Crash Analysis: learning from our mistakes

[ROBsS4R]

Sucks

Glad it was only a minor spill.

[Popeye the Sailor]

What, did you think you were on my bike?








 

[Desmostro]

ohhhhhhh nooooo!
Sorry to hear. Hope your leg is ok.
Good thing the slider bar took the blow. Good design.

Its sucks that it was at your driveway, but its good that you were so close to home 

[JasonV]

Wednesday morning, on 3rd Ave going north.  Furthest right lane all to myself, doing about 20-25.  Minivan w/commercial plates decides to suddenly change lanes, no signal.  I was maybe about 10 feet off his bumper from my lane.  I go to quickstop, must have locked up or lost traction on our oh so smooth and perfect roads, start to slide and low side it.  Was fine as I got up quickly looking for him.  He hesitated long enough to see me get up and then took off.  One person asked if I was alright couldn't get his plate when I asked.  Bike damage is front right turn signal which I think I can have sodered back on, CRG mirror, frameslider, little bent brake pedal.  Rideable, rode to UN to work and parked it.  By time I got there, right hand swelling.  Later find out base of thumb broke, will have surgery Monday for pins.

What I did wrong: assume no one was going to be an asshole today, not have my overpants on as I was only going a mile.

What I did right:  Going slow enough.  Thought I did what I could, saw it in time but just lost the bike.  Had my full helmet and upper body protective gear.

How I could've avoided it:  Practice my quickstops more is the only thing I can think of.

[somegirl]

Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

Jason, sorry to hear about your getoff, hope your thumb heals up quickly.

I mentioned pictures, here they are.

The road the next day, slightly less leaves.   The Botts' Dots are evenly distributed although there are sometimes missing ones (knocked off by a car).  You can see they are hard to see in front of the driveway.



And another part of the road with more wet leaves on although this is again more cleared than the day before.  In the worst parts the only clear part was just wider than a car tire.



Bar end slider



Broken footpeg, bent gear shifter rod and bent sidestand nub



Bent frame slider bar (I put a straight wooden dowel next to it for comparison)

[Setsukosan]

=/ hope you feel better.

[JasonV]

Jason, sorry to hear about your getoff, hope your thumb heals up quickly.

Thanks somegirl, you too.

[aldod22]

I've had a couple of accidents, what I did wrong both times it's simple... didn't think what I was doing and ridding fast in the rain and second time I miss calculated my skills turns out I'm not as agile as stoner

[Jetbrett]

Sorry to hear about your spill MsIncredible/somegirl.  I had the same thing happen to me in November....wet leaves in the middle of my lane on a blind corner after dark.  I was less than 1/4 from home on my way from work and the lane was clear earlier that day.  I was down (hard) before I knew it.  I remember wondering why the road was so bumpy before realizing that I was sliding on the ground.  I ended up with a broken collar bone...discovered that one while picking up the bike.  The bike damage was almost identical to your pictures. 

I was wearing full gear which held up well....I'm still wearing it (except for my helmet which I had to replace).  On my end I should have appreciated that, although it was a rare sunny November day in Seattle, conditions change quickly in the fall/winter.  Had I been riding like I do when it rains ....slow down a bit, work on being as smooth as possible, and try to keep the bike as upright as possible...I would have been fine. 

[somegirl]

Sorry about your crash Jetbrett, I hope your collarbone is all healed now.  I was very fortunate not to have injured myself.  I broke my collarbone many years ago in a bicycle accident and it was quite painful.

[Jetbrett]

Thanks for the thoughts.  I'm 100% now.  I was in a sling for a month, but kept up with my cardio workouts and started lifting and rehab after 6 weeks.  I was fortunate that it was just the broken bone and that my shoulder joint was uninjured. 

[Spck31]

After Reading the thread : Highsiding and countersteering - painful combination.   http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=37082.0

El Matador reply

Riders are at their most vulnerable during their second year of riding. It's when they they think they know everything and make really stupid decisions.

El Matador make me think and analyse my first crash last year. I decided to share my experience, it was my second season and the first with the monster. 12k experienced in moto ridin and only 5k  on the monster at this time….

SUMMARY OF THE CRASH
It was a sunny beautiful saturday morning on  september five 2009, i was on my way to go working.
On oneway with  two lanes (city street),  i was on the right lane. The traffic flow was gently  accelerate  when the Streets lights changed as i came up to. I accelrated with the trafic to cross the intersection . When then i took  a look on the front left lane, looked in my Mirror behind left and engaged on the left lane . By the time i’d look back, there was a Subaru stopping in front, for double park.  Surprise i though to myself : no i will not flying over this car, keeped focusing on what was going on , i pulled my break pedal and pushed my brake lever, almost urgence breaking was done my monster skidded and gently layed down on it side (very slowly like in a movie) and stopped slidin on the Subaru’s back bumper with me still on  . In the fear of the trafic behind me i stood up quickly and got safer place to take look to myself and my injuries…..


WHAT I DID RIGHT
Not  panicing!!! Keep focusing on the right thing to do in this case : breaking.

WHAT I DID WRONG
Rush the break, maybe if i done it smoother it break more longer but not skidding maybe just a little bump on the car !!??!
And especially take a second look before engaging, this primary action could have avoid the crash i think.

Thank god i'm alive with a little scratch on my right elbow and knee. Like me, my monster had a minors scratchs : bent handlebars and brake pedal.  Some of you help me fix the rear break lever on the tech section (He Man and DaFoose, thanks again)

So i learn that we are never enough secur, be careful every time keeping an eye on everything  every time!!!

[CNS-Mike]

Goddam it - I put my baby on the ground today after just barely (and I mean barely) clipping my left bar end on a car as I tried to move right at a traffic light.  I was going through my normal routine for lane changes - check mirror, signal, turn head for visual - and as I looked forward after looking behind me I see the car in front of me had stopped faster/shorter than I expected.  I moved over as fast as I could and I *just* caught his trunk with my bar end - enough to jerk the handlebars hard enough to high-side me.

I don't remember flying through the air, but I remember landing and looking back at my bike on the ground and seeing the car behind me swerve quickly to avoid me and my bike (thank god!). 

I've been overseas for almost all of this year, so this is only the third time I've ridden my bike in 2010.  Over the winter I put on lane splitter bar end mirrors - HUGE improvement over the stock mirrors, but it takes some getting used to because the field of view is much wider and it's harder to judge distances.

I've high-sided before (13 years ago), but unlike then, this one was all my fault.  Thank god I was wearing all my gear.  I did manage to lose all the skin off my middle finger on my right hand (though no hole in my glove...strange - maybe the seam scraped it off?) but that's pretty much it for me.  My bike, on the other hand, had a severely bent front brake lever, a slightly bent rear brake lever, a real nice bevel worn into my right bar end, a bent left bar end (from smacking the car), a shattered right bar end mirror, a scratched up clutch cover and a broken right side panel.  My seat has scuff marks on it, I think maybe from my shoe as I launched (possibly also hit the side cover?).  Oh, and the clutch reservoir bracket was bent - I think I must have hit that on my way over as well. 

I was able to remove the front brake lever and pound it back with a rubber mallet on top of a cedar plank to a shape that is damn near exactly the same as before.  I bent the rear lever back into place with my hands, and the brake lights work like normal.  The bar ends I rotated and retightened, so they look OK for now.  I bent the reservoir bracket back in place by hand.  So now the only real problem is the shattered right bar end mirror.  I *could* just order the replacment glass for 13 bucks.  The bike would be 100% functional and only have minor bruising that would only be visible up close.  But make the beast with two backs That Noise^TM - my baby needs to be put back to perfect!!!  I'm using this as an excuse to drop some cash and upgrade to some new levers, an open clutch cover, a new pressure plate and springs, carbon fiber side panels, a new bar end mirror and new bar ends.  And I'm getting some frame sliders - thank god my tank didn't dent!

What I did right - Wearing helmet, gloves, jacket.

What I did wrong - I didn't appreciate how riding skill deteriorates without use and riding too fast in heavy traffic, taking my eyes off my path for too long at a time when there was a lot of dynamics to the surrounding traffic.  Changing the mirrors on my bike and not being fully used to them before riding at full speed. 

All right...sorry for the long post - I had to vent but I'll stop now.  Also, it hurts like a mofo everytime I type a comma, an "i", or a "k".

[Popeye the Sailor]

No need to apologize for the long post-hopefully it's a good lesson for other riders, and yourself.



It's also so nice to see someone admit they screwed up. 

[UK_DoubleDuke]

Although the newest thread, this could be the oldest crash.

In 1988, age 18, bike GSX 550 ESD.

I took a passenger out for a quick blast on unfamiliar roads. I didn't go too fast but was sensible.
After a ride out I had noticed a nice straight going back out of a picturesque English village.

We turned around and on the straight I opened the bike up, quickly reaching 70 mph and popping my lid open to tell my passenger "she goes like that all the way".

He said "go on then", what a mistake...

NEVER LISTEN

When they recovered the bike it was in top gear, 110 + mph, is where I would have been when the vanishing point of the road came racing back toward me.

Choices, drop my beloved or ride the wall of death (an earth bank that flanked the road).

I rode the wall of death at 90 degrees to the road. The passenger, 16 stone, on deciding we were crashing, got off span through the air then a field, but walked away.

When 16 stone disappears from your bike the handling disappears with it.

From the marks on my leather jacket I had skipped, like a stone spun across a pond, down the road and embedded my head into the opposing bank on the opposite side of the road.

My helmet took such an impact that the jaw cracked. I broke my nose with the sun glasses I was wearing, and my back in three place. I lost 2 inches in height and gained a titanium box section around 9 thoracic vertebrae, my chest no longer expands as it is caged at the back.

What I did right... Nothing

What I did wrong... Listen to someone older than me, when I am in control of the vehicle

What would have prevented the accident... NEVER LISTEN to someone saying go faster

Please read all of the posts and count up how many say less speed could have made the difference.

To all that have suffered the pain, my thoughts are with you.

To those that have been to the darkest place (and you know where it is). Tell your story so that others can read and hopefully not go there.

PS when I got out of hospital a month later, wearing a neck to nuts plastic jacket, I went to see my bike. The frame was twisted... the 36mm forks were snapped... the front wheel was shattered and at 45 degrees to the frame. This made me cry, as did paying the bike off for the next two years.

Photo's to follow.