i hit the road for the first time yesterday, (from 20kph) WHATS IT LIKE AT 100KPH

[bros400]

i was cursing along with a friend on the back, first time she'ed ever been on a bike. And after a resnbale ride (50k) hit some gravle that i hadent seen coming around a corner reasnably slowly, around 20kph.

now i have a badly cut up knee and some brusses. she came of fine thankfully.

(i was wearing cargo panints and lether jackit and gloves, riped up the gloves and just went straght through the cargos) and the gutting thing about that was that i had been looking at buying lethers the day before!!!

any way, wondering what its like if you hit gravle at 100kph. and wahts it like hiting the road at 100kph wiht full leathers on?

Daniel :argh:

[Dave]

I have had a high side at manfield at about 120-140k/hr in full leathers and apart from feeling a bit beaten, I was fine.
Too bad the cargo's dont do fuck all!

[Steve Taly]

I got back from South Island trip just a couple of days ago,a friend travelling with us up old Motueka Valley Rd(i think that is the name of road) hit an unmarked gravel spot at about 100km/hr through an easy left,lost the front and went sliding down the road,got up and was little dazed for about 5 minutes,called ambulance to be safe and he always wanted to ride in an ambulance anyway,he had full protective clothing(not leathers,spidi i think) and result was just broken little finger and hurt pride,the bike looked a real mess but hopefully just cosmetic,it started ok and frame appeared un scratched,it was a CBR600......... :thud:

[speedpro]

With all the gear on and if you don't have a collision with something it isn't a problem. Banging into stuff hurts. Course if you highside and get some air it can hurt when you land, but I suppose that would be a collission with the ground. If you're going fast enough the bits rubbing on the ground can get real hot. I got a blister once. I couldn't figure out where it came from till I was washing my jeans and found a ground down blue rivet. Had that same thing with gloves once as well, they had rivets on the heel of the palm. Even with leathers you can get hot spots - heaps better than losing skin though or grinding flat spots on your bones.

[aff-man]

Well i don't know i hit the ground doing about 60 in crappy gloves,leather jacket and jeans. Legs got a bit bloody luckily the road was new and sealed so the sliding action lessoned the pain. But i went out and bought riding gear anyway.

[boris]

i have crashed at about 120kph apart ripping wet weather gear to pieces which was over leather i was fine apart from a small red mark on my forearm where my leather wore though.I have fallen of my push bike and come out worse. :Offtopic: been in a car crash the car that was totaled nice cuts from the seat belts but they did save my life. :done:

[Jackrat]

Hmmm,It seems to depend on weather you hit something or not.You know like letter boxes,trees,cars an other stuff people leave laying around.
In a slide that you don't hit anything in,your leathers or the lack of them will make a big difference.But if you hit something hard you will hurt no matter what you wear.

[Mokoro]

Im so happy I havent come off.. almost did, at 100ks. rear wheel locked up.....nuff said

[Motu]

Low speed prangs are worse - you hit the road and stop,bones can break and skin gets ripped - at higher speeds you slide,less likely to break bones,but the skin takes a pounding,grazes and burns.At higher speeds you are more likely to hit an imoveable object.I kinda like not getting involved.

[gpercivl]

Wear the best gear you can afford, I've survived 190kph into the hill at Puke and hopped away with broken ankle and concussion. Back protectors have saved countless lives since made compulsory while racing, I wear one now when riding on the street.

[Solarwind]

I ran wide on a corner and ended up zooming along a ditch on the side of the road until the 2'-long grass jammed my wheels and I was thrown off at at least 40kph (I remember spinning round and round and round and round...), I landed in the grass and was barely even bruised. They mow that area now, I'm thankful they weren't when I hit it as the grass made a nice soft thing for me to land in. I got a 1cm rip in my waterproof jacket though! :angry2:

[DEATH_INC.]

Wear the right gear!After my first big one :doh: I bought a full armoured 1 peice (not saying everyone should have one.....)(funny how it's always AFTER you needed it....),I've bailed a couple of times(well,maybe more than a couple :whistle: ...) at around 120k's on the road,other than a few strained muscles and re-injuring an old knee injury,and a broken toe from sliding up a curb(through good boots too)I've had no lost skin or cuts,very few bruises.

[Marmoot]

I'll tell you how it feels like at 140kph.
Twice it was earth-sky-earth-sky, but felt nothing. Only sore spots after a day.

The other one, now that was fun.....it was "shi..." then *black* then I woke up after about 1 minute and couldn't even remember my girlfriend. Nothing hurt, though.

But, hey, don't put your bucks on that. Just consider me very very lucky. :mellow:

[Coldkiwi]

i've lost it at 90kmhr on a rough stretch of road and it wasn''t too painful till it was all over and I went to stand up. Leathers are SO worth it because I would've gone straight through jeans and have some pretty big scars now -as are stiff/armoured boots (just ask Nhuan!)

[Big Dog]

Maybe its my state of mind but I prefer to hit gravel too fast than at low speed when not expecting it. This could be becuase i know how to recover the former but it tends to be too late before I notice on the low speed. A matter of focus IMHO.

[Kickaha]

Back protectors have saved countless lives since made compulsory while racing, I wear one now when riding on the street.

I went down the track at Ruapuna,landed on my back and slid,and didn't even feel a thing,wouldn't be without a back protector,I even wear it on trailrides

[Coldkiwi]

hitting the gravel probably hurts the same amount from a given hieght at most speeds so long as you're well armoured. the pain induced by sliding is pretty much proportional to the speed/thickness of your gear!

ohh... the short answer to your query is 'oh FU__!!'

[fzr400rr]

I've had a few stacks at 50k's and fastest at 75kph. It sucks, especially as I'm a cyclist & on a road (bi)cycle - when we're racing we only have a 0.1mm layer of lycra on. You get messed up bad.
Fortunatley I've never laid over a real bike.
A bit off topic, but info all the same....

[Slim]

a friend travelling with us up old Motueka Valley Rd (I think that is the name of road) hit an unmarked gravel spot at about 100km/hr through an easy left ...
Unmarked? Think about talking to the insurers about doing the council responsible!


I've come off a couple of times at 100kph+, thankfully wearing the right gear, and come away with a couple of friction burns and wrenched muscles but nothing more.

And I can vouch for the ankle armour in Alpinestar boots after being t-boned by a sport car and coming away with only bad wrenching/twisting/swelling/bruising.

Best advice: Buy the best gear you can afford & upgrade it when you can. Your skin, after all, is your biggest organ.

[Marmoot]

Now, have u ever heard about the story of pillions getting swept off the bike and fall off backwards? Just *whoossh* and the pillion's gone.

Yeah, that's true....but have u ever known anybody personally? :)

My girlfriend did.... :) ....not that it's funny, but it's kinda rare, ya know... :mellow:
Man, that wrecked a whole AGV XVent helmet, a spidi waterproof jacket, and a Spidi NT pants.....totally. Nothing hurt except for a few cuts and a broken thumb so the armor did their job well.

P.S.
Disclaimer: I wasn't the rider :)

P.P.S.
moral of the story? Get a decent gear. It'll be worth it when the time comes.

[Holy Roller]

In a slide that you don't hit anything in,your leathers or the lack of them will make a big difference.But if you hit something hard you will hurt no matter what you wear.

Also the older one gets the longer it takes to recover. I do not recommend hitting head on into a car. The bonnet and guards take some of the impact ,makes a nice body sized dent , but it is the ribs that hurt for weeks, hurts to breath, hurts to laugh, can't lift a knife or fork to eat with, can't lie flat on a bed, one has to sleep in a lazy boy.
To fall off and just slide down the road can be "fun" not looking to repeat it anytime soon though. But it hurts when you go back to the bike and pick it up and see all the damage knowing that this is going to cost you. One is lucky if you get to ride the bike home.

[Holy Roller]

Now, have u ever heard about the story of pillions getting swept off the bike and fall off backwards? Just *whoossh* and the pillion's gone.

Yeah, that's true....but have u ever known anybody personally? :)

My mate had a CB900 way back in 1980, he and his girlfriend were leaving from a party on the bike... he took off front wheel slightly off the ground whoossh his girl was left behind sitting on the ground. That caused a lot of mirth that day.

[Shawn]

How come, so many guys here fell off doing 120 and all they got were some war scratches, may be a broken toe mostly. In my case I was doing 120 close to greenlane exit, all off a sudden I find myself airborne, landing on my left shoulder, resulting a dislocated shoulder, 1000 bruises and a HUGE cut on the knee. Went straight to the emergency room :doctor: My fault I was wearing Jeans, hence the huge cute on the knee. I did have leather Jacket so that saved my upper body . Many cuts on both hands since no gloves. It’s been 1 and ½ month and I still have problem making some upward movements with my left shoulder. IT SUCKS.

P.S. Got back on bike after 3 weeks though, after spending painful $1200.00 on it. So yeap, my first accident definitely taught me some lessons!!!...ya right!!! :yeah:

[ManDownUnder]

at the risk of going :Offtopic: I think this is one of the situations that really distinguishes bikes from cages.

Bike riders tend to be a lot more alert and aware of their surroundings ... it's hard to fall off a cage after all (and it tends to hurt on a bike... even for the little stuff like this example).

Make 'em all ride bikes for 2 years is what I say!

Anyhoo - back on topic, gravel isn't good, and leather is the best defence against it. Go get some, or some propeer bike jeans and you'll be glad you did should this ever happen again... at 20 or 100.

Good luck!