Almost got taken out...

[Barabus]

Cook's Corner is a SoCal mecca for many bikes. 100's of of motorcycles and many rare bikes can be seen there regularly. It is a short and easy ride form my house. I sometimes go there to get lunch, as was the case last Friday. My wife's 2007 Ninja 650r needed to charge up the battery and air out a little. The little ninja is easy thru corners in comparison to the FJR. Running live oak road on the FJR is work whereas the 30 tight corners over 5-6 miles is a breeze on the ninja.

After a very good gyro for lunch, I returned via Santiago. Santiago canyon road is a easy canyon road- more scenic than technical. I was running a delayed apex line into a left sweeper. I notice one bike past me with no issue. His buddy was soon to follow and a new rider, which I was about to discover. The buddy was on a new large Harley with crash bars. He was just drifting over the double yellow as I was hitting my delayed apex into the left track of my lane. As he drifted, I watched the terror on his face (even target fixated on it a little) and pressed hard on my right bar. The ninja jumped right into the bike lane and the novice sailed by well into my lane. I counter steered too hard for the little bike and upset its suspension a little. Crap, that cruiser looked as big as a car as it drifted into my lane. Should be easy to miss an oncoming bike, right? Not so, the slow drift of this big bike really forced my hand. I could not go left as he might have recovered. If he would have gone any further into my lane I would have had to make a hard choice. We were never closer than 3-4 feet, but our combined speed was about 100-120mph. It felt a lot closer than it actually was.

In any event, be careful out there as fresh novice bikers seem to be everywhere. I should have turned around and mentioned MSF training to him in a friendly, polite way. Easier said then done, of course. I hope he slowed down and made it home.

 

[madmike2]

BTDT! Frightening, isn't it? That's how I lost my '04.... <_< I'm glad you survived and I'm in agreement with your thought, I hope he made it home safely and learned from this experience,

 

[FJRBluesman]

Barabus;

I know what you mean. I used to go to Cooks quite a bit but I have slowly lost interest.

I now try to avoid the center line just for those types of adventures. Cars are even worse. Ortega Hwy the cars think it's a race track and the road is so narrow, there's no room for error. I met a guy that was riding two up, his wife, on Ortega Hwy, he was hard into a left turn, left tire near the line, he's leaning....BAM! You guessed it, an oncoming pickup nailed him. He doesn't remember a thing, his bike was totaled his wife was hurt yet he lived to tell about it.

Nasty stuff.

 

[twowheelnut]

I think most all of us had that experience. In my case, I had to bail onto a driveway to escape the Chrome Rhino baring down on me in my lane. Eyes open, options open.

 

[Barabus]

Barabus;I know what you mean. I used to go to Cooks quite a bit but I have slowly lost interest.

I now try to avoid the center line just for those types of adventures. Cars are even worse. Ortega Hwy the cars think it's a race track and the road is so narrow, there's no room for error. I met a guy that was riding two up, his wife, on Ortega Hwy, he was hard into a left turn, left tire near the line, he's leaning....BAM! You guessed it, an oncoming pickup nailed him. He doesn't remember a thing, his bike was totaled his wife was hurt yet he lived to tell about it.

Nasty stuff.

Saw a FJR with two white helmets on it this weekend. Was it you?

BTDT! Frightening, isn't it? That's how I lost my '04.... <_< I'm glad you survived and I'm in agreement with your thought, I hope he made it home safely and learned from this experience,

I remember your story- you lost a saddle bag in Yosemite, right. Yours is a much better story!

 

[Barabus]

I think most all of us had that experience. In my case, I had to bail onto a driveway to escape the Chrome Rhino baring down on me in my lane. Eyes open, options open.

But did you give him the finger? Me, I kept looking at his crash bars. His legs would have been protected and my leg would probably got mangled. $30,000 bike and zero training. What is he thinking, or not thinking?

 

[noob]

You guys many know this story... I believe he was on an fjr, a few years ago.

On st.net, new avatar now shows him in a hospital bed, leg up in a sling... he was on the Cherohala, the police told him after the crash (he forgot everything), that he had crossed the line and taken out another rider... cut the other guys leg off in the process...

good ya survived it barabus, kudos.

 

[Malve]

Glad you're ok Barry.

I rode into Palm Desert on Friday and although I really wanted to work on my skills (or lack there of) I found mysef hugging the right side of the lane because of fear of double yellow crossers. It is one of my biggest fears on the bike as I feel that I can mitigate the chances of several of the other kinds of common accidents a little but not much you can do about that one.

 

[Barabus]

Glad you're ok Barry.I rode into Palm Desert on Friday and although I really wanted to work on my skills (or lack there of) I found mysef hugging the right side of the lane because of fear of double yellow crossers. It is one of my biggest fears on the bike as I feel that I can mitigate the chances of several of the other kinds of common accidents a little but not much you can do about that one.

Funny how the guys with crazy skills work on it constantly and the ones with no skills don't even give training a second thought.

 

[madmike2]

BTDT! Frightening, isn't it? That's how I lost my '04.... <_< I'm glad you survived and I'm in agreement with your thought, I hope he made it home safely and learned from this experience,

I remember your story- you lost a saddle bag in Yosemite, right. Yours is a much better story!

Uhm....no...that was Joe (MCML). I lost an entire '04 FJR over the cliff to miss an errant cruiser-dude. The CHP guys said, "You should have hit him, then we'd have paint and parts of his bike....oh, wait a minute...YOU were on a bike, too. Nevermind!"

That's why I now have an '05 replacement FJR.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Barabus;I know what you mean. I used to go to Cooks quite a bit but I have slowly lost interest.

I now try to avoid the center line just for those types of adventures. Cars are even worse. Ortega Hwy the cars think it's a race track and the road is so narrow, there's no room for error. I met a guy that was riding two up, his wife, on Ortega Hwy, he was hard into a left turn, left tire near the line, he's leaning....BAM! You guessed it, an oncoming pickup nailed him. He doesn't remember a thing, his bike was totaled his wife was hurt yet he lived to tell about it.

Nasty stuff.

Saw a FJR with two white helmets on it this weekend. Was it you?

Barabus;

No, not me. I have a blue 2005 FJR with a V-Stream and I wear a red, flamed, Arai helmet. Left over from my Ducati.... sniff....sniff

I do work in your neck of the woods, so I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths. I rarely see any FJR's in OC.

 

[dcarver]

Dang it Barabus! No more close calls for you.. Siggie needs food and lovin'! (and the wife unit too!)

Was there a point in time when you knew you had cleared then flashed to anger? Just wondering.. I am very happy you are OK.

 

[Barabus]

Dang it Barabus! No more close calls for you.. Siggie needs food and lovin'! (and the wife unit too!) Was there a point in time when you knew you had cleared then flashed to anger? Just wondering.. I am very happy you are OK.

Don,

We get a lot more knuckle heads in this neck of the woods, so I would be pissed everyday all day. On the other hand, we have almost no deer!! LOL. In this case, I just wonder (maybe strongly wonder) why more riders don't get training. I could see re-entry rider all over this guy. Mid-50's on a beautiful new Harley out for a lunch ride with a buddy who was more experienced. Hopefully, the buddy noticed the hazzard and will help the guy out.