Started motorcycling nearly 30 years ago with no spills. Until 2 weeks ago, I fell off my Multistrada whilst pulling off the driveway. Amazingly the bike doesn't have a single scratch on it, but my foot now has 4 screws and pin holding it together. Doc says no weight bearing for 3 months, great! P.S. Anyone want a secondhand Multistrada?
Never on the road ( god I must be slow ) but a few times off road showing off doing wheelies when my son was impressionable. Been riding on and off for 45 years.
Been riding 41 years. After an adding up a few years ago it came to 76 times. The majority of these on the track, 5 over 100 mph, worst season was 14 offs. 12 on the road, mostly when I was a brainless young 'un but not all. Only time I have dumped a Ducati (touch wood) was about 10 years ago on a 900ss trying to slide the back out of corners on a road I thought I knew well. I got the sequence of corners mixed up and barrel rolled it into a field. Rode it home but I don't really remember doing it. Next day (off sick) looked at it. Every panel, tank, clocks, forks bent, headstock cracked, no back brake caliper, buckled wheel. Sold the few undamaged bits off. Slightly more sensible now I hope, but it will probably get me in the end. OGR
I reckoned about a dozen times, so I made a little table. Indeed, there are 13 times I am certain about. There may be one or two more. Most had attenuating circumstances but some didn't. Nearly all were low-sides of one sort or another and only one involved another vehicle. Only one hospital visit but it was just road rash; never been hospitalised or broken a bone. But then after I'd gone through about 3 pairs of jeans, I started wearing leathers all the time, otherwise I suspect things would have been quite different. I've had 12 bikes in 30 odd years and fallen off 7 off them, plus one that wasn't mine (my first off, riding my mate's 400/Four with him on the back: tightened a line to avoid a puddle and the tyres gave up on a damp country road. He was very gracious about it.) On the plus side, I haven't fallen off for the last 10 years or so, but I probably ride faster. And better.
Well from 17 to 40, of which c5 years I wasnt riding, I had two accidents which were just grass tracking. Did a few trackdays, no accidents, not even grass cutting. Started racing at 40...accident 1st trackday trying new bike, second race ever, test day two race weekends later, 2 the following year over 12 races and 10 test days, 2 the following year over 3 race weekends...2 on trackdays in last 6 months on new bike.
I just remember (on a similar, non-bike related comparison exercise, age 12) saying "I've never broken any bones" - I fell off a horse a fortnight later and broke my arm! So I can see where finm is coming from in not wanting to tempt fate/Murphy's law!
3 track offs at Cadwell, Donny and the Ring, 4 road crashes (2 in '76 with the last in '94) and 2 standstill fall-overs (the last in 2011 and the most embarrassing!). Fingers crossed that's my quota?
Lost count of how times I've come off....most recently last year.....cost me 2.2k to go 500 yards up the road on my mates r6 when a little old lady hit the brakes in front of me...plus 700 for the carbon fibre Simpson....shitter...
Hmm, twice to date for me. Once a no more than 5mph drop as I came out of a garage. That was pretty embarrassing, rush hour traffic on an A road near home and I ended up in the middle of the road rolling around like an upturned turtle under the bike. Not satisfied with only a few scratches I then had a proper go at it....insurance assessor apparently went as far as £8k in repairs before they stopped and told me it was a write off. Still have a fairly hefty dent in my shin, no idea what I bounced off to do that (there was quite a lot to choose from) but thank god I was properly suited and booted at the time or I think it would have been a lot worse! Worst part of that was being slumped on the side of the road with 2 old ladies I'd almost hit coming the other way giving me the good cop, bad cop routine. Pretty gutted at the time, it did however lead me to getting a Ducati though so every cloud and all. That's in 4 years so far....
Plenty of offs for me, all in my younger years. In thinking about this I've realised that all but one were my fault, and in all the ones that were my fault I manged to wrestle the bike down to near walking pace before inspecting the flora. The one that wasn't my fault was a biggie, though. Perhaps the newer riders should think about this. People will say that everyone else on the road is out to get you - they're wrong - your biggest enemy is you. Learn to ride right. Like I didn't
Isn't falling off a right of passage in a way. I know that nobody wants to fall off and for some, that one time will be the last thing they ever do. Personally I've been off a few times, track and road. Thankfully only one big one
It probably is mathematically inevitable given enough time in the saddle. When you have all had these big incidents, can you remember the feeling of having your brain re-boot? Like there is a distinct gap between 'I am having the accident' and 'I had the accident'. It's not a period of unconsciousness (unless you're unlucky) but instead, a moment where your brain does a fingers and toes check, a little like how a windows PC used to start up counting the RAM. I find this re-boot funny every time it happens to me. It happens after every incident too! Getting blown up, shot, crashing the car, falling of the bike, getting in a fight.
No, that's wrong. The more time you spend in the saddle the safer you get. I became a safer rider when I was dispatching, and that is quite simply because I knew more, knew how to brake safely, knew how to deal with mid-corner obstructions, etc. Trouble is, I don't think there's a good alternative to simply putting in the miles. I'm certainly a much less confident rider now I only ride on high days and holidays, although that may just be a consequence of age.
For me the big one went something think this (car turned right in front of me) ....stay there...don't move you bastard....is he moving...fuck he's moving...NO! NO! fuck...fuck, Im dead. First impact. See the windscreen, see the streetlights, see the petrol station. Second impact (ground)....quickly followed by third impact (parked car)........fuck....fuck I'm alive....ouch, arrgghhh, try to get up...cant get up...why cant I move my left arm.....fuck this.......i'll just lie here if that's okay with you......Sarah is going to pissed with me
