Snake Road Claims Another One Again

[MadDuck]

The rider got away with scrapes, not so minor on the right knee. He was super lucky and possibly only inches away from a far worse fate. The 1098 was totaled in dramatic fashion.

It was an uneventful ride up to that point. No one was acting up and no one was speeding on the freeway. I thought we might take one or two of our side trips off of H2 but no, just had everybody cruising on up past  Kemoo Farms and straight on out to Kaukonahua Rd. As we started to get to the start of the curves the group spread out a bit and as I watched the front guys take the first turn I thought "this will be a nice easy run -- no one got hot up there" I think there were about 5 guys in front of me, with Ranilo just in front of me.  So into the first left we go, again not real slow but certainly not hot.....it's the second corner (the first right hander) that can get you ... and yep, I saw Ranilo get a little wide and then go wider, way over the double yellow ..... The following takes place in just seconds... "good thing no cars are coming, chop throttle a little and move into inside of turn to give Ranilo room to get back in,   he's on his brakes and I'm running up on him,    Why's he staying wide?,   oh shit there's a bike in the middle of the road,  OK there's the guy over on the side of the road, he's sitting up --- OK slow, slow, slow Ranilo is turning around, the rest of the group is on us now --- some are going down the road to get to the first guys ... Got MY bike turned around without dropping it in the middle of the road (not like last time) --- got it parked off on the side on some good firm ground & rocks where it wouldn't fall over.

The rider was Georges who got his 1098 last year. He had his helmet off was was saying he was OK. The bike was another story.  Apparently he ran wide in the corner, got off the road and hit a utility/phone/light pole, well at least the bike did. From the plowed up dirt leading to the stirke it looked like a dead center hit. The bike must have bounced off back into the road and God must have been watching over Georges to have him miss the pole.
Both front forks were sheared off just above the lower brake caliper stantions. The lower triple tree was ripped out of the steering neck and who knows where the top triple was? Someone said they saw fork springs sticking out from somewhere. The oil cooler was completely separated and sitting off by itself away from everything and after that it was just mostly mangled everything. There was oil everywhere on the road.

Maybe Ranilo can fill some more in.

Stay safe out there folks.

[teddy037.2]

dang, the way it started, I thought maybe R-Lo had gone down...

 

[eltristo]

yowzers.  I'm visualizing all of it, and nothing is pretty. Glad Georges is *reasonably* ok.

[DesmoBlob]

I heard about this crash from another source. Glad to hear the rider can still ride another day. The last rider down wasn't so fortunate.

People can go careening off Snakes even at a moderate to slow pace. Be safe out there everyone.

[DRKWNG]

DAMN!!  Really sorry to hear about this!  Glad to hear that George's is ok, and really sorry to hear that his bike got wasted. 

[RED]

No doubt Georges is thankful too. I consider it Devine Intervention each time I hear of an accident involving a rider and they live. I'm thankful he's got minor injuries and nothing more. It seems his bike saved him. If he'd been a foot this way or that he might not have faired so well. I had similar incident last summer. A new rider just in front of me on a spanking new 848 he'd just put a full Termi system on went into a left hand sweeper too fast and couldn't correct and luckily he lowsided just as the bike went airborne and flipped several times . The bike was lost and I thought so was the rider. As I approached him laying on the ground in the same exact place I saw him in when I passed him i thought he was dead. That was a sickening feeling. He was flown by helicopter to the hospital where it was later found out he had suffered a concussion and was totally blacked out for hours. To my knowledge he has not ever gotten back on a bike. I gained a whole new appreciation for safty gear and riding techniques and have since read Kieth Code's book 'Twist of the Wrist Two'. I've been riding bikes for over 31 years and that book taught me how ride all over again. I highly recommend it.

Ride safe and think about it before it's too late, RED

[island_duc]

I was right behind Georges when this happened.  We weren't going that fast, but when I turned in, Georges was already running wide into oncoming traffic.  As Mac noted, I got fixated on what I thought was going to be a head on collision and ran wide.  Next thing I know, Georges is off the bike rolling towards the shoulder of the road.  Thank goodness the woman driving the car heading towards us was paying attention.  She stopped just in time.  I pulled over onto the shoulder almost immediately since I was already heading that way and ran over to Georges.  By then, he had his helmet off and was sitting up.  The bike was utterly destroyed.  It struck a telephone pole head on.  In fact, the cop that showed up called HECO to come examine the pole since it took such a bad hit.