My first(hopefully only) accident

[MetricRider]

I went into a corner too fast, following a more experienced friend, panicked and braked instead of trying to push through it. probably would have made it if I had, but maybe not. I'll take a low speed crash over a high speed one any day tho. I locked the rear wheel (I think) and bike went down on the left side as I left the road and I was thrown forward over the bars, my left foot trapped between the bars and the tank, pushing my left knee into the road. Twisted and landed with my right elbow/shoulder on the ground, left foot still trapped. Only real damage to me was road rash on my knee/leg and the twisting of that knee. It's swollen up like a watermelon right now. Went to the Doc's yesterday afternoon to make sure that was nothing serious.

As far as the bike, I rode it home, but the left side is banged up, headlight housing scratched and dented, left side handlebar bent up a couple of inches. plastic piece on the side scratched and broken. Left saddlebag got some road rash as well. Getting gas into the carbs, so it's not idling right and is leaking gas through the radiator drain hose. Think it might have also gotten some oil back into the fuel system as well, as there was some black smoke at one point.

Oh, and I need to buy a new jacket, or repair mine with some duct tape. It's a Firstgear Mesh and did a rather nice job of keeping my shoulder/elbow off the pavement and sand/gravel where I slid. Although I have a leather on order and it might well be in by the time my bike is ready for riding again, so I might just wait for that.

Strangest thing for me was, as I realized I had no way to prevent going off the road, all I thought was, this is gonna suck.

[OoJRod06oO]

Glad to hear your okay except for your knee and that the bike isn't all that bad.

Good to see that your getting right back on and good luck with your bike.

[bok]

glad to hear you are okay, had one of these happen this spring my bro ended up in the ditch with a severely broken arm.

a lot of accidents on corners seem to be with the trailing rider, as it becomes easy to just "follow the leader" and you kind of lose a bit of your mental edge.

[Z (fka Sweet Tooth)]

OUCH! Sorry to hear about that... I'd just get a new jacket...duck tape is not going to hold up if you fall again. If you need some advice on fixing the bike i'd head over to www.vroc.org lots of good advice on Vulcans.

[sharpmagna]

Sucks that you crashed, but at least you weren't seriously hurt. Bike can sounds like it can be fixed up without spending a boku amount of money.

If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been riding before this happend, how many miles too?

I had the same thing almost happen to me. I was following a buddy who has been riding longer than I. When he took the turn I took it too and it felt like I was going to cross the yellow line. Well instead of braking, I leaned even further and I was able to clear the turn. After that moment, I started getting more comfortable leaning the bike and I can pretty much touch the footpegs on u-turns at will. If you haven't dragged your footpegs while riding, you haven't gotten to the limitations of your bike yet. I figure you have a bit more room after your footpegs touchdown before your bike lowsides.

[Kal]

I lowsided the CeeGee when she lost traction, just spun away from me. The road wasn't warm enough to grip. I listen to what my instincts are saying more now.



Sounds like you stood her up when you crashed there. The good news is that you survived it and although scarred your bike is pretty much i one peice too.

The bad news is that your jacket is a write-off, probably your helmet too and you need new handlebars - they never bendback into shape right. Time to get new ones I'm afraid.

I'm glad it wasn't a lot worse for you.

[ElektraSpitfire]

sorry to hear that. hope you are healing up well. and glad to hear it wasn't too bad!

[VermilionX]

get well soon to you and your bike.

[MetricRider]

The helmet's not even scratched, which I'm just as happy about, since I don't have another $600 to buy a new one (an XXXL Arai Signet was the only one I could find that fit me)

I've been riding about a month now, about 6-700 miles.

I actually assumed the guy I was following would be a bit more conservative, since he took a tumble over his bars about 2 years ago and had a spiral fracture of his leg. I probably should have also remembered that this is the guy who likes to wind his R6 out at the track pretty regularly still.

Oh well. In any case, I'm still here to learn from my mistakes at least.

[jmillheiser]

you were trying to keep up with an R6 on a cruiser?