Ducati Monster Forum

I have always been told that there are two types of riders, those who have crashed and those who will. after my ride today i am no longer in the "those who will" group. i am now firmly in the "those who have crashed" group.

riding through a canyon on a group ride, all was going well, or so i thought. i came in to a corner too hot and low sided my 09 monster 1100s. my gear worked as it was supposed to and i have no road rash, but i did fracture my elbow.

thanks to matt and ruben for their help after the crash.

ill post some pics of the bike when im not so loaded on pain killers.

 It coulda been a LOT worse !!


The day of vindication will come when you're healed up and we roll thru that section of GMR again and you smoke thru the section you dumped it in....

Trust me... i'm a professional  ;D
 [thumbsup]

There is neither glory or shame having entered the haves...

glad you're here to talk about it.

thanks to both of you, and after 6-8 weeks in a cast, i will give it another shot.

a few pics

http://s805.photobucket.com/home/rsm1195/recentuploads (http://s805.photobucket.com/home/rsm1195/recentuploads)

now that ive shared my monent of glory, anyone have any good first time down stories?

My worst crash was a target-fixation into a guardrail at a 60' angle at about 45mph.  Broke my L wrist and messed up my R wrist all on a sunny Sunday afternoon here in NM on South 14. 

Fast forward 6 years and I'm blowing through the very same corner on my Monster750 at 55-60mph with my left hand off the clip-ons, laid across my tank firmly saluting the corner with a very proud middle finger.

You will ride again, the bike will be fixed, you will vindicate yourself.

All the best!  [moto]  [thumbsup]
--Stu

Welcome to the club.  We've been waiting for you  [moto]

drift x170 test in the canyon (http://www.vimeo.com/12661371)


 2006... forward flip into the Kern River. (suck it Travis Pastrana)

The slight left hand corner at the 8.17 mark.

I went straight when the road went left.

2 piece leather Frank Thomas suit. Scorpion exo700. A-Stars touring boot.

I bounced off a few rocks, a few trees and landed on my stomach on a large boulder, with the bike landing on my head and back.

Other than a couple of fractured vertebra.... not a scratch on me.

Man ive gone down  5 times, 3 of them were pretty bad. I always wondered if i ever broke, slipped or fractured anything. I usually just walk away from them. Full gear = my insurance package.

Hope you feel better.

First time i "crashed" though i dont count it, i was going like 10 mph and target fixiated on a crub since i was in 2nd gear and not first. the bike was choppy and wouldnt move. so i hit the crub and went over.

2nd time, it was  sharp ess turn, road went left i went straight into a field of rocks and grass and the bike went down at 30mphish. I smashed my hip on this one. I dont know if i fracture it or not or whatever. I got up and limped off for a few weeks.

3rd time i slipped on oil and gas on a rainy day at 5mph and slide between 2 cars, ended up underneath one. This was  the worst injury i ever had and probably had the worst pain couldnt walk right for a few months.

4th time, i somehow managed to "high side" at 15-20mph ish due to mix of hitting the sleeper strip that is built into the road on the double yellow, and hitting tons and tons of gravel. I ripped open my suit on the left hip and put a hole on my engine as the bike went down the road without me and stopped due to a dirt mound..with jagged rocks. I walked away from this one with a minor concussion that lasted a few days. Shoulder hurts from it (but it hurt before that too. and still hurts from time to time)

5th time... well im pretty sure i missed one. if not then lets hope there isnt a 5th and if it does, lets hope i have insurance by then ( applying for State funded health insurance and waiting for the paperwork to go through)

1st time?

Some assmake the beast with two backs in a tractor trailer intentionally ran me into a line of construction barrels.

If I'd had as much riding experience then as I do now, I probably could've split the barrels and maintained control.

I'd only been riding for about a month at the time though.

Most recent one ....

Violent tank slapper resulting from a mid-apex crater on a tight 15mph right curve (while doing a modest 50+mph)

came upright from full lean, shot straight forward off the turn across the oncoming lane,

on-coming car missed me by inches, I slammed into the outside curb at an angle, bike high-side flopped

and I launched  and went flying into the shrubs missing inflexible tree by inches landing on left shoulder and head

came out of the bushes looking like I was wearing half a ghillie suit

bruised ego and shoulder...

did worse as a youngster in the 60's and 70's but they don't count because I was immortal back then

Glad your'e OK! [thumbsup] Looks like your helmet did it's job. [clap] Like the old Bell helmet ad said, "Have a $5.00 head, wear a $5.00 helmet." Sorry about the bummed up arm. Just be glad that's all. Ask me how I know... damned turkey! [cheeky]

Ah, nice video BP but I thought I was going to see the actual crash. Not that I really wanted to but that's what I was expecting by your post. Looked like a really nice uneventful ride. [thumbsup] [moto] I watched until the end so no way I could have missed it.

no crash this time. ..... but, my brother crashed his gsxr the day after I shot  that video, right about at the spot where I turned around. He was wearing a stupid lightweight textile jacket, jeans, hiking boots and a Bell helmet made for drag racing. He has shoulder surgery on Thursday. All he did was lowside at a slow speed, had he been wearing the proper gear, odds are he would have probably just slid. He maintains the jacket did what it was supposed to do [roll]

Sorry for him. You just can't say enough about wearing good gear. At least he had something on. Even my 13 year old points out folks in shorts, t-shirts, do-rags, etc. and says how dumb they are.

Anyway, that was a neat video. Cool road. Bet you ride it alot! [thumbsup] [moto]

I was cruising up to work in the fast lane on the highway at about 70-75. I t was maybe 6 am so still not entirely light-I ran over a pair of jeans I didn't see in the highway, they got sucked up into the chain, wrapped around the rear sprocket and fender, tore the fender off, locked up the rear, and I went skidding off into the median at full speed.


Tumbled, got up, realized I wasn't hurt at all, said "Ta dah!" and hitched a ride with a buddy who stopped his truck and went to work.

While there, the state police towed it and wouldn't let the tow company release it when I turned up to take it-I had to call up the police and explain that no, the pair of jeans in the chain weren't mine, nor was I wearing them at the time.


They had spent some time looking for a dazed, bloody biker with no pants wandering the median. They weren't happy with me.

Wow.  I'm surprised they didn't cite you for leaving the scene of an accident.

+1  how did you get out of that?

Glad you are OK... All crashes suck, just part of the game.

My First big one? Laguna Seca, turn 5, 4 tackdays on a rear tire, and a big handfull of throttle. Can you say High-side? I think I could see my house from up there, and I lived 60 miles away. Greater Trochanter on my left femur, scaphoid, and 4 ribs. I drove back to my shop, unloaded the Duc, grabbed my 400, and went back to ride the next day... I was WAY slow, and in a lot of pain, but I did it.

You will get back on, just be sure to do ALL your phys therapy!

1st crash?  Nothing impressive.  WAY too hot chasing a TL1000R on my GSXR600.  Left hander, 11,000RPM in 3rd gear, rear spun up at near full lean.  I skillfully managed to "ride the bike to the pavement" you could say.  Shoulder touched down, I turn loose and slid.  Good gear =  I walked away.  GSXR wasn't so lucky. 

JM

My 1st 2 crashes were pretty minor. 1st one was the second day after I had just got my 1st new S4Rs.

The Sales Guy who sold it to me asked me if I wanted to go riding w, him and his buddies.

I lost it on the 1st 90 degree left hander on a road I'd never been on before . Just lucky there was a lot of soft dirt so no harm.

Next one I missed another 90 degree corner going to fast an didn't realize it until there was no road in front of me .

I locked up the brakes and went over the bars and once again was lucky that I wasn't going more than 35 mph . I went into a ditch.

I didn't get hurt and neither did the bike.

3rd time , different story. I was running on a very twisty 2 lane in the country and just dove down into a wooded valley and came up to about a 3/8s mile curvy rise when I noticed a bike off to my left parked.

There was a guy and girl standing beside the bike not looking in any distress so I thought I'd give them a song of the Termis going up the rise.

I was probably going about 70 mph when I crested the rise and as soon as I went over the rise there it was . Not 50 yards in front of me was a 90 degree curve sloping away from me w, a small ditch and a hillside w, a 25 mph sign.

I immediately knew I was too hot and once again made a bad decision. This being only my 3rd time out in the riding season I was still rusty from a long Winter layoff .

I don't know even now if I could make that curve at 70 mph although I think I might but then I wasn't nearly as good a rider 2 years ago . I grabbed the front brake  , stepped on the rear brake and the next thing I know I'm smashing into the hillside .

It felt like I bounced off it twice , the 1st hit I thought " man that just broke something bad ," then the final bounce and I thought " wham , that really messed up something bad , felt like I broke my Shoulder,"and then I find myself on my back in this little ditch w, about a foot of water in it and can hardly move.

Bike is on it's side in the ditch still running . I managed to inch my way up backwards out of the ditch , finally am able to stand . get to my bike and turn it off, and then the pain really hits me.

I ended up w, 7 broken ribs, a badly sprained right Ankle, but not a scratch on my body anywhere.

Lots of soft tissue damage though. I almost passed out from the pain before the EMC finally arrived.

The bike only sustained a broken Clutch Lever and scratches on the engine w, some grass and dirt packed around the engine.

I later learned that one of the ribs punctured one of my Lungs because it filled 2/3s w, blood and fluid. I had to have a Thoracotomy Surgery to repair my Lung.

I was wearing Dainese leather pants, Ducati Corse leather Jacket zipped to the leather pants, full face Shoei Helmet, Alpine *s SMX plus  Racing boots,,  BMW Back Protector and  Held Phantom Racing Gloves.

I don't know how much worse my injuries would have been w.out the gear  ( probably dead ).

Dolph

my best accident was on cinders in early spring at a stop light. i was stopping and the bike just started sliding sideways. i stepped off, took a couple of steps to the bike, picked it up and waited for the light to change.


my worst is 2 months ago when i figured out how to do stoppies. i wasn't trying to figure it out, but i did. i dont' want to do that again. i did realize that all these years of riding taught me how to hang onto the bike no matter what the terrain as it landed on top of me.  [laugh]

I highsided in a canyon, lost traction on a left turn from some dirt on the road, then the back tire snapped back and flipped me off.  Landed with my right arm stretched out, which dislocated it as well as fractured the joint at the top of the humerus.  Not a huge amount of damage to the bike, but everything but the gauges and tire have been replaced on the front end probably as a result.

I think crashing actually taught me a lot, I think I'm more confident now in my riding, which might be odd.  Perhaps it was a little bit of motivation to learn how to react in a panic situation.  Since then I've been in a couple hairy situations which I acted calmly and escaped without injury or damage.

Co-worker of mine last year decided to learn to ride. Talked her into taking a beginners riding course to learn and qualify for her license. 1st day of school, she pegs the throttle on the Buell Blast that they provided to students, fixates on the only tree within eyesight and manages to crash right into it. Ends up with the bike on top of her, ambulance on the way. She was out of work for 4 months, messed up leg, ankle, arm, etc.

Fast forward 8 months, her replacement at work borrows a bike this weekend and bins it. He ends up in the hospital on Sunday getting asphalt removed from his skin. Now he's home taking meds. I'm wondering if it is the desk or the chair that is cursed?

as far as not getting cited for leaving the scene of an accident, im pretty sure that applies to accidents involving more than one person.

just got back fron the orthopedic doctor.  no cast needed..luckily. the dr said the fracture isnt the type that needs a hard cast. just a splint for another 10 days or so, then just the sling for another week or so.  ;D

the bike is going to the shop in the next few days, hopefully the arm will be ready around the same time as the bike.  [moto]

Sounds like you actually got good news.

Hope you learned something that you will be able to use in the future .

Dolph     :)     

im pretty sure i did learn something from the incident, and im sure it will help in the future.

I'm assuming the 600 times i fell off of my mini bike don't count toward the first time?

On the street, on a Frankensteined RD350 at about 45 it seized tite and locked the rear wheel while in a turn. I never even thought about the clutch. I bounced- sort of. i walked away so i guess it goes in the book as a learning exercise.

You... Learn ?


Only if the re-enactment was done on cartoon network by spongebob, or drawn in crayon by Sammy ( My 4 yr old for those who don't know my tribe).... [laugh] [laugh]


BTW.... I've known ngk12 ( The wookie ) for 15 years


Get that damn sling off quick so we can go back to GMR !!!

did you learn not to crash?

that's a very important lesson.

the splint is off now... another few weeks for the sling