Wanderer
Well-known member
I waited to post this until it was all wrapped up. That happened yesterday, so here's the tale.
Three weeks ago Mrs Wanderer and I had a few days off and decided to take a short shake-down run of some new and re-purposed motocamping gear. We found a tent campgroud about 50 miles from the house, packed everything up and off we went. I was quite proud of the setup. I got a 5x7 dome tent, 2 20* down bags, an ultralight tarp and a small bag of dry food like granola bars and oatmeal packets. In the side cases went clothes, 2 inflatable air mattresses, frozen chicken chunks, veggies, and BBQ skewers, some water and flashlights. We were psyched and ready. I had everything for a 4-day camp trip (minus replacement perishable food) safely stowed in the luggage of the bike.
Thursday June 3rd we set off around noon. a short ride and we were at the site. I'm an idiot and didn't get pics of the site setup, but my wife is standing in front of where the tent would later be, the tarp attached to it and stretched out to the trees nearby. I snapped this pic while waiting for the little compressor to inflate the camp pads.
After playing cards and relaxing, the campground host hadn't returned so I hopped on the bike to ride 3 miles for a bundle of firewood to cook dinner over.
That's when it went to hell.
I freely admit, I was distracted. I have no one to blame but me. I was very familiar with the road, I was war-gaming the best way to setup the skewers, thinking about dinner, about the card game I was winning, buzzing along the 55mph road in no particular hurry. I saw it, it didn't register immediately. Sand. No probs, I swing wide. Too wide, too fast. I threw the bike hard into the turn, but the wheels slipped on the sand.I thought I was going down. Instead, I let the bike stand up but it was too late. My front tire left the asphalt, just slipping off the edge, that 2" drop where it turns to dirt. I stayed off the guardrail, but the wheel rode the lip like a skateboarder grinding a rail. I low-sided. Hard. I'm pretty sure I was still at or close to 55. I slid a long way. The bike slid further. like 300' further.
When I came to a stop, I was still in my lane. Immediately a passerby stopped and came to help. They called 911 and a very nice gentleman went up the hill to get my wife. I was transported to a Littleton Hospital.
The toll:
Body- sorry no pics
Broken left clavicle. non-surgical, well aligned.
2 broken ribs, several more bruised
minor spleen laceration, causing a small amount of internal bleeding.
minor concussion.
I have a palm-print sized friction burn to my left shoulder. Let me be clear: the gear did very well. My dumb-ass was wearing a nylon cool-max tshirt that I am convinced caused this. Expounded upon in 'the gear' below.
The Gear-
HJC SyMaxII helmet
Modular stayed closed despite a hard hit and a long slide. I couldn't have asked for better protection.
Tourmaster 'Intake' mesh jacket
No pics, but I can say this, and my wife will verify: There were ZERO breaches in this jacket. not one inch of my skin ever contacted the roadway. I did a self check and while the cordura shoulder patch that covers the armor was ground through on a half-dollar spot, all it exposed was the CE armor under. there's a bad scuff/rash on the elbow as well but no tearing. They cut it off me at the scene. Even the medic commented on how it 'still looked usable' to him. I'm stunned how well it held up. My last though before I hit the road was me cursing my stupidity to buy a mesh jacket. After this. I'd likely buy another. There is a good amount of painful 'carpet burn' to the shoulder. I believe this is due to the jacket being 1/2 size too big and allowing the coolmax t-shirt to rub hard. There are alot of potential fixes to this for next time. Live and learn.
RoadGear Adaptive-Tec gloves-
Completely unscathed. Not sure how, but there's not a single scuff on my gloves. They don't look like they were in a crash.
Pants-
Levi's heavy canvas cargo pants. heavy scuffing, torn pocket, no breaches. My blackberry Storm was in my L cargo pocket, and it has a nicely ground off corner, corrosponding to the hole torn in that left cargo pocket, so I think I sild on the phone a while, but there are otherwise no holes in the pants and none of my skin contacted the roadway. They were also cut off at the scene. Apparently they were sturdy enough (hard to cut and in good shape) that, had I not been in a c-collar, they'd have unbuttoned and undressed me rather than cut.
Boots-
TM Solution WP boots
minor scuffing on left toe/outer edge. All cosmetic, polished with some 'Kiwi boot polished it'd disappear. I kicked the roadway hard enough to turn my Big toenail purple underneath but I don't think the nail will come off. Not much I can do about that.
Bike-
We can skip the discussion of frame sliders, thank you very much. I know. I'm dumb.
rashed fairing and alternator cover, broken mirror and turn signal
Ground through! Yikes!
rashed Sidecase
The shop that did the insurance estimate says the front subframe might show some damage, but likley minor and fixable. Total cost for repairs and labor, $4157.
Nvertheless, State Farm deemed the bike a total loss and offered me $6233. for it.
So there it is. Bikes Totaled. I'm not much the worse for wear. I'm not sure where I go from here, but with so much else going on in my life I'm gonna think a while about the bikes replacement. As much as this may be blasphemy, I'm leaning toward a down-sizing of bike. Right now a Versys is pretty high on my short list. I love the FJR, but.... well let's just say I find it 'overkill' more often than not. Time will tell.
Either way, there's my story. I hope this reminds at least one person to wear gear, and always pay attention.
Three weeks ago Mrs Wanderer and I had a few days off and decided to take a short shake-down run of some new and re-purposed motocamping gear. We found a tent campgroud about 50 miles from the house, packed everything up and off we went. I was quite proud of the setup. I got a 5x7 dome tent, 2 20* down bags, an ultralight tarp and a small bag of dry food like granola bars and oatmeal packets. In the side cases went clothes, 2 inflatable air mattresses, frozen chicken chunks, veggies, and BBQ skewers, some water and flashlights. We were psyched and ready. I had everything for a 4-day camp trip (minus replacement perishable food) safely stowed in the luggage of the bike.
Thursday June 3rd we set off around noon. a short ride and we were at the site. I'm an idiot and didn't get pics of the site setup, but my wife is standing in front of where the tent would later be, the tarp attached to it and stretched out to the trees nearby. I snapped this pic while waiting for the little compressor to inflate the camp pads.
After playing cards and relaxing, the campground host hadn't returned so I hopped on the bike to ride 3 miles for a bundle of firewood to cook dinner over.
That's when it went to hell.
I freely admit, I was distracted. I have no one to blame but me. I was very familiar with the road, I was war-gaming the best way to setup the skewers, thinking about dinner, about the card game I was winning, buzzing along the 55mph road in no particular hurry. I saw it, it didn't register immediately. Sand. No probs, I swing wide. Too wide, too fast. I threw the bike hard into the turn, but the wheels slipped on the sand.I thought I was going down. Instead, I let the bike stand up but it was too late. My front tire left the asphalt, just slipping off the edge, that 2" drop where it turns to dirt. I stayed off the guardrail, but the wheel rode the lip like a skateboarder grinding a rail. I low-sided. Hard. I'm pretty sure I was still at or close to 55. I slid a long way. The bike slid further. like 300' further.
When I came to a stop, I was still in my lane. Immediately a passerby stopped and came to help. They called 911 and a very nice gentleman went up the hill to get my wife. I was transported to a Littleton Hospital.
The toll:
Body- sorry no pics
Broken left clavicle. non-surgical, well aligned.
2 broken ribs, several more bruised
minor spleen laceration, causing a small amount of internal bleeding.
minor concussion.
I have a palm-print sized friction burn to my left shoulder. Let me be clear: the gear did very well. My dumb-ass was wearing a nylon cool-max tshirt that I am convinced caused this. Expounded upon in 'the gear' below.
The Gear-
HJC SyMaxII helmet
Modular stayed closed despite a hard hit and a long slide. I couldn't have asked for better protection.
Tourmaster 'Intake' mesh jacket
No pics, but I can say this, and my wife will verify: There were ZERO breaches in this jacket. not one inch of my skin ever contacted the roadway. I did a self check and while the cordura shoulder patch that covers the armor was ground through on a half-dollar spot, all it exposed was the CE armor under. there's a bad scuff/rash on the elbow as well but no tearing. They cut it off me at the scene. Even the medic commented on how it 'still looked usable' to him. I'm stunned how well it held up. My last though before I hit the road was me cursing my stupidity to buy a mesh jacket. After this. I'd likely buy another. There is a good amount of painful 'carpet burn' to the shoulder. I believe this is due to the jacket being 1/2 size too big and allowing the coolmax t-shirt to rub hard. There are alot of potential fixes to this for next time. Live and learn.
RoadGear Adaptive-Tec gloves-
Completely unscathed. Not sure how, but there's not a single scuff on my gloves. They don't look like they were in a crash.
Pants-
Levi's heavy canvas cargo pants. heavy scuffing, torn pocket, no breaches. My blackberry Storm was in my L cargo pocket, and it has a nicely ground off corner, corrosponding to the hole torn in that left cargo pocket, so I think I sild on the phone a while, but there are otherwise no holes in the pants and none of my skin contacted the roadway. They were also cut off at the scene. Apparently they were sturdy enough (hard to cut and in good shape) that, had I not been in a c-collar, they'd have unbuttoned and undressed me rather than cut.
Boots-
TM Solution WP boots
minor scuffing on left toe/outer edge. All cosmetic, polished with some 'Kiwi boot polished it'd disappear. I kicked the roadway hard enough to turn my Big toenail purple underneath but I don't think the nail will come off. Not much I can do about that.
Bike-
We can skip the discussion of frame sliders, thank you very much. I know. I'm dumb.
rashed fairing and alternator cover, broken mirror and turn signal
Ground through! Yikes!
rashed Sidecase
The shop that did the insurance estimate says the front subframe might show some damage, but likley minor and fixable. Total cost for repairs and labor, $4157.
Nvertheless, State Farm deemed the bike a total loss and offered me $6233. for it.
So there it is. Bikes Totaled. I'm not much the worse for wear. I'm not sure where I go from here, but with so much else going on in my life I'm gonna think a while about the bikes replacement. As much as this may be blasphemy, I'm leaning toward a down-sizing of bike. Right now a Versys is pretty high on my short list. I love the FJR, but.... well let's just say I find it 'overkill' more often than not. Time will tell.
Either way, there's my story. I hope this reminds at least one person to wear gear, and always pay attention.
