ratast
29th November 2008, 19:06
Heading towards Kamloops in British Colombia got separated from others in group after stopping to put on something a little warmer. Going about 120,nice cruising speed for my RoadKing when a black bear shambled out of the undergrowth and wandered into the road. Car in opposing lane slowed down , seeing bear and approaching Harley and no doubt the driver figured out someone was going to get smacked hard.
I braked hard, I don't swerve for animals and besides with car in other lane couldn;t even if I wanted to. The twin discs up front did their job well, no slithering or tyre screaming as I slowed down to hit (surmised all this later having a shakily held coffee) the poor bear in the head with the crash bars.
This pushed bear round to face same direction bike was going in causing said bear to scrape down right side of bike, hitting Jan's leg before hitting rear crash bar and scraping down saddlebag.
Bike got a bit of a wobble sending us into path of the approaching car but managed to keep it up and get it over to the right side of the road. Turned round and wondering "What the hell do I do now, will I have to put the bear out of his misery if still alive,or do we want to go any where near it, didn't fancy getting to close to Bruin with a bloody sore head."
Bear had gone, I'm guessing crawled off road to die. Funny thing was the car in opposing lane never stopped, we could have been bear tucker for all they knew.
Had to remove crash bars,replace master oil clyinder, and get foot board and brake pedal bashed back into position where I could ride and carry on with trip.
Had quote to fix damage when I returned, lot more extensive than I thought, frame bent, need 2 new front discs, new bars, new tank,and engine mounts.
Another thing I will not do now, along with wearing open face helmets, fingerless gloves (a great name for them) is go on tour in States without crashbars.
I braked hard, I don't swerve for animals and besides with car in other lane couldn;t even if I wanted to. The twin discs up front did their job well, no slithering or tyre screaming as I slowed down to hit (surmised all this later having a shakily held coffee) the poor bear in the head with the crash bars.
This pushed bear round to face same direction bike was going in causing said bear to scrape down right side of bike, hitting Jan's leg before hitting rear crash bar and scraping down saddlebag.
Bike got a bit of a wobble sending us into path of the approaching car but managed to keep it up and get it over to the right side of the road. Turned round and wondering "What the hell do I do now, will I have to put the bear out of his misery if still alive,or do we want to go any where near it, didn't fancy getting to close to Bruin with a bloody sore head."
Bear had gone, I'm guessing crawled off road to die. Funny thing was the car in opposing lane never stopped, we could have been bear tucker for all they knew.
Had to remove crash bars,replace master oil clyinder, and get foot board and brake pedal bashed back into position where I could ride and carry on with trip.
Had quote to fix damage when I returned, lot more extensive than I thought, frame bent, need 2 new front discs, new bars, new tank,and engine mounts.
Another thing I will not do now, along with wearing open face helmets, fingerless gloves (a great name for them) is go on tour in States without crashbars.