[ITS_NOT_A_KNIFE]

this is part my fault and part the city of milwaukee, not to minimize it or anything.....

....so im come off the freeway last season (around 40ish) with him
leading,but were not staggered, my front rim is sided with his rear, me being on the right of him, so anyways, theres construction barrels out on the left portion of the off ramp, so we gave are selfs some room from them....come to find out the road was hammered out on the right side, rebar was exposed and had a 6-8" drop in the road. now my first mistake was, i had no way out, couldnt turn left from it cause i would have taken out the both of us, option two was to power through the drop to lighten up the front end, or three, bail off the bike. i chose to not abandon ship, and power through it enough to keep the bike so it would be some what level when i dropped in it.

.....bad idea, i was instintly tossed (high sided)....i actually flew right over my buddies rear fender (h-d). ended up tearing my left rotator cup (first part of my body to touch down) punctured a hole in my left forearm the size of a quarter, and rashed all up with small pieces of gravel embedded in my arm, back and hip. i had no gear on!!!!

lessons learned:
1. always ride staggered
2. gear up
3. never try and take your city to court, you'll get a run around.

will post pics of bike, and injurys soon

[Robgsxf750]

I almost dumped it today by going too hot into a corner in the wrong gear and then grabbing too much brake...

It's pretty easy hey. Years of riding experience and I still grab brake when I hit a corner too hot. Stupid mistakes.

[Dee Dub]

Dennis, don't tug on Superman's cape either. Sheesh, are you trying to get the guy in trouble by intentionally leaving that out? California guys...I just don't comprehend it.

Sorry dude....it was the thought of messin' around with Slim that screwed me up...

[2006Red750NJ]

For my first accident, I was racing (traveling at a high rate of speed), in wet weather, I was unable to stop and was sliding through the intersection when I was struck by an automobile.

Factors :
1. High rate of speed
2. Riding Conditions - Inclement weather
3. Stupidity

For my second accident, I was slowing on a downhill and hit a patch of black ice and went down.

Factors:
1. Riding Conditions - Inclement Weather
2. Stupidity

I always wear good gear when I ride on the street (not this time). My third and dumbest accident, I was drinking at a picnic and got on a PW 80 while wearing shorts. Like an idiot, I took it down the road at max speed just after midnight. I hit a manhole that was sticking up and blew out the rear tire in a curve and went down. I was fortunate in that I was able to lay on top of the bike as it slid down the road. I took the skin off my hands, arms, legs etc. and dislocated my big toe (did I forget to mention that I was wearing crocs).
Factors :
1. High rate of speed – atleast for that thing.
2. Dark road (no street lights) – no headlight
3. Stupidity
4. Alcohol
5. Improper gear
6. Stupidity

Seems to me that stupidity is my number one cause for accidents followed by riding conditions and speed.

[gobigorange189]

For my first accident, I was racing (traveling at a high rate of speed), in wet weather, I was unable to stop and was sliding through the intersection when I was struck by an automobile.

Factors :
1. High rate of speed
2. Riding Conditions - Inclement weather
3. Stupidity

For my second accident, I was slowing on a downhill and hit a patch of black ice and went down.

Factors:
1. Riding Conditions - Inclement Weather
2. Stupidity

I always wear good gear when I ride on the street (not this time). My third and dumbest accident, I was drinking at a picnic and got on a PW 80 while wearing shorts. Like an idiot, I took it down the road at max speed just after midnight. I hit a manhole that was sticking up and blew out the rear tire in a curve and went down. I was fortunate in that I was able to lay on top of the bike as it slid down the road. I took the skin off my hands, arms, legs etc. and dislocated my big toe (did I forget to mention that I was wearing crocs).
Factors :
1. High rate of speed – atleast for that thing.
2. Dark road (no street lights) – no headlight
3. Stupidity
4. Alcohol
5. Improper gear
6. Stupidity

Seems to me that stupidity is my number one cause for accidents followed by riding conditions and speed.

why exactly were you riding without a headlight?

[Dan Dubeau]

If you've come into a corner too hot, and don't think you'll make it. Push harder on the INSIDE bar, and LEAN MORE (but be smooth). Modern sport tires have excellent grip, at and BEYOND normal available lean angle. Just have faith. Don't give up, try to stand the bike up, and ride straight off into the weeds. If you go down, at least you 'll go down trying

Oh, and try to remember this BEFORE you go out riding. Doing 90 in a 35 pitched over in a left is NOT the place to try and remember what that guy on the internet said to do in this situation.

[plyhockey3]

1) don't spit into the wind
2) don't pull the mask of the Lone Ranger
3) and for the love of God....don't mess around with Slim!

don't tug on superman's cape!!!!!!!

[zuma]

Sorry dude....it was the thought of messin' around with Slim that screwed me up...

Hey,,, that's perfectly understandable. I just wonder what Slim did with Jim's two piece custom cue stick.

[erok011]

Hey,,, that's perfectly understandable. I just wonder what Slim did with Jim's two piece custom cue stick.

Probably had to do with Bad Bad Leeroy Brown

[pirate06]

Okay then, here's mine. Just left church on a Sunday mornin (ironic, but I'm still here so i reckon it helped) I was ridin a road that I'd been down a thousand times, sort of I guess what I would call a sweeping type road. No twisties, just big sweeping corners, and I was ridin it at a pretty swift clip. I hit a set of big sweeping esses, right then left, with the last being a decreasing radius I hit the first one fine and got on the brakes to set up for the second... with the exception that I thought it was a different set of curves. By the time I realized I was going too fast, I was about to the point where I should have been leaned over and waitin to get back on the throttle. Like a moron, I started workin the brakes and lookin to the outside to see what was on the side of the road that I needed to avoid. I kept the bike up until I got into the grass. I then went down with the bike doing a complete flip somewhere in the process throwing me off and sending be back first into a tree about 6-8 inches in diameter, a battle which I definitely lost. The next thing I know, I'm looking at the chain on the bike thinking "step one: BREATHE, step 2: turn this damn ipod off so I can think, step 3: get this damn back tire off my head!" I had got my gloves and was trying to get out of my helmet and out from under the bike when, and here's where the church thing comes in, I hear a voice sayin "man, are you okay?" and the back tire comes off my helmet and I fly out from under the bike flat on my back. It was a friend of my uncle, now a good friend of mine, who lives about 50 yards from where I went down and just happened to be out in the yard when I went down and heard it happen. Outcome: I ended up with a broken collarbone, rib or 2, and a separated AC joint. Not to mention a busted bike. As for the Kat, it spent about 4 months in his garage where we replaced every fairing, welded the mainstay mounts back, and fixed some other odds and ends that I screwed up. She wasnt hurt at all structually or mechanically, thank God, and the tank wasnt hurt at all.

Moral of the story:
1) Dont be a dumba** and ride out of your league
2) Make damn sure you know the road, dont just think you do
And since everyone else is listin contributing factors, here are mine
1)Excessive speed
2)Lack of knowledge of the road
3)Inexperience
4)Stupidity
5)Stupidity
6)FRIGGIN STUPIDITY

[embracethehorror]

A couple of months ago we were on our normal Sunday ride. (weekly nky) Following our normal route on a beautiful day. Some guys showed up that I had not ridden with before on gixxers. Seemed harmless enough. We leave, they leave most of us. Me, in my stupidity, am keeping up with the SS bikes. All of a sudden, in a slightly uphill hard *** left,the dude in front of me runs off the road into a field. Well my dumba**, I am horrified. I had never seen anyone run off the road and or wreck before so I turned to look. We were running probably 60 or 70 at the time. You can guess what happened from here. Turning to look I followed him right off the road about 15 feet from where he went off. We were lucky. We were both able to stay up and there was nothing but open field where we went off the road.

Lesson learned: No matter what happens in front of you always look where you are going.

[legacycycles]

I have defintly been lucky,I have not gone down on the street yet,but i have had sevreal offroad incidents.I have been street riding now for about 15yrs,But before that i grew up on dirtbikes.Now i have had more close calls than i care to think about,and have managed to make it through all of them,mostly out of luck,and with a little skill.I to have been a mirrorless victim .My cousins and i were racing one day,me on my ds80 them on gocarts.We had a little track that was partially on the dirt road we lived on.Well i was way out in front of them and took the curve in the road and then i looked back to see how far ahead i was and WHAM.My right grip hit the fence post that runs along the road.Not a wooden post either.The tshaped steel green ones.Well needless to i say went for a ride,but didnt get hurt.But with that being said here are some leasons ive learned from many many miles.
1.Allways and i mean Allways pay attention.
2.Look everywhere constantly.360 degrees.
3.Try to ride with pepole you know,and communicate with them.
(I often ride alone,or with my wife)
4.Stick to basics.(You dont wheelie in youre car in the middle of town.)
5.Get rid of youre ego.(If youre dead respect dont mean s!@#.)
6.Youre not a pro.(If you were youd be paid to ride.)
Ill quit now before this gets way to long.Just remember youre invisable on the road and asphalt is for tires,not flesh.

[zuma]

Probably had to do with Bad Bad Leeroy Brown

No doubt it did...after all, he was meaner than a junkyard dog according to what I heard about him.

[erok011]

and meaner than old king kong ...

[prokart53]

I've only had 3 accidents and all of them at less than 1mph. I'm also short but big enough to admit it.

The first was in my garage I stopped the bike and placed my foot on a piece of paper. It's amazing how fast that will make you go down.

The second was on the interstate in heavy rush hour traffic. I had to stop due to everyone else stopping but I was on a banked left hand curve. I went to put my left foot down when I noticed that the pavement was 2 inches lower on the left side of my bike than it was on the right. I didn't go all the way down but I had to do that silly one footed hop thing to get the bike back up. I'm sure the cars behind and beside me had a good laugh.

The third was in the parking lot at work. I pulled in to the parking spot making a right hand turn. The lot had a minor incline with the left side being lower than the right. Learning from my previous mistake I placed my right foot down. Problem was I had my bars turned to the right and when I hit the brake to make the final stop the bike lunged to the left kinda like a slow motion highside. I let off the front brake and shifted my weight to the right to counter it and the bike dropped to the right. I manged to guide it down so no damage at all not even a scratch. I popped up hit the kill switch, and looked around to see if I was gonna have to make the walk of shame into the office or not. Luckily the only person to see me was the guy cutting the grass. I waved and he shook his head.

Moral of the story... When stopping make sure you put your feet down and know where you are putting them.