Any two wheelers out there?

[kerry4]

Anyone have any good crash stories? NO sad endings, please!
My most memorable was.....group ride, all the twisties we could find in 1 evening. About 10 of us, all sport bikes. Little straight stretch, I run it up to about a buck sixty (kph). Another tight corner with a yellow, 30kph sign......coming at me in a hurry. I scrubbed off all the speed possible......leaned it to the left with everything I had..........not enough. My shoulder, collerbone, and 5 ribs were not impressed. Bike was fine. It ended up in a parked position, in a ditch, with only scratches (750GSXR).
Me....not so much.
With what must have been strictly adrenaline, I rode it home 1hr10m.
Cost me 8 weeks of riding. I was 54 at the time.
Happened on the forks of the credit, for anyone who knows the area.

Been to the Forks of the Credit a number of times. Took my Porsche there once and kept up with the bikes pretty good. Strangely the locals like to keep that road to themselves and call the cops all the time.
Have lost many friends from my biking circles over the years. They were all sad stories but the last guy that got killed was really tragic. He was an excellent track rider and very safe. Then one day he took his bicycle out for a ride and was in his bike lane and some woman who was texting on her phone drifted over into his lane and ran over him. He was in a coma for a few days before they removed life support. Left a wife and two year old child behind. Every time I see some inconsiderate driver on their phone I get a bit upset. Only takes a second for things to go bad. I have had a few close calls myself from people like this. They just don't get it.

 

[AxeZ06]

Rruff......glad you're here to reminisce and hopefulle get a chuckle or 2 from it. Nice bikes too.....the 'ole Z1 900 / widowmaker! I had a 75 KZ 900 way back. Psycho bikes for sure, and mine was a 4 stroke.....those 2 strokes MADE riders out of young men!

Kerry....heading towards #10, there's one final switchback, the left, then a right, just before the hilly / straight part. I binned it on the left. Rode it home from there, back to Hamilton...lol.
I've lost too many to count, rather not discuss.
I hammered the Vet on the fotc from #10 west, playing with a GTR in the summer. Fun. But not even half the fun it'll be if / when I buy the FJR.

 

[kerry4]

Rruff......glad you're here to reminisce and hopefulle get a chuckle or 2 from it. Nice bikes too.....the 'ole Z1 900 / widowmaker! I had a 75 KZ 900 way back. Psycho bikes for sure, and mine was a 4 stroke.....those 2 strokes MADE riders out of young men!

Kerry....heading towards #10, there's one final switchback, the left, then a right, just before the hilly / straight part. I binned it on the left. Rode it home from there, back to Hamilton...lol.
I've lost too many to count, rather not discuss.
I hammered the Vet on the fotc from #10 west, playing with a GTR in the summer. Fun. But not even half the fun it'll be if / when I buy the FJR.

Ah, the famous widow maker. I remember those. FJR is a phenomenal bike. Comfort and storage and handling. Don't get any better than that.

 

[kerry4]

Two of the most important things in my life. My bike and my wife. No wait I meant my wife and then my bike. Fruedian slip there. LOL.

 

[61ratvette]

hey guys ride them all year don't have a problem . have this one for summer and winter 2016 yz450f with 2018 timbersled aro track and a 1987 electric glide that my buddies ask when im upgrading it.. bike been to Sturgis 12 times and Daytona bike week once..

 

[Tourmax]

Nasty one Axe.... I was 20. Worked at a bike dealer in NS. Had an RD350 2 stroke Yamaha... Go like snot if you could keep the wheel on the ground. Never has any mishaps at all for 2 years... Then a Z1 900 Kawasaki for a short time until I scared the hell out of myself too often...Damn those things were fast for the time... Then sold it and got a complimentary dealership bike. XS650 Yamaha. Set it up in the shop, wrote out a temp registration, called insurance company to start insurance. Hopped on at lunch and took it down the road to the service station. Filled up with gas and started back to work. This is old Hwy 2 from Dartmouth to Truro. 50 mph speed limit... Coming back towards the Red and White grocery store, there was a car in front of me and a couple behind me and an oncoming red toyota turning left into the store. Stopped, signal light on.... It let the car in front of me go by, then turned directly in front of me... 15 feet and me at 50 mph... You think of a lot of things just before impact... I hit her perfect broad side dead center. Guy behind me said I hit on the roof line and went over the car. I remember rolling and sliding down the pavement thinking holy $hit... I'm gonna live through this. As bad luck has it, my bike spun the car around and then tumbled after me and ended up in the ditch landing on me before it continued a ways further. I remember the woman (driver of the toyota) standing over me crying and apologizing... I started to stand up and when my legs started to take my weight it all went black. Next thing I knew I woke on a hospital bed with my dad standing over me telling me he had warned me about those GD Damn motorcycles... lol... Broken pelvis, broken collar bone, and lots of asphalt and gravel rash. Bike was totalled with 6 miles showing on the odometer.

Once I healed up, I decided to go a different route and bought a 75 MX400 Yamaha and took up motocross racing... That lasted one season... Those guys are freaking crazy and that sport is really hard on an already abused body...lol... Sold it and my 340 Duster, met a girl and moved with her to her home town, Red Deer, Alberta... End of story...

Stock photo as never had the opportunity to take a pic of mine... lol
View attachment 35070

Bike shop eh? Wasn’t “Triple E Yamaha” on Kempt road was it? Spent many a day in there drooling over the FJ1100’s....

I used to race RD350’s out at Shubie when I was a pup. Truth was I was a better builder than a rider. After turning several really nice bikes into balls of crushed metal, I gave it up.

The crash that actually made me give it up was a low side get off.

Into a corner with a couple other riders, cooking hard. Guys in front of me suddenly deeked left and right and I was starring at an oil spot in front of me. No time to go anywhere, all I could do it hit it and hope. Hit it and I felt the bike start to slip out from under me. I knew there was no saving it, so I just opened my hands and let go of the bars. People who saw said I was flying through the air for a second like I was still on a bike, almost “cartoonishly“ funny.

Left knee hit first, then along the left side of my body. Then the rolling started. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but it was more of a full body tumble than a sideways roll.

I remeber seeing sky, ground, sky, ground, sky - oh look, there goes an expansion chamber flying by- ground, sky, ground - oh joy, here comes my crotch to hit me in the face again- sky, ground, etc.

Then I’m sliding on my back, helmet and leathers taking the abuse instead of my skin and meat. I soon feel like I’ve stopped sliding and try to plant my feet to stand up - whoops, still sliding and now that my feet are dug in, up my body goes, straight over and down onto my face with a loud CRACK!

Slide a little more and end up face down in the dirt/grass, body crammed up against a hay bail.

I wait a moment, not wanting to repeat the olympic level gymnastic “flip” I had just experienced, and try to get up. OK, no flip this time. Everything is sore, but everything seems to work right and nothing seems to be broken.

I slowly take off my helmet, super focused on any indication of pain in the neck/spine area. Once off, I give it a look over. Face shield is split in half and ground mostly away Back of the helmet, fiberglass is ground away right down to the foam insert. Left knee is gone in my leathers, slider puck and all. I can see the white of the bone that is my kneecap. Strangely, the bleeding has already stopped. It doesn’t hurt anymore and I can actually tap the bone with my finger. The doubled leather on my back is now one layer and the elbows are gone out of the suit. Looks like the knee is the only “soft bit” casualty.

The bike is a little further up the corner, also crammed into a hay bail. Unbelievably, the bike is actually still running, laying on its side and put-putting away, it’s rear wheel spinning in some kind of crazy “tilt a whirl” arc.

I wobble over and hit the kill switch. I look the bike over. Literally nothing is going to be salvageable. Frame is twisted up like a twizzler, transmission case has a hole in it, more than half the engines cooling fins are broken off and pretty much everything else is so damaged, it’s nearly unrecognizable.

People back at the pits are commenting that was the worst crash they’ve seen in a long time. Everyone was sure I was going to be busted up beyond belief. Paramedics clear me, but insist I go to emerg to be checked over by a doc, just in case. Not to mention, to have the knee injury further dealt with.

That was the day I decided I was going to stop racing and stick to building them and “energetic” street riding...

 

[AxeZ06]

Great story Tourmax. Coming out of a crash like that with only kneezles, is a good thing! Imagine not wearing gear?

 

[kerry4]

Great story Tourmax. Glad you came out of it better than you could have.
Yamaha RD350 eh. That was a cool wheelie machine. Liquid cooled too right? Never rode one but a guy at our shop had one many years ago. Awesome bike.

 

[Rruuff Day]

Bike shop eh? Wasn’t “Triple E Yamaha” on Kempt road was it? Spent many a day in there drooling over the FJ1100’s....

I used to race RD350’s out at Shubie when I was a pup. Truth was I was a better builder than a rider. After turning several really nice bikes into balls of crushed metal, I gave it up.

The crash that actually made me give it up was a low side get off.

Into a corner with a couple other riders, cooking hard. Guys in front of me suddenly deeked left and right and I was starring at an oil spot in front of me. No time to go anywhere, all I could do it hit it and hope. Hit it and I felt the bike start to slip out from under me. I knew there was no saving it, so I just opened my hands and let go of the bars. People who saw said I was flying through the air for a second like I was still on a bike, almost “cartoonishly“ funny.

Left knee hit first, then along the left side of my body. Then the rolling started. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but it was more of a full body tumble than a sideways roll.

I remeber seeing sky, ground, sky, ground, sky - oh look, there goes an expansion chamber flying by- ground, sky, ground - oh joy, here comes my crotch to hit me in the face again- sky, ground, etc.

Then I’m sliding on my back, helmet and leathers taking the abuse instead of my skin and meat. I soon feel like I’ve stopped sliding and try to plant my feet to stand up - whoops, still sliding and now that my feet are dug in, up my body goes, straight over and down onto my face with a loud CRACK!

Slide a little more and end up face down in the dirt/grass, body crammed up against a hay bail.

I wait a moment, not wanting to repeat the olympic level gymnastic “flip” I had just experienced, and try to get up. OK, no flip this time. Everything is sore, but everything seems to work right and nothing seems to be broken.

I slowly take off my helmet, super focused on any indication of pain in the neck/spine area. Once off, I give it a look over. Face shield is split in half and ground mostly away Back of the helmet, fiberglass is ground away right down to the foam insert. Left knee is gone in my leathers, slider puck and all. I can see the white of the bone that is my kneecap. Strangely, the bleeding has already stopped. It doesn’t hurt anymore and I can actually tap the bone with my finger. The doubled leather on my back is now one layer and the elbows are gone out of the suit. Looks like the knee is the only “soft bit” casualty.

The bike is a little further up the corner, also crammed into a hay bail. Unbelievably, the bike is actually still running, laying on its side and put-putting away, it’s rear wheel spinning in some kind of crazy “tilt a whirl” arc.

I wobble over and hit the kill switch. I look the bike over. Literally nothing is going to be salvageable. Frame is twisted up like a twizzler, transmission case has a hole in it, more than half the engines cooling fins are broken off and pretty much everything else is so damaged, it’s nearly unrecognizable.

People back at the pits are commenting that was the worst crash they’ve seen in a long time. Everyone was sure I was going to be busted up beyond belief. Paramedics clear me, but insist I go to emerg to be checked over by a doc, just in case. Not to mention, to have the knee injury further dealt with.

That was the day I decided I was going to stop racing and stick to building them and “energetic” street riding...

Nope on the Triple E but knew of them. Was Steif Sports out in Wellington on the old #2 highway. Half way between Fall River and Enfield. Ski-doo snowmobiles, Chrysler Marine, Yamahas and Can-Ams. Use to display at Atlantic Motorsport Park just outside of Shubie whenever there was a bike event. I remember when Steve Baker came up from Washington the year or so before he started racing for the Yamaha team. Would have been about 1975 or 6... Guy was an amazing racer. HD had their team there as well and Baker blew the field away in all classes. Almost every lap he made he would come out of the last corner onto the home stretch, lift the front wheel up at 45 degrees and power down the stretch in front of the grandstands... That was a crowd pleaser.... lol... Baker is still around. He has a Yamaha dealership now in Washington. Super nice guy.

 

[Tourmax]

Ah, 1975 is a little before my time at shubie. I raced around 1983-84.

 

[Gummiente]

I've had many bikes over the years (BSA, Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph, Dnepr, Ural, Harley) but always seem to come back to Harley. Had a moment of weakness last summer when I thought I could step away from 37yrs of riding and traded my 2015 Road Glide for a new 2018 Jeep and hung up the helmet. Forgot that I worked at a Harley dealer, though, and a few months later when this MINT 2003 Super Glide came in on trade, well, I could not resist...