mean if you think you're gonna crash, well then, you're gonna crash! Regardless of what you do because you've already convinced yourself that you need to crash. Take the negative though out of the equation and follow what you learned in your MSF course and wear good protection and stay focused on the ride. Focus on a safe ride and be prepared for anything bad that comes along.

[Skel3tor1]

Seven years ago I had my only crash and totalled my bike. In our neighborhood which is considered country area we have this rather long hill w/ a pretty decent curve to it. Well, in my stupidity I entered the turn too fast even though my attack on the curve was fine. I dragged pegs, hit the gravel on the side of the road, and the rest is history. I slid right off the road, into a ditch, up over the handlebars, and rolled...rolled....rolled.

Luckily, I've yet to break or sprain anything in my life and I was in my leather jacket & gloves. I walked away from that one. That's the only time I've been tossed off my bike. I learned my lesson about gravel and about entering turns at excessive speeds.

[Lion_Lady]

All of the "options" could have been avoided if the rider was paying attention. There are always clues to what is ahead. If you can't see ahead, then SLOW DOWN to increase your options. One of the reasons that SEEing is stressed in the MSF BRC.

See what's ahead.
Evaluate the potential danger posed.
Execute needed avoidance move.

P