Story of my first crash

[Timaa]

Heading down a back road in palmerston north last night bout 4am when i realise im going too fast, check my speed and look up to find i need to emergencey brake no worries so far.
Weather conditions had the road wet and slippery and my bike was in need of a new front tyre so traction wasnt great.
locked front tyre and started to lose it. re-applied brakes and lost front again by this time running out of space to brake and too fast to take the corner i begin to turn and end up laying the bike down and low siding.
It all happened very fast, bike slid a good 20-30 metres from when i lay it down and police believe it would be a write off at the moment. I havn't had a chance to inspect it yet. lots of small bits strewn everywhere across the road and bike leakn petrol in the middle of the road. i was wearing the "Qmoto viper jacket and sps gloves", steel cap sneaker boots and standard jeans. main damage is gouged knee and grazed tibia, i was walking immediatly after the crash and even tried to pick up my bike (failing miserably). Helmet had 3 heavy abrasion marks from three impacts as i was rolling along the road to start with i believe. jeans ripped to shred and skin gone with it. gloves and jacket performed very well and only small damaged area on right shoulder. sps sliders also worked very well and only damage is a sprained thumb and cant move it much.
so 5 hours in A&E and not much pain killers later and im home to bed at 930am after a mcdonalds breakfast.

lessons learnt: ATGATT, keep your bike in top maintainence including tyres and ride to the conditions.

Flaming and rude remarks will be replied to with RED rep. just posting the story for others to read.


So am now looking for a good priced SHARK RSR2 helmet in large size, will be getting new gloves from Quasi as these ones probably shouldnt be used again for crashing at least.

Big ups to Qmoto and the quality gear they provided +1 no questions asked.:Punk:

Questions comments and the like, im going back to bed now! lol
Timaa

[EJK]

Have a good rest! Sounds like the jeans were like toilet papers when put into action.

Yea, take a good rest for now dude.

[Cheshire Cat]

Glad to hear you're ok!!
I came off a week or so ago...not as bad as you though!
Take care!!:niceone::hug:
I like exclamation marks hahaha!!!

[Indiana_Jones]

Well you walked away from it mate, so that's the one up.

The second bonus is that you knew what went wrong and will try to prevent it from happening again. :)

-Indy

[PirateJafa]

Sounds like you need to "chillax" more, mate.

Remember - it's the chillaxed riders who survive. :niceone:

[howdamnhard]

Glad your okay.Hit up ol Quasi for some leather pants. Also factor in fatigue/alertness as most of us aren't to bright at 4:00am .

[Forest]

Riding in jeans at 4am in Palmerston North in winter?

You might have been mildly hypothermic. That could interfere with your co-ordination and reaction times.

[MaxB]

Glad you are O.K. If can still walk after an accident-thats a good thing.

Did the cops charge you with anything? A few threads about that recently.


I see you are a fan:
Peter- Hey Brian! I turned the stairs into a waterslide!
Brian (after Peter falls down and starts screaming): I'm not going to call an ambulance this time because if I do you won't learn anything.

[YellowDog]

I take it that it was a right hand bend. More chance of going down on those, but also more chance of surviving.

That's not a nice feeling when you realise you don't have enough braking available to you for the speed and conditions.

You must have done somethings quite well as there was no Pizza all over the road (just petrol).

I know you don't want criticism but:

1. You cannot expect to get away with a poor tire tread in the wet.
2. Jeans are not adequate protection and it sounds like you were very fortunate and potentially quite skillful.
3. Steel toe sneakers - In the highly unlikely event of you coming off your bike, you need motorcycle boots to have a chance of saving your ankles, shins, and feet.

If you have learnt from this and your bravery in posting what a fortunate plonker you have been (an accident waiting to happen), then thank you very much for the great experience others on here can learn from.

Hope you heal quickly and will be back riding, in less vulnerable to death attire, asap.

It sounds like it will be quite uncomfortable for a couple of weeks.

Take it easy.

[dogsnbikes]

Glad you still here Tim and good too see lessons learn't and you will put them into practice when your mobile again

Get well not long till summmer now

[Mom]

You are going to be sore for a little while. Thank goodness the damage was not more. Sounds to me you learned a couple of valuable lessons and lived to tell us about it. Make sure you take them on board eh.

Hope insurance sorts your bike quickly.

[discotex]

Good to hear you're no hurt too bad Timaa. Could have been much worse for your legs eh? Guess you've already figured out the lessons to be learned here.

How about showing us some pics of the damage?



3. Steel toe sneakers - In the highly unlikely event of you coming off your bike, you need motorcycle boots to have a chance of saving your ankles, shins, and feet.

Last thing I'd want to be wearing is steel toes. If they sheer off they'd probably take your toes with them.

Get some cheap leather 10 ups at a bare minimum.

[Laxi]

farrk there was a time when KBers wanted to crucify you for locking up your back brake even the slightest bit, there are soooo many lessons to learn here, awsome that you're ok

[sinfull]

I'm old, i'm limping around the house today (usuall occurrance) and no i haven't crashed lately, been a good twenty years since my last crash, in jeans, where i gouged my knee and tore it up !
Nowdays i cant ride without good knee armour (warmth) or i cant walk for the next two days !
Shame to hear man, is a bit of it going on in the last few weeks !
Shout yaself some Quasi trou while ya wait for some more wheels, i can vouch for em too ! Won't go out without em !

[Quasievil]

Shit Bro sorry to hear that, not good, glad youre mostly okay dude.
If you want some pants I will help I have some stuff on clearance as well as some samples I can flick for F all.

take it easy out there bro

[mattian]

You looked up from checking your speedo and find that you needed to emergency brake........
I am a little bit unclear about why you had to emergency brake.... what for?

[CookMySock]

You looked up from checking your speedo and find that you needed to emergency brake........
I am a little bit unclear about why you had to emergency brake.... what for?Coz he discovered he was moving way too quick for the corner.. which he sort of clicked onto before he looked down at the speedo.. Looks to me like a sitational-awareness blockage. Belting along a bendy road gazing into space, brain in neutral.

This is often caused by tiredness, just-woken-up-syndrome, alcohol, dehydration, overloaded emotional state, etc, cap-fits-wear. Once the rider is on the bike it is often too late. The situational-awareness, and consequently the decision to ride prudently, must be made before the engine is even started or the rider is then too preoccupied with the bike to see the problem. Oops.

I had the same thing happen to me after a big dose of Dichlofenac. Bad.

Steve

[McDuck]

I wish my bins were this easy to figure out ;)

[TOTO]

you are liucky to still have your knee I'd say. get some kevlar reans with armour in them.

I have a pair and have "tested" this stuff (http://www.lifestyle-imports.co.nz/shop/index.php?cPath=40_62) that comes with armour in it. Can vouch for quality of product and knee protection. You can call the owner of the site straight away on his home - 09 233 41 86, and he will hook you up.

shame about your hornet tho. do you think it will show up on trademe ?

[Mschvs]

Yeah, I'd say you got pretty lucky not caning the hell out of your legs ... which reminds me, I really need some new gloves and some riding pants with armour ... wish I won the 30mil! Hehe

[Danae]

Sucks man, good to see you're fairly alright. Also good to see you know what you did wrong.

[gijoe1313]

Poor lil'ol'hornet ... :weep: But glad to hear you are relatively okay and in a reflective frame of mind! :sweatdrop

It's all clear with hindsight ... though learning what you did and didn't do and living to do something about it is invaluable experience.

Hope everything heals up well and you get sorted back onto two wheels sometime in the near future again!

[KelvinAng]

Lil' ol'hornets don't cost too much to repair its cosmetics... If the engine is still good sans cosmetic damages (which it should be), I think it's more likely the insurer will pay for the repairs instead - unless you had insured the bike way below its market value...

If it does get written off and you're after another lil' ol'hornet, I have one for sale (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=101380) :sweatdrop

[Timaa]

I wish my bins were this easy to figure out ;)

dont ride a katana 400. lol nah jokes. i guess i was analysing as soon as i stood up. heres me hoping its my one and only road crash. cant count track cause i know ill be fine crashing on a track, ( mindset and all that guys)

[Timaa]

i spose what i forgot to mention was that the oggy knobs on left side snapped off wen the bike hit the curb of a driveway at speed. dont know about the engine. talking to kiwibike soon bout the insurance. thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated and different points of opinion always help me out.
everyone have a good day!
I will be!:yes:

[KiwiKat]

Here's hoping you make a quick recovery. The Manawatu roads were absolutely shit last night so it was highly likely someone was going to bin. It's probably good reflection time ... again. Liquid pain killer time.:apint:

[slydesigns]

wow, nice to see you rolled away from that one Tim. Glad you didnt take me up on the offer a couple of days ago to come playing with me down the airport way now?

Guess you can see why I wear all that storm trooper armour I wear huh? Slider gloves, boots, freestyle armoured pants, Cti2 knee brace/armour, Armoured vest/backbrace combo, jacket with elbow and shoulder armour and helmet.

Wish Maria would learn the lesson before the road teaches her the hard and grating way!

On a side note, maybe you should get a Triumph D675 or ST675 now? I've been loving the roads lately - exciting!

[Timaa]

lol simon u know i always wear the gear on any proper ride, this was just round the block on my way home in a 50 kms zone, but ive learnt the easy way compared to some people. and if id come playing at the airport it would have been in full gear. coincidence has it that i had been researching my next helmet and decided upon the rsr2 or rsx from shark. gloves were fine but was in need of some comfy winter ones and the jacket is still usable if you ask me. one scrape on the should wont hurt it too much. perhaps get quasi to sewn a patch over it just in case.

note to all readers:
i already owned before the crash
Gaerne boots
qmoto pants with knee sliders
qmoto jacket
hjc helmet ($400 wen i bought it a few years ago)
qmoto sps gloves

and a healthy respect for the road. just came off second best in bad conditions.

Edit: A would love a 675 sly but cash circumstances have always prevented me from getting one unless u can help me hook one up for bout 8g *ish

[Meanie]

Pleased your ok Tim, and lucky to be able to walk away too by the sound of it. I very seldom go anywhere on my bike unless im in full gear, guess you just confirmed why
Speedy recovery mate

[MarkH]

I would like to suggest getting yourself a couple of pairs of Draggin' Jeans - use them for the quick little rides when you can't be arsed wearing the proper gear or when it is just too damned hot. They really aren't all that good and without proper armour you still get bruised - but compared to normal jeans they are streets ahead.

Glad to hear you get to live and learn though - not everyone that makes a mistake while riding gets to learn from it :no:

Take care and best of luck on your insurance dealings & bike repair/new bike.

[captain_andrey]

I would like to suggest getting yourself a couple of pairs of Draggin' Jeans - use them for the quick little rides when you can't be arsed wearing the proper gear or when it is just too damned hot. They really aren't all that good and without proper armour you still get bruised - but compared to normal jeans they are streets ahead.

Glad to hear you get to live and learn though - not everyone that makes a mistake while riding gets to learn from it :no:

Take care and best of luck on your insurance dealings & bike repair/new bike.

yeah draggins are more of a mental confidence then any protection. I had a similar accident to the OP a few months ago in kevlar jeans. You can see the result here:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=2025137
But I guess I dont learn cos I'm riding in jeans again (yes in this wellington weather)

[slydesigns]

You might just be in luck there tim.... the D675 probably wont be coming with me to OZ at the end of the year as I'm not too keen on how hot that model gets vs 35 plus degree days in Northern Queensland. That and once I deregister it here, box it and ship it over, then get it complied and registered in Oz, I may as well just buy another bike there. I may end up doing some big Kms for work each day as well, and if Maria's with me we will need a comfy 2up ride so that cuts out the SuperSports class bikes I think.

So it will be up for sale year end and I'd say cheaper than most NZ ones given how much it cost me to get it and bring it to NZ.

[Fumph]

Hope you recover fast Mate. Thanks for posting the details......it's always good to remind ourselves about geting all the basics right...I'm going to get some knee protection now!

[MarkH]

yeah draggins are more of a mental confidence then any protection. I had a similar accident to the OP a few months ago in kevlar jeans. You can see the result here:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=2025137
But I guess I dont learn cos I'm riding in jeans again (yes in this wellington weather)

I think in a pure slide they would help to some degree - but hit a rock or kerb or just hit the road hard and you don't get the cushioning that you would have with armour. I am sure you could easily smash a knee cap. I do think they have to offer more protection than normal jeans would. I just hope if I ever have a big off that I am wearing my Quasi leather pants for less ouch.

[PrincessBandit]

Sounds like although you took a bit of a beating you're already assessing the lessons learnt, and that being able to walk away from any crash is a huge plus.

Other things like ATGATT no matter how inconvenient it might be is worth it for when it all turns to custard.

Take care healing and I hope your bike and gear get sorted.

[Timaa]

You might just be in luck there tim.... the D675 probably wont be coming with me to OZ at the end of the year as I'm not too keen on how hot that model gets vs 35 plus degree days in Northern Queensland. That and once I deregister it here, box it and ship it over, then get it complied and registered in Oz, I may as well just buy another bike there. I may end up doing some big Kms for work each day as well, and if Maria's with me we will need a comfy 2up ride so that cuts out the SuperSports class bikes I think.

So it will be up for sale year end and I'd say cheaper than most NZ ones given how much it cost me to get it and bring it to NZ.

well then, ill be the first in line to buy it ok sly. dont let neone else get the deal, i freakn love the D675's ay!!!

[Owl]

Glad you're not too hurt Tim! At least your bike can be replaced eh. Speedy (no pun intended) recovery dude!:msn-wink:

[Meanie]

You might just be in luck there tim.... the D675 probably wont be coming with me to OZ at the end of the year


So it will be up for sale year end and I'd say cheaper than most NZ ones given how much it cost me to get it and bring it to NZ.

One careful little old lady owner, never been wheelied :laugh:

[slydesigns]

maria isn't careful... and with the amount of time the front spends in the air its a low Km front end atleast!

[Timaa]

all the better to burnout with. lol.