Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:52 pm
Many times. My cousin bought a CL175, decided it sucked offroad after 17 miles (it turns something like 14,000 rpm), bought a SL100, decided it wasn't enough power to haul his fat but over Carolina mountains within 3 miles, then bought a 360 Yamaha, the biggest and baddest japanese dirtbike around at the time. I paid $300 for the SL100, and read the owner manual cover to cover. I then spent a week practicing around 700 acres in the mountains.
I learned about wet leaves, mud, steep hills (first gear, rev it up, slip the clutch, get off and push, all at the same time), mountain girls, copperheads, and black bears. It was a memorable week. No drops.
Got the bike home, off the trailer, fired it up, and dumped it on the gravel drive. Broke the clutch lever and scuffed the hand grip. Exactly 500 miles on the bike.
Broke three ribs riding over a spoils bank--soil gave away due to a cotote den. Bent the forks.
Roadrashed a knee when a pig ran out in front of me on a gravel road. No damage.
Had a front tire blow at Daytona on the big stretch at 160mph. Bike went one way, I went the other. Zipper burns from the heat of sliding on my chest. Wiped out the front fender and scratched the paint on the fairing and tail.
Only wreck over 600,000 miles of street was getting hit from behind. Totalled the bike, so I put the engine in a Redline flattrack frame. I was going 70mph or so, ended up on the hood of the car, and he slammed on the brakes, pitching me off the front and running me and Shasta over. Shoved my kneecap halfway to my hip. Shattered the fibula and tibia, fractured the femur.
The doctors wanted to remove my leg just above the knee, but I nixed that. They put me back together as best they could, but told me I'd never walk well again. I didn't listen. eventually, I was running 18 minute 5Ks or pedaling 35s every day. Last year I climbed Mount Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado. I called the docs from the peak and rubbed it in.
I learned about wet leaves, mud, steep hills (first gear, rev it up, slip the clutch, get off and push, all at the same time), mountain girls, copperheads, and black bears. It was a memorable week. No drops.
Got the bike home, off the trailer, fired it up, and dumped it on the gravel drive. Broke the clutch lever and scuffed the hand grip. Exactly 500 miles on the bike.
Broke three ribs riding over a spoils bank--soil gave away due to a cotote den. Bent the forks.
Roadrashed a knee when a pig ran out in front of me on a gravel road. No damage.
Had a front tire blow at Daytona on the big stretch at 160mph. Bike went one way, I went the other. Zipper burns from the heat of sliding on my chest. Wiped out the front fender and scratched the paint on the fairing and tail.
Only wreck over 600,000 miles of street was getting hit from behind. Totalled the bike, so I put the engine in a Redline flattrack frame. I was going 70mph or so, ended up on the hood of the car, and he slammed on the brakes, pitching me off the front and running me and Shasta over. Shoved my kneecap halfway to my hip. Shattered the fibula and tibia, fractured the femur.
The doctors wanted to remove my leg just above the knee, but I nixed that. They put me back together as best they could, but told me I'd never walk well again. I didn't listen. eventually, I was running 18 minute 5Ks or pedaling 35s every day. Last year I climbed Mount Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado. I called the docs from the peak and rubbed it in.
Just try not to kill yourself on a dirtbike (you sound safer on the street).