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"There are two types of riders..."

Joined
May 2, 2004
Messages
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Location
Great State of Texas
First Name
Jesse
"Those who have dropped a bike and those who will."

Or some variation of that saying; I've never cared for it. I didn't believe it to be true because I figured if one was trained, practiced, and alert one could go through their riding career without dumping a bike. I know people who haven't and figured I would be one of them. If a fellow rider would say "there are two types of riders" I'd just nod politely. After about 16 years of motorcycling I dropped my FJR a couple days ago.

We took a trip to Big Bend and it was our second day of riding. Although it was hot, I was alert, hydrated and enjoying myself. It was a group of 3 and the lead guy decided to pull over and stop at a scenic overlook. The 2nd guy in front of me pulled over and parked. I pull over behind the 2nd bike. I completely misjudged how steep things were. I'm 5'9" and can't completely flat foot the bike, but that's never been an issue. I usually stop with my right foot on the peg to hold the rear brake and left foot on the road. Left foot touches down and I realized dang I didn't need to extend my leg much. Right leg instinctively tries to touch down but it doesn't because it's so steep. If I didn't stop so close behind my buddy I probably could've eased off the clutch and ride away. Thus down she went. I gave it a futile attempt but by the time my right boot finally hit the ground the top heavy FJR was already past it's tipping point so I hopped off.

I felt sick to my stomach and thought we were in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone coverage and thinking about how we would have to get the bike home. It was so steep I wasn't able to pick the bike up myself. Fortunately the frame slider prevented any mechanical damage and we were able to ride the rest of the day. Just the saddlebag alone is about $500 so I'm leaning towards letting insurance handle it. The mirror is loose, which means the subframe it attaches to snapped and the effort to get to it is another reason I don't feel like tackling it. I don't even like looking at the damage, much less working on repairing it myself.

I didn't enjoy myself the rest of the day so the next morning I decided to just ride 9 hours home instead of spending the next 3 days out there as planned.

I'm just thankful I wasn't injured and that things could always be worse. It's just a bike and that's what insurance is for.
 

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Glad your ok and your last sentence says it all. You could have easily snapped an ankle trying to keep it up. Then you would really be in a bad way far from anything. Those steep grades are tricky on bikes, unless you grew up in the mountains I suppose.
 
Bikes are easier to repair than bodies. As much as I hate damaging my bikes, I have learned to just let them go if they get to that point rather than hurting myself trying to prevent it. It is also one of the reasons I switched to adventure bikes. I had two VFR 800s and even a minor tip over would cost a lot to fix. I got tired of jacking with bent fairing mounts and cracked plastics. Scuffs on an adventure bike are badges :-P

I am glad you weren't hurt.
 
First of all, glad to hear that there is nothing other some mechanical damage to show for the event.

My Dad crashed his BSA Gold Star with me on the back in about 1964. So when my grandfather first told me that aphorism in about 1970, I knew it to have some meaning. Starting out on the dirt, predicting when a crash was coming was pretty easy: I'm riding Saturday so I'm probably crashing Saturday. How was another story. Voni Glaves put a million miles on various BMWs and never crashed. Neither has my uncle. The odds are against most of us.

There was an article in the AAJ about mountaineering accidents and their causes. The primary cause was that people chose to climb. Let's face it, we don't have to ride or climb. But they also noted that most of the accidents that involved human error (other than choosing to climb) happened on the descent when things should be easiest. Complacency was credited with that.

The other aphorism that my grandfather passed on was "You need to know how to hit a dog." I've been lucky enough to avoid hitting any dogs so far, but understanding the idea of lean back, lift the front wheel and gas it, has saved my backside on more than one occasion.

Stay well, and don't let it bother you. A few scars on the bike just means you're riding it.
 
Don't forget the corollary to that age old rule.

Just because you are in the second group, doesn't mean you can't crash again.

Also, that sounds more like a drop than a crash, so I'd still consider you in the first group, although your insurance will consider you in the second group after your claim.

Scratches are ugly but you can live with them, but that sucks big time about the upper front subframe, that thing is supposed to be a royal pain.

Also, don't forget the reason behind that old saying. You do your best to not be in that second group, but knowing how possible it is, you dress, ride, and prepare to become in that second group. It works out better that way when you face the reality of it.
 
I'm glad to hear only pride and paint were damaged for the most part.

Still in my first year of riding, I've lost count of the times my bikes have been down. Every one of them but the VFR has gone down at least once and I'm sure I'll drop it sooner or later. The Africa Twin has been down much more frequently than the rest of them as I'm closing in on 10,000 miles on that bike compared to 3,500 or less miles on the others. Plus I've tried all my dumbest stunts on that bike as well :)
 
I crashed in Big Bend. Old Ore road broke my cherry. I considered myself lucky. Lucky my helmet did exactly what it was designed for (thank you HJC). Lucky the elbow pad was there (thank you Joe Rocket).

I road home with busted mirror bracket, scratched and cracked right side cowling, bent bark buster, and four fractured ribs.

The other thing I'm thankful for? Like you, I evaluated what I did wrong, and got back on that pony. Fixed the mirror and bark buster. Left the cowling as it is. Cracked and scratched. A badge of Honor? Only when I'm sitting around the camp fire with good friends, and a cold one. Any other day, its a reminder how important it is to stay frosty.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
The good thing is that the next time you drop it, it won't spoil your planned weekend (hopefully).

Remember bikes are resilient and a little drop shouldn't matter much other than some scratches. I learned this the first day of riding. If I cared about scratches I wouldn't be riding much.
 
Glad you are ok Jesse, sorry that the experience ruined your trip. I agree with GixxerJasen, more of a drop than a crash really
They say the first time is always the worst, but I think they mean the hit to the personality more than the person.
Having a bent bike is always a bummer but after you have had a couple of dumb-*** moments you can be more philosophical about them.
You did a great job of analyzing the problems, the situation you describe is always a tricky one and maybe next time it won't get you by surprise.
Consider this, I tried to save a bike from falling a while ago, the damage to the bike was tiny & was always going to be.
The injury I sustained trying to save it has lasted months and cost a whole lot more than letting it fall.
All the best in the fix process, I hope it goes smoothly for you.
 
I used to get unreasonably angry whenever I dropped/crashed my Wee. It has many battle scars and I don't get mad anymore.

I think you always learn a LOT from every drop/crash.
 
Glad to hear you're ok. Bikes heal easier than bones, you definitely made the right choice. Fix 'er up or wear the scrapes as evidence you do more than stare at it. ;)

I had to rebuild my FJR from near totaled last year, it was fun.
 
I think those low/no speed drops are the most frustrating, usually simple stupid stuff.
Had my bike for 18 months, dropped it 3 weeks ago. Was turning around in my driveway and had a touch too much front brake with the front turned all the way and down it went.
Only a little scratch on the pipe and mirror, but still, I knew better, but had gotten lax since I do it every time I park my bike.
 
.... I knew better, but had gotten lax since I do it every time I park my bike.

Complacency gets us all eventually; got me recently. Overcoming complacency is really difficult.

Ditto on all the "save yourself not the bike" comments.
 
Jesse, glad your ok and the bike will survive too. Insurance is there for when you need it, sorry your in need.
 
I had my really first close call last weekend. We were riding the sisters and heading north on RR336. I'm on a full bagger with my wife on the back. This was my first time riding roads this challenging so I was uber-focused on the road, my positioning, the line I was taking, my throttle control, etc. All of a sudden my wife yells "deer!" and this full size doe is at full sprint, coming from my right. She's not going to stop, so I'm hitting the brakes hard as I can while still maintaining control, trying to scrub off speed and judge our intersection point. Dropped from 50 to 20. She crossed in front of us about 5, maybe 10 feet, still at full sprint. All within a few seconds. The good thing is that training of emergency stops paid off; and I kept my head; it was almost going in slow motion. The nerves and heart rate hit after. That's as close as I want to come!

Glad your's' wasn't any worse than scratches and dents.
 
I had my really first close call last weekend. All within a few seconds. The good thing is that training of emergency stops paid off; and I kept my head; it was almost going in slow motion. The nerves and heart rate hit after. That's as close as I want to come!
Well done, I'm glad to hear you and the wife came away unscathed.
Allow me to share a couple of things with you...
  1. Good thing your wife was watching too, might be some brownie points in giving her special thanks.
  2. incidents almost always happen that fast or faster, (if it's slower it's not an incident, occasionally it can feel slower but it isn't)
  3. Training really does work and the more you train the better it works.
  4. Really glad you are both ok, you should probably get out there and ride the sisters again!
 
Oooooh.....i feel sick for you. WhenI had my 13 FJR and a friend with highway pegs was pulling out of the hotel parking lot and caught my bag. Wasn't a huge scratch but it ruined my trip. Those bikes are meant to be pristine. Sorry. I know how you feel.

Funny though, on the dual sports i lay it down and never Bart am eye of it gets scratched.

Good luck on the repair.
 
I had my really first close call last weekend. We were riding the sisters and heading north on RR336. I'm on a full bagger with my wife on the back. This was my first time riding roads this challenging so I was uber-focused on the road, my positioning, the line I was taking, my throttle control, etc. All of a sudden my wife yells "deer!" and this full size doe is at full sprint, coming from my right. She's not going to stop, so I'm hitting the brakes hard as I can while still maintaining control, trying to scrub off speed and judge our intersection point. Dropped from 50 to 20. She crossed in front of us about 5, maybe 10 feet, still at full sprint. All within a few seconds. The good thing is that training of emergency stops paid off; and I kept my head; it was almost going in slow motion. The nerves and heart rate hit after. That's as close as I want to come!

Glad your's' wasn't any worse than scratches and dents.

I ride with my kids on board a lot. We use SENA 20S communicators. We see deer ALL the time. At first, the kids would just scream, "deer!", whenever they saw one. I finally got them to understand that this was NOT helpful!! Now they scream, "deer right!", or "deer left!". That is MUCH more helpful!! :lol2:

I've hit two deer. I survived one impact relatively unscathed. The second resulted in a broken ankle that had to be screwed back together. It's not fun.
 
I have noticed and learned quickly from my monthly hill country rides that the most experienced riders bacically call a hault to the typically fast paced ridding and proceed forward slowly because where theres one deer, more are surely to follow. And just like dogs, deer lose their minds at the site and sound of motorcycles.
 
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