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SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> First Wreck!! /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1282060096 Message started by bufbills on 08/17/10 at 08:48:16 |
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Title: First Wreck!! Post by bufbills on 08/17/10 at 08:48:16 Hey guys, Last Monday, while riding to town, i looked down at my speedo because the traffic in front of me was only going about 45 in the 55 mph zone that we were in. By the time i looked up, all i saw was brake lights, and while trying to slow , i ended up locking up my brakes and lost it, rolling at least 30 ft. on pavement! Lots of road rash, a few cracked ribs, and a sprained wrist later, I feel truly lucky. I made a rookie mistake and was fortunate not to have paid too great a price. I was wearing short sleeves and short pants. OUCH!!!!! The bike is ok, and ill be riding again soon.(with sleeves and jeans!!!!) Ride safe!! |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by PerrydaSavage on 08/17/10 at 09:00:00 Glad you're OK dude! I sincerely hope that the sleeves you intend to wear when you heal and climb back on are of the thick leather variety, or at least good motorcycle-grade textile with elbow & shoulder armor ... Ride Safe ... |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by bufbills on 08/17/10 at 09:06:00 oh yea! i plan on buying a nice summer mesh type jacket and ofcourse my leather when it cools off some. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by Serowbot on 08/17/10 at 09:35:21 Got lucky, and learned a few good lessons... That's a good first dump... Glad you're okay... ;)... Speedy healing to you... ;)... |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by Skid Mark on 08/17/10 at 09:50:54 It can happen pretty quick. I've never been a fan of the spedo on the gas tank. I use a gps mounted on the handle bars. Good to hear your are ok. Heal quick!!!!! |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by babyhog on 08/17/10 at 09:59:42 Wow, I'm also glad to hear you are ok. As bad as we hate it, it is useful for us to share these stories... we all learn from each other's mistakes. Heal quick! |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by J2 on 08/17/10 at 10:16:51 It is all a learning experience, but more importantly, it is how much of that experience we retain. I have had five mishaps over 40+ years of riding ... walked away from all because I saw them coming in time to get the speed down and, in all cases but one, leave the bike. From my road rash, I learned to wear mesh with armor. From the situation you describe (been there, done that), I learned to lay way off the cager ahead of me. Here's one that few people notice: You are at a stop light. Cars (cagers) are lined up, bumper-to-bumper, waiting for the light to change. One car decides to enter traffic turning right on red (legal in a lot of states). The car behind him elects to follow out into traffic. You are on the bike behind the guy following the right turner. You pull ahead, but suddenly the follower decides he does not have enough space to get out into traffic and slams on brakes. At a stop light, everyone lines up close, never considering a safe interval. Therefore, you don't even have time to touch your brakes, and you eat some bumper. You aren't going fast, but the pavement is hard. Your pride is hurt, and your bike is scratched up (about those plastic turn signals). Lesson: At a stop light, whenever all the cars are ducks in a line, leave yourself some reaction space. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by CeliaMarie on 08/17/10 at 10:49:25 7A02300 wrote:
Thank you! |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by Tanker2Biker on 08/17/10 at 10:54:05 +1 on the GLAD YOU'RE OK message. also +1 on the LEAVE ALL THE ROOM YOU CAN message. I also use a GPS on the handle bars because it lets me see the speed only moving my eyes, not my whole head. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by DangMan on 08/17/10 at 14:34:28 Ouch :-/ Glad u r ok 8-) |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by bill67 on 08/17/10 at 15:24:11 When your in traffic it doesn't matter how fast you are going go with the flow,Do the same in a car too. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by drharveys on 08/17/10 at 16:02:51 Heal up and learn! |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by marine5317 on 08/17/10 at 16:55:06 Glad to hear that you were able to walk away. Heal fast. "Bag Balm" in the square green can at WalMart is great stuff for cuts and road rash. Roger Miller said it so well in his song, " You can't roller-skate in a Buffalo herd" Ride Safe Marine5317 |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by BuckHMCC on 08/17/10 at 20:24:40 It's surely a good practice to leave a lot of space (4 seconds or so) between you and the vehicle you're following. It makes you more visible to oncoming traffic . If quick stopping must be done it allows you to brake less dramatically which gives the distracted knucklehead following too closely behind you a chance to avoid running you down. My thinking was that a tank mounted speedo was a bad idea in terms of keeping my eyes on the road. So I put a wired bicycle computer on the handlebars. It helps keep my eyes up and forward. Also shows distance since last fill-up, max and avg speeds, and the like. Happier riding to you! ;) |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by bufbills on 08/18/10 at 02:23:31 thanks for all of the kind words!! (and good advice) im definitely looking into an alternative speedo. Things happen very quickly out there. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by stinger on 08/18/10 at 02:26:47 wHATS ALL THIS FIRST WRECK STUFF!?? MAKE IT YOUR LAST WRECK |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by Charon on 08/18/10 at 05:18:50 Unfortunately, the only way to guarantee it will be the LAST motorcycle wreck is to never ride again. And even that isn't foolproof, because you cannot guarantee someone on a motorcycle won't hit you. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by Jerry Eichenberger on 08/18/10 at 05:52:07 Bufbills - When you buy that jacket, get a very brightly colored one like yellow or red. Don't get a black or gray one. Same for your helemt if you need a new one - bright and colorful, not black. We all need to be seen as well as see others. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by mornhm - FSO on 08/18/10 at 07:26:16 Glad you have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. One lesson to be learned is that you need to know how to stop in a hurry without putting your MC and yourself on the ground. Once you learn the correct technique, practice, practice, practice till it becomes second nature. Then when you come up on brake lights because you have been gathering wool, looking at your speedo, distracted by that ..., whatever, your response will be to stop NOW without dumping yourself on the ground. Hope you heal fast and get back on your MC. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by cursal on 08/18/10 at 07:26:52 wishing you a speedy recovery. Glad you walked away "okay" Safer riding and lessons learned |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by Starlifter on 08/18/10 at 09:38:45 ATGATT...if it's too hot for the gear, it's too hot to ride. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by Phelonius on 08/18/10 at 09:56:20 I guess you are lucky you didn't go through a wire fence, you might have strained yourself. Phelonius ;) |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by runwyrlph on 08/18/10 at 15:44:18 764E434A49484F5355260 wrote:
;D ;D ;D i love good pun! |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by kimchris1 on 08/18/10 at 21:13:44 +1 in agreement with Starlifter :) |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by james may on 08/20/10 at 18:40:37 Sorry to heAr about your wreck hope you heal up soon and glad your not dead. Yeah the tank mount speedo is the only part that makes the savag not the perfect beginner bike. Otherwise low center of gravity light weight and low hp make it perfect. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by qp on 08/23/10 at 19:06:19 6C5B4D4566636D6D2E0 wrote:
This has been my only substantial complaint about my s40 (and many other bikes,) the tank-mounted speedo is a very bad idea. Will you please go into your "bicycle computer" with a little more information. I would like to have something that does not require me to look down. thanks. |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by DrunkenDwarf on 08/23/10 at 19:25:14 7372636169637066020 wrote:
I use a Cateye Velo 5 (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/411). Trip meter to remind me to get gas, mph, clock, etc. All on the bars. Easy to set up, easy to use. Any "bicycle computer" will work, just make sure to get one that'll handle high speeds. Some of them will only do 30 or 40 mph. -D. Dwarf |
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Title: Re: First Wreck!! Post by BuckHMCC on 08/23/10 at 20:06:27 I use a Sigma model (BC906, $30) that has been discontinued, but their Web site http://www.sigmasport.com/en/produkte/bikecomputer/ shows several candidates. You want a wired model. Like DrunkenDwarf says above, make sure your choice can handle high speeds. I mounted my display on the center of the handlebars. The sender is a small metal disc, strongly magnetic, that I mounted on front brake rotor (used a small drop of glue for back-up). I used zip ties to mount the small receiver on the left front fork tube. I calibrated it by measuring the distance travelled by the front tire in two revolutions, divided by 2, and entered that into the computer (wheel size). It's dead accurate according to the roadside you-are-going-this-fast-according-to-police-radar displays. The stock speedo reads 3-5 mph higher than this bike computer. There's no illumination, but I rarely ride at night, so it's not an issue for me. Anyways fiddling with it to make it light up would defeat the purpose of helping keep my eyes on the road. I suppose you could rig an LED to illuminate it off the stock speedo light if it were important. It has a speedometer, odometer, total engine hours, trip hours, trip distance, time of day, trip avg speed, max speed (mine reads 77.88 mph). When my trip distance hits 100 it's time to look for gas. Entire installation and calibration took about an hour. If you do a Search on All Posts on this forum you'll find photos of other installs. That's how I got started. ;) For example, http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1183653316 |
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