My second bin in three weeks.

[Chisanga]

I went down on Twilight Road today, same corner as MR GiJoe but luckily I didn't fly off the cliff.

Cornering at a medium pace on a tight left hander I found a car halfway on my side of the road, now I swear that he actually hit me but no evidence of car damage on my bike. Somehow I went down, I didn't hit the brakes and i'm trying to figure out what happened. Ended up right on the edge of the cliff, another metre and the bike and I would have gone down.

This has really freaked me out, I have considered myself a safe rider and was enjoying a fantstic day with Chickadee, Draco and McJim before this.

I'm not going to do anything rash like selling my bike but having two 'incidents' within a short space of time has me thinking hard.

Damage to the bike seems minimal, big scratch on the tank which sucks and scratches on engine and frame.

Glad to be wearing my new Quasi leathers as I took quite a hard hit on my left elbow and the leather looked after me, just a bit sore from the impact and now I have a nicely scuffed up knee slider too.


And no the car in question did not stop to render assistance, I can't believe he didn't notice me going down so must have scarpered cause he/she knew they were on my side of the road.

Thanks to Chickadee who was with me at the time (Curse of the Scottish Rider's Wife?) and looked after me and gave me an escort back home, sorry that you burnt your hand .

Cheers to the old couple who stopped and the old gent I thought was going to have a coronary helping get my bike back onthe road.

More thanks to McJim who bashed my gear shift back into shape and gave the bike the once over again and Draco who offered encouraging words.

Apologies to all drivers from Whitford to Howick who were delayed driving behind me at slow speeds.

And if the two learner bikers who passed me on Twilight are on this forum, please remember a true biker stops or at least checks to see if they can be of any assistance.

I have a lot to think about.

[Trudes]

Oh man!! Very glad you are ok, sounds like you got a bit lucky really! It's great to hear you had a group of helpful riding buddies to help you back on your way . Hang in there buddy.

[Kam]

Hey dude

Sorry to hear about the bin, I was one of the 2 learners who went past.

To be completely honest, the two of us were having a nice easy mosey up the now legendary Twlight rd to see what the fuss was all about, and almost flew off on the exact same corner!

We were both a bit shellshocked and contemplating turning back around when the ambulance flew past.

Apologies from the both of us, the L plates are there for a reason

[jtzzr]

Sorry to hear mate , F@#K the cage that didn`t stop and the two learners as well for that matter , I hope you are all good and the hornets in not too bad a shape either . Went over Twilight this arvo ,didn`t see any signs of a bin but there were broken branches on one of the left handers going down.

[sunhuntin]

often not a lot a learner can do to help. were you up and around when they went by, or still hanging off the edge? if i could see you were being attended to, id keep on going. not much point cluttering what [im guessing] seems to a fairly twisty road.

either way, glad things werent too serious. might pay to avoid that road for a while.

[Chickadee]

Glad you're not selling your bike mate. Hands feeling much better thanks (burnt it on the exhaust trying to help steady the downed blue beast when we were lifting her up). At least it and you didn't end up in the gully - yowza that would of hurt A LOT!

It was a great day and ride - take away the good from today, and remember that at least we had folk stop and help, you're okay and the bikes okay. I was glad to see you riding her home even if slowly. Put it down to experience - shit happens. You were riding well today by the way (until the car on your side of the road nearly collected you on that corner).

Relax and count the lucky stars for guardian angels

[Chickadee]

Hey dude

Sorry to hear about the bin, I was one of the 2 learners who went past.

To be completely honest, the two of us were having a nice easy mosey up the now legendary Twlight rd to see what the fuss was all about, and almost flew off on the exact same corner!

We were both a bit shellshocked and contemplating turning back around when the ambulance flew past.

Apologies from the both of us, the L plates are there for a reason

Glad you thought about coming back, it's nice to be nice - we just needed a hand to lift the bike up as it was in a precarious spot.

[Minnie]

Hi Chisanga

sorry to hear you're having such a bad time of late, glad you are ok to tell the tale and you had nice friends to help you out, two bins in such a short space of time will no doubt give you a huge shake up , but hope you keep up the riding, throw us a pm if you wanna head out my way for a practise on some quieter roads........

[yungatart]

Sheesh, that's a bit rough mate!
I'm glad you are ok!
Lucky you were with that "scottish" rider and his lovely wife - I think they are very experienced at helping out at bins these days..
Take care and take your time to think, before you make any decisions.

[MSTRS:Me]

Take heart, young fella! You must be a "proper" biker now - obviously your skills allowed you to avoid a much worse fate!

[kave]

I was the other learner that went past, I was really keen on turning around, but was unwilling to try a u-turn on the twisties with no view of traffic in either direction, plus seeing a large 4wd and two bikes parked up on what seemed to be a very small grass verge I felt that another two bikes would be more of a hinderance than a help. I was still thinking about turning when the ambo went past, and that was the deciding factor for me to continue onwards. Hope all is well for you.

[N4CR]

i don't know how the **** people crash on that road but yeah if a car is halfway over that might be a 'slight' problem.. it's not the most l friendly road though.

and yeah if i was there and you were being looked after i woulda chased that **** in the car and made him stop.. grrr

[Crisis management]

Glad your ok Chisanga (and Chickadee). One of the facts of life about motorcycles is they don't do gravity defiance very well......so get used to the concept, but try and avoid it as an option.

Twilight road is tight with variable surfaces and very crowded with bicycles, cars and us. Expect problems.
Maybe keep of it for a while, it can be really nasty?


Your nerves will recover, just take your time and build up your confidence, I still have to after I have "one" of those moments and I've been crashing for 30 years.

Look after yourself!

[Gremlin]

Cornering at a medium pace on a tight left hander I found a car halfway on my side of the road, now I swear that he actually hit me but no evidence of car damage on my bike. Somehow I went down, I didn't hit the brakes and i'm trying to figure out what happened. Ended up right on the edge of the cliff, another metre and the bike and I would have gone down.

target fixation? no offence, but I think those that consider themselves safe, do ride at a slower speed... nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't give you many oh shit moments, making you exercise your skills.

might want to find a car park, and practise braking while exiting a corner etc, and taking a tighter line, while cornering.

[Leong]

Mate, thats just bad luck that it's happened within 3 weeks. Twilight is a difficult road because of the blind corners. I suspect you were "surprised" when you saw the car on your side of the road and that was enough to upset your line thru the corner such that you lost control. Easy to do!! Only thing you can do is reduce speed to a slower pace when you have limited visibility around the corner so that you have enough time to react if say there's gravel on the road or a car coming the other way. It may make your riding slower when in a group riding situation especially on a 250, but may save your life. (If and when you get a bigger bike, it will be easier as you can make the time up on the straighter bits.) Save the medium/fast pace for corners where you can see all the way around! Just my 2c....