Another one Bites the Dust

[iCruze]

It was on 29 Apr 2011 I joined the crash club...I picked up a co-worker and we headed out for lunch. After I gave her my spare helmet, gloves and Joe Rocket Mesh armored jacket we headed out. She had ridden before and so I kept the brief short do what I do lean when I lean and sit still at red lights. We took off and within 2 miles the fun had begun. We went into a long sweeper and things were good at first then she got scared sat opposite of the turn veering us straight for the guardrail. I leaned like I have never leaned before miraculously recovering and began thinking about the new and expanded safety brief I would give when she got scared again and put her foot into the asphalt. From that I could not recover. We went into the desert and the fun and games began. She shattered her leg below her knee and is still in the hospital.

Gear review her: Joe Rocket mesh jacket looked new until medics cut it off she had no road rash and all the nurses and docs were amazed at the minimal amount of bruising and the complete lack of road rash. Scorpion helmet no major head injuries other than a concussion and the face shield came off. Gloves tour-master winter gloves still usable look brand new after a wash.

Gear review me: Air Force Issue utility uniform shirt blood stains no rips washed with peroxide and all top looks brand new. Pants large hole seen in photos below. gloves tour master summer street bike gloves left glove MIA right glove held up great. Icon helmet did great saved my life air vents gone and major scratching did not penetrate exterior layer of helmet. My injuries include, concussion, bruising on left buttocks along with road rash, bruised/sprained left wrist, bruised left knee and road rash across right fore arm

Pics of bike and my injuries:

Adjuster comes out next week you think they can repair?

 

[ahchiu]

Man, Sorry to hear this, I hope recover soon. I don't know what to say about the gal sitting upright, I remember when I took my wife out she did the same thing and I layed into her, "Never do that..your going to get us killed" we were only going around town so no mishaps, the next day she said to herself "If this is the way I'm going to die so be it" she was so relaxed I did not feel her on back. Anyway I hope both of you have a speedy recovery, and yes the bike can be fixed.. with a big fat check from the insurance company.

 

[Eric L]

Wow, glad you are relatively OK and more importantly, your passenger is OK. I think after her first 'mistake' I would have slowed way down and puttered along..... but you know, hindsight is always 20-20.

Looks like your bike is toast - to make it 'as good as new' would cost a ton of money. But you never know. They rebuilt my wife's minivan for $7500 when it was only worth $10K - stupid thing to do, but it saved them $2500.

 

[Mount Rainier]

Shaking my head and feeling relieved at the same time. Be careful out there.

Hoping you're both on the path to a positive recovery very soon.

Keep Going!

 

[Tree Doc]

That'll buff right out.

Ask how much they want for that El Camino?

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Glad you are alive man. A foot dab by the passenger <<shaking head>>. Wow, just wow.

Somebody will come along and tell you to wear ATGATT, but I can't throw the first stone. As for the bike, think it'll buff out?

Heal up.

EDIT: Tree Doc beat me to the buff line. He's faster than me...

 

[wfooshee]

"She had ridden before."

Ridden what? Had she ridden with you, or on the back of a cruiser at 35 in a 55 zone? It sounds like you went past her comfort level and even ignored a warning that you had done so. Sorry to be critical, but truly glad it didn't come out worse.

And forget the El Camino. GM from that time period sucks raw egg!

 

[iCruze]

She had ridden cruisers, we were moving along at 45 but the lean scared the crap out of her; along with the cars flying by us we were in a 55 zone. I wanted to pull over after the first shimmy but we were on a bridge slowed down the best I could but I was surrounded by cages it was not fun.

 

[bramfrank]

Passengers are the big X factor - the good news is you'll heal. The bad news is that your bike it going to be scrapped by the insurance company;

Then again, maybe you can profit by selling some bits off it . . . .

 

[exskibum]

Bike looks like a total loss. Her leg sounds bad. Surprised the Joe Rocket mesh jacket held up so well. I'll bet she will never get on another bike again, and that's probably a good thing for her and for anyone offering her a ride.

You probably learned more about taking a novice pillion for a ride than any of us can tell you. I guess I learned something, too. In that situation, I'm pretty thorough about what she needs to do, not to do and what the risks are. BUT . . . frankly, I've never considered that I'd have to warn a pillion about the dangers of putting a foot down. YIKES!! I will make a note of addressing that for future reference.

I wish there was some way to have a pillion experience what it does when they start moving around the wrong way on the back. My ex-GF was a fantastic pillion nearly all the time -- like when we were blasting through twisties. But coming into Yellowstone from the east (Cody, WY) in '09, straight road, probably only doing 35 to 45 following madmike to the east gate, she was doing something on the back (camera gymnastics?, twisting and stretching?, something else???) that kept throwing the bike either toward the center line or the shoulder. She wasn't paying attention and had her headset unplugged, so the first few times she didn't hear me tell her to please stop moving like that. I finally had to lift my face shield, lean back and yell at her to knock it off before she crashed us. I thought she knew better than to do that anytime, but she seemed to think that what we were doing was so tame that she could do whatever she was doing and not upset the bike. The problem is that if the rider isn't in complete readiness mode to immediately catch that kind of upset (and why should he be?), it's more disruptive than pillions sometimes understand. What I learned there is that, apparently, if you compensate a couple of times, they don't know how bad what they're doing is. Like I said, she was a really good pillion . . . except for that one stretch from Cody to the east gate.

Hope you both heal up quickly. Roadrash sucks, doesn't it?

 

[madmike2]

Oh, crap!

First, I'm glad you are relatively unscathed after your desert-riding adventure.

Second, thanks for the warning about taking strangers for a ride (and re-enforcing my "no pillion seat" mode).

AND....by comparison, the rest of us had a great day.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Bike is toast...take the money from the insurance company and find another scoot!

Glad you're relatively OK, too bad for the pillion though. As many have mentioned, I'm very selective when adding a pillon to the bike. Bad things can happen too fast.

Heal up quick, summer is almost here.

--G

 

[RPrice]

Bike looks like a total loss. Her leg sounds bad. Surprised the Joe Rocket mesh jacket held up so well. I'll bet she will never get on another bike again, and that's probably a good thing for her and for anyone offering her a ride.

You probably learned more about taking a novice pillion for a ride than any of us can tell you. I guess I learned something, too. In that situation, I'm pretty thorough about what she needs to do, not to do and what the risks are. BUT . . . frankly, I've never considered that I'd have to warn a pillion about the dangers of putting a foot down. YIKES!! I will make a note of addressing that for future reference.

I wish there was some way to have a pillion experience what it does when they start moving around the wrong way on the back. My ex-GF was a fantastic pillion nearly all the time -- like when we were blasting through twisties. But coming into Yellowstone from the east (Cody, WY) in '09, straight road, probably only doing 35 to 45 following madmike to the east gate, she was doing something on the back (camera gymnastics?, twisting and stretching?, something else???) that kept throwing the bike either toward the center line or the shoulder. She wasn't paying attention and had her headset unplugged, so the first few times she didn't hear me tell her to please stop moving like that. I finally had to lift my face shield, lean back and yell at her to knock it off before she crashed us. I thought she knew better than to do that anytime, but she seemed to think that what we were doing was so tame that she could do whatever she was doing and not upset the bike. The problem is that if the rider isn't in complete readiness mode to immediately catch that kind of upset (and why should he be?), it's more disruptive than pillions sometimes understand. What I learned there is that, apparently, if you compensate a couple of times, they don't know how bad what they're doing is. Like I said, she was a really good pillion . . . except for that one stretch from Cody to the east gate.

Hope you both heal up quickly. Roadrash sucks, doesn't it?

Thanks for this post. There's lots of information here for all of us, especially those who do or may consider carrying passengers. Be careful out there!

Take care,

 

[FJR-RemingtonRider]

Geez, bad enough to crash solo, but I know whether her direct fault or not, you probably feel a ton of guilt for

her having a get-off on your ride. Just glad it wasn't worse than a busted leg. Hopefully she is not angry with

you and blaming everything on you. But sounds like a lot of rehab time for her. Bring her lots of ice cream,

flowers, and beginner riding literature. Both of you heal well and sound. Dang, I don't ever want to see

a beautiful 08' look like that again.

 

[Andyfjr]

Having just been on a holiday to Florida. I saw virtually every biker ride without proper riding protection, even some without helmets. I fully understand why southern state riders dont, but the additional injuries when you come off are always going to be much worse. I'm glad I can wear full leathers and still keep cool enough here in the UK/Europe.

You survived and I hope you and your riding partner will make a full recovery.

Andy

 

[DJB]

Lets see a female co-worker must be hot. Lunch was the first step I assume. Feel better hope she heals like everyone else had said and find out what they want for the pile of scrap. Does the engine still run? The front forks look like they are straight. Lots of parts that can be sold. Good luck and hope the Airforce is not to mad at you for messing with there property. That would be you and her if she is also enlisted.

 

[dcarver]

Put her foot down?

Me thinks the bike is toast.

If so,please consider the option of buying it back,if price is right,then offering up the remains to us other fjr peeps?

I'm very happy no one got killed in the exercise of stupidity - it could have been much worse.

 

[garyahouse]

Though I recommend that most people wear as much protective gear as they can, I'm one of those Florida riders that doesn't wear a lot of it. I do wear a helmet, but before you write me off as irresponsible, I should add that I drive like gramma most of the time, and I'm happy to say that in 40 years of riding, I've never been involved in an accident. I've taken dozens of "newbies" for rides on my Feej, many of them children and some who have to be helped onto the bike by their parents. Here's what I've learned:

-People don't get scared if I don't scare them.

-New passengers enjoy the experience a great deal more if they're not afraid.

-The engine will provide all the thrill that 90 percent of my riders could want... without breaking 4k rpm

-It can take as long to learn to be a good passenger as it takes to be a good driver. I don't expect much.

-Most people love the experience of riding a bike, and beg for more, if it wasn't a "spirited' ride.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and what works for me would be very unwise for those who don't choose to drive the way I do.

After looking at the pictures you posted (thank you so much), I'm thankful that your injuries were not worse than what they are. By the way, you never mentioned how fast you were going when you went down. Just curious.

For what it's worth, I'll be praying that you both have a speedy recovery, and that your insurance company treats you right.

Gary

darksider #44

 

[timk]

Riding pillion is scarry. I had to get some welding done to my bike during a ride-in, the host said he'd get it done while we were eating lunch, just drop it off, he'd ride me to and fro. It's a whole new perspective. My SO has well over 100k on the back seat and the rules are if I'm gonna get sporty, I let her know in advance.