Scariest moment on a bike?

[Pickle]

Now this could be showing my age but in the early 80's whilst based at Wigram Air Force base I had bought brand new an XJ550 for the purpose of racing. One week after buying it I was racing it around the Lady wigram circuit and on a very fast top gear corner (red line in top) I had a small off track excursion on to the grass lucky for me there is miles of grass but at 180ks evrything happens very fast, I held on to that one.
Next time out same corner, red line in top, pegs scrapping hard, in front of 4 other bikes and I collide with someone sending me down. Now the crash was pretty fast but 2 other bikes went down at the same time and me sliding round bikes & riders going in all directions. Still rode the bike back to the pit area bit bent, but that was it for the day. Had one beer in the club that nite and had a sleep right there in the club.
I should have learnt from the first time out but being young and bullet proof I knew better. Speed Pro was there & I think he still laughs about it.

[speedpro]

Oh yes absolutely, still laughing The attempted warranty claim for leaking crankcases the next week was a hoot as well. Bit of justice there for giving me the shits fanging round the hills earlier.

That isn't the only time Dougs fallen on his head and had a little sleep the moment we got home, Meremere springs to mind, bit of a problem at the end of a big 2nd gear burnout on the 900

[pete376403]

have done a bunch of silly things over the years but the one that gave me the absolute shits was taking a left hand turn way to fast and running over the centre line, did most of the corner on the wrong side. Got around and straightened up, thankful that there wasn't anything coming the other way. In fact I didn't see another vehicle for at least five minutes. But the rest of the trip home I couldn't stop thinking "what if..."

Second scariest moment was falling asleep (maybe just a few seconds) and waking up on the wrong side

[SPman]

Second scariest moment was falling asleep (maybe just a few seconds) and waking up on the wrong side

Scary alright - did that on the Harbour Bridge back in '77 - sort of dozed of heading home at night and came to with a jolt. drifting across the 2nd lane towards the railing

[Big Dog]

Scary alright - did that on the Harbour Bridge back in '77 - sort of dozed of heading home at night and came to with a jolt. drifting across the 2nd lane towards the railing

Ditto. By all accounts, I woke up on my bike on its centre stand parked outside my house when it started bucking as it ran out of gas. Last thing I remember was passing the motunui gas plant 12kms through some pretty good twisties hills etc.

Big wake up call (no pun intended). Neighbors reckoned I had been riding along with my head down on the tank/dash.

[FzerozeroT]

Scariest was today, got pulled over near Hillcrest on the expressway for 95 in an 80 zone. Cop had been following me from central hamilton and when going from 50zone to 80zone I like to use powerband so he would have seen me ripping thru traffic.

He started it with "I think we need to have a talk" and I started to shake.
I knew the speeding ticket for 95/80 wouldn't be too bad, it was the 'L' licence i have without a learners plate and 70kph learners top speed that had me crapping myself. He looked at my licence, the bike, me, the licence, smiled and said to be more careful in the future.
The look he was giving me was "with great power comes great responsibility" and I guess he must be a biker too.

*relief*

Thankyou officer.

[Zed]

Scariest was today, got pulled over near Hillcrest on the expressway for 95 in an 80 zone. Cop had been following me from central hamilton and when going from 50zone to 80zone I like to use powerband so he would have seen me ripping thru traffic.

He started it with "I think we need to have a talk" and I started to shake.
I knew the speeding ticket for 95/80 wouldn't be too bad, it was the 'L' licence i have without a learners plate and 70kph learners top speed that had me crapping myself. He looked at my licence, the bike, me, the licence, smiled and said to be more careful in the future.
The look he was giving me was "with great power comes great responsibility" and I guess he must be a biker too.

*relief*

Thankyou officer.

Well done, you got one in a good mood FT.

A couple of us were blating home from work today on our 600's and took off from the lights in front of the traffic...we soon caught up to a BMW from the previous traffic phase and then we both noticed 2 policemen standing by the side of the road outside of their patrol car pointing in our direction and waving us down- oops! We knew we had been moving it but this was weird- they were actually waving down the beamer and directed us on...phew!

[FzerozeroT]

Well done, you got one in a good mood FT.

he seemed like a genuine nice dude, but I've never had any trouble with cops

"Middle-Class White Male", you can't get any scholarships or grants so it's got to be good for something

[Big Dog]

he seemed like a genuine nice dude, but I've never had any trouble with cops

"Middle-Class White Male", you can't get any scholarships or grants so it's got to be good for something

Preaching to the choir there brother! Has anyone else ever been told "your the best applicant for the job but we need to fulfil our quota" when asked to explain apparrently when you have over a hundred non maori employees and no maoris maoris who get turned down for jobs (this one had no work experience due to having just gotout of jail) the one that was turned down can lay a claim with the race relations tribunal! The only defense is to show that 4%or more of your workforce belongs to that ethnic background. The really racist part is that it does not work the other way or for any other "ethnic Background"

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off topic but there you go.

[cruzer]

Was the cat ok ? - Sorry, my girlfriend asked...

Well, "OK" is a relative term. He always was a bit screwy. The only noticable differnce (apart from a few scars) is that it seemed to mellow him, I guess he realized that he wasn't indestructable.

[matthewt]

I was at a gas station in Paeroa with a bunch of others on a 1000k day trip. About six of us there mostly talking on our cell phones (I was talking to my wife). Then HP car rips into the car park, points to my bike and says in a serious tone "Who's bike is that ??". So I quietly tell the wife I'll ring her back and fess up it's mine. "Cool, can I have a sit on it ??" "Sure you can", I'll just remove the bricks I just shat. Turns out he's a Ducati nut and it's the first MVF4 he'd seen in the flesh.

[Skyryder]

I can remember a few years back on my first bike a ''53 Tiger 100. This was the last of the Triumph sprung hub. One of the charecteristics of the sprung hub was its stability. In the bends it would just lay down and stay. No floating at all. As a result cornering was relitively safe. This particular day was on the summit road and I was approaching a long sweeping lefthander curve. No cars coming the other way so I power up. What I did not know was the cattle stop just before the start of the bend. This I hit at speed and go thrown up off the seat. As a result I was not able to lay the bike over until seconds later. This delay caused me to hit the gravel. Too late for the brakes. It was either lay the bike down or crash into boulders. I was not wearing leathers and in those days helmuts were optional. Not much of a choice but when the chips are down you do not think but react. Well I laid the bike over that far the pegs were scraping the road. I was holding it. Just when I thought I was back on solid ground the back slid out from under me. I can still remember the back sliding away in speedway style and then coming back onto the hard road. To this day I have no idea how I came out of the curve intact but a couple of riders behind later commented that it was one of the best pieces of riding they had seen. If only they knew. I was complety out of control. I have never hit cornes at speed again.

Skyryder

[merv]

I was at a gas station in Paeroa with a bunch of others on a 1000k day trip. About six of us there mostly talking on our cell phones (I was talking to my wife).

So is it a load of bollox that cell phones are dangerous on gas station forecourts like the warning signs say?

Kaaaaabooooooooom!!!!!!!

[Motu]

Yeah,other peoples perception of what you are doing is a bit different than yourself at times.This whole rave was just a typical day for Motu the Great.

We were all going to watch a trial out Hunua somewhere,but I had to backtrack home as my mate had left behind his Preperation H,so I got there a bit late.I was riding my Rickman Metise,and as I came in the gate saw my crowd parked under a tree to my left.Now the Rickman is a motocrosser,and I was using it as my street bike,so I tossed it into a big slide...I mean that,like full lock with no steering stops,down real low and my leg out by the front wheel.The only fault the Rickman had was when it got into a huge 1st gear slide like that it wouldn't come out of it - any more throttle to drive out of it and down it would go,back off,and down it would go - so I would just have to delicatly ride it out,not always with success.Todays big problem was to my left was a pond,and my current route was straight into it! I dug my left boot into the ground and just sissored my legs together,pulling my bike back into line - shit,that was close! I rolled up next to my mates - and they said ''wow,that was great,we all thought you were going to go into the water,great riding man!'' yeah,right.

''What's going on here?'' I asked....oh,see that hill? these trials guys have been trying to get up it all day,but they can't do it - d'you reckon you can get up? No worries mate,watch this! I took a big run on,the 500cc Triumph engine screaming in 2nd gear,the knob tossing out a rooster tail of dirt,front wheel in the air - half way up I see what has stopped the trials bikes...a Maori fortification trench across the hill,as deep as it is wide.Oh boy oh boy,it's too late to back out of this one - so I just keep it nailed,into the air and land on the other side of the ditch,a big landing,but I just keep the throttle buried and climb to the top.At the bottom they are saying ''that showed those poofter trials guys a thing or two,but we lost sight of you for awhile there!''

Riding back home on the gravel roads I'm in a big 3rd gear slide in a right hander and find my right hand tangling in my knee! The front tyre went flat mid corner! Pulled the front end down later and found the pinched tube and a broken fork spring - that was some landing alright!

[Motu]

Skyryder reminds me of another one,but it wasn't scary,not one bit.

So I'm commuting on my Guzzi Stornello,when all of a sudden the traffic in front appears to be stopped - and I've built up a fair bit of speed by this time,I hit the picks and the rear wheel locks up (I hadn't used it for a couple of years and I think the tyres were off) nothing coming the other way,so I head off down the wrong side of the road,full lock in a brake slide - this doesn't bother me at all,being sideways is natural,so I just ride it out.You may know what is coming next - just as I'm slowing down the rear tyre bites and I'm into a highside,I stay with the bike,not usual for me - land on my back,and still holding the bars the bike goes over the top! Not much damage,I'm ok,lost a ball end on my nice levers and smash the alloy dash - 18 yrs later I still haven't fix that.