damn you were lucky I did time trialling on my cycle and was taken out by a car whilst out training. clio overtook me and before she had cleared me saw a parking bay on the left..slewing into the bay and taking me with her. relatively unhurt but its a bugger when your feet are clipped in and you cant get them undone before you hit the deck
Few little bumps in the early eighties (teenager getting the hang of biking), then nothing until Feb 2000. I'm on the tarted up 916 that I posted a picture of in my welcome thread, had owned & loved the bike for over 4 years, spent a fortune on it. 78 year old who could only read a number plate at 3.5m pulls out in front of me point blank in a 60mph limit. 916 absolutely destroyed (graded cat b, no point in cat a I was told), car written off & I needed a major rebuild on the NHS! 13 years on & my neck can cope with a Ducati again! Blind in my right eye, a special diet & not the best right shoulder or knees but bloody lucky to still be here
Sorry about the crash. No doubt you have learned from that experience that having your feet clipped in to the vehicle so you can't get them undone is a really bad idea.
hit a car towing a caravan who did a right turn on me wile i was overtaking him as he was pulled over to the side of the road , flew 40 feet broke both legs part of my spine my left hand and skined my arse , gave the ambulance driver a heart attack as what he did not know was my gran had given me a big bag of ripe tomatoes to take home for me mum , as as we all know the best way to carry stuff on a bike is to put it in your jacket , so when he opend my jacket up the tomatoes spilled out pricless so i spent 4 months in traction then 4 months in plaster and i still have the limp to remind me of not to trust caravners, or old people or young people or anybody driving a car
I know!! Let alone those about to venture back out again I'm trying to avoid this thread but as I'm nosey.....
Crickey - you lot do seem rather accident prone. Like someone said, you wouldn't want to give this thread to a newbie to read - or would you? It might not do them any harm to realise how prevalent it is to get hit/clipped/make an error. Nothing for me so far. Had one v. near one, but managed to save it. Had to lean on the side of a moving articulated lorry for balance whilst doing about 80mph in the rain when I lost the front braking! A car driver ahead of us did something erratic, just as I was moving to his side (I was behind) to see if I could see past to overtake. Conditions were awful, and neither of us could see that well clearly. Then he saw someone do something, and the lorry just hit the anchors, which with 18 large tyres and air brakes meant he decelerated rather faster than I could. I ended up having to go down the side of him as I just couldn't brake that hard in that wet..... so had to go to the side or I would have gone straight into the back of him. Then I saw the oncoming car, which meant the gap was tight enough, then the front locked, so I released the brake, leant on the arctic for balance and slid along the side of him as he continued to brake. Then rode out of the gap at the front ahead of him with him still doing about 40pmh..... Then I pulled over about 100 yards down the road and had a small moment to myself. It took the mirror off the bike and left a scar on the tail unit, and took the elbow out of my leathers - but otherwise all OK. One of my nine lives that day..... But it was still my fault really as I didn't give myself an escape route. So when he did something I didn't expect, I was compromised. I always remember that one...... Some of your incidents sound horrendous though - especially the "got rear ended when stationary" types! FFS - even if you are careful there isn't much you can do about that. Sobering thought......
1st - Filtering through stationary traffic, dozy passenger in car decided she didn't want to wait and flung the door open just in front of me. 2nd - Hit on side by a bloke in a car who couldn't be arsed to look before changing lane in to mine. No insurance or road tax. He refused to give me his details so I sat on his bonnet until the Police turned up.
Amazing. Given your mileage, and pace, I would have put you down for half a dozen at least. Just because you're lucky doesn't mean you can get complacent!
Riding along Upper Thames Street in the City of London, an idiot taxi passenger suddenly opened the taxi door in front of me knocking me off. No injuries, and a following biker stopped to give me his details as a witness (very useful in the following litigation). A month later I was in The Highway, Wapping and witnessed a collision between a biker and a pushbike. Stopped to give my details to the biker, who turned out to be the same guy who had been a witness for me before. What goes around comes around!
Three times, 1st time a taxi, double parked in a bus lane, did a U Turn in a 1 way street (trying to skip the 1 way system as it was Sunday evening). He didn't look as I came round a 90 degree bend at 30mph. I stepped off the bike. His fault as there were 2 witnesses. Second time a transit following Sat Nav in Clapham pulled across the front of me, right to left across 3 lanes and clipped my front wheel. he was in the turn right/go straight lane and moved to the turn left. Didn't even realise and drove off. Bizarrely he went a filter lane only to carry on straight on the original way he was heading. I ran after the van, tried to flag it down, but couldn't catch it. I got the plate and they admitted liability. Last time I was stationary at a round about. The tool behind me just drove into me. He jumped out and started threatening everyone, including the witnesses and my father (who was 1 car behind him with my new tyres in the car). When he wanted to brush it under the carpet, I said my bike may be bent, he said "Well I don't know do I? I've never hit a bike before, only cars." He then stupidly admitted liability to the police by saying: "I was looking right and thought I could go, then bang! I looked in front of me and the bike hadn't gone. It was his fault because he didn't go. He shouldn't have been there." The officer just nodded and wrote it all down.
I was rear-ended on the bike once, the tiniest nudge of my plate, really gentle. I was waiting at a side junction to turn right and join the main road. I crept forward about six inches and then decided not to risk the oncoming traffic ... van driver behind dinked me. I got off the bike and was going to check the damage ... Van driver: I thought you were going to go! Me: It wasn't worth waiting and seeing? No damage at all. ***** I had a lucky escape on a roundabout. I was in the inside lane, crossing over the roundabout ... car driving matey was in the outside lane and suddenly headed for the next exit after mine! I just saw that he was going to broadside me and gave the bike a big handful. Glad I did! Muppet clipped my plate and sent me in a slightly different direction but fortunately I had the momentum to get clear. Major brick moment. When I got home I saw that the plate holder bracket had been snapped in two.
Had many low speed spills due to youthful exuberance, including T boning car coming out of a side road which was not my fault, which landed an overnight stay in hospital. Minor concussion and bruised kidney. Had an intravenous kidney xray, which involved an injected dye, very strange feeling of heat coursing through the body as the injection went in, don't think they do that anymore these days. Best incident involved a policeman and was not exactly a spill. Very many years ago, got lucky with a girl in a bar and offered her a spin on the bike, came out of the pub after 2 pints and a little bit more. Got on the bike with said girl ( she did not have a helmet and we were just going to have a quick spin round the block ) and about to set off when approached by policeman. He said son stop the engine and get off. Bike was parked facing down a slight hill, so stopped engine, engaged neutral, bike rolled forward few inches onto his foot, it got wedged in, could not roll back due to girl, hill..............cannot remember what happened next after that due to combination of panic and hilarity. But amazingly got off without even a caution. Not to be recommended under any circumstances nowadays, don't drink if riding, always wear helmets, do not annoy policemen, and above all do not offer rides to girls in bars.
Yes, a van pulled into my path in October last year... made a right mess of my knee and my bike, and I had a 2 month concussion (at least that's what doctors called it) also damaged discs in my neck amongst other injuries! The other party have only just, this week admitted fault. And strangely, my bike isn't a write off, even though it is irrepairable?
In 30 years I've been hospitalised six times though biking accidents. Two have involved third parties in cars. 1. Age 16. Trying to avoid a rabbit in the road (honestly!). AP50 was a bit bent and scratched. 2. Age 16. A car turned right without indicating as I was overtaking. Being so young and with so little experience I didn't see the risk. The driver admitted liability and settled without insurance. AP50 was just a bit more bent and scratched. 3. In my early 20s. Overdid it going round a bend. ZZR600 a write off. 4. Eight years ago. Highsided on a bend on new tyres on way home having just collected brand new bike from dealer - the last 998FE in the country - written off (luckily I had gap insurance!) 5. Six years ago. SMIDSY pulled out of t-junction into my path. I laid the bike down so it didn't hit her car, but I did - head first. Her insurance paid-up. 6. Five years ago. Outbraked myself at Lodge whilst racing in DD at Oulton Park. The only time I have broken bones. Wrist is now a bit f*cked. Looking at the pattern, I think statistically I may be due another :tongue:
When you have to lay the bike down, the idea is to low-side and "throw the bike at the crash" so that the bike has the collision while you sit on the road and watch. I only ever managed to pull this off once, on Brixton Hill. Nowadays with ABS brakes, I'm not sure it is even feasible any more.
