Possum or rabbit in the face

[surfchick]

I was coming back from wellsford tonight after dark and some running animal bolted accross the road waaaay to late... well, whatever happened I hit it and it bounced up the fairing and into onto my helmet... it was all over really fast. I was stressing that bits of it were goooed to me and the bike...but has that happened anyone before - I mean how on earth did I "scoop" this ground lubbing creature over my head? it was a pretty surreal moment, I got an uber fright... (not to mention the poor fulfffy:eek5: )

[unclfkgbully]

I was coming back from wellsford tonight after dark and some running animal bolted accross the road waaaay to late... well, whatever happened I hit it and it bounced up the fairing and into onto my helmet... it was all over really fast. I was stressing that bits of it were goooed to me and the bike...but has that happened anyone before - I mean how on earth did I "scoop" this ground lubbing creature over my head? it was a pretty surreal moment, I got an uber fright... (not to mention the poor fulfffy:eek5: )
furr or feathers??:whocares: Main thing wadda bout the bike?? is ok?:dodge:

[speeding_ant]

Ha! Ive had that happen to me also.. It was a possum. Full fairing bike, just popped right up and smacked me in the head (at night). Going around 110km/h. Bloody well nearly knocked me off my bike too :mellow: At least nothing bad happened to you.. Bike/Gear OK?

[T.W.R]

Never had it happen to me, but have had a few furry speed-bumps :yes: and a Magpie that got diced by my front wheel and left all it's entrails to cook on my motor :sick:

A mate many years ago had a possum fall out of a tree on to his bike as he rounding a bend on the road between Murchison & Nelson, Had no idea what had hit him & smashed half his fairing screen until he found the possum lying in the verge with a piece of fairing sticking out of it's gut :shit:

[Waylander]

Heavier bike helps. Small animals and birds just turn to red mist when they hit my bike.

large dogs cattle and deer (ye I've seen free roaming deer near the roads around Taupo) are another matter though. My dad has a story he tells of riding with my mom on the back of his old Goldwing when he hit a buck. Somehow he stayed upright and my mom stayed onboard aswell, but the impact had broken his foot and the deers antlers put a hole in the radiator.

Damn deer just got up and ran off. Tough bastards.

[Oakie]

It may have been a hare. Apparantly they can jump upwards if startled like that.
A guy I used to work with told a story of a three foot tall hare that he hit in his car. It just materialised in front of him one night at with it's head above the bonnet of his car so he assumed it was three foot tall (and we assumed he had been smoking funny cigarettes). We learned later that they have this habit of jumping upwards so......

[Black Bandit]

Not an opossum, they don't live here.

Opossum vs Possum

[pritch]

You should treat yourself to a Lotto ticket.
Small animals can cause accidents that kill people.
(That's empirical not hypothetical.)

You were very lucky, not to mention skillful of course :yes:

[u4ea]

very fortunate surfchik! glad ya handled yourself well in that situation.closest i've come is having to move my head to dodge birds..hope ya got all the yukky gunge cleaned off your bike and gear...ewwwwwww sounds messy!!!!

[Pixie]

Not an opossum, they don't live here.

Opossum vs Possum

So who won?

[surfchick]

Ha! Ive had that happen to me also.. It was a possum. Full fairing bike, just popped right up and smacked me in the head (at night). Going around 110km/h. Bloody well nearly knocked me off my bike too :mellow: At least nothing bad happened to you.. Bike/Gear OK?

OMG that's exactly what happened about 110 in a whole pile of those corners just south of wellsford...and out popped the fluffy- but i was stunned that it could flip up the faring and onto my helmet- the bike was sweet as it has big stainless grills over all the intakes...

[surfchick]

Not an opossum, they don't live here.

Opossum vs Possum
oh my the opossum is an unpleasant variant on the possum. i pick possum

[surfchick]

You should treat yourself to a Lotto ticket.
Small animals can cause accidents that kill people.
(That's empirical not hypothetical.)

You were very lucky, not to mention skillful of course :yes:
i wonder if you can get fur encrusted lotto tickets... i want to win a fluffy million

[speeding_ant]

OMG that's exactly what happened about 110 in a whole pile of those corners just south of wellsford...and out popped the fluffy- but i was stunned that it could flip up the faring and onto my helmet- the bike was sweet as it has big stainless grills over all the intakes...

Little bastards are out to get us!! Thankfully the situation didn't evolve into something worse.. I just grabbed onto my bars like all hell and held on. It was quite an impact!! Cracked my visor as well.. My screen mounts got bent out of shape.. It was (from what I could see from the remains) definitely a possum.

[Oakie]

Nearly got a Monarch butterfly in the face yesterday. Was fluttering all over the place as they do and I had to duck my head at the last moment as took a bee-line (butterfly-line?) for my nose. Would have stung a bit I guess.

[ManDownUnder]

To answer the "how did it manage to get so high?" question.... all it has to do is get slightly higher then the centreline of your front wheel. The curvature of the wheel hits it, throws it forward (slowly) and up. From there it either hits the top half of the fairing (throwing it even further upwards) or it's already high enough to clear it... and you proceed to ride into the suddenly flying bunny or marsupial missile.

Glad you came out of it ok. It is a rare occurrance... I've never had it happen to me personally.

For what it's worth - assuming you having time and space - get yourself into the habit of straightening up, and powering up if/when your front wheel finds debris or small fluffy to hit. The extra power lifts the front (making the front skip over rather than bog into the target), and the rear wheel will naturally "climb over" whatever it is too.

[sunhuntin]

Nearly got a Monarch butterfly in the face yesterday. Was fluttering all over the place as they do and I had to duck my head at the last moment as took a bee-line (butterfly-line?) for my nose. Would have stung a bit I guess.

good man for ducking the monarch. :yes:

butterflies dont sting, but they make one hell of a mess. i copped a white one just outside bulls. open face lid with sunglasses. hit the bridge of the glasses and left its yellow innards across the majority of both lenses. took ages to wash off at the bp. lmfao.

have also had a stink bug on one lens... was fun riding back to wangas with that! right in the middle of my vision... had to turn my head and let the wind catch it and drag it to the corner so i could see... yuck.

[Black Bandit]

Saw a fluffy of the feathery-kind get smooshed today. Was trundling along (eagerly looking for overtaking opportunities) behind a row of cars along Old North Rd and this little streak darted out of the bushes to the left and flew directly into/under the front wheel of the car ahead of me. Had to weave a little to avoid it as it shot out from under the car, cartwheeling down the road ... very very dead :sick: . At least it died quickly and I thought to myself, "What a silly bird".

[Dave-]

did it look anything like this?

http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_pictures/grail/large/HolyGrail173.jpg

edit: oh lame...no image tags

[bistard]

did it look anything like this?

http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_pictures/grail/large/HolyGrail173.jpg

edit: oh lame...no image tags

No Dave,that one in that movie,was a "Man Eating Rabbit"
From memory there were huge casualties that day!!
Go Monty Python!!

[S&S]

While me & my wife were ridding up to Hellensvile a while ago, I ducked a little bird that dive bombed us... I was quite chuffed that I managed to move my head in time to miss the bird, feeling very happy with myself I looked back at my wife that's ridding pillion with me, & she has a bloody smear up the side of her helmet with feathers stuck ever where.....:gob: I quickly stopped to make sure all is ok, but all the while laughing my ass off while wiping her helmet down :laugh:

[Waylander]

Interesting thing happend today. Riding to work, some seagulls were having lunch in the road. Big truck in the lane next to me. The birds fly out of my path but one of them goes the wrong way and gets collected by the truck and bounces off into me....

Gonna be a late night cleaning the my jacket.

[beyond]

Don't worry about the furry cuddlies. There's plenty more around to be a pest for a long time yet. One less is good :)

Hit a rabbit once and that bounced up high enough to collect my shin bone as it shot by. The little blighter must have had it's trap wide open on the way past as it's choppers took a hunk out of my shin :(

[90s]

Nearly got a Monarch butterfly in the face yesterday. Was fluttering all over the place as they do and I had to duck my head at the last moment as took a bee-line (butterfly-line?) for my nose. Would have stung a bit I guess.

I've been trying, but can't think of a lamer thing to be 'hit' by than that.

Marshmellow bird?

[Black Bandit]

Well tonight I encountered a very very lucky fluffy.

Riding on the ATNR :chase: , two bike ahead of me, then a car, then me.:scooter: :scooter: :cage: :scooter:

This possum, looked like a young'in, dodged everyone. He came charging out from under the car, eyes the size of saucers, running every which way. Glad we didn't connect - it would have made a real mess. At speed though, you can't really react fast enough. You just see the potential problem, possibly subcontiously countersteer around the obstacle, and draw in a sudden breath bracing for the worst. :pinch: Nice when you get away with it, cause then you can dig the seat out of your clenched but-cheeks. :whistle:

[Waylander]

Something interesting for y'all.

http://www.bikertube.com/media/26/FZ6_Motorcycle_vs._The_Deer/

[Black Bandit]

Cool, a draw!:blink: Good skills all round ... and what a great invention - BIKERTUBE.COM:D Must ..... go .... spend .... all ..... remaining ...... broadband ...... bandwidth ...... for ....... the ..... month ......... aaarrrrrggg

[Waylander]

Notice his speedo stops working. Though even with that and some definate front end dammage he's very lucky.

[speeding_ant]

I've been trying, but can't think of a lamer thing to be 'hit' by than that.

Marshmellow bird?

Hahaha. I'd have to agree with that :yes: . I've been unlucky. Been hit by a magpie and a falcon. Ive hit a dog, a cat and that possum too. Fuck am I unlucky or what?!?! And you know those collectors with all those big and exotic bugs pins to pieces of wood? Yeah, they found those after I hit the barstards!!