Another near miss blathering....

[R650R]

Southbound on SH1 towards Wairakei a perfect storm of otherwise negligible happenings brewed up to create a holy heck that could have ended badly moment yesterday morning.
Sure many will know the location, big long sweeping left hander just past Palmer mill road, northbound passing lane on other side of road.
Had been caught up to a dithering 4wd that of course suddenly found speed on the downhill but was the type of driver you didn't want to sit behind. The two of us caught a trio of vehicles, two of which had trailers.
After round the left I saw ample clear road ahead to effect a safe and legal pass of the 4wd to set me up to get the other three on the last southbound passing lane before taupo junction.

Passing the 4wd I got to pull in behind the ute at the back of the trio who are all a bit close for me to want to pass any further here. Suddenly the ute jams his brakes and pulls left. At first I just think hes being an ahole or needlessly helpful when I quickly notice all three of them are emergency braking because their mate up front in light truck towing small trailer has dropped an unsecured ramp which is dragging on the ground behind it.
Thank F$%& the 4wd I just passed was paying attention as it was very quickly turning into a DR sandwich.
Yes there was room withen in the lane to just gas it and nail it but would have resulted in excessive speed gain in a highly policed area and an aggressive looking pass to the *555 brigade.
All in all a real nothing of a situation but a good reminder how anything can happen out there anytime and how the slightest of negligence can initiate an event.

[CB ARGH]

Lucky you're okay!

Thankfully the worst I've had fall in front of me on the bike is ciggy buts and apple cores. Different story in the car though.... a ladder fell off a vehicle and I thought I'd be able to clear it (cmon a Honda Prelude could take the beach) naaah the ladder caught under the engine bay and I grinded to a halt from 100km/hr. No damage.

[ellipsis]

...those cigarette butts are a scourge...I was out riding recently when some arsehole flicked one out the window and it ended up on my visor...it burned through the visor, through my eye and right through my brain and out the back of my skull, through the lining of my helmet which is when I realised what was happening due to the smell, and then right through the shell of the helmet...apart from smelling the foam helmet liner I was quite unaware of what had happened...when I stopped for a latte at my favourite hangout the Barista pointed out the hole in my head...I was wondering what the whistling noise was...a bit like a Shark helmet I once had...it got very annoying, so when I got home I bought a second hand brain from the Nth Island...I got a really good deal on it, a second hand, truck driver's it was, never been used...

[old slider]

...those cigarette butts are a scourge...I was out riding recently when some arsehole flicked one out the window and it ended up on my visor...it burned through the visor, through my eye and right through my brain and out the back of my skull, through the lining of my helmet which is when I realised what was happening due to the smell, and then right through the shell of the helmet...apart from smelling the foam helmet liner I was quite unaware of what had happened...when I stopped for a latte at my favourite hangout the Barista pointed out the hole in my head...I was wondering what the whistling noise was...a bit like a Shark helmet I once had...it got very annoying, so when I got home I bought a second hand brain from the Nth Island...I got a really good deal on it, a second hand, truck driver's it was, never been used...

Lol, Lucky you had a full face helmet. The buggers losing paper out their car window causes a stir when it suddenly clings to your visor, especially if its the NZ herald or similar.

True but sad story was a chap riding along a Wanganui city road many years ago was decapitated by a sheet of corr iron that wasn't secured properly on an approaching vehicle.

[Moi]

...those cigarette butts are a scourge...I was out riding recently when some arsehole flicked one out the window and it ended up on my visor...it burned through the visor, through my eye and right through my brain and out the back of my skull, through the lining of my helmet which is when I realised what was happening due to the smell, and then right through the shell of the helmet...apart from smelling the foam helmet liner I was quite unaware of what had happened...when I stopped for a latte at my favourite hangout the Barista pointed out the hole in my head...I was wondering what the whistling noise was...a bit like a Shark helmet I once had...it got very annoying, so when I got home I bought a second hand brain from the Nth Island...I got a really good deal on it, a second hand, truck driver's it was, never been used...

Margaret Mahy would approve of that story...

[jasonu]

Maybe someone just slamed on their brakes for a dog or some other animal up ahead.

Or maybe it was someone who knows you and was trying to run your annoying arse into the weeds.

[old slider]

I think this Harley rider may have been able to avoided this. But in saying that maybe a quick shift out to the right through the gap would or could result in a really high speed smack from behind.

https://youtu.be/CIuYf5T0d5U

[Jeff Sichoe]

I think this Harley rider may have been able to avoided this. But in saying that maybe a quick shift out to the right through the gap would or could result in a really high speed smack from behind.

https://youtu.be/CIuYf5T0d5U

it looks like he didn't even react until half his stopping distance was gone

[pritch]

I got spooked in the same way myself once when all the traffic in front slamed on their brakes in front of me on a passing lane and I thought there may have been an accident up ahead but I saw no accident. Maybe someone just slamed on their brakes for a dog or some other animal up ahead.

Nah! Somebody realised Cassina was coming.

[GazzaH]

it looks like he didn't even react until half his stopping distance was gone

With 20/20 hindsight yes, but he was extremely lucky and very restrained given the circumstances.

The real point for us is to think and learn. Would we have fared so well? I'm not sure I would have!

[nzspokes]

According to some on here if you go to riding school you would have been able to sense

Maybe a trained rider would not have got into the situation in the first place......

[Runty]

Target fixation - he had plenty of time and room to avoid an impact

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

[Berries]

The real point for us is to think and learn. Would we have fared so well? I'm not sure I would have!

No offence, but you should be expecting that to happen if you are fapping along in the outside lane. You can watch the video several times and start to pick out a few faults which is the 20:20 hindsight thing but jeez, there should be enough alarm bells ringing before the car even entered his lane. While indicating.


Interesting comments below the video. Perhaps that vid should be posted in the "GoPro wearers are all wankers" thread as well.

[swarfie]

If he'd been riding something with some real brakes instead of a tractor that probably wouldn't have happened. Even my drum braked classics could have avoided that

[old slider]

If he'd been riding something with some real brakes instead of a tractor that probably wouldn't have happened. Even my drum braked classics could have avoided that

That Fat Bob has decent twin front discs and an adequate rear disc, they pull up nearly 400kg of bike and rider in reasonable fashion, but firstly you must use them.